Pakistan Lawyers Rearrested Hours After Bail as UN Experts Demand Immediate Release

Mazari-Hazir and Chattha were rearrested on 17 September 2026 on terrorism-related charges linked to a March 2025 protest that authorities allege was illegal.

Human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha should be released immediately and the unfounded criminal and terrorism charges against them dropped, UN experts have urged, raising concerns that Pakistan's justice system is being used to punish their advocacy. The married couple's rearrest came just hours after the Supreme Court granted them bail, leaving them facing another period of detention over an older case connected to their participation in a protest.

An older protest case brings a fresh arrest

Mazari-Hazir and Chattha were rearrested on 17 September 2026 on terrorism-related charges linked to a March 2025 protest that authorities allege was illegal. The timing prompted the experts to question whether the prosecution was serving as punishment for the lawyers' public criticism and human rights work. Their intervention places the latest arrest within a series of proceedings they have followed since January, which they said appeared intended to punish and intimidate the couple and send a chilling message to other lawyers.

The experts had previously expressed alarm over the couple's conviction for social media posts supporting local activists and criticising the military. Their concerns now extend to the use of an older accusation immediately after a bail decision, a sequence they described as an apparent attempt to turn the criminal justice system into a means of retaliation against freedom of expression and human rights advocacy.

Detention continues after the bail decision

Following the rearrest, an Islamabad anti-terrorism court rejected a police request to hold and interrogate the couple for 30 days, ordering a 14-day judicial remand in jail instead. On 22 September 2026, an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad returned their bail petitions because the documents lacked signed powers of attorney. These developments left the lawyers confronting further detention and a procedural obstacle to having their new bail requests considered, despite the Supreme Court's earlier decision to grant them bail.

For the experts, the concern reaches beyond the circumstances of one married couple and into the ability of lawyers to work without fear of punishment. Successive prosecutions can carry a message to the wider profession about the risks of speaking publicly or defending human rights. The experts condemned the use of vague and overly broad counter-terrorism provisions to restrict rights and obstruct the lawyers' legitimate work promoting, protecting and defending human rights.

Lawyers need protection and access to care

International standards require governments to protect lawyers from intimidation, harassment and improper interference, including prosecution for carrying out recognised professional duties, the experts recalled. Those protections also cover lawyers' freedom of expression, making their ability to speak about public concerns part of the wider issue raised by this case. The experts called on Pakistan to drop every charge based on the couple's exercise of that freedom or their legitimate legal work and to order their immediate release.

Their appeal also addressed the couple's treatment in detention, stressing that both should already have adequate access to lawyers of their choice, their family and any adequate and necessary medical care. Those needs concern their ability to challenge the proceedings, maintain contact with loved ones and protect their health during imprisonment. The experts' demand places responsibility on Pakistan to safeguard the couple's rights and ensure that legal advocacy does not become a reason for punishment.