A court in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan on Monday sentenced prominent Baloch rights activist Dr. Mahrang Baloch and fellow activist Sibghatullah to life imprisonment after convicting them of inciting a mob that killed a Frontier Corps soldier during a protest in Gwadar in 2024.
The verdict was handed down by Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Muhammad Ali Mobeen, who found both accused guilty under Sections 302(b), 147 and 148 of the Pakistan Penal Code for participating in an unlawful assembly and instigating the mob that led to the death of FC Sepoy Shabir Ahmed.
“The accused persons Dr. Mahrang Baloch and Sibghatullah were active participants of the unlawful assembly of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee and shared the common objective of committing the murder of deceased FC official Shabir Ahmed,” the court ruled.
“I hold both the accused guilty of murdering Shabir Ahmed under Section 302(b) read with Sections 147 and 148 of the Pakistan Penal Code. Each of them is sentenced to imprisonment for life,” the verdict stated.
Dr. Mahrang, head of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), was placed under administrative detention in March 2025 on charges including terrorism, sedition and murder following a protest. The case stems from a BYC demonstration held in Gwadar in July 2024 against alleged enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and the exploitation of natural resources in Balochistan.