Specializing in Advocacy and Design
This portfolio is a collection of my recent work, along with a few older projects related to communications. It reflects my experience across research, media, and design.
- ICCPR Review Screening:
- Advocacy Through Film and Print
- My Role: Designer,
- Communications Lead & Project
- Manager
The event, hosted in collaboration with the German Cultural Center, was a strategic moment in our broader campaign to push for tangible reforms in Pakistan’s criminal justice system.
Social Media Strategy for the ICCPR Review Screening Campaign
Pre-Event Social Media Strategy for the ICCPR Review Screening
Save the Date & Pre-Event Awareness
Before the ICCPR Review Screening, I designed a series of pre-event social media posts to build momentum and ensure the right audience was engaged. The “Save the Date” post was central to this strategy, acting as a clear, visually structured announcement that outlined the event’s date, time, and location while reinforcing the partnership with the German Cultural Center (Annemarie-Schimmel-Haus).
Why Post About ICCPR Before the Event?
Given the complexity of Pakistan’s ICCPR commitments and human rights issues, I wanted to ensure that our audience had context before walking into the screening. These posts served multiple purposes:
- Framing the Conversation: Explaining what the ICCPR is and why it matters, so attendees could engage with the content more meaningfully.
- Audience Targeting: By highlighting key issues—such as prison conditions, torture, and arbitrary detention—we reached legal professionals, activists, and policymakers invested in justice reform.
- Driving Participation: The posts emphasized the event’s role in raising awareness, sparking conversations, and fostering collaborations between key stakeholders.
This pre-screening content was designed to educate, build anticipation, and ensure that the event was not just attended but actively participated in
For the ICCPR Review Screening campaign, I developed a social media strategy that focused on amplifying key takeaways from the event while ensuring engagement from a wider audience beyond the in-person screening.
Post-Screening Approach
Instead of pushing out content before the event, I deliberately chose to wait until after the screening to assess audience reactions, take notes, and refine the messaging. This approach ensured that the campaign reflected the most impactful discussions and insights from the event rather than a pre-set narrative.
Design Strategy:
- The posts featured a minimalist layout with a structured hierarchy, making them easy to read and share.
- The use of large, numbered headings emphasized the sequential nature of the information, encouraging users to engage with the full series.
- A muted color palette with UN-inspired branding reinforced the credibility of the content.
- Messaging & Engagement:
- The text was kept concise yet informative, striking a balance between accessibility and depth.
- I incorporated calls to action, prompting users to share their thoughts, ask questions, and amplify the findings.
- The posts were strategically scheduled to sustain engagement over several days rather than being released all at once, allowing time for discussion on each topic.
The ICCPR Review Booklet:
A Vital Reference for Legal and Policy Reform
The final phase of this campaign was the development of a comprehensive booklet compiling all ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) reviews from Pakistan’s first submission to the most recent proceedings. This booklet serves as a crucial reference for lawyers, civil society organizations (CSOs), and government officials, ensuring that they have easy access to a historical record of Pakistan’s commitments, responses, and evaluations related to civil and political rights.
By consolidating these documents, this publication aims to bridge the gap between legal frameworks and their implementation, offering stakeholders a structured, accessible resource for advocacy, legal defense, and policy reform. Given the often fragmented availability of these reviews, this booklet helps build institutional memory and strengthens evidence-based advocacy efforts.
Media Coverage & Public Discourse
The ICCPR Review Screening generated significant media coverage, reinforcing the event’s impact on public discourse and policy conversations. Major publications such as Dawn and the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) highlighted key discussions from the event, particularly regarding Pakistan’s commitments under the ICCPR, gaps in implementation, and urgent human rights concerns.
The ICCPR Review campaign successfully leveraged social media to maximize engagement, reach, and audience interaction, with a strong performance across multiple posts. The strategy combined pre-event awareness-building, real-time audience engagement, and post-event reflections, leading to high viewership and interaction rates.
What These Metrics Indicate
The data confirms that the campaign was highly effective in audience education, engagement, and advocacy mobilization. The high save and share rates demonstrate that the content was not only consumed but also circulated among relevant networks. The increase in profile visits and follows indicates successful audience expansion, while the consistent external link clicks show active participation beyond social media.
By strategically combining event promotions, educational posts, and follow-up content, the campaign was able to extend the conversation on ICCPR and justice reform beyond the screening itself, ensuring that these critical issues continued to gain visibility and engagement.
