DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER
Credit: Director/Producer
Year of Release: 2019
Acquired by Al Jazeera for Witness
Four letters, written over the span of 21 years, tell the story of one person’s struggle for reprieve from one of the world’s largest death rows. This is the story of Mazhar Farooq, a former inmate who lived to tell the story of Pakistan’s death row. From childhood till the murder that led to his conviction and his experiences on death row. This documentary explores the rights of prisoners in Pakistan and examines a criminal justice system that is failing its citizens. The documentary follows Mazhar during his first two years out of jail. His attempts to find gainful employment and readjust to a world that has greatly changed.
In 2015 I came across the last letter written by a man on death row: “Since I was just 15 years old I have been stranded between life and death. I doubt there is anything more dreadful than being told that you are going to die, and then sitting in a prison cell just waiting for that moment. I hope I do not die on Wednesday … I have not given up hope, though the night is very dark.” Read more...