Experts on countries of origin by country

Fahim Abrar Abid is a legal researcher specialising in international law, human rights, and international protection. He has provided expert opinions in UK First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal proceedings, advised the University of London Refugee Law Clinic, and prepared materials for U.S. immigration matters (USCIS). His work focuses on country conditions, risk on return, political opinion (actual and imputed), minority protection, non-state actor threats, and the treatment of activists, journalists, detainees, and other at-risk groups. He is an Erasmus Mundus Scholar in International Law and Security, Founder of the Bangladesh Society of International Law, and has authored over 20 expert reports across multiple jurisdictions.

Reports delivery: Within 2 weeks (For emergency cases: 1 week)

Expertise on religion and politics in a number of African, Asian and Latin American countries - and in a number of languages. Current research includes China (Tibet), Chile, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Argentina, DRC, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe; Libya and Syria

Mr Muhammad Sabbir Ahmad is a Regulated Foreign Lawyer registered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and a Law Lecturer at several colleges in the United Kingdom.

He has comprehensive legal experience spanning immigration and asylum law, human rights law, and complex corporate and commercial practice, with a primary geographic focus on Bangladesh, Pacific Countries and the UK.

Mr Ahmad has worked extensively with immigration and asylum law firms in both the United Kingdom and overseas. His experience includes conducting refugee status interviews, assessing international protection claims, analysing country-of-origin information, and assisting with third-country resettlement applications. He has also represented clients in numerous Immigration and Asylum appeals.

He possesses in-depth knowledge and practical experience relating to the legal and human rights landscape in Bangladesh, Fiji, UK including:

Arbitrary detention, custodial torture, and deaths in custody

Extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances

Politically motivated prosecutions and abuse by law enforcement agencies

Political conflict and persecution

Targeted persecution of minorities… Read more

Syed Mohammad Ali is a lecturer for the MA in Global Security Studies program ay Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Ali has a PhD in development anthropology, and he has extensive experience working with multilateral, bilateral, government, and non-government organizations on varied international development challenges.

Besides teaching, Dr. Ali is a Non-Resident Scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington D.C., and he is a Non-Resident Faculty member affiliated with the Beaconhouse National University in Lahore. He is also the author of several peer-reviewed articles, half a dozen book chapters, as well as the book Development, Poverty and Power in Pakistan: The Impact of State and Donor Interventions on Farmers, published by Routledge in 2015. His other publications include numerous policy papers for leading think-tanks including the United States Institute of Peace and the Middle East Institute. 

Dr. Ali writes a weekly op-ed in the Express Tribune, an affiliate of the New York Times in Pakistan, since 2011. He regularly participates in panel discussions on several Pakistani news channels, as well as on international media outlets including Al Jazeera, China Global Television Network, Channel NewsAsia, Voice of America’s televised Urdu Service programs… Read more

Harina is an accomplished lawyer with an LL.M. in Criminal Law, graduating with first-class honours. Her academic journey includes a distinguished dissertation exploring the socio-legal dimensions of live-in relationships in India. With a strong foundation in law and a keen interest in addressing socio-legal complexities, Harina has built a diverse and impactful legal career.

Her professional experience spans multiple areas of law, including Indian Family Law and Society, Civil and Criminal Laws, Child Custody and Abduction, Indian Citizenship and Nationality Laws, and Indian Employment Law, among various others. She has worked on a diverse array of legal matters, showcasing her expertise in drafting legal documents, including agreements, employment contracts, and mandates, with a strong emphasis on ensuring compliance with applicable laws and addressing client-specific requirements. She also provided comprehensive legal opinions on a wide range of matters involving Indian Family Law, Contract Law, Indian Employment Law(s), etc., to foreign missions in India.  

Harina further prepared detailed Expert Reports and Expert Witness Statements on Indian law and Society, which were submitted in foreign courts that addressed… Read more

The expert is Full Professor of Social and Political Anthropology at the University of Konstanz (Germany). She has served as an expert since 2014.

Simone Elyse Carter is a public health and humanitarian expert with over 15 years of experience in outbreak analytics, research coordination, and strategic leadership. She currently serves as the Lead for Integrated Outbreak Analytics (IOA) at UNICEF, providing technical guidance and capacity strengthening for emergency response efforts worldwide.

Throughout her career, Simone has played a key role in developing data-driven solutions for complex health crises, leading interdisciplinary teams, and fostering global partnerships. Her work has included chairing the IOA working group under the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) and overseeing systematic research dissemination to improve outbreak response strategies.

