23, June 2026
Staff Report
LAHORE
Activists, lawyers, journalists, and local and international rights organisations have condemned the conviction and sentencing of Dr Mahrang Baloch, organiser of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), to life imprisonment by an anti-terrorism court in Balochistan.
On June 22, an ATC in Quetta sentenced Dr Mahrang Baloch to two life terms in a terrorism case stemming from the killing of a Frontier Corps soldier during protests in Gwadar in July 2024.
She was found guilty alongside fellow BYC leader Sibghatullah of the murder of paramilitary personnel Shabbir Ahmed and other terrorism-related offences. Under Sections 302(b), 147, and 148 of the Pakistan Penal Code, both were sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to pay Rs200,000 each in compensation to the victim’s heirs, with failure to pay carrying an additional six months’ imprisonment. Both life sentences are to run concurrently.
Review decision: HRCP
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan deplored the conviction of Dr Mahrang Baloch and other BYC members. “Regrettably, the state has continued its policy of dealing with advocacy for fundamental rights in the same way as it deals with militancy, leading to executive and judicial decisions that are lopsided and prejudiced,” HRCP said in a statement on X. It called for a review of the ATC’s decision at the earliest and the initiation of political dialogue in Balochistan.
Balochistan Bar Council expresses concern
The Balochistan Bar Council condemned the life sentences handed to Dr Mahrang Baloch and Sibghatullah Baloch, expressing serious concern over convictions secured through a jail trial that proceeded without the presence of the accused or their lawyers.
‘No fair trial’
Former senator and rights defender Farhatullah Babar linked the sentencing to earlier convictions of activists Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha. “Sentencing Mahrang Baloch today and earlier Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha for long years in jail for standing by victims of enforced disappearances is a travesty of due process and fair trial,” he wrote on X.
Journalist and HRCP Co-Chair Munizae Jahangir said there had been no fair trial or due process in the case. “The state must ensure she gets that, otherwise those advocating for independence and resorting to violence will be encouraged and will point to the injustice meted out to BYC leaders who have been peaceful and believed in the constitution of Pakistan,” she wrote. “What a shame that we are punishing those standing for enforced disappearances — in history this will be remembered as another grave mistake which will weaken democracy and the state.”
Journalist and author Mubashir Zaidi strongly condemned the sentences. “Their only crime was to protest peacefully. Our state will never learn,” he wrote, adding the hashtag #IStandWithMahrangBaloch.
‘Conviction undermines peaceful political solution in Balochistan’
Senior journalist Mariana Baabar said the conviction had undermined efforts for a peaceful political solution in Balochistan. “When you shut the door for peaceful political solution, history is a guide to show there is only one other door to open — in desperation — one that Mahrang Baloch avoided all her life,” she wrote on X.
Former senator and rights defender Afrasiab Khattak said the conviction reflected a myopic and colonial outlook. “Conviction of the BYC leader Dr Mahrang Baloch and her colleagues for life shuts the doors for peaceful political solution. It’s a colonial and myopic policy that prefers violence over peace. The ones who insisted on talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan are rejecting negotiations with the Baloch,” he wrote.
Lawyer and activist Moniza Kakar called the sentence an outrageous attack on human rights and democratic freedoms. “Criminalising peaceful dissent will neither bring justice nor silence legitimate demands for rights and accountability,” she said on X.
Front Line Defenders condemns conviction
Ireland-based international rights organisation Front Line Defenders — which focuses on protecting human rights defenders at risk — condemned the life sentence handed to Dr Mahrang Baloch and Sibghatullah by the ATC.
“According to reports, the trial was conducted in jail. Dr Mahrang and Sibghatullah were falsely charged and sentenced in relation to the death of a security official during a BYC protest in Gwadar,” FLD said in a statement on Facebook. It noted that Dr Mahrang’s sister and legal team had raised serious concerns about the use of jail trials and video-link hearings, which they said were inconsistent with principles of transparency, public accountability, and fair trial standards. “We strongly condemn these sentences and call for authorities to immediately drop the charges and sentence against Dr Mahrang and Sibghatullah. We stand in full solidarity with all Baloch human rights defenders,” FLD added.
PEN Norway calls for quashing conviction
PEN Norway and the Narges Foundation — founded by Iranian Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi — expressed deep concern over the life sentence. In a joint statement, they said they had followed Dr Mahrang Baloch’s case closely since her arrest in March 2025, and that PEN Norway had previously raised concerns directly with Pakistan’s Ambassador to Norway regarding her detention and the broader pattern of restrictions faced by Baloch human rights defenders.
“We call on the Pakistani authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ms Mahrang Baloch and other detained BYC activists, and to quash the convictions against her and Sibghatullah. We urge the authorities to halt their crackdown on civil society and end the arbitrary detention of human rights defenders, as well as the criminalisation of peaceful activism,” the statement said.
United Nations human rights experts have repeatedly expressed grave concern over Dr Mahrang Baloch’s detention, demanding her immediate release and urging Pakistan to stop using counter-terrorism laws to target human rights defenders.
The UN Committee against Torture also referenced her case in its concluding observations on Pakistan’s second periodic report, presented at its meeting in April this year, calling on the state to “review the situation of all persons who have allegedly been detained and imprisoned on political grounds or in retaliation for their work” — listing Dr Mahrang Baloch alongside former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, Idris Khattak, and Ali Wazir — and to ensure all detainees have access to adequate medical care.