Experts on countries of origin by country

Nazifa Haqpal is a former Afghan diplomat, journalist, and PhD candidate in Law at SOAS University of London. She has extensive expertise in human rights, Islamic and customary law, and gender issues, with a particular focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Her expertise is informed by her doctoral research and extensive experience preparing and assessing Country of Origin (COI) reports and documentation. She is also an Associate Member (Practising Category) of the Academy of Experts, specialising as a Country-of-Origin Expert.

Dr Jawad Hassan Zadeh is an Expert Witness with experience of working in Afghanistan’s and Pakistan’s affairs. As of February 2022, he has prepared 1,128 expert reports for over 200 law firms and non-legal organisations based in France, Greece, Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States of America. The Expert provides three services concerning cases from Afghanistan (1) country of origin expert opinions on human rights, culture, ethnic groups, religions, laws, government and non-state actors (2) conducts forensic examination of all types of documents originating from Afghanistan (3) interviews the ‘disputed nationality’ claimants from Afghanistan with a view of producing linguistic and nationality of the disputed clients.

The expert provides country expert reports for Pakistan, conducts nationality assessment interviews for Pakistani nationals whose nationality and origin are disputed and verifies the authenticity of Pakistani documents. 

Ethan Holden holds a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Human Rights Law from the University of Warwick, with specialised training in Islamic law and the regulation of artificial intelligence. He has conducted field research in South Asia, focusing on cases involving family law, international law, Islamic law, and conflict of laws within legally plural contexts. He also holds the Expert Witness Certificate awarded by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, providing specialist training in the preparation of expert evidence for judicial proceedings.

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 Imam brings more than two decades of experience in mixed methods international social science practice, research, and teaching around the world, focusing on East and West Africa, South Asia, USA, and Central Asia. Her interests involve research, development, and instruction on advanced issues of human rights, international conventions on human, civil, and political rights, and against torture; police service, judicial and quasi-judicial institutions, and persecution; grievance redressal arrangements; gender analysis, gender equality, gender-based violence, forced marriages, and sexual abuse; child abuse, child marriages, and violence against children; climate-related issues; and more. She has written books and scholarly articles about public administration, employing quantitative data and qualitative streams of historical changes in socioeconomic, judicial, political, and administrative institutions.

Her work employs innovative research methodologies, focusing on getting to the crux of socio-cultural and institutional situations to deliver efficient solutions that take into account complex dynamics involving human rights, child rights, gender equality, sustainability, and other such standards, in diverse socio-political contexts.

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

Dr. Maria Khwaja's work spans many years conducting research in urban Pakistan across ethnic and political lines with a focus on the violence faced by children who inherit conflict political spaces. She is currently an assistant professor at Salem State University and holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge. Dr. Khwaja's areas of expertise include children's rights and children's agency, political violence by state and non-state actors, terrorism, stateless peoples and internally displaced refugees, schooling and education of children, gender, ethnic and religious discrimination, and military and political governance and violence. Dr. Khwaja is a published academic author with a chapter on her ethnographic work with adolescents published in 2013, a forthcoming article on research methodology in the Global South pending revisions, and several articles forthcoming.

Md Salahuddin Mahmud is a Lincoln’s Inn Barrister and an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh with over 17 years of legal practice and country expertise on Bangladesh. He specialises in constitutional, criminal, human rights, and immigration law, with particular expertise in political, religious, ethnic, and social group persecution, rule of law, electoral governance, state accountability, and the operation of the judiciary and law enforcement agencies. He is the Head of Chambers of Salahuddin & Associates, Legal Adviser to the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD), and a Listed Counsel of the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (UN-IRMCT) and the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC), The Hague.

https://scba.org.bd/members_directory.php

KSC List of Counsel-English

The expert has prepared hundreds of expert opinions on Pakistani Law matters for English Law firms and is an expert on all Political Groups in Pakistan.

Dr Imranali Panjwani has lived, studied and worked in the UK, Middle East, East-Africa and Australia as an academic, lawyer, chaplain and community worker. He has written 200+ country experts reports for asylum seekers under the instructions of UK and international law firms. His reports have been commented upon by judges and lawyers and draw upon his diverse legal, cultural and religious experiences.

For his access to justice work in immigration and asylum he received the national Spirit in the Community award at the GG2 Leadership & Diversity Awards in 2025 and Highly Commended Access to Justice award at the UK Diversity Legal Awards in 2021.

Experienced in working with diverse populations, including women and girls, children and youth, refugees, internally displaced persons returnees, migrants, persons with disabilities, minority groups, rural communities, and marginalized populations. Strong commitment to inclusive development approaches, gender equality, social protection, human rights, accountability to affected populations, and sustainable solutions that strengthen community resilience. 

