Full Name
Farieha Aziz
Job Title
Co-Founder and Director
Company
Bolo Bhi
Speaker Bio
Farieha Aziz is a co-founder of Pakistan-based digital rights and civil liberties advocacy group, Bolo Bhi.
She served as an amicus curia (friend of court) before the Lahore High Court in a case challenging the ban on YouTube in 2013. She was the petitioner on behalf of Bolo Bhi in a case filed before the Islamabad High Court in 2014, challenging the government’s censorship of the Internet and the powers of the regulator. In 2015, she led the campaign to stop the government of Pakistan from enacting the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016, and worked with other rights groups, business associations, legislators in the National Assembly and Senate (lower and upper houses of parliament), and the Standing Committees on IT of both Houses, to highlight the detrimental impact it would have on civil liberties – particularly speech and privacy. She petitioned the Sindh High Court in June 2017 against the Ministry of Interior and the Federal Investigation Agency’s crackdown on dissent on social media.
Since the passage of the law, through articles, policy briefs and presentations before parliamentary committees, she regularly raises issues regarding the implementation of the cybercrime law – especially the misuse of the law and excesses by the investigation agency. She monitors cases under the cybercrime law and assists with the defense of those charged under it. In 2021, she was appointed as an amicus curiae by the Islamabad High Court in petitions challenging the social media rules. She is the author of report "Rethinking the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act: How Cybercrime Laws are Weaponized Against Women" (2022) published by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
Previously, on behalf of Bolo Bhi, she has served as an alternate board member for the NGO constituency of the Global Network Initiative.
She served as an amicus curia (friend of court) before the Lahore High Court in a case challenging the ban on YouTube in 2013. She was the petitioner on behalf of Bolo Bhi in a case filed before the Islamabad High Court in 2014, challenging the government’s censorship of the Internet and the powers of the regulator. In 2015, she led the campaign to stop the government of Pakistan from enacting the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016, and worked with other rights groups, business associations, legislators in the National Assembly and Senate (lower and upper houses of parliament), and the Standing Committees on IT of both Houses, to highlight the detrimental impact it would have on civil liberties – particularly speech and privacy. She petitioned the Sindh High Court in June 2017 against the Ministry of Interior and the Federal Investigation Agency’s crackdown on dissent on social media.
Since the passage of the law, through articles, policy briefs and presentations before parliamentary committees, she regularly raises issues regarding the implementation of the cybercrime law – especially the misuse of the law and excesses by the investigation agency. She monitors cases under the cybercrime law and assists with the defense of those charged under it. In 2021, she was appointed as an amicus curiae by the Islamabad High Court in petitions challenging the social media rules. She is the author of report "Rethinking the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act: How Cybercrime Laws are Weaponized Against Women" (2022) published by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
Previously, on behalf of Bolo Bhi, she has served as an alternate board member for the NGO constituency of the Global Network Initiative.
Speaking At
