Geneva, Feb 4 : Several United Nations (UN) experts on Wednesday expressed alarm at the conviction of Pakistani lawyers and human rights defenders Imaan Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha on multiple criminal charges, which resulted in lengthy prison sentences, for simply exercising rights guaranteed by international human rights law.

"Lawyers, like other individuals, are entitled to freedom of expression. The exercise of this right should never be conflated with criminal conduct, especially not terrorism," the experts said, emphasising the broad and vague definition of terrorism-related offences under Pakistanâ??s counter-terrorism framework.

"Doing so risks undermining and criminalising the work of lawyers and human rights defenders across Pakistan and has a chilling effect on civil society in the country," they added in a statement released by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHHCR), the leading UN entity on human rights.

In August 2025, a criminal prosecution was initiated against Mazari-Hazir for posting on X and against Ali Chattha for sharing and reposting her posts. On January 24 this year, Mazari-Hazir and Ali Chattha were convicted of offences under sections 9 (glorification of an offence), 10 (cyber-terrorism) and 26-A (false and fake information) of Pakistanâ??s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016. They each received multiple concurrent sentences of imprisonment, totalling 17 years, with the longest being a 10-year sentence for cyber-terrorism. They were also fined a total of 36 million rupees each.

The UN experts observed that these are not the first prosecutions against the two lawyers, who have been the subject of 10 criminal complaints since 2022, some of which remain pending. They have never previously been convicted of wrongdoing.

"This pattern of prosecutions suggests an arbitrary use of the legal system as an instrument of harassment and intimidation in order to punish them for their work advocating for victims of alleged human rights violations," they said. "States must ensure lawyers are not subject to prosecution for any professional action, and that lawyers are not identified with their clients."

The proceedings against the two lawyers progressed with worrying speed. Mazari-Hazir and Ali Chattha reportedly had inadequate time to prepare their defence. They also encountered obstacles in accessing counsel of their choosing and evidence was taken from prosecution witnesses in their absence.

"International standards provide a set of procedural guarantees that must be made available to persons charged with a criminal offence, but these appear to have been undermined in this case," the experts said. "These violations seriously threaten the fairness of the trial and conviction."

UN experts, which included Margaret Satterthwaite (Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers), Ben Saul (Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism), Mary Lawlor (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders), Irene Khan (Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression) and Gina Romero (Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association), have also contacted Pakistan regarding their concerns, the OHHCR stated.

/IANS