Thirty-one international human rights organisations — including Freedom House, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Front Line Defenders, Physicians for Human Rights, and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) — have issued a joint statement calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Pashtun human rights defender Idris Khattak, who has been held in Pakistan since 13 November 2019. The statement was timed to mark the seventh anniversary of his detention.

Who Is Idris Khattak

Idris Khattak is described in the joint statement as '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 13 November 2019, he was abducted and forcibly disappeared. For the following seven months, his family had no knowledge of whether he was alive.

Secret Trial and 14-Year Sentence

In June 2020, Pakistani authorities acknowledged for the first time that Khattak was in the custody of the country's military intelligence service. In late 2021, a military court convicted him of violating the Official Secrets Act and sentenced him to 14 years in prison. The joint statement alleged 'egregious due process violations': the trial was conducted in secret, Khattak was denied access to legal counsel, a forced confession was introduced as evidence, the prosecution relied on secret evidence never disclosed to the defence, and key defence witnesses were barred from testifying.

Deteriorating Health and Denied Medical Care

The signatory organisations expressed particular alarm over Khattak's health. He reportedly suffers from diabetes, and the groups say Pakistani authorities have denied him an independent medical examination as well as adequate medication and treatment. 'His health has deteriorated further,' the statement noted, referencing concerns previously raised by UN experts in April. The organisations urged that Pakistan's denial of appropriate medical care be treated as an additional human rights violation.

UN Finding and Trade Programme Pressure

In November 2025, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention formally confirmed that Khattak's detention is arbitrary and in violation of his right to freedom of expression — lending multilateral legal weight to the campaign for his release. The coalition is now pressing democratic governments to 'forcefully demand' his freedom and is calling on the European Union to condition Islamabad's access to the GSP+ trade programme on the release of detained human rights defenders, including Khattak. The EU's GSP+ status grants preferential tariff access to developing countries that commit to upholding core human rights conventions.

Broader Context

Khattak's case sits within a wider pattern of enforced disappearances and military-court proceedings targeting activists and journalists in Pakistan, particularly those documenting abuses in the former tribal belt. Rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns that military courts lack the independence and transparency required under international fair-trial standards. This comes amid sustained international scrutiny of Pakistan's human rights record ahead of periodic reviews at multilateral bodies.