Experts on countries of origin by country

The expert is lecturer in Kurdish and Gender Studies at the University of Exeter and has extensive experience in providing country expert reports, nationality assessment, and language analysis.

Independent researcher. Country expert reports, nationality assessment, language analysis, Gender-based violence, Ethnic and religious minorities in the Middle East, and Document authentication.

I am a Kurdish-British independent consultant specialising in Middle Eastern politics, particularly the political structures of Iraqi Kurdistan, Kurdish affairs, and regional geopolitics. I provide expert country of origin (COI) reports, political analysis, and cultural briefings for legal professionals and private entities. My work bridges lived experience, academic research, and institutional understanding, ensuring nuanced and evidence-based insight into complex political and social dynamics. I also work as an interpreter and have worked with an intelligence company as a due diligence researcher and interviewer with a focus on the Middle East.

Dr. Sana Yaseen Khudhur is an author and lecturer at the Department of Education/ Arden University.

She completed her BA in English Language and Literature at Salahaddin University/Erbil in 2011 and was awarded a scholarship to pursue MA degree in Practice of Teaching and Learning English Language. In 2014, she was awarded another scholarship to pursue a PhD in Intercultural Linguistics.

Registered as a full member of NRPSI (National Register of Public Service Interpreters)

Registered as a fellow member of CIOL (Chartered Institute of English Language Linguists)

Published a number of academic articles and books in the field of English language learning and teaching, and the experience of ESOL, EFL and ELL by Kurdish learners

Produced a number of articles on language assessment, ethnicity, country background and information, tribal and political issues in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Kawa Morad (MA, PhD) is a lecturer in social anthropology, based in Exeter, with a focus on forced migration and/in the Middle East. He has extensive experience in providing language analysis and country expert reports on internal displacement, gender-based violence, medical/psychiatric care and access, statelessness, LGBTQ+ communities and others in Syria, Iraq, and Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

20 years experience in translation and knowledge in migration and displacement, 4 years ECOSOC representative for NGO at the human right council at UN-GENEVE and 10 years experience with humanitarian agencies and the world bank

Dr. Imranali Panjwani is the Head of Diverse Legal Consulting, UK (www.diverselegal.com) and a Lecturer in Law at Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford, Essex. He has the unique combination of being a lawyer and academic having lived and worked in the UK, Middle East and Australia. His country expert reports draw upon primary country and theological sources with stringent analysis of evidence, law and language. He resides in the UK.

The Expert is a North Africa and Middle East specialist and has produced over 400 expert witness reports for the UK courts across a range of countries including Libya, Iraq (including KRI), Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria. The Expert has also served as an expert witness in several terrorism related cases in the UK, US and Ireland; as an expert witness in a Libyan case at the Commercial Division of the UK’s High Court; and as a country guidance expert on Libya in the UK courts (2017). The Expert has also carried out numerous linguistic and nationality assessments and provides translation services (Arabic-English). 

I am an expert witness on Syria & Iraq, and Mozambique & Tanzania, with a decade of experience as an Army intelligence officer and as a senior political and security risk analyst. My work has been requested by The Economist and a US embassy, cited in reports by the government of Spain, the Counter-Terrorism Centre of Excellence (funded by Germany and the UNODC), Voice of America, and others. My reports are recognised for being clear, concise and evidence based. I also produce bespoke maps that illustrate armed group activity and risk zones, making complex dynamics readily accessible.

Dr Omer Tekdemir is an expert on the Middle Eastern region and an analyst of its legal, social, political, and cultural dynamics, providing consultancy on economic and governmental affairs. He is an Associate Professor in Interdisciplinary Studies and Associate Head of School at the School of Law. He holds a PhD from the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University (2013), and an MA in Contemporary Political Theory and International Relations from the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Westminster, London.

Dr Tekdemir is the Managing Editor of the open-access journal New Middle Eastern Studies and has previously held the role of convener of the British International Studies Association (BISA) working group on Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Asian Studies. His research interest lies in violence, terrorism, security, conflict resolution, peacebuilding, post-conflict societies, nationalism, identity, democratization, populism, migration, diaspora, stateless peoples, and transnational justice, with a particular focus on the Kurds and Middle East. He is the author of a book on the Kurds and has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes.