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Joint Statement November 13, 2026

Pakistan: Human Rights Organizations Call for Release of Political Prisoner Idris Khattak

Idris Khattak has been detained since November 13, 2019, because of his human rights work. 

 

On the seven-year anniversary of Idris Khattak’s detention in Pakistan, we, the undersigned organizations, call for his immediate and unconditional release. 

Idris Khattak is a well-known Pashtun human rights defender who spent decades documenting human rights abuses, including enforced disappearances, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas. On November 13, 2019, he was abducted and disappeared. For the next seven months, his family did not know whether he was alive or dead. 

In June 2020, Pakistani authorities finally admitted that Khattak was in the custody of the country’s military intelligence service. In late 2021, he was convicted by a military court of violating the notorious Official Secrets Act, a law that UN experts have described as “yet another means of silencing dissent from human rights defenders.” He was sentenced to 14 years in prison. His trial was marked by egregious due process violations—it was held in secret, he was denied access to counsel, a forced confession was introduced as evidence, the prosecution relied on secret evidence that was never shown to the defense, and he was not allowed to present key defense witnesses. 

Khattak’s detention has been widely condemned. UN special procedure mandate holders described his conviction as an “attack against the human rights community in Pakistan” and noted that his detention is “emblematic of how the military justice system is being instrumentalized to repress critical voices and rights activists.” The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded that “Khattak was detained as a result of his work as a human rights defender” and called for his immediate release. His case has been raised by members of the US Congress and the European Parliament.  

We are particularly concerned that Khattak has been denied adequate medical care, including for his diabetes, and as a result, his health has deteriorated significantly. In February 2026, Dr. Michele Heisler, a Harvard-trained physician and diabetes expert, provided an independent medical evaluation of Khattak’s health status. After reviewing his medical records, she concluded that “considering the current conditions of Mr. Khattak’s detention, including his limited access to medication and medical care, his health—and his life—is at serious risk.” In April 2026, UN experts similarly expressed “grave concerns about the deteriorating and life-threatening health risks” he faces in prison, noting that he is “already showing serious symptoms of uncontrolled diabetes.” Since then, Khattak’s health has deteriorated further, yet Pakistani authorities continue to deny him an independent medical exam and appropriate medication and treatment. 

We call on Pakistani authorities to release Mr. Khattak immediately and unconditionally, and we ask that democratic governments forcefully demand his release. We further request that Pakistan be denied benefits that are conditioned on meeting human rights standards, such as participation in the European Union’s GSP+ trade program, until it releases detained human rights defenders such as Idris Khattak. 

Signed: 

  1. Freedom House
  2. World Liberty Congress
  3. McCain Institute
  4. Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
  5. Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center
  6. Human Rights Foundation
  7. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
  8. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
  9. South Asians for Human Rights
  10. Indian American Muslim Council
  11. Free Them One by One (FT1by1)
  12. Hindus for Human Rights
  13. Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience (CAP Freedom of Conscience)
  14. Advocates for Political Prisoners
  15. Human Rights Without Frontiers (Brussels)
  16. Physicians for Human Rights
  17. Index on Censorship
  18. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
  19. Freedom and Justice Project (FJP) 
  20. Pakistan World Alliance (PWA)
  21. World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
  22. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders 
  23. Front Line Defenders
  24. FOREST - Europe (Vienna)
  25. American Council for Justice and Conflict Resolution
  26. Progressive Voice, Myanmar
  27. People’s Empowerment Foundation, Thailand
  28. Public Association Dignity,  Kazakhstan
  29. Community Resource Center, Thailand
  30. International Service for Human Rights
  31. Gerard Noodt Foundation for Freedom of Religion or Belief