Ayaz Nizami

Ayaz Nizami is a blogger from Pakistan known for when he was arrested on 24 March 2017 for alleged blasphemy, and is currently facing the death penalty on such charges. Before his arrest, he allegedly translated materials critical of Islam to Urdu for publishing. Nizami founded the website realisticapproach.org, a website in Urdu about irreligion, and allegedly served as the vice president of the Atheist & Agnostic Alliance Pakistan. Two other bloggers were arrested along with Nizami in a crackdown on social media content deemed blasphemous by the Pakistani government. After his arrest, the hashtag #hangayaznizami was trending on Twitter in Pakistan, and authorities shut down his social media account over material deemed controversial.