Pakistan: Rights activist Mahrang Baloch remains detained despite acquittal by court

Quetta, Dec 4 Human rights body Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) on Thursday severely condemned the continued nine-month detention of its chief organiser, Mahrang Baloch and the other leaders, despite Pakistan's continued inability to present substantive legal proof against them.

The rights body stated that Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Karachi acquitted the BYC chief in one case, which it said is "judicially recognised as fabricated, baseless, and unsupported by any admissible evidence.”

However, the ruling brought no relief as Mahrang Baloch, along with other BYC leaders and activists, remains in prolonged detention on multiple “fabricated” cases, turning the acquittal into a hollow gesture and sparking severe human rights concerns.

According to the BYC, the accusations of sedition and incitement of public disorder, filed in October, against Mahrang Baloch were deemed devoid of factual foundation and legally unsustainable.

“The case, registered on October 11, 2024, at the Quaidabad Police Station in Karachi’s Malir District, was found to fall short of even the minimal evidentiary threshold required to justify prosecution. The court observed that the investigative record contained no credible material linking Baloch to any offence and no evidence capable of supporting a lawful conviction under the Anti-Terrorism Act or the Pakistan Penal Code," read a statement issued by the rights body.

The BYC stated that on its written order, the court held that "there is no likelihood of the accused being involved in any offence or of her being convicted," confirming that the charges were without "probative value, lacked investigative integrity, and represented a clear misapplication of criminal law".

Highlighting the other cases against the BYC chief and its leaders that have resulted in their prolonged detention, the rights body further said, “Importantly, the remaining cases filed against Mahrang Baloch and her colleagues are likewise widely viewed as fabricated, following the same pattern of unsupported allegations and politically motivated assertions.”

The BYC emphasised that the pattern reflected a broader and deeply concerning trend in which Pakistani authorities employ legal and counterterrorism frameworks as "instruments of coercion" against human rights defenders, rather than as tools for justice and public safety.

“The reliance on bogus charges in the absence of evidence constitutes a misuse of prosecutorial discretion, undermines constitutional guarantees of due process, and threatens the foundational principles of the rule of law," the BYC stressed.

The rights body urged international human rights bodies, legal observer missions, and United Nations special procedures to monitor the situation. Continued scrutiny and engagement, it said, are essential to ensure that Mahrang Baloch, her colleagues, and other detained BYC activists are afforded their “full legal rights, protected from politically motivated prosecutions, and granted immediate relief from unjust detention”.

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