After facing death row, the inmate who turned investigator
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Inspirations 2020 winner: Sohail Yafat was wrongfully incarcerated for murder. After a decade-long fight for justice, he became a private investigator to help other prisoners.
Sohail Yafat was in his 20s and working in an IT college in Lahore when he was wrongfully incarcerated for murder and facing death row. Behind bars he continued to fight for justice, while also quietly revolutionising his prison when he organised its first ever Christmas party. After a decade in jail, Sohail was released. He joined the legal charity Justice Project Pakistan as a private investigator. Through their work, the number of executions has dropped in Pakistan. Sohail is now working on building a reintegration centre to support recently released prisoners.
Emily Webb caught up with Sohail to name him one of the winners of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Inspirations 2020. For full details of the awards and Covid-19 related changes, please check the revised terms on our website: www.bbcworldservice.com/inspirations.
Producers: Maryam Maruf, Troy Holmes
Editor: Munazza Khan
With thanks to Ghazanfar Hyder for this voiceover performance in the interview with Sohail first broadcast on 16 December, 2018
Picture: Sohail Yafat
Credit: Ali Haider, JPP
Featured in...
![]()
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Inspirations 2020—Outlook
All the longlisted nominees of the 2020 Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Inspirations Awards are this year’s winners
Podcast
-
![]()
The Outlook Podcast Archive
True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives
