QUETTA (TIP): A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has sentenced prominent civil rights activist Mahrang Baloch and an associate to life in prison over the killing of a paramilitary soldier during a July 2024 protest.
Baloch’s lawyer said he ?would appeal against the verdict.
Baloch, who has been detained since March 2025, has been a vocal opponent of enforced disappearances and alleged human rights violations in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, where ethnic separatists have waged a decades-long insurgency.
“Those who take the law into their own hands under the guise of peaceful protest, promote violence, and target state officials are in fact facilitators of terrorism,” ?Bugti said.
The Quetta anti-terrorism court said it found Baloch and Sibghatullah guilty of murder and terrorism-related offences.
The court said Baloch had incited protesters to attack paramilitary personnel deployed at the protest and that eyewitness and medical evidence supported the prosecution case.
BYCorganiser Lala Abdul Baloch called it a “faceless” trial and warned more Baloch youth would likely choose resistance.
“When you close access to the corridors of justice then more people will rise up against the state,” he said, ?adding the group has called a province-wide strike to protest the court’s decision.
Baloch’s lawyer, Israr Jattak, said on Wednesday the verdict would be challenged in the Balochistan High Court.
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