NO TIME TO SLEEP

On October 10, 2018 – World Day Against the Death Penalty – Justice Project Pakistan presents a ground-breaking 24-hour live performance charting the final day of a death row prisoner.

THE ACT

When the live stream begins, Z will be sitting in his cell in solitary confinement, occasionally being silent, and occasionally conversing with the guard who is watching him. Z will eat his final meals – tea and biscuits. He will take short naps. He will go to the washroom behind a sheet. He will read silently to himself from the Quran, the only object a death row prisoner is permitted to take with them into solitary before an execution. His family will come to visit him, and he will dictate his last will and testament to them. And he will wait.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The project, No Time To Sleep, will take viewers inside the “death cell” of a prisoner spending his last 24 hours in solitary confinement ahead of his execution. With no belongings, no company and nothing to do, how does he spend the painfully long hours?

This project is primarily about the tyranny of time that is both long and short – running slow and running out – while the ropes are tested, he waits, he prays, he eats. In the final hour of the performance, he will be washed by the prison guards and dressed in the clothing he will be buried in – a kind of living corpse. This performance will accurately portray what happens to prisoners prior to execution.

ZULFIQAR WAS VERY CALM THROUGHOUT THOSE FINAL 72 HOURS,

BELIEVING THAT HE WOULD BE SAVED. BUT THE DEATH PENALTY ONLY NEEDS

TO BE CARRIED OUT ONCE FOR ITS EFFECTS TO IRREVERSIBLE.

In collaboration with Highlight Arts and Olomopolo Media, the entire performance will span over 72 hours, with the first 48 hours serving as a prologue to the final day of the act. The prologue will have rolling coverage of the execution warrant, trial court filings, and family preparations of Z (a fictional amalgamation of several of Justice Project Pakistan’s clients) primarily based on the case-history of Zulfiqar. Zulfiqar was a JPP client and death row prisoner who killed in self-defense when someone was robbing himself and his brother. He spent nearly 17 years on death row and received 21 stays of execution.

The final full day leading up to Z’s time of execution will be performed by a renowned Pakistani actor Sarmad Khoosat and will be filmed and live streamed on Pakistan’s national newspaper, The Dawn’s, website.

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