Islamabad, November 9, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) has called for the immediate release of Baloch activist Mahrang Baloch from prison in Pakistan and urged authorities to provide her with medical care, citing concerns over her health and the fairness of legal proceedings against her.
Mahrang, founder of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), is serving two life sentences on terrorism charges that HRF has described as politically motivated. She had regularly organised protests and events highlighting alleged enforced disappearances, torture and killings of Baloch people.
She was arrested in March 2025 during a peaceful sit-in organised to protest the deaths of three people who had been killed at a demonstration the previous day. She was subsequently convicted under Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act.
According to HRF’s statement published in Genocide Watch, Mahrang’s activism was shaped by her family’s experiences of alleged state repression. Her father, Ghaffar Baloch, was reportedly abducted in 2009 and again in 2011 before being found with signs of torture. Her brother was also reportedly abducted and released in December 2017, before being forcibly disappeared again in 2022.
In a letter from prison, Mahrang reflected on her father’s imprisonment and her decision to campaign against enforced disappearances.
“Behind these walls, separated from my people and the world outside, I often reflect on the meaning of freedom, the price of resistance, and the responsibility we carry toward those whose voices have been silenced. For me, imprisonment is not an unfamiliar reality. My understanding of state violence began long before I entered this jail. My father, Ghaffar Baloch, was imprisoned here, and as a child, I visited him with Eid cards,” she wrote.
She said the experiences of her childhood shaped her commitment to families searching for missing relatives and added that every return of a disappeared person reaffirmed her belief in the struggle for justice.
HRF also raised concerns over the conduct of her trial, alleging violations of due process. It said hearings were held inside the prison, Mahrang was allowed to participate only through video, and journalists and other observers were barred from attending. The organisation also cited reports of deterioration in her health while in custody.
“HRF demands that Pakistan release Dr. Baloch and provide her with medical care, and we join her in calling on the international community to stand up for freedom — for the Baloch people and for political prisoners everywhere,” the organisation said.
In September, Mahrang had alleged that Pakistani authorities offered detained Baloch activists the option of settling in Europe in exchange for abandoning their peaceful political struggle. In a statement posted on X, she claimed they were offered a deal under which one activist would be released to act on the authorities’ instructions, with the remaining detainees to be freed later.
She said the activists rejected the proposals, insisting that their struggle was not for personal gain or temporary concessions.
Mahrang also criticised a Pakistani court’s September 21 decision to sentence BYC leader Gulzadi Baloch to life imprisonment. She alleged that the trial involved procedural irregularities, including the cross-examination of witnesses without defence counsel and insufficient opportunity for the defence to present its case.
Calling the verdict an example of the alleged suppression of peaceful political voices in Balochistan, she said the sentence would not silence their campaign against injustice.
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