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