Lawyers Imaan Mazari, Hadi Chattha awarded prestigious human rights prize for advocacy work

Prominent lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha, currently serving jail sentences, have been awarded the prestigious Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize for their advocacy work, it emerged on Tuesday. According to the official website, the prize is the world’s oldest and most prestigious human rights honour awarded to lawyers, established in honour of French lawyer Ludovic Trarieux who founded the League for the Defence of Human and Citizen Rights in 1898. The first recipient of the award was Nelson Mandela in 1985, while he was imprisoned under South Africa’s apartheid regime. An official press release issued by the Forensic Union for the Protection of Human Rights (UFDU) on Saturday said the award “is presented annually to a lawyer who, through his or her professional commitment, has made an extraordinary contribution to the defence of human rights, the rule of law, and the fight against racism and all forms of intolerance.” The award ceremony took place in Rome, at the Parlamentino Hall of the National Bar Council, in the presence of Antonino Galletti, Coordinator of the European and International Law Commission at the National Bar Council, said the statement. The press release noted that throughout his career, Hadi has represented people accused of blasphemy, victims of sexual violence and enforced disappearances, and death row inmates. Mazari, meanwhile, “has distinguished herself by providing legal assistance to victims of violence and persecution and by supporting vulnerable religious and ethnic communities”, the statement said. “Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha have shared a long-standing professional commitment to defending fundamental freedoms, representing journalists, activists, victims of enforced disappearances, and individuals prosecuted for blasphemy charges,” it added, noting that in recent years, this work was set against a backdrop of “growing pressure on lawyers and human rights defenders in Pakistan” according to