False criminal cases including sedition charges filed against Baloch woman human rights defender Dr. Mahrang Baloch
On 07 June 2024, Pakistan authorities filed a First Information Report (FIR), including false sedition charges, against Baloch woman human rights defender Dr. Mahrang Baloch. The FIR is linked to a full day conference held by Mahrang Baloch in the Quetta Press Club on 18 May 2024, which was unjustly disrupted by local authorities.
Dr. Mahrang Baloch is a woman human rights defender based in Balochistan, and a leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) campaigning against unlawful enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings by the Pakistani authorities in the Balochistan Province. Balochistan is a region that has experienced decades of violence, and systemic abuses by Pakistan authorities. This includes the military, intelligence agencies and armed groups that continue to target local commmunities and human rights defenders who seek to document and advocate against the violations. In November 2023, Dr. Mahrang Baloch was a key figure in the Baloch Long March, organized in response to the extra judicial killing of a Baloch youth in Turbut, Balochistan and which galvanized into a peaceful march calling for an end to the atrocities including enforced diappearances and killings. Authorities responded with violence and reprisals against peaceful protesters, including Dr. Mahrang Baloch.
On 07 June 2024, Pakistan authorities filed a First Information Report (FIR), including false sedition charges, against Baloch woman human rights defender Dr. Mahrang Baloch. The FIR is linked to a full day conference held by Mahrang Baloch in the Quetta Press Club on 18 May 2024, which was unjustly disrupted by local authorities.
Dr. Mahrang Baloch is a woman human rights defender based in Balochistan, and a leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) campaigning against unlawful enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings by the Pakistani authorities in the Balochistan Province. Balochistan is a region that has experienced decades of violence, and systemic abuses by Pakistan authorities. This includes the military, intelligence agencies and armed groups that continue to target local commmunities and human rights defenders who seek to document and advocate against the violations. In November 2023, Dr. Mahrang Baloch was a key figure in the Baloch Long March, organized in response to the extra judicial killing of a Baloch youth in Turbut, Balochistan and which galvanized into a peaceful march calling for an end to the atrocities including enforced diappearances and killings. Authorities responded with violence and reprisals against peaceful protesters, including Dr. Mahrang Baloch.
On 07 June 2024, a FIR bearing number 61/24 was filed against Dr. Mahrang Baloch, including charges of sedition linked to a conference held on 18 May 2024. The event, which was due to take place at the Quetta Press Club, was disrupted by local police, who locked the gates to the press club in order to prevent the BYC members from attending the full day conference. No clear reasons were provided for the unlawful blockade on the press club. When BYC members entered the premises, the SSP Operation and Quetta DIG cordoned off the press club building and the Quetta Metropolitan Corporation (QMC) office until the conference was concluded. Undettered by the threats, intimidation and reprisal, the BYC continued the planned event, which highlighted human rights issues in Balochistan. There was particular emphasis on the rights and concerns of residents in Gwadar – a coastal town in Balochistan – where residents have experienced increasing militarization and attempts to forcibly displace local populations. This displacement has been motivated by the desire to make way for state development programs, linked to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor and the building of a new port.
The FIR filed on 7 June against Dr. Mahrang Baloch accuses her and BYC members of several offences, including unlawful assembly, deterring public servants from discharging their duty, rioting, condemnation of the creation of the state, advocacy of the abolition of its sovereignty, and sedition. Dr. Mahrang Baloch also faces two separate FIRs filed during the Baloch Long March in 2023, which includes serious offences of supporting militancy and terrorism.
Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the false criminal cases filed against Dr. Mahrang Baloch, including the sedition and the targeting of members of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee. The organisation believes these attacks to be a reprisal for their peaceful campaigns against atrocities in Balochistan. The State has consistently sought to frame Baloch human rights defenders as terrorists, militants and anti-state, targetting them through legal and extra legal measures such as threats, intimidation and opening of false legal cases as punishment for their human rights work. Women human rights defenders, including families of the disappeared, are forced to work and campaign in extremely hostile conditions when responding to the threats. They also face disinformation and misinformation campaigns, propagated by the state and aimed at discrediting and silencing their work.
Front Line Defenders calls on the authorities in Pakistan to immediately drop all charges against Dr. Mahrang Baloch, end the reprisals against Baloch human rights defenders and create an enabling environment where human rights defenders in Pakistan can carry out their work safely and with dignity.
