Pakistan Lawyer Faces 10 Years for Defending the Voiceless

Even from inside a courtroom facing a 10-year sentence, Imaan Mazari refused to back down. "We will keep fighting," the 32-year-old human rights lawyer told the judge on Tuesday.

Mazari has spent her career taking cases most lawyers avoid. She's defended ethnic minorities facing disappearance, journalists charged with defamation, and people accused of blasphemy in Pakistan.

Her work hasn't gone unnoticed by authorities. Last Saturday, an Islamabad court sentenced Mazari and her husband, fellow lawyer Hadi Ali Chattha, to 10 years in prison for "anti-state" social media posts.

The charges against her include "cyber terrorism" and "hate speech." Pakistan's military spokesperson called her one of the "hidden elements committing subtle crimes" under the "guise of democracy and human rights."

Why This Inspires

Mazari comes from privilege. Her mother served as Pakistan's human rights minister, and her late father was the country's top pediatrician. She graduated from the University of Edinburgh and could have chosen an easier path.

Instead, she works pro bono defending Pakistan's most marginalized communities. She's represented ethnic Balochs facing enforced disappearances, Afghans targeted by authorities, and activists who challenge the government.

The cost has been steep. She faces doctored photos and sexist attacks on social media. Her family receives constant threats. She's been arrested multiple times.

Yet international recognition has followed her courage. In 2025, the World Expression Forum gave her its Young Inspiration Award for "extraordinary courage, integrity, and impact." The U.N. special rapporteur for human rights defenders said the cases against her "appear to reflect an arbitrary use of the legal system to harass and intimidate."

Journalist Asad Ali Toor, whom Mazari represented in multiple cases, said she proves "a constant challenge for the state" precisely because she defends "everybody who is directly or indirectly on the receiving end" of government power.

"Despite coming from a very well-off family, she has made her life considerably more difficult through the choices she has made," he said.

Her own mother, Shireen Mazari, said watching her daughter suffer for defending the "dispossessed and marginalized" has been difficult. But she's also proud. "When so many people are suffering, we expect she will also be made to suffer for speaking out," she said.

Standing in court, facing a decade behind bars, Mazari acknowledged the difficulty ahead. "Truth seems overwhelmingly difficult in this country," she said. But then she added something else: "We will not back down."