Using Art and Technology for Public Advocacy

[Music]

the idea that justice is apolitical and

exists in a vacuum

is incorrect it’s a fallacy that we must

call out as wrong

because it gives the impression that

justice cannot be influenced by powers

of good or bad

the law is human law is political

it is a social contract that is

continuously evolving

to be able to change things for the

better one must first

understand and accept this reality at

justice project pakistan

this reality shapes our representation

day in and day out

we are a legal action firm that

represents the most vulnerable pakistani

prisoners

facing the harshest punishments at home

and abroad

at jpp we investigate we litigate

we advocate and we agitate in the public

sphere pakistan currently has the second

largest reported death row in the world

with over 4 000 people on death row

we have over 33 crimes that merit the

death penalty in pakistan

which include non-violent crimes such as

cyber crimes blasphemy and even sabotage

of the railway

since 2014 when pakistan lifted the

moratorium

it has executed over 500 individuals

including the mentally ill the

physically disabled

the wrongfully convicted and sometimes

even the innocent

pakistan also has severely overcrowded

prisons

with almost 80 000 prisoners

at an occupancy rate of 124

the death penalty not just in pakistan

but throughout history has always been a

political tool

it has nothing to do with deterring

crime

but it has everything to do with

quenching dissent

policy makers choose to enact this

punishment

even in the face of overwhelming

evidence that it doesn’t work and this

is certainly

demonstrated by how our own country

reacted

in the wake of the horrific army public

school attack in peshawar

the very first decision taken in the

wake of this national

tragedy was to lift the seven year

moratorium

sure enough in 2015

pakistan ramped up his executions and

went from being a non-executing state

to the third largest executioner in the

world

in the first year alone over 300 people

were executed that’s almost one

execution a day

for the whole year most often

we were hanging those who were

wrongfully convicted and even the

innocent

two brothers from bahavalpur were

amongst those who were executed

a year later they were acquitted by the

supreme court

that is a travesty of justice

but in this highly charged atmosphere we

at jpp had to think

of new ways to talk about the death

penalty

amid a narrative albeit false that

capital punishment was somehow the

antidote to our terrorism problem

because the dominant narrative had

shifted completely

we had to tread very carefully in our

advocacy

because in the current times opposing

the death penalty

meant condoning terrorism and terrorists

but in fact

we’ve only wanted to break the cycle of

violence and

highlight those who we were hanging

we realized soon enough that we had to

be more savvy

more subtle about our cause and about

advocating for our clients

six years ago we decided to do this

by venturing into digital advocacy on

social media

because at that time social media was a

lot less

regulated than the conventional press

but soon enough that space started to

shrink as well

and we had to think more and more

outside the box

so we decided that instead of speaking

about

facts and figures we’re going to use

emotion

and we’re going to use that emotion

through art now

being told something and being able to

experience it for yourself

are two vastly different things what we

attempted to do at jpp was to bridge the

gap

between the two our goal was to make the

experience of what our clients on death

row go through

as real as possible for you as the

viewer so you can truly contemplate

what justice would look like in that

case

look the fact is telling the stories of

our clients whether

it is within a courtroom or outside of a

courtroom is

equally important because courts

don’t operate in a vacuum they are a

reflection of our

society and of our shared values and

contain

the very same biases that we inhabit in

our society as human beings

so our advocacy at jpp is meant to

change the hearts and minds

and it is meant for everybody

our first ever production our first ever

foray

into art and advocacy was through a play

called lorelai

it was based on the real life story of a

case from the deep south in the united

states

it is a story of a mother’s immediate

pain and rage

evolving over a period of years and

learning more and more about the causes

that led to the loss of her son’s life

the play deals with themes of compassion

of dealing with loss understanding of

mental illness

and humanity we at jpp were watching the

audience

and their reaction while they were

watching the performance

what we were amazed to see that there

was not a dry eye in the house

not just for the tragedy that was

loralyze loss of her son

but also for the tragedy there was a

life

of this monster this convicted pedophile

and what had led him as in his childhood

to evolve into committing these horrific

acts so once we saw how the newspapers

who originally were reluctant to write

about the death penalty and executions

in pakistan

were covering this performance from page

to page

we were hooked we knew we were on to

something special

so for our next production we decided to

make a documentary on the death penalty

but this wasn’t going to be a

documentary a typical documentary on the

death penalty

that even i don’t like watching because

they’re so depressing

the subject of our documentary was going

to be

the executioner we wanted to appeal

not only to those who oppose the death

penalty but we wanted to to appeal to

the sense of the macabre in those people

who actually support the death penalty

and we wanted to appeal to the curiosity

and we did this by finding an

executioner in punjab who had conducted

over 600

executions the documentary tracked

the toll that his job took over a

period of years not only on himself

but on his family and on his community

and the shame

that was associated with him carrying

out this senseless violence

you know when the state decides to

execute it is the most premeditated of

murders

in 2018 on the world day against the

death penalty

jpp presented no time to sleep

it was a 24-hour livestream

charting the final hours of a death row

prisoner’s life

before his execution think of it more as

like

big brother meets the prison rules

we were able to get pakistan’s foremost

actor sarmat kusat

and put him in a constructed prison cell

for 24 hours

to tell the story loosely based on our

client zulfikar

the performance was groundbreaking

and it caused an absolute stir

it was it received critical acclaim both

domestically and internationally

it had over 1.4 million views 6 000

tweets

and a hashtag that trended on twitter

for several hours

throughout the performance it was so

real that an actual petition was started

to save sarmat from being executed

the dawn newspaper that was carrying the

live stream was getting non-stop

calls this year was different kovit blew

any plans we had out of the water

so we decided to do a live theater

performance

online bringing together writers actors

musicians

visual artists across two continents

to perform live theater the best part

was and my favorite part

was that we got mohammed hanif one of

pakistan’s

foremost writers on board hanif

wrote four brilliant and haunting

stories touching upon

four death row prisoners contemplating

their lives

before the dawn of their execution

narrated by sarmat kusat the one hour

live

performance titled before the sun comes

up received

outstanding reviews and premiered on the

largest english news website in pakistan

and was trending on twitter throughout

but as we continue to use art we’re also

continuously looking for ways to break

new ground

at jpp to go where the change is

after experimenting with art and

advocacy to change hearts and minds

we’re now developing technology to

provide effective legal representation

to hundreds of prisoners by matching

them with thousands of lawyers

willing to represent them in real time

we’ve also created technology for

justice forum

that brings together other people doing

law and tech in pakistan to solve

access to justice issues it’s important

to remember that change does not always

come overnight

it can be a long sustained struggle but

justice has a way

of finding its allies no matter who or

where they are

it is important to be open to these

allies and to creating meaningful

collaborations that empower each other

you know when i first moved back from

law school to pakistan

my mentor who was a very successful

criminal lawyer

would always tell me that visiting my

clients in prison

is not what a lawyer is supposed to do

he would also tell me that being

emotionally connected

to the case made for bad lawyering

so while i respect my mentor who was

far ahead of his time for giving me the

first female associate in his criminal

chamber a chance

he was wrong on the other fronts

my emotional connection to my clients

helps me fight

harder to save their lives and it helps

me get up

when we lose again and again and again

to fight the next day

my experience as a lawyer in pakistan

has been rewarding

frustrating and overwhelming but i would

have it no other way

over the course of my journey i’ve been

an investigator

a litigator a trainer a policy analyst

a producer a tv commentator and a tech

developer

thankfully i no longer need to be

booking slots on cooking shows

to speak about the death penalty but

this has been my journey as a human

rights lawyer

and i wish the same for you

[Music]

you