5 United Nations (UN) consultants on Wednesday expressed alarm over the conviction of legal professionals Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chatta.
Final month, an Islamabad classes courtroom had sentenced Imaan and Hadi to a complete of 17 years in jail on a number of expenses in a case pertaining to controversial social media posts.
In a joint assertion on Wednesday, UN particular rapporteurs Margaret Satterthwaite, Ben Saul, Mary Lawlor, Irene Khan and Gina Romero famous that the 2 have been convicted on a number of prison expenses, which resulted in prolonged jail sentences “for merely exercising rights assured by worldwide human rights legislation”.
“Attorneys, like different people, are entitled to freedom of expression. The train of this proper ought to by no means be conflated with prison conduct, particularly not terrorism,” they have been quoted as saying, whereas additionally emphasising the obscure definition of terrorism-related offences underneath Pakistan’s counter-terrorism framework.
“Doing so dangers undermining and criminalising the work of legal professionals and human rights defenders throughout Pakistan and has a chilling impact on civil society within the nation,” the consultants stated.
In response to the assertion, the consultants noticed that these weren’t the primary prosecutions in opposition to the 2 legal professionals, “who’ve been the topic of 10 prison complaints since 2022, a few of which stay pending” however have been by no means beforehand convicted of wrongdoing.
“This sample of prosecutions suggests an arbitrary use of the authorized system as an instrument of harassment and intimidation to be able to punish them for his or her work advocating for victims of alleged human rights violations,” they stated.
“States should guarantee legal professionals are usually not topic to prosecution for any skilled motion, and that legal professionals are usually not recognized with their shoppers,” the UN consultants stated.
“Worldwide requirements present a set of procedural ensures that should be made accessible to individuals charged with a prison offence, however these seem to have been undermined on this case,” the consultants stated.
“These violations significantly threaten the equity of the trial and conviction,” they added.
UN particular rapporteurs are unbiased consultants mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to report their findings. They don’t converse within the title of the United Nations itself.
In response to the assertion, the UN consultants “have contacted Pakistan concerning their issues”.
On January 29, the Worldwide Fee of Jurists (ICJ) and its associate organisations had revealed a joint assertion condemning the “arbitrary arrest” and conviction of the 2 legal professionals and known as for his or her launch.
Individually, the United Nations Human Rights Workplace additionally stated that the conviction and sentencing of the couple “following honest trial issues” was deeply disturbing”.
The European Union’s (EU) Spokesperson for Overseas Affairs and Safety Coverage Anouar El Anouni had additionally raised issues over the conviction of Imaan and Hadi. The EU official stated their convictions “over social media exercise goes in opposition to freedom of expression and independence of legal professionals”.
“These are usually not solely key democratic rules but in addition a part of [Pakistan’s] worldwide human rights commitments,” Anouni stated.
Further enter from AFP
