Pakistani rights lawyer Imaan Mazari-Hazir was arrested alongside her husband Hadi Ali Chattha on Friday, according to her mother, politician and former minister Shireen Mazari.

The couple face trial over posts shared on X that the state alleges were "targeting important state institutions of Pakistan" under sections relating to cyber-terrorism, hate speech and false and fake information.

"Imaan Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha have been arrested and put in separate cars and taken away to unknown locations," Mazari wrote on X on Friday.

What do we know about the arrest?

Mazari-Hazir and Chattha were taken into custody while they were en route to court, moving from the Islamabad High Court, according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. They were accompanied by the Islamabad High Court Bar president and secretary at the time of their arrest.

Hours after their arrest, Mazari said on X that she was unaware of their whereabouts.

"Our lawyers had taken water and some dry fruit for them & medicine for Imaan but were denied access," Mazari wrote, alleging that police used violence against the couple during their arrest.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan strongly condemned the couple's arrest and called for their immediate release.

"Arresting lawyers in the presence of the bar leadership and taking them to an undisclosed police station constitutes grave abuse of authority and contempt for due process," it wrote on X.

Pakistan's Interior Ministry said in a statement that the arrest "was not the over the expression of views or criticism of institutions, but procedural conduct within an ongoing trial."

"Presenting the outcome solely through a lens of persecution risks overlooking the complexity of a prolonged legal process and the responsibilities of all parties involved," the ministry said.

Why was the couple arrested?

Mazari-Hazir, 32, is a human rights defender critical of the Pakistani military.

In August 2025, a case was filed against her and her husband over content she posted on her X account critical of Pakistani security forces regarding missing persons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, Pakistani website Dawn reported.

The posts, which were later reposted by her husband, also cast doubt on the efficiency of security forces' efforts against militant groups such as the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The duo filed a petition in December to the Islamabad High Court, calling for their case to be transferred to another judge. The alleged instances of bias and procedural irregularities.

Nevertheless, a judge canceled their bail on January 15 and ordered their arrest the next day.

"This baseless trial of Imaan Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha is a blatant abuse of the justice system," Babu Ram Pant, Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director for South Asia, said in reaction to the canceled bail. "Pakistani authorities must end the judicial harassment and coercive tactics used to silence dissent and intimidate those who defend human rights."

Since Tuesday, the couple had been confined to the Islamabad High Court's premises, spending nights at a lawyers' association building.

Edited by: Sean Sinico

Editor's note: Following the publication of this article, the rights lawyer and her husband were sentenced to 10 years in prison. A statement from Pakistan's Interior Ministry was added to this article on January 28, 2026.