Previously, Simone managed the Integrated Analytics Cell (CAI) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where she contributed to the development of evidence-based response mechanisms during public health emergencies. Her expertise spans epidemiology, humanitarian coordination, and policy development, making her a vital resource in advancing data-informed decision-making in crisis contexts.

The Expert is a Sub-Saharan Africa specialist with extensive experience in Country Operations Management, Resource Mobilization, Business Development, Communications and Advocacy across multiple countries with leading international NGOs.

I am a Consultant Psychologist with over 25 years of clinical experience specializing in complex trauma/C-PTSD. I have completed a doctorate degree in Psychology from Wolverhampton University and a clinical supervision training from Oxford University. My background includes senior NHS leadership roles, clinical team management, and policy development, alongside extensive experience in teaching, research and clinical supervision. 

As an Expert Court Witness, I have extensive experience assessing individuals and families for the Immigration & Asylum Chamber and Family Court, with a particular focus on high-stakes asylum cases involving risk of persecution, apostasy, and victims of trafficking, torture, sexual exploitation, and abuse. Utilizing a trauma-informed forensic framework, I address critical issues of credibility, memory inconsistencies, and sur place activities, providing the Tribunal with robust clinical evidence that bridges the gap between psychological vulnerability and legal disclosure hurdles. 

My expertise extends to comprehensive family and child assessments, focusing on attachment, transgenerational trauma, and the "best interests of the child" in deportation or care proceedings. I offer deep clinical insight into Muslim and… Read more

Specialist in political oppression, human rights, Expanding Communal Riot, Rule of Law, Freedom of Speech and Government Rulings, and Security and Justice with a particular expertise on social/ethnic/political groups at risk of persecution in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Myanmar. Experience in writing legal grounds and producing expert reports for asylum cases, persecution, gender inequality, Religious Extremists and vulnerable condition of women and children, etc

Expertise in the Laws of Immigration, Right of Immigrant, Human Rights under the purview of various Social and Political aspects of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Myanmar.

A social anthropologist (Ph.D. Cambridge 2002), Dr Daryn brings over three decades of hands-on and academic experience in anthropology, human rights, politics, and refugee policy across South Asia. This includes 18 years of living in Nepal and India, doing prolonged spells of fieldwork and research, as well as work in various international organisations. During  his British Academy postdoctoral fellowship at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London, 2003-6) Dr Daryn also taught the MA course: “The Anthropology of South Asia”. He became closely acquainted with asylum seekers, including Bangladeshis, Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Burmese, and Tibetans, while working in UNHCR’s Kathmandu office (Nepal) during 2008-9 as an Associate Durable Solutions Officer. In this capacity, Dr Daryn became familiar with the RSD process and UNHCR’s Country of Origin information on South Asian countries, read in detail many private refugee files, and conducted focus group discussions and interviews with many refugees. Since then, he has focused on the study of human rights in South Asian countries. From 2005 onwards, Dr Daryn has served as an Expert Witness in asylum appeal cases and has written over 230 Expert Reports for court cases mainly in the UK,… Read more

C. Christine Fair is a Professor in the Security Studies Program within Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. She previously served as a senior political scientist with the RAND Corporation, a political officer with the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan in Kabul, and a senior research associate at the United States Institute of Peace.  Her most recent book is In Their Own Words: Understanding Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (Hurst/Oxford University Press, 2018/2019).  She has authored, co-authored and co-edited several books, including Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Army’s Way of War (Oxford University Press); Pakistan’s Enduring Challenges (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), Policing Insurgencies: Cops as Counterinsurgents (Oxford University Press, 2014); Political Islam and Governance in Bangladesh (Routledge, 2010); Treading on Hallowed Ground: Counterinsurgency Operations in Sacred Spaces (Oxford University Press, 2008); The Madrassah Challenge: Militancy and Religious Education in Pakistan (USIP, 2008), and The Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States (Globe Pequot, 2008), among others.  

She is a member of Women in International Security, International Studies… Read more

Dr. Sonali Gupta, LL.B., Ph.D. (UCLA), is an anthropologist, legal expert, and educator specializing in migration, asylum, cultural resilience, and narcotics law. As President and Co-Founder of the Himalayan Conservation & Preservation Society (USA) and Founder-Director of the Himalayan Institute of Cultural & Heritage Studies (India), she has devoted over two decades to research, migration policy, and community engagement across the Himalayas and South Asia. Her experience includes six years of legal practice in India, handling asylum, migration, and narcotics cases, which provided in-depth insight into both legal and prison systems. She has also worked as legal staff in the United States, conducted extensive ethnographic research on caste, gender, resilience, and climate-driven migration, and served as adjunct professor at UCLA in anthropology and regional studies.

