Experts on countries of origin by country

A strategic and results-oriented humanitarian expert with a proven ability to lead high-impact programmes, strengthen institutions, manage complex donor portfolios, and support governments and civil society in delivering sustainable humanitarian and development outcomes. Combines technical excellence with practical field experience, strong leadership, and a collaborative approach to achieving measurable results across the Middle East.

The expert specialises in country conditions affecting families, women, children and socially vulnerable individuals across Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Kuwait, with particular expertise in civil documentation, family and community structures, women-headed households, single and divorced women, child and family circumstances, displacement, internal relocation and the practical challenges associated with return and reintegration.

The expert provides culturally informed analysis of how an individual's gender, family status, documentation, social background and access to family or community support can affect their circumstances on return. Areas of particular expertise include Iraqi and Syrian civil and identity documentation, family registration, marriage and divorce, child registration and custody, single mothers, widows and divorced women, mixed marriages, individuals without effective family networks, diaspora and Westernised returnees, and barriers to accessing accommodation, employment, education, healthcare and other essential services.

The expert's work is particularly relevant to asylum, immigration, human rights and protection cases requiring detailed country evidence concerning the real-world feasibility of return, internal… Read more

Dr. Ali is a leading authority on Middle Eastern law and politics, known for combining deep regional knowledge with sharp legal and political analysis. He works at the intersection of courts, policy, and academia, advising on some of the most complex and sensitive issues facing the region. His expertise spans constitutional law, conflict, governance, and international accountability, grounded in long experience with real-world cases and institutions. He is especially valued for his ability to explain complicated Middle Eastern realities clearly, persuasively, and with credibility.

Hussein Ali is an independent Country Expert and Expert Witness specialising in country conditions across the Middle East. He provides independent expert reports and litigation support in asylum, immigration and human rights proceedings before UK courts and tribunals. His work focuses on assessing country conditions, evaluating risk on return, examining the availability of state protection, and analysing the social, political, legal and humanitarian circumstances relevant to individuals seeking international protection.

His expertise covers persecution arising from political opinion, religion, ethnicity, gender, family and tribal dynamics, together with the treatment of vulnerable individuals including women, children, victims of trafficking, survivors of honour-based violence, forced marriage, organised criminal activity and extremist organisations. His reports are individually researched, evidence-based and prepared objectively in accordance with the overriding duty of an independent Expert Witness to assist the Court or Tribunal.

Dr Haian Dukhan is a Syrian-British political scientist specialising in the contemporary politics of Syria and the wider Middle East. A Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Teesside University and a Fellow of the Centre for Syrian Studies at the University of St Andrews, he completed his PhD in International Relations at St Andrews in 2017.

His research addresses state–society relations, tribal and kinship networks, sectarianism, and ethno-religious and minority communities in Syria, grounded in original Arabic-language fieldwork. He is the author of State and Tribes in Syria (Routledge, 2019) and co-editor of Spoils of War in the Arab East (Bloomsbury, 2024), and provides country-of-origin information on Syria to European refugee councils.

Dr. Daanish Faruqi is a Visiting Researcher at the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.  A scholar of migration and mobility in the Middle East and North Africa, he has leveraged his expertise both in academia and in international development. At Georgetown he researches democracy promotion and conflict resolution through transnational religious humanitarianism. His latest writing deals with the viability of religious humanitarianism in effectively managing refugee crises.  He has a recent interview with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on this project and its potential for peace building. A specialist on contemporary Syria, he also writes regularly commentary on post-Assad Syria, for popular venues like TRT World, al-Jumhuriyya, and others.

He completed his Ph.D. from Duke University, where he wrote his dissertation on the role of Syrian Sufi religious scholars in joining the 2011 uprising against Bashar al-Assad. Through several years of ethnographic and historical fieldwork in Morocco, Turkey, and Jordan, conducting hundreds of Arabic-language interviews, his work revealed the role of 19th century migration… Read more

Dr. Shaul Gabbay completed a BA at Bar Ilan University and an MA at Tel-Aviv University. In 1991 he received a Presidential Fellowship from the U.S. to continue his studies. In 1995 he completed the PhD program at Columbia University in New York and received an invitation from the University of Chicago for a Post Doctoral program. In 1998 Dr. Gabbay returned to Israel to join the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Professor Gabbay joined the University of Denver as the Director of the Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies in 2001- 2010.  He continued his research at DU as a Senior Scholar until 2015 when he was appointed Director of the Global Research Institute.

