High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom - Interview with Hina Jilani

Monday 17 February 2020

Hina Jilani is a lawyer and human rights defender based in Pakistan. She is also a member of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom, an independent body that was convened at the request of the UK and Canadian governments. Jilani co-founded the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, the Women's Action Forum, and Pakistan's first all-female legal practice in 1980.

Ruth Green, IBA Multimedia Journalist, spoke to Hina Jilani about her involvement in the panel, blasphemy law and the criminalisation of hate speech, targeted attacks on human right lawyers, the Lawyers' Movement of 2007, and more.

Jilani is also the former UN Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders and is a member of the Eminent Jurists Panel on Terrorism, Counter-terrorism and Human Rights. In 2013, she was appointed to The Elders, a leading group of global leaders established by Nelson Mandela, which works on global human rights and peace-building matters.