Dr. Gupta’s work creates bridges between ground-level realities and global advocacy frameworks, advancing social justice and sustainable development for marginalized communities. She leads initiatives on cultural preservation, legal empowerment, and grassroots healing—from founding a migrant memory hub in Delhi and innovative field programs in Himachal Pradesh, to advising… Read more

Current Position

Director of Research – Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) – Panthéon Sorbonne Paris 1, Institut des Science Juridique et Philosophique de la Sorbonne

2017 – current – Senior Research Fellow – Centre for Socio-Legal Studies – School of Law - University of Oxford

2016 – current – full professor with tenure (on Leave) – University of Padua

2016 – 2021 – PI of European Research Council project – Cultural Expertise in Europe (EURO-EXPERT)

Past Position

2018 – 2020, Senior Research Fellow – Centre for Socio-Legal Studies – University of Oxford

2013 – 2016, Professor of Behavioural Sciences (Anthropology) – Department of Behavioural Sciences and Karakoram Centre for Culture and Heritage 

2013 – 2016, Dean of Faculty – Humanities and Social Sciences – Karakoram International University 

Professor of Anthropology - LUMS

My academic and professional qualifications include an undergraduate in Psychology (Academic year: 1997) and a post-graduate degree and training (Academic year: 1997-98 and 1999-2000) in Clinical Psychology. My clinical work is diverse and covers assessment and therapy for adults and minority ethnic groups for various conditions. As a multilingual psychologist with multi-cultural experience, I can assess efficiently and provide culturally emotional sensitive service.

My employment history involves working as a psychologist:

1. In the UK, I have been working in the UK for last 18 years. I used to work with Nafas Drug Treatment Centre (my post was funded by NHS), All Together Project (UK Gov.), PR UK and The UK Centre for Counselling & Psychotherapy, London School of Psychology and Health.

I have also gained international experience by working in India and Bangladesh.

2. In India, with People in Distress (PID). Currently, I am working as a Part time Faculty for Post Graduate Diploma in Health and Hospital Management with International Medical Centre.

3. In Bangladesh, with National Institute of Mental Health, Marie Stopes Clinic, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B) - a worldwide… Read more

I, Dr Serena Hussain, am an Expert Witness and Associate Professor at the Centre for Peace and Security, Coventry University. I specialise in providing country expert reports for UK First tier and Upper Tribunal proceedings, as well as international jurisdictions, focusing on risk on return and the credibility of claims in light of prevailing country conditions. My expertise is deeply informed by over 15 years of fieldwork in Pakistan and the disputed territories of Jammu and Kashmir, including intensive data collection within the Afghan-Pakistan border region (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), and examining the policies of right-wing majoritarian governance in India towards minorities. 

Experience as an Expert: I provide comprehensive expert reports across a broad range of human rights and asylum categories, including:

Dr Md Tanvirul Islam is a medical doctor who is currently working in the NHS. He possesses genuine perspectives and relevant clinical insights in the context of immigrations of ethnic populations. The expertise has primarily stemmed from his frontline clinical experience in Bangladesh. In addition to his clinical competencies, he has a deep understanding of psychosocial and socioeconomic factors affecting the health and wellbeing of the people of Bangladeshi ethnicity.

The Expert is a practising Advocate and Barrister-at-Law in Pakistan. He is the Senior Partner of Khan & Co Barristers-at-Law and has repeatedly been appointed as an expert on Pakistani law in the UK court system. The Expert is counsel to foreign governments on Pakistani law and is a Registered Foreign Lawyer with the Solicitors Regulation Authority and practices law in the UK and in Pakistan. The Expert has provided more than 200 reports in immigration and family law cases funded by the Legal Aid Agency and the Scottish Legal Aid Board The reports provided by the Expert have addressed issues related to adultery, adoption, blasphemy, custody and abduction of children, divorce (talaq), divorce (khula), forced conversions, forced marriages, gender based violence, gender identity claims, honour killings, human trafficking, internal relocation, jirgas (tribal councils), law reform, legitimacy of children, Pakistani prisons, protection of witnesses, religious minorities and ethnic groups, statelessness, sexual orientation claims, terrorism offences and women’s protection legislation. The Expert is particularly well-versed in the Constitution of Pakistan 1973, judicial review in Pakistani courts, public law issues and national accountability cases. 

In the context… Read more