Quetta, August 7, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) has welcomed a petition filed before the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) by international human rights organisations seeking intervention in the case of its leader and human rights defender Mahrang Baloch, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment in Pakistan.
The petition, filed by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), Freedom House, and Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR), urged the UN panel to declare Mahrang Baloch’s detention arbitrary under international law and called for her immediate and unconditional release.
On June 22, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court sentenced four activists, including Mahrang Baloch, to life imprisonment in connection with a case related to the killing of a Frontier Corps official.
The organisations alleged that the proceedings against Mahrang were marked by serious due process violations. They claimed that she was arrested last year without a warrant or explanation, denied access to legal representation for nearly a month after her arrest, and was produced before a judge after more than three months in custody.
Calling her conviction part of a broader effort to suppress peaceful activism in Balochistan, HRF Legal and Research Officer Hannah Van Dijcke and International Legal Associate Kaitie Holland said the life sentence was aimed at silencing dissent and targeting one of the most prominent voices advocating for Baloch rights.
“Dr. Baloch has become a symbol of the struggle of the Baloch people to demand that the Pakistani state uphold their rights. Her detention is another attempt to suppress rights movements such as the Baloch Yakjehti Committee,” said HfHR Senior Policy Director Ria Chakrabarty.
Freedom House’s Director of the Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners, Brian Tronic, also urged Pakistani authorities to release Mahrang Baloch, saying her sentencing highlighted concerns over the treatment of human rights defenders, particularly those representing ethnic and religious minorities.
The BYC expressed gratitude to the organisations for taking the matter to the UN and appealed to the international community, human rights institutions and civil society groups to increase pressure on Pakistani authorities for the release of Mahrang Baloch and other detained BYC leaders.
The committee also called for an end to what it described as the persecution of human rights defenders in Balochistan.
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