Asma Jahangir was born in Punjab, Pakistan on the 27th of January 1952. Her family had a history of activism and human rights work experience, her father having spent years in jail and under house arrest for opposing and protesting the military dictatorships in the country, so it was no surprise that she began participating in protests at a young age. She studied at Kinnard College in Lahore and received a law degree from Punjab University. In 1980, along with her sister, she founded the first law firm established by women in Pakistan and was one of the founding members of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. During her career, she was a vocal critic of child labor, capital punishment and blasphemy, and often took up cases defending religious and ethnic minorities who saw their rights being violated under repressive dictatorships. Because of this, nationalists and conservatives opposed her across the country, receiving a number of death threats, and ultimately being placed on house arrest in 2007. Outside of Pakistan, Asma Jahangir was engaged with the international community, working at high levels for international organizations, like the United Nations, investigating human rights violations across the world, including Israel and Sri Lanka. She was appointed as the UN Special Rapporteur for the Situation of Human Rights in Iran from 2016 until her death in 2018. She was posthumously award Pakistan’s highest civil award, the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, in 2018, given for their achievements and outstanding service for the country.