Quetta, Aug 7 (IANS) Human rights organisation Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) welcomed a petition filed by several international human rights groups with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on behalf of its leader and human rights defender Mahrang Baloch, who is serving a life sentence in Pakistan, describing her detention as “arbitrary”.
The petition filed by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), Freedom House, and Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) urged the WGAD to declare Mahrang Baloch’s detention arbitrary under international law and to demand her immediate and unconditional release.
On June 22, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court sentenced four activists, including Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leader Mahrang Baloch, to life imprisonment in connection with a case relating to the killing of a Frontier Corps official.
Highlighting that her trial was riddled with “due process violations”, the organisations said that Mahrang Baloch was arrested last year without a warrant or stated reason, had no access to a lawyer until one month after her arrest, and was presented before a partial judge more than three months after being taken into custody.
Stressing that Mahrang’s recent sentencing is the culmination of Pakistan’s long effort to deter peaceful activism, HRF Legal and Research Officer Hannah Van Dijcke and International Legal Associate Kaitie Holland said, “Dr. Baloch’s life sentence is a clear effort to silence the dissent of the Baloch people by targeting one of their most effective and prominent leaders.”
“Dr. Baloch has become a symbol for the struggle of the Baloch people to demand that the Pakistani state uphold the rights of the Baloch people. And her detention is yet another attempt by Pakistan to crush rights movements, like the Baloch Yakjehti Committee,” said HfHR Senior Policy Director Ria Chakrabarty.
Brian Tronic, Director of the Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners at Freedom House, called on Pakistani authorities to release Mahrang Baloch immediately.
“The life sentence imposed on Dr. Baloch is a grim reminder of Pakistan’s persecution of human rights defenders, particularly those advocating for the rights of ethnic and religious minorities,” he added.
Expressing gratitude to HRF, Freedom House, and HfHR for bringing this case before the WGAD to examine it with the utmost urgency, the BYC further called on the wider international community, human rights bodies, and civil society to intensify pressure on Pakistani authorities to release Mahrang Baloch and all detained BYC leaders, and to end its persecution of human rights defenders in Balochistan.
–IANS
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