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Sabrina Rajan Mahtani

Sierra Leone, 2012
Executive Director, AdvocAid
Sabrina Rajan Mahtani links her work advancing the rights of women in Sierra Leone’s criminal justice system with the imprisonment of her father when she was a teenager. Born and raised in Zambia, Sabrina says her privileged upbringing was no match for the unjust imprisonment of her father.
Sabrina moved to Sierra Leone after its civil war ended to work for the UN. The plight of female prisoners in Sierra Leone—where there is no formal government legal aid program—led her to co-found AdvocAid. With staff lawyers and a trained network of women paralegals, AdvocAid provides legal advice and assistance to girls and women in conflict with the law. Through radio and television dramas, illustrated booklets and other outreach tools, AdvocAid endeavors to raise women’s awareness of their rights. Sabrina and her team even aim to reform and strengthen the justice system by offering capacity building workshops to justice-sector professionals.
Sabrina says she has learned to be patient while working to effect positive changes. “Being part of HRAP was wonderful as I met other human rights activists who face similar challenges. Sometimes we have to fight for a long time to make the changes we want to see but, from Palestine to Uganda, human rights activists are making a difference. This has strengthened my resolve for my work. HRAP gave me an opportunity to reflect on my work and enriched me with new ideas and connections for how to advance my work in the future and to share knowledge and new ideas with my team in Sierra Leone,” says Sabrina. “Thanks to the HRAP I feel strengthened to continue pursuing AdvocAid’s mission, especially through our advocacy work. I am even more determined to pursue my next goal of establishing a scholarship and capacity building scheme for female law students in Sierra Leone that would help women who are interested in providing legal services for their fellow women.”
By 2011 Advocate Lana Ackar of Bosnia