Lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, have been awarded the esteemed Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize in recognition of their work for human rights and marginalised communities, it emerged on Tuesday.

Imaan and Chattha are currently serving prison terms after a district and sessions court in Islamabad convicted them earlier this year in a case related to controversial social media posts and sentenced each of them to 17 years in prison.

According to a statement issued by the Forensic Union for the Protection of Human Rights (UFDU) on June 13, the prize is considered the oldest and one of the most prestigious international honours awarded to a lawyer.

Established in memory of Ludovic Trarieux, a French lawyer who founded the League for the Defence of Human and Citizen Rights in 1898, the prize is awarded annually to a lawyer who has made an exceptional contribution to the defence of human rights, the rule of law and the fight against racism and all forms of intolerance through their professional commitment.

The award ceremony was held at the Parlamentino Hall of the National Bar Council in Rome. Lawyer Antonino Galletti, coordinator of the European and International Law Commission at the National Bar Council, was among those present.

The statement noted that, in recent years, Imaan and Chattha had carried out their work “against a backdrop of growing pressure on lawyers and human rights defenders in Pakistan, according to international organisations and observers”.