Asma Jahangir

Asma Jahangir was a Pakistani human rights lawyer and social activist who co-founded and chaired the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and AGHS Legal Aid Cell. She was known for playing a prominent role in the Lawyers' Movement and served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief and as a trustee at the International Crisis Group. She was born and raised in Lahore, where she studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary before receiving her B.A. from Kinnaird and LLB from the Punjab University Law College. She joined the chamber of Barrister Ijaz Hussain Batalvi and became a vocal critic of the military dictatorship of Zia-ul-Haq. She was imprisoned in 1983 for participating in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy and later moved to Geneva, where she became the vice-chair of the Defence for Children International. She returned to Pakistan in 1988 and co-founded the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, which she chaired until 2011. She also founded the first legal aid centre in Pakistan, the AGHS Legal Aid Cell, and was involved in various civil society initiatives, such as the Citizens Police Liaison Committee, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research. She was awarded the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Medal of Excellence) by the President of Pakistan in 2005 and the Right Livelihood Award in 2014. She died at the age of 66 in Lahore on 11 February 2018.