HRF, Freedom House, and Hindus for Human Rights Petition UN in Case of Dr. Mahrang Baloch
NEW YORK (Aug. 5, 2026) — The Human Rights Foundation (HRF), Freedom House, and Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) filed a petition with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on behalf of renowned Baloch human rights defender, Dr. Mahrang Baloch, who is serving a life sentence in Pakistan. The petition calls on the WGAD to declare her detention arbitrary under international law and to demand her immediate and unconditional release.
Dr. Baloch is one of the most prominent voices in the movement for human rights for the Baloch community, an ethnic minority that has faced repeated repression and discrimination in Pakistan. She is the founder of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), a network of activists dedicated to nonviolent advocacy on behalf of the Baloch people. Through BYC, she has organized peaceful protests across Balochistan to protest issues such as the enforced disappearance and custodial torture and deaths of Baloch people, including her own father and brother.
Her work has received international recognition, earning her a place on the TIME 100 Next List and the BBC’s 100 Women list in 2024. For her work, she and her family have repeatedly faced repression in Pakistan, including at least 50 arbitrary police complaints filed against her, used as a form of legal harassment.
On March 22, 2025, Dr. Baloch was arrested at a peaceful sit-in where she was calling attention to the killing of three protesters the previous day. Her fate and whereabouts were unknown for around 15 hours after her arrest. She was initially detained on grounds of ensuring “public safety” under Pakistan’s Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance. Pakistani officials later suddenly brought new charges against her under the Anti-Terrorism Act, a law that has frequently been weaponized to target activists, including members of the Baloch community. In an op-ed published in The Guardian in April of this year, Dr. Baloch recounts her treatment in detention, including a year of solitary confinement.
Dr. Baloch’s trial was riddled with due process violations. She was arrested without a warrant or stated reason, had no access to a lawyer until one month after her arrest, and was presented before a partial judge more than three months after her arrest. From September 26, 2025 on, all of her hearings were held in prison behind closed doors, and Dr. Baloch was only permitted to participate via remote video. After an expedited trial without substantive evidence to support the charges, Dr. Baloch was sentenced on June 22, 2026 to two terms of life in prison on charges of “terrorism” under legal provisions that multiple UN Special Procedures have found to be vague and ill-defined.
Dr. Baloch’s life sentence is a clear effort to silence the dissent of the Baloch people by targeting one of their most effective and prominent leaders, said HRF Legal & Research Officer Hannah Van Dijcke and International Legal Associate Kaitie Holland. This sentence is the culmination of Pakistan’s long effort to deter Dr. Baloch.
Dr. Baloch has become a symbol for the struggle of the Baloch people to demand that the Pakistani state uphold the rights of the Baloch people. And her detention is yet another attempt by Pakistan to crush rights movements, like the Baloch Yakhjehti Committee, said HfHR Senior Policy Director Ria Chakrabarty. Dr. Baloch’s detention is part of a long history of weaponization of anti-terror laws to silence dissent across South Asia.
The life sentence imposed on Dr. Baloch is a grim reminder of Pakistan’s persecution of human rights defenders, particularly those advocating for the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, said Brian Tronic, Director of the Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners at Freedom House. Pakistan should release Dr. Baloch immediately.
HRF, Freedom House, and Hindus for Human Rights have requested that the WGAD determine that Dr. Baloch’s detention is arbitrary in violation of international law and demand her immediate release.
HRF’s Impact Litigation Program is made possible through the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation and the Rising Tide Foundation.
