The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) has called on Pakistani authorities to release Dr Mahrang Baloch and provide her with adequate medical care, urging the international community to speak out over her imprisonment and the human rights situation in Balochistan.
In an article published on Sunday, the New York-based foundation described the terrorism charges against the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) chief organizer as “politically motivated” and raised concerns about the fairness of her trial.
HRF said Mahrang was arrested in March 2025 during a peaceful sit-in protesting the deaths of three people at a demonstration the previous day. She subsequently faced prosecution under Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act, it said.
The foundation said hearings were held inside prison, yet Mahrang was allowed to participate only by video link. It said she had been denied the right to take part effectively in the proceedings, while journalists and other outside observers were also barred from attending.
HRF also expressed concern over reports that her health had deteriorated in custody, reiterating its demand for her release and adequate medical care.
Ahead of the International Day of Political Prisoners on October 30, the foundation said it stood in solidarity with Mahrang and others imprisoned because of their political views and beliefs. It urged the international community to defend their freedom and fundamental rights.
Letter From Hudda Jail
The article included extracts from a letter in which Mahrang reflected on her imprisonment, her father and the experiences that led her to campaign against enforced disappearances.
She recalled visiting her father in Hudda Jail as a child, carrying Eid cards, and said losing him had shaped her work with families searching for missing relatives.
Mahrang said the BYC had chosen peaceful political struggle to challenge enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and other abuses. Its members had faced arrests, criminal cases, intimidation and enforced disappearances, she wrote.
“Yet imprisonment has not changed my convictions,” she said, explaining that her concerns extended beyond her own release to families seeking disappeared relatives and young people’s ability to express political beliefs without fear.
“Prisons may confine individuals, but they cannot permanently contain the desire for freedom, dignity, and justice,” she wrote.
Prison Trial
An anti-terrorism court in Quetta sentenced Mahrang and fellow BYC leader Sibghatullah Shahji to life imprisonment on June 22, 2026, over the killing of Frontier Corps soldier Shabir Ahmed during a protest in Gwadar.
Her legal team rejected the verdict and challenged the fairness of the proceedings, which her sister and legal team member Nadia Baloch described as a “faceless trial”. Balochistan government officials defended the ruling at the time, saying the trial had been fair and the evidence “undeniable”.
Read More | Life Sentence: Mahrang and the Trial of Balochistan’s Peaceful Politics — TBP Report