A day after Ali Wazir was released from prison, a court in Peshawar has acquitted the parents of rights activist Gulalai Ismail.

Gulalai has been living in a self-imposed exile since September 2019 when she left Pakistan.

Her parents had been appearing before the anti-terrorism court in a sedition case. They also faced charges of terror financing and facilitation.

On Wednesday, Judge Fazal Sattar acquitted them after concluding that charges against Professor Mohammad Ismail and his wife could not be proven beyond doubt.

MNA Mohsin Dawar congratulated the couple and tweed a photo of them. He said the case against them was “fake.”

“They have been harassed and persecuted for far too long. Their resolve remains unshaken,” said the MNA.

Highly anticipated released

This was a highly anticipated release.

A day before the court judgment, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor said that she will be “following closely the verdict expected tomorrow for prominent Pakistani human rights defender Muhammad Ismail.”

She tweeted a photo of Ismail carrying a photo of Gulalai delivering a speech in Paris in 2016.

The verdict was likely after Ali Wazir, a rights activist and member of Parliament, was released from Karachi Central Jail on Tuesday.

Wazir and Gulalai are both from the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, or PTM.

Hours before Wednesday’s judgment, Gulalai said that a “malafide” sedition and terrorism case against her parent was registered in July 2019 and her parents were acquitted in August 2020. But “a month later the case was reopened and my parents put on a torturous trial,” she said.

Who is Gulalai Ismail

Gulalai Ismail founded the NGO Aware Girls in 2002 when she was a teenager to educate young girls about their rights.

The NGO won international awards in 2014 and 2016.

The year 2016 saw her actively campaign alongside other PTM rights activists.

Cases were registered against her before she went into hiding in May 2019 and later fled to the United States.

Professor Ismail and his wife faced allegations of supporting terrorists for attacks against churches in Peshawar.