Experts on countries of origin by country

Hemn Seyedi holds a PhD in Kurdish Studies, University of Exeter. He was also awarded Mphil in Iranian Studies (2019) and MSc in Middle East Politics (2017). With the cooperation of some colleagues, Seyedi established the Middle East Institution for Democratic Developments, MEIDD, focusing on research and democratic developments in the Middle East.

One of the main services of the institution is providing professional advice and reports to the courts, solicitors, and the Home Office case workers. It can offer impartial, evidence-based, and fresh analysis of the socio-political situations in Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, including the governments and societies within these countries.

Hemn Seyedi is in contact with people from these countries, ranging from ordinary individuals to lecturers, journalists, and lawyers. He is also in partnership with universities, institutions, and research centres within the region and globally, which work on Middle Eastern politics and its social changes.

Alongside the research and academic activities, Seyedi is active on social media, with 21,000 followers on Facebook, 68,000 on Instagram, and 91,000 on X (formerly Twitter), mainly from Iran and Iraq. The reason for this influence is that he has been a public figure on Farsi… Read more

BBC journalist, film-maker and broadcaster with extensive experience of travelling to and investigating human rights abuses in Russia, including Chechnya, Belarus and other parts of the former USSR. Also considerable experience working with victims of human rights abuses in location in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Israel / Palestine, China, Turkey and Cuba.

Her academic and professional qualifications include an undergraduate in Psychology (Academic year: 1997) and a postgraduate degree and training (Academic year: 1997-98 and 1999-2000) in Clinical Psychology; 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, she can assess efficiently and provide culturally emotional sensitive service

Her employment history involves working as a psychologist:

She used to work with Nafas Drug Treatment Centre, Age Concern, Special People, Social Action for Health, The UK Centre for Counselling & Psychotherapy, London School of Psychology and Health, Flow Neuroscience and Centre for Psychological Health (She has prepared numerous well-referenced expert reports for UK institutions including the Family Court, Immigration Court, Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions, and Land Registry. Her work integrates factual findings with comprehensive assessments and evidence-based analysis. She has prepared over 150 expert psychological and country reports, guided by a strong commitment to ethical and professional standards.

Professional Memberships and Affiliations:

She is… Read more

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.

Countries of Expertise: Syria (and to a lesser extent Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey).

I write books and articles about the political, military, economic, social and cultural conditions in Syria. My most recent book is The Blood Between Us: Syria’s Revolutionary Transition (Saqi, 2026). My journalism has been published at The Guardian, New Lines Magazine, Time, Newsweek, Unherd, Al Jazeera, the New Statesman and other outlets. The BBC and others have frequently interviewed me on Syria.

I am also the chief English editor of the Syria Prisons Museum and the ISIS Prisons Museum; these are documentation projects producing evidence of crimes in prisons run by the Assad regime and ISIS for use in trials and for wider justice and accountability purposes.

As well as prisons, I focus on transitional justice, militias, sectarianism, and political and economic development.

Dr Zagud holds an intensive research experience on international public law, international human rights law, international relations and immigration law. 

Dr Zagud takes instructions on all Arab cases from: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

He maintains his expertise in all legal matters related to Arab nationals including cases pertaining to asylum, immigration, family and crime. Dr Zagud writes expert reports on all legal matters as well as nationality matters, languages, blood feuds, honour killing, domestic violence, risk of return and Islamic law.

His expertise centres around the people with whom he shares cultural understanding, languages, religious beliefs, and numerous national characteristics.

Cases undertaken

The Expert has experience in providing Country of Origin reports and analyses, he also provides documents authentication reports on various legal proceedings for clients in the UK and internationally. he is mostly instructed in following cases: