Dr. Mahrang Baloch is serving two life sentences in Pakistan on politically motivated terrorism charges. She is the founder of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, a network of activists dedicated to peaceful advocacy for Pakistan’s Baloch minority, and she regularly organizes demonstrations and events to highlight the enforced disappearance, torture, and killing of Baloch people. She was arrested in March 2025 at a peaceful sit-in, — where she was protesting the death of three individuals who had been killed at a demonstration the previous day — and eventually convicted under Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act.
Dr. Baloch’s work is personal. Her father was abducted in 2009 and again in 2011, and was later found dead, bearing marks of torture. Her brother was abducted and released in December 2017, and forcibly disappeared again in November 2022.
In a letter from prison, Dr. Baloch writes of her experience in prison, her memory of her father, and how losing him and others close to her led her to her life’s work.
I am writing this letter from Hudda Jail in Balochistan, where I have been imprisoned for raising my voice against injustice and human rights violations. 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.
The pain of my childhood eventually became a responsibility that shaped my life. I joined the struggle against enforced disappearances because I could not accept a reality in which families spend years searching for their loved ones, mothers wait endlessly for their children, and people are punished for demanding answers. Whenever a disappeared person returns home, I experience a joy that reminds me of my father’s release. These moments reaffirm my belief that even the smallest step toward justice gives meaning to our struggle.”
Against the backdrop of her childhood, Dr. Baloch explains the critical importance of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee’s commitment to peaceful activism, despite the cost. In her letter, she highlights the cases of colleagues who are imprisoned alongside her, including Beebow Baloch and Gulzadi Baloch, and of Nazar Mari Baloch, who was forcibly disappeared.
The movement I represent emerged from the suffering of our people and the urgent need to challenge enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and other human rights violations through collective, peaceful resistance …. We chose peaceful political struggle because we believe that injustice must be confronted through truth, collective strength, and a commitment to human dignity. This commitment has come at a tremendous cost. Our members have faced arrests, criminal cases, intimidation, and enforced disappearances. Families seeking answers about their missing loved ones have themselves faced pressure, while the peaceful demand for fundamental human rights has become increasingly dangerous in Balochistan.”
Dr. Baloch’s trial was rife with due process violations and her hearings were held inside prison, yet she was only allowed to participate via video. Not only was she denied the right to fully participate, journalists and other external observers were also denied access to the trial.
A trial cannot deliver genuine justice when the accused are excluded from the process and their objections to its fairness remain unaddressed. The right to a fair trial requires more than a formal court proceeding; it requires a meaningful opportunity to participate, challenge evidence, consult legal counsel, and defend oneself before an impartial court.”
Today, despite reports that her health has deteriorated in prison, Dr. Baloch is as committed as ever to peaceful advocacy for the Baloch people.
Yet imprisonment has not changed my convictions. I continue to believe that every human being deserves dignity, that every family has the right to know the fate of a disappeared loved one, and that no one should be persecuted for peacefully demanding justice.
I do not consider my own suffering separate from the suffering of my people. My greatest concern has never been simply when I will walk out of this prison. It is when families across Balochistan will no longer have to search for their disappeared loved ones, when young people will be able to express their political beliefs without fear, and when the demand for justice will no longer be treated as a crime.”
As HRF honors all political prisoners in the lead-up to the International Day of Political Prisoners on Oct. 30, we echo Dr. Baloch’s statement of solidarity with all those who are detained for their beliefs, and her vision of a future in which people can live freely and with dignity.
I also want to express my solidarity with every political prisoner who continues to endure imprisonment for their beliefs and with every family that refuses to give up searching for a loved one. Their courage reminds me that even in the darkest circumstances, people can preserve their humanity and their hope for a different future.
I remain convinced that fear cannot be the permanent foundation of any society. Prisons may confine individuals, but they cannot permanently contain the desire for freedom, dignity, and justice.”
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.
I write with the hope that the international community will not allow the suffering of the Baloch people to remain unseen. I ask you to listen to the families searching for their loved ones, examine the evidence of human rights violations, and stand for the principles of justice, dignity, and accountability. The people of Balochistan deserve to have their voices heard, their rights respected, and their suffering acknowledged.”
This letter was provided to HRF in English, as translated by a contact close to Dr. Mahrang Baloch.
