Pakistan Death Penalty Defence Conference

Reprieve is holding our first annual conference in Pakistan, to discuss approaches to defending clients who are facing the death penalty. 

The training is free, and we hope that all those who are involved in defending capital cases, as well as other lawyers, students, mental health professionals and anyone interested in the topic will attend.

The conference will be held on the 20th & 21st February in Lahore and on the 23rd February in Mirpur.

Issues to be covered include the investigation of a capital case, challenging unreliable evidence, the effect of mental illnesses, the role of a death penalty lawyer, systematic using international law, funding issues, and reaching out to victims.

Speakers include experts from across Pakistan (Salman Safdar, Ali Gohar, Arthur Wilson, and others), Lord Bingham of Cornhill (recently retired senior British Law Lord), Dr Sohail Qureshi, as well as noted foreign death penalty lawyers.

Reprieve is a UK charity which provides support to prisoners facing the death penalty throughout the world (including 12 cases in Pakistan) as well as representing prisoners in Guantánamo Bay and other secret prisons.

 Reprieve has an office in Islamabad run by investigator Sultana Noon, and later this year will begin funding a lawyer to work alongside Sultana and increase the level of assistance available to prisoners and fellow legal professionals. 

 Reprieve was founded in 1999 by Clive Stafford Smith, who will also attend the conference. Clive previously spent 25 years defending clients facing the death penalty in America, and has vast experience in challenging the legal system to provide adequate rights and protections for capital defendants. The Capital Defence Conference will be an opportunity to explore both Pakistani and western approaches to death penalty defence and exchange ideas and experience in a supportive and co-operative environment.

For more details, contact Sultana Noon at sultana@reprieve.org.uk.