Training For Malaysian Lawyers on Representing Foreign Nationals Imprisoned in MalaysiaMy Role in the Campaign
My Role: I led the communications strategy, managed project execution, and oversaw all visual and branding elements, ensuring the messaging was both impactful and widely disseminated.
This campaign was a collaborative effort between Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), the Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights (MCCHR), and the Kuala Lumpur Legal Aid Centre (KLLAC) to provide legal professionals with the necessary tools and strategies to effectively represent foreign nationals imprisoned in Malaysia. With foreign nationals constituting 18.3% of Malaysia’s total prison population, the need for specialized legal representation is critical. Many of these individuals face language barriers, lack of consular support, prolonged detention, and harsher sentencing, making legal aid an essential intervention.
The training was attended by 52 participants, including 41 lawyers, along with key stakeholders such as consular officials from the United States, France, and Indonesia, as well as representatives from Amnesty International Malaysia, SUHAKAM, and the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN).
Key Sessions Included:
- Overview of Foreign Nationals in Malaysian Prisons & Consular Protection
- Best Practices for Legal Representation at the Pre-Trial Stage
- Trial and Post-Conviction Strategies
- Immigration Detention and Deportation
The event successfully established a new framework for coordinated legal assistance and strengthened collaboration between lawyers, diplomatic missions, human rights advocates, and Malaysian legal institutions.
Social Media Strategy for the Malaysia Training Campaign
For the initial phase of the campaign, I curated a set of casual, behind-the-scenes images to introduce our audience to the purpose of our visit while maintaining an approachable and engaging tone. The goal was to humanize the project, making it clear that our team was not just there to conduct a formal training, but to collaborate, learn, and build meaningful connections.
The first set of images focused on travel, team interactions, and Kuala Lumpur’s landscape, presenting a mix of professional commitment and personal engagement. I wanted to show that we were a thoughtful, dynamic team doing important work, while also making the audience feel like they were part of the journey.
This organic approach to storytelling allowed for greater engagement, as audiences are more likely to connect with authentic, everyday moments rather than staged or overly formal announcements. It also set the stage for the more technical aspects of the campaign that would follow, ensuring that our audience was invested before we introduced detailed legal content
Event Coverage:
During the training, I managed social media to document key moments, including expert presentations, interactive discussions, and lawyer engagement. These visuals helped reinforce the impact of the training and its relevance to legal reform efforts.
Post-Event Summary and Reflection:
After the event, I curated a second set of visuals that provided a structured look at the training sessions. These posts highlighted speakers, panel discussions, and the exchange of knowledge between legal experts and participants.
The campaign’s digital outreach generated significant engagement, reflecting a high level of public and professional interest in legal advocacy for foreign prisoners.
Design and Production of the Legal Primer
One of the most significant outputs of this campaign was the design and publication of a legal primer specifically for Malaysian lawyers working with foreign prisoners. I led the entire process, from conceptualization to print, ensuring that the design was accessible, professional, and practical for legal practitioners. The primer serves as a comprehensive reference guide, equipping lawyers with legal frameworks, case studies, and best practices for defending foreign detainees. The minimalist yet authoritative design was chosen to enhance readability and facilitate ease of use in legal settings
Post-Event Report
To ensure that the impact of the training extended beyond the event itself, I helped write and design the post-event report. My goal was to move away from traditional dense reports and create something that was easy to read and visually engaging.
To achieve this, I incorporated:
- A structured breakdown of each session, making it easier for readers to extract key learnings.
- Participant feedback and social media analytics, demonstrating the event’s engagement and reception.
- Photography from the training, adding a visual narrative to complement the text-heavy sections.
Impact and Reach
The campaign successfully brought together 52 participants, including 41 lawyers, consular officials from the United States, France, and Indonesia, and representatives from civil society organizations like Amnesty International Malaysia and the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN). The training fostered collaboration between legal professionals, diplomatic missions, and human rights advocates, ensuring a more structured and effective approach to defending foreign nationals in Malaysia’s justice system.
By integrating design, storytelling, and strategic communication, this campaign ensured that the training’s impact was documented, shared, and sustained beyond the event itself. The combination of legal education, resource development, and advocacy-driven content made it an effective model for future initiatives aimed at bridging gaps in legal representation for vulnerable communities.