Fluent in English with professional experience working in multilingual and multicultural settings, including collaboration with French, Arabic, and local-language-speaking communities through direct communication and interpretation support where required. Experienced in navigating complex cultural and political environments while building trust and effective partnerships with national and international stakeholders.

The Expert has completed over 3,000 expert witness reports on Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Malaysia since 2005, primarily for the UK courts but also in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA.  This has also included cases on terrorism and extradition. Oral expert evidence in all recent Sri Lankan Country Guidance cases from LP (2007) to KK & RS (2020).

Most recent one month research visit to Sri Lanka in March 2022 (Northern and Eastern Provinces).  It is usual to visit Sri Lanka and select countries in Asia each year for at least a month.  Strong emphasis on fieldwork and interviews with officials and in-country experts and focus upon risk and vulnerability on return.

Also, expertise on India, especially Tamil Nadu and Khalistan and LGBTQ issues generally.  Recent expert witness on high profile extradition cases in Hong Kong, London and New York.  Research visits to India, Pakistan and Malaysia are planned for 2023. 

Extensive field work and publications record in India from 1983, including my PhD on India’s defence industry and security sector (1988) and two year tenure at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies/United Nations University (Delhi) (1983-85).

Expert witness research trip planned for… Read more

Dr. Tran Thi Lan Anh (PhD in Law) has worked as a senior official for the Vietnamese Government. Expert holds PhD in Law from the School of Law, University of Leeds and worked as post-doctoral researcher on human rights here.

Dr. Tran Thi Lan Anh is also an expert on various aspect of Vietnam in include the socio-economic system, legal regime, human rights, political regime, women and children, and human trafficking. This expert has written many expert reports and made numerous appearances at the court as an expert witness.

The Expert is a Barrister-at-Law of England and Wales. The Expert is a practicing Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. He holds the position of Head of Chambers at "LexAria and Jurists" (link : https://lexariaandjurists.com/) , and President at "Justice for All', with nearly a decade's experience in legal practice. The expert regularly moves before the Supreme Court of Bangladesh for various matters including Writ (Judicial Review), Criminal and Civil Appeal and Revision, Bail Petition, Intellectual Property, Company Matter, Inheritance, Public Interest Litigation, Muslim Personal Law, Succession Law, Hindu Law, etc.

As a practicing Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, the expert is legally qualified to verify any legal documents including case, GD, judgments and other relevant documents, and check records from the government office of Bangladesh including Courts and Tribunals unless restricted by the law or relevant office. 

Parallel to his legal pursuits, the expert is the Legal Affairs and Political Editor of The Daily Campus and columnist. Accumulatively, he possesses over 18 years of sustained experience as a Journalist in Bangladesh, having written extensively on a broad range of issues, including human rights, the criminal justice… Read more

Dr. Emma Varley is an Associate Professor and Chair of Anthropology at Brandon University whose research spans over two decades in sociocultural and critical medical anthropology. Her work foregrounds the cultural, ethical, and political dimensions of medicine and public health, with particular expertise in maternal and neonatal health in contexts marked by conflict, weak governance, and structural violence. Her long-term ethnographic research focuses primarily on Pakistan and India, where she has examined how state policies, sectarian dynamics, and institutional practices shape obstetric care, health service delivery, and the lived experiences of women, families, and healthcare providers.

Dr. Varley’s scholarship integrates rigorous ethnographic methods with critical theory to explore power, exclusion, and embodiment in medical and humanitarian settings. Her publications address the impacts of political strife, natural disaster, health system mismanagement, and social marginalization on maternal health outcomes, advancing broader debates in global health, gender studies, conflict studies, and the anthropology of medicine.

The Expert is a sociologist and religious studies expert with specialisation in Asia and the Middle East. He has authored over 150 subject-specific expert legal reports concerning human rights, asylum and terrorism cases. The Expert has spent several years in the field, carrying out research both in Britain and abroad, enabling him to generate expert reports on the country conditions of asylum applicants. The Expert has been involved in several cross-cultural research projects in the private and public sector. As an expert in South Asia, he spent several years conducting extensive fieldwork across South Asia. In Pakistan, he worked alongside local politicians and social workers, gaining considerable insight into national and local political and legal structures in Pakistan. This makes him a regional expert of South Asia and the Muslim world, especially related to religion, society, culture and politics. He is a peer-reviewed member of the academic community and currently a Senior Lecturer in the School of History, Philosophy and Social Science at Bangor University. He has authored three books: (1) Radicalism Unveiled (Routledge, 2013); (2) Segregated Britain: Everyday Life in Muslim Enclaves (Peter Lang, 2020); (3) Leaving Islamism (Peter Lang, Forthcoming).