JPP Organizes Screening of LIMBO

Justice Project of Pakistan (JPP) held a screening of LIMBO, a dramatic reading performance of letters of death row prisoners across Pakistan, for students and faculty member at LACAS, Burki Campus, on March 30, 2016.

The performance, starring Erfan Khoosat, Sarmad Khoosat and Nadia Afghan, was first staged at the Khayal Festival in November 2015 by JPP in collaboration with OLOMOPOLO Media and featured a reading of letters from prisoners on death row across Pakistan telling their stories in their own words.

The letters are read unedited by the actors to provide a raw view of life on Pakistan’s death row and the inhuman conditions that condemned prisoners have to endure with the sword of Damocles hanging over them. Their stories serve to illustrate the human side of the prisoners spending decades in a death cell.

The screening, attended by the school faculty and students was aimed at informing and educating the youth and the educational sector about the plight of condemned prisoners in Pakistan.“The stories were really heart breaking, especially Aftab’s story, and it was really important to make the students aware through this screening that injustice because of corruption is a dilemma of our society, hence together we need to rise against it and strive for a change in the legal system”, said Academic Coordinator LACAS, Farheen Ahmed.

LIMBO further raised the important question of crime and punishment for the students, “LIMBO was really effective because for one this is the first time that I have viewed death row as an issue existing our society. Secondly, it portrays the real picture of death penalty. It highlights the unjustified penalties along with corruption in our legal system.”

Executive Director JPP, Sarah Belal, stated, “At JPP, we represent the most vulnerable Pakistani prisoners facing the harshest punishments. However, we know that there is a general lack of awareness about the death penalty, how it is imposed and carried out in Pakistan. LIMBO is an effort to inform and educate the youth about the death penalty and death row in Pakistan.”