Prison Data Report 2024
My Role: I led the communications strategy, managed project execution, and oversaw all visual and branding elements, ensuring the messaging was both impactful and widely disseminated
For the Prison Data Report 2024, I focused on creating a visually engaging and accessible design that effectively translated complex data into a compelling advocacy tool. Given the dense nature of the subject matter—overcrowding, undertrial prisoners, and systemic inefficiencies—I prioritized clarity, hierarchy, and readability in both print and digital formats.
Key Design Elements:
- Data Visualization & Infographics – Instead of relying solely on text, I incorporated charts, graphs, and infographics to make statistical findings more digestible. This approach allowed readers to quickly grasp key insights, such as prison population trends, bail statistics, and sentencing disparities. Additionally, I took archival client photos and illustrated them, transforming them into visual elements that protected identities while maintaining the emotional weight of the stories.
- Visual Hierarchy & Structure – I structured the report with clear sections, pull quotes, and bold key takeaways to break up long text blocks and highlight the most critical information. The layout was designed to guide the reader through the findings in an intuitive flow, ensuring that even non-experts could engage with the content.
- Typography & Color Palette – I selected a professional yet modern typeface combination to balance authority and readability. A muted yet impactful color palette was used to emphasize data points without overwhelming the reader, maintaining a balance between seriousness and approachability.
Social Media Strategy: Engaging a Wider Audience Through Impactful Digital Storytelling
I designed a social media strategy that aimed to maximize engagement, inform key stakeholders, and drive discussions around prison reform in Pakistan. The approach was built around three core pillars: data visualization, expert insights, and storytelling.
Why These Interviews?
As part of the Prison Data Report 2024 campaign, I conducted and produced a series of video interviews to provide deeper insight into the findings, ensuring that key stakeholders and decision-makers could engage with the issues beyond just the written report. Each interview was carefully selected to highlight a different but complementary perspective, reinforcing the need for collaboration, legal reforms, and data-driven policy solutions.
Interview with Our Executive Director – It made sense to begin with our Executive Director, as she is at the forefront of leading this work at our organization. Her perspective was critical in explaining why this report matters, what the findings reveal about systemic issues, and how different stakeholders—including the government, legal community, and civil society—must work together to implement reforms. As a trusted voice in the justice sector, her interview helped frame the conversation and set the agenda for action.
Interviewing Azhar Rashid Khan - the Deputy Director General of the National Academy of Prison Administrators (NAPA), was critical in understanding the on-the-ground realities of prison management and how data-driven policies can improve conditions for incarcerated individuals. As someone directly involved in training prison officials and shaping administrative policies, his insights provided a unique institutional perspective on prison overcrowding, rehabilitation programs, and systemic inefficiencies.
Interview with the Prosecutor General of Punjab – Interviewing the Prosecutor General of Punjab was crucial for adding a legal and governmental perspective to our findings. As the chief legal officer responsible for prosecuting criminal cases in Punjab, his insights shed light on how systemic issues—like overcrowding and delays in the judicial process—affect case outcomes and legal fairness.
Media Coverage and Impact
The Prison Data Report 2024 successfully sparked a national conversation on the state of incarceration in Pakistan, shedding light on the urgent need for reform. Through a strategic communications campaign, we ensured that key findings reached policymakers, legal experts, and the public. The campaign’s data-driven approach, expert interviews, and social media strategy amplified its reach, leading to significant media attention. Several prominent news outlets covered the report, highlighting issues such as overcrowding, lack of access to medical care, and inadequate prison conditions. This coverage reinforced the urgency of policy intervention and the need for systemic reform.
Here are some of the publications that featured our report:
📌 The Express Tribune: 68 Inmates Transferred for Medical Care Died in a Year
📌 Pakistan Observer: Inadequate Access to Basic Necessities, HR Issues Frequently Observed in Prisons
📌 Dawn: Overcrowded and Underfunded – Pakistan’s Prison Crisis
📌 The Express Tribune: Overcrowded Prisons – System in Crisis
📌 The Express Tribune: Jails Overflowing at 152% Capacity
This level of media coverage underscored the campaign’s impact, ensuring that prison reform remained on the public agenda and within the policy discourse.
My Role: I led the communications strategy, managed project execution, and oversaw all visual and branding elements, ensuring that the storytelling was compelling and reached the right audiences. I was also the producer, cinematogapher, and editor of the documentary film.