His areas of expertise include Middle East cultures and societal norms,   Middle East conflicts, and human rights issues existing in Muslim societies.  He is regularly cited and acts as a commentator in national and international media such as the Associated Press, CBS, NBC, FOX and MSNBC.

Academic with expertise on many countries in the Middle East; has extensive experience providing expert reports, including nationality assessment and document authentication reports.

The Expert is a Lecturer in Comparative Politics and International Relations of the Middle East. 

Ali Kozad is a highly experienced Country Expert with over fifteen years' experience in government, diplomacy, public administration and international affairs. Drawing upon extensive first-hand experience advising on political systems, governance, state institutions and public policy, he provides independent expert reports for solicitors, barristers, tribunals and courts.

His expertise includes country conditions, political developments, government structures, public administration, diplomatic practice, civil documentation, nationality matters, state institutions and international relations. He accepts instructions in asylum, immigration, nationality, deportation, judicial review, public law and civil proceedings requiring expert evidence on country conditions and governmental matters.

His reports are impartial, evidence-based and prepared in accordance with the duties of an independent expert witness.

Extensive experience in expert reports on all the countries listed, and also in particular, Kurds in country of origin and diaspora

I am an international practitioner working across Africa and the Middle East, supporting complex cross-border and regional matters. My work is grounded in practical experience, cultural awareness, and careful judgment in sensitive situations.

Lebanese lawyer, admitted to the Beirut Bar Association in 2016, with more than ten years of litigation before every level of the Lebanese courts. Her country evidence work rests on that practice: the confessional personal status system and what it means for women and children, civil registry and identity records, and the point at which state protection stops working.

CEO and founder at Xsolutions Ltd, is an experienced advocate in the appellate court of Egypt. With over 12 years of practice, they specialize in various legal areas, including Egyptian Civil Law, human rights, domestic abuse, trade regulations, criminal law, and Sharea (Islamic Law). They collaborate closely with lawyers, judges, and the Ministry of Interior on national security and civil registration cases. Additionally, they provide reports related to human rights, asylum, gender violence, and political persecution.

Criminologist and gender expert with over 15 years’ experience advising the United Nations, governments and international organisations on gender, women’s rights, civilian protection, reintegration, policing and security institutions, including in conflict and post-conflict settings. She is Founder and Director of Daleel Advisory, a London-based research and expert-witness practice providing country-of-origin evidence for asylum, immigration and family law proceedings.

Specialist in gender-based violence and victim-centred approaches in policing and justice contexts, with a focus on how social norms and institutional responses shape risks and access to protection. She has direct experience working with police, ministries and humanitarian actors in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Ukraine and comparable political and institutional environments. Fluent in Arabic and Ukrainian.

LLM, Human Rights, University of East London.UK 2008   

LLB (Hons) Law, Egypt 1983-1988

BA (Bachelor of Arts) in Law, Egypt                                                International Bar Association Membership UK,1010176-2019     

Bar Association Egypt ‘’regulator lawyer’’ 131729- 1993- 2026

Human Rights (Joint Committee) UK Membership / 2007

An International Expert on Asylum & Human Rights UK 2008-2026

Kathy Trang acquired her doctoral training in biological anthropology from Emory University and is an Associate Research Scientist at NYU and incoming Postdoctoral Fellow in the Dept. of Psychology at Yale University. Her research focuses on characterizing heterogeneity in post-traumatic stress and treatment outcome among high-risk populations in Vietnam, Jordan, and Bangladesh. 

Dr. Abduslam Zagud is a British-Libyan expert witness specialising in Arab socio-political affairs, Islamic law, tribal and community dynamics, and international human rights. He holds a doctorate in General International Law and brings over 17 years of combined academic, professional, and lived experience across the Arab world to his expert practice. Dr Zagud holds an intensive research experience on international public law, international human rights law, international relations and immigration law. 

As a Libyan national who has lived, studied, and worked across multiple Arab countries, and who maintains active community ties in the United Kingdom, Dr. Zagud occupies an unusual position among country experts: he shares the language, culture, religious traditions, and social frameworks of the people he writes about. This enables a depth of insight that goes beyond conventional desk research. Arab nationals speak candidly with him, update him on conditions on the ground, and provide the kind of nuanced, lived detail that is rarely accessible to an outside observer.

He is a Full Member of the SOAS Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Centre and holds Law Society accreditation as a Supervising Senior Caseworker in Immigration and Asylum Law. He works… Read more