Haya Emaan Zahid

Haya Emaan Zahid

Legal Aid Society

Executive Director

Haya Emaan Zahid is the Executive Director at the Legal Aid Society which is a not for profit organization working on legal empowerment and access to justice related challenges in Pakistan. She is also the Secretary of the Committee for the Welfare of Prisoners- Legal Aid Office , a public-private partnership between the Government of Sindh, Pakistan which provides legal aid and awareness to underprivileged prisoners across 25 prisons in the province. The program has provided free legal representation to over 15,000 prisoners since 2004 and manages Pakistan’s first and only convict prisoner lead prison paralegal program which was started in 2015. She has recently been appointed as a special advisor to the Prime Minister’s Prisoners Aid Committee. Haya has studied law at the University College London (2006) and completed the Bar Vocational Course from City Law School (2009). She is an Acumen Pakistan fellow (2015) and an Australia Awards Fellow (Australian National University 2017). Her research interests include legal needs mapping, sentencing, community policing and criminal investigations.