Background
In the weeks leading up to Prisoners’ Justice Day, we were still uncertain about the direction of our campaign. We knew we wanted to tell a compelling story—something that would resonate beyond statistics and policy briefs—but we hadn’t found the right case. It wasn’t until I was going through our client files that I came across Ghulam Abbas’s case. His story stood out: a man sentenced to death, navigating a justice system that never fully saw him, failed by the very institutions meant to protect him. What made his case even more striking was that he died in the custody of the Punjab Institute of Mental Health. This immediately made me ask, why? Why was he there? What led to his death? It felt like the perfect example of neglect within the justice system, a case that could reflect the very history and purpose of Prisoners’ Justice Day ,a day that originated to commemorate those who have died in custody due to mistreatment and systemic failures.
The idea came almost instinctively—what if we could tell his story through a documentary? Instead of another report or awareness campaign, we could create something visceral, intimate, and humanizing. I pitched the concept to our Executive Director, and she agreed.
What followed was a deep, often frustrating, investigation. We traveled across Punjab, meeting people who had encountered Ghulam Abbas at different points in his life—his family, neighbors, and legal representatives. With an investigator by our side, we tried to piece together who he was, what had happened, and why his case had fallen through the cracks. We collected court records, spoke to those who had once fought for him, and stood outside homes that had long forgotten his name.
But instead of clarity, the journey left me with more questions. The case was riddled with contradictions, missing documents, and half-told accounts. Each person we spoke to seemed to carry a different version of the truth. What we did uncover, however, was a pattern of systemic failures—an individual caught in a cycle of neglect, from inadequate legal representation to a judicial system that never accounted for his vulnerabilities.
This uncertainty, rather than being a weakness, became the driving force of our documentary. Instead of presenting a neatly wrapped narrative, we leaned into the ambiguity, the gaps, and the unanswered questions. The goal was no longer just to recount Ghulam Abbas’s story but to force the audience to grapple with the same discomfort I felt—to acknowledge that the justice system often operates in the shadows of what is unknown, undocumented, and ignored.
For the first phase of our social media campaign, I focused on educating our audience about the history and significance of International Prisoners’ Justice Day before introducing Ghulam Abbas’s case. The goal was to contextualize the campaign—to help people understand why wrongful convictions, prison neglect, and systemic failures are global issues, not just isolated incidents.
By starting with historical context, I aimed to:
- Build awareness about the origins of Prisoners’ Justice Day and its role in prison reform movements.
- Connect global injustices to the realities of Pakistan’s justice system.
- Prime the audience emotionally and intellectually, so they would engage more deeply with Ghulam Abbas’s story in the next phase of the campaign.
Part 2: Educating the Public on the Safia Bano Judgment
For the second phase of the campaign, I shifted the focus to legal education, specifically on the Safia Bano judgment, a landmark ruling that set legal protections for mentally ill prisoners on death row. The goal was to bridge the gap between Ghulam Abbas’s story and the broader systemic failures that continue to impact vulnerable individuals.
By educating the audience on the Safia Bano judgment, I aimed to:
- Explain the legal context behind the death of Ghulam Abbas and others like him.
- Highlight the failure of implementation—despite the ruling, mentally ill prisoners continue to face execution due to lack of enforcement.
- Showcase the urgency for reform, reinforcing the message that wrongful executions are preventable if legal safeguards are properly applied.
Part 3: Sharing the Story of Ghulam Abbas’s Mother
For the third phase of the campaign, I shifted the focus to humanizing the impact of wrongful convictions by sharing the words of Ghulam Abbas’s mother. While researching his case, I came across a heart-wrenching letter she had written to the judge, pleading for her son’s life. This letter, raw and deeply personal, encapsulated the pain, desperation, and systemic neglect that families of mentally ill prisoners experience.
I chose to structure this part of the campaign around her voice, ensuring that her grief and struggle were not overshadowed by statistics or legal analysis. The posts in this phase:
- Revealed the generational cycle of suffering, as she described her family’s long history with mental illness, poverty, and tragedy.
- Highlighted the failure of the justice system, showing how her pleas for mercy, backed by medical evidence, were ignored.
- Personalized the impact of wrongful incarceration, shifting the narrative from legal failure to a deeply human story of loss and helplessness.
Part 4: Educating the Public on Ghulam Abbas’s Case
Following the documentary screening, the next phase of the campaign was designed to educate the public on the specifics of Ghulam Abbas’s case. By this point, the audience had already been introduced to the history of Prisoners’ Justice Day, the Safia Bano judgment, and the personal story of Ghulam Abbas’s mother. Now, we wanted to provide a detailed, factual breakdown of his case, ensuring that his story was not just an emotional narrative but a concrete example of systemic failure.
Key Objectives of This Phase:
- Present a clear case timeline to help the audience understand how Ghulam Abbas ended up in prison and why his execution was unjust.
- Expose systemic failures—from his wrongful conviction to his treatment in prison and ultimate death in custody.
- Emphasize legal and medical neglect, particularly how the Pakistani justice system failed to account for his mental illness despite existing legal precedents.
- Engage the audience in advocacy, encouraging them to reflect on the broader implications of his case.
Post-Screening Engagement: A Successful Q&A Session
After the screening of Shackled: The Tragic Life of Ghulam Abbas, we facilitated a Q&A session with the audience, which proved to be one of the most impactful moments of the campaign. The discussion provided an opportunity to delve deeper into the legal, medical, and systemic failures that led to Ghulam Abbas’s wrongful conviction and death in custody.
The audience, which included lawyers, activists, students, and members of the press, engaged with the case critically, asking insightful questions about:
- The role of the justice system in ensuring protections for mentally ill prisoners.
- The failures in medical intervention that allowed Ghulam Abbas’s condition to deteriorate in custody.
- The broader implications of his case for other vulnerable prisoners on death row.
- The next steps in advocating for reform and ensuring that legal precedents like the Safia Bano judgment are implemented in practice.
This session reinforced the importance of using storytelling as a tool for advocacy. By engaging the audience in dialogue, we transformed the screening from a passive viewing experience into a call to action—encouraging attendees to think critically about policy gaps, legal safeguards, and the urgent need for reform in Pakistan’s criminal justice system.
Final Phase: Sharing Event Photos on Social Media
To conclude the campaign, we shared photos from the screening and Q&A session on social media. This final post served multiple purposes:
- Celebrating the event’s impact, highlighting key moments from the screening, audience reactions, and the discussion.
- Reinforcing the campaign’s message, ensuring that the momentum of the conversation extended beyond the event itself.
- Encouraging continued engagement, inviting people who couldn’t attend to learn more about Ghulam Abbas’s case and the broader issue of wrongful convictions.
Expanding the Reach: Creating a Screening Toolkit
Following the success of the film screening and discussion, I wanted to ensure that Shackled: The Tragic Life of Ghulam Abbas reached an even wider audience—beyond just legal circles, activists, and policymakers. The documentary had sparked important conversations, but I felt that its impact shouldn’t be limited to a single event.
To make the film more accessible and educational, I decided to develop a screening toolkit in both English and Urdu. The toolkit was designed to serve as a comprehensive guide for individuals and organizations interested in hosting their own screenings—whether in urban centers, rural areas, or educational institutions.
The toolkit includes:
- Background on the case of Ghulam Abbas to provide context for viewers.
- Discussion prompts and guided questions to facilitate meaningful conversations after screenings.
- Information on mental health issues in prisons, wrongful convictions, and the rights of prisoners under Pakistani law.
- Steps for organizing a community or school screening, making it easy for teachers, activists, and local leaders to engage their audiences.
I saw this as an opportunity to expand outreach to rural areas and schools, where discussions on mental health, prisoners’ rights, and the justice system are often lacking. By taking the conversation beyond urban advocacy spaces, this initiative aimed to educate a broader segment of society—from students learning about human rights for the first time to communities directly impacted by the justice system.
This final step in the campaign wasn’t just about continuing the conversation—it was about turning awareness into action, ensuring that Ghulam Abbas’s story could inform, challenge, and inspire change well beyond the initial audience.
Email Marketing & Visual Communication
In this section, I showcase a series of email marketing designs I created to enhance engagement, brand consistency, and audience interaction across different campaigns.
These email designs were developed for campaign launches, newsletters, event invitations, and promotional outreach, each tailored to meet specific audience engagement goals. By balancing aesthetics with functionality, I aimed to increase open rates, improve click-throughs, and create a stronger connection between the brand and its audience.