Who Is Mahrang Baloch? Rights Campaigner For Missing Persons Sentenced To Life In Pakistan

Last Updated:June 24, 2026, 16:33 IST

Her organisation, BYC, campaigns against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan, which has been the site of a decades-long struggle for more autonomy.

A 33-year-old human rights activist, who had spent years in campaigning against enforced disappearances in the Pakistani province of Balochistan, was on Monday given life sentence by a Pakistani court on murder and terror charges.

Who is Mahrang Baloch?

Mahrang is one of the most prominent campaigners for Pakistan’s Baloch minority. She was arrested in March last year and later charged with terrorism, sedition and murder.

Listed as one of the BBC’s 100 Women of 2024, she began campaigning after her father was allegedly taken by security service officers in 2009 and found dead two years later with signs of torture.

In 2023, she led hundreds of women on 1,600km march to Islamabad seeking justice for missing family members.

According to BBC, her organisation, the BYC, campaigns against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan, which has been the site of a decades-long struggle for more autonomy.

The BYC has frequently rejected Pakistan’s allegations that it has links to Baloch militants.

Held since 2025, Mahrang’s case has become a symbol of the broader crackdown on Baloch activists, with supporters citing reports of declining health in solitary confinement and the alleged targeting of relatives, including cousins who reportedly disappeared.

On Monday, the court stated that Baloch was an active participant in the “unlawful assembly" and “shared the common object of committing the murder" of the paramilitiary force member.

The activist had reportedly boycotted the court hearings “because we didn’t have any trust in the court. This wasn’t an ordinary case".

Following the order, Amnesty International called for the immediate release of Mahrang Baloch and other activists detained in the case.

“This verdict, which is an affront to the right to a fair trial, demonstrates how Pakistan’s anti-terrorism laws are being cynically misused to silence peaceful dissent," said Isabelle Lassee, Amnesty International’s Acting Regional Director for South Asia, in a statement on Tuesday.

She added that Mahrang Baloch and BYC organisers “are being targeted solely for their human rights work".

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