Prominent Pakistani human rights defender and lawyer Asma Jahangir has died at the age of 66. She reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest and was taken to hospital, where she later died.
She was one of the most recognized and honored human rights defenders with over 17 human rights awards, including the Martin Ennals Award in 1995, whose film on her work shows a much younger Asma, fearless in spite of threats on her life:
I met her for the first time in 1993 at the 2nd World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, where she deeply impressed me by standing up and openly criticizing her fellow NGO representatives for having tried to prevent former President Jimmy Carte from speaking at the NGO forum. This principled stand was a hallmark of her life as Pakistani human rights lawyer and as UN Special Rapporteur. In many instances she was able to give sound advice on cases of other human rights defenders in difficulty. For earlier posts on Asma see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/asma-jahangir/
Asma Jahangir’s career in short:
- Trained as a lawyer and worked in Pakistan’s Supreme Court from age 30
- A critic of the military establishment
- Jailed in 1983 for pro-democracy activities
- Put under house arrest in 2007 for opposing military leader’s removal of Supreme Court chief justice
- Co-founder of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and of the first free legal aid centre in Pakistan (together with her sister Hina Jilani)
- Co-founder of the Women’s Action Forum, set up to oppose law that reduced a woman’s testimony in court to half that of a man’s
- The first female leader of Pakistan’s Supreme Court bar association
- Winner of 17 human rights awards and the French Legion of Honour
- Served twice as UN special rapporteur: on freedom of religion and on later on Human Rights in Iran
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai called Ms Jahangir a “saviour of democracy and human rights”.
A prominent Pakistani lawyer, Salman Akram Raja, tweeted that Ms Jahangir was “the bravest human being I ever knew” and that the world was “less” without her.
A long interview with Asma you can find here: https://asiasociety.org/interview-asma-jahangir,
A 2017 interview can be found on the website of the RLA: https://vimeo.com/225966475
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Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 
February 11, 2018 at 20:05
Perfect tribute to Asma, Hsns. Thank you.
Sharon
On Sun, Feb 11, 2018 at 11:29 AM, Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders wrote:
> Hans Thoolen posted: ” Prominent Pakistani human rights defender and > lawyer Asma Jahangir has died at the age of 66. She reportedly suffered a > cardiac arrest and was taken to hospital, where she later died. She was one > of the most recognized a” >
February 16, 2018 at 01:45
We are all deepky shocked at the news of the passing of Asma. The work of human rights defenders just got tougher but she will always remain an inspiration to those speaking truth to power
February 16, 2018 at 11:44
indeed. indeed
February 24, 2018 at 14:21
[…] The Council was intending to consider the report of the Special Rapporteur on Iran, Asma Jahangir, however due to her death, it is currently unclear whether and how the report will be considered. {see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/02/11/asma-jahangir-one-of-the-worlds-most-outstanding-huma…/] […]
October 26, 2018 at 15:23
[…] (posthumously) Ms Asma Jahangir from Pakistan [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/02/11/asma-jahangir-one-of-the-worlds-most-outstanding-human-…] […]
October 22, 2019 at 12:06
[…] Jahangir is rightly considered one of the foremost human rights defenders of our time [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/02/11/asma-jahangir-one-of-the-worlds-most-outstanding-human-…%5D. So, the two-day ‘Asma Jahangir Conference 2019 – Roadmap for Human Rights’ which concluded […]
February 12, 2020 at 09:32
[…] At the second anniversary of her death, an ‘Asma Jahangir memorial lecture’ was held in Islamabad [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/02/11/asma-jahangir-one-of-the-worlds-most-outstanding-human-…]. […]