Experts on countries of origin by country

Dr. Imdat Oner is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Jack D. Gordon Institute and a former diplomat with over two years of service in Venezuela. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from Florida International University, specializing in Latin American politics.

Dr. Oner is an expert in Venezuelan political affairs, with a focus on government repression, opposition persecution, and human rights violations. His work provides critical insights into state-controlled security forces, judicial persecution, and extrajudicial threats against dissidents. Leveraging his diplomatic experience and extensive research, he offers expert reports for asylum cases, analyzing the risks faced by opposition members through firsthand knowledge, international human rights documentation, and regional political analysis.

Emir Onur Romano Cilek is a human-rights practitioner and country-conditions specialist on Turkey, with fifteen years documenting and contesting the persecution of non-believers, apostates (ex-Muslims), converts, secular activists, and LGBTQ+ people. He founded and leads Ateizm Derneği — the first legally recognised atheist organisation in a Muslim-majority country — and in March 2026 delivered an oral statement at the 61st Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, on behalf of Humanists International and Ateizm Derneği, addressing Turkey's Penal Code Article 216(3). Through the Atheist Refugee Assistance Program, the Atheist Support Network, and the Secular Rescue Program, he has assessed and documented many hundreds of protection cases originating from Turkey and the surrounding region, including evidentiary documentation relied on in UNHCR and immigration proceedings. His expertise covers the legal framework criminalising religious dissent (Penal Code Articles 216 and 301), state and societal treatment of the non-religious and apostates, family- and community-based ("honour") risk, surveillance and prosecution of activists, and the situation of LGBTQ+ individuals and women at risk.

As a prison conditions and detention expert, Vicki Prais has comprehensive, expert level legal and practical knowledge of international and regional human rights standards on criminal justice and detention. Vicki has in-country experience working in different settings, including Kosovo, Armenia, Albania, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Japan, Georgia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Canada, Spain and Russia and a very strong understanding of penal related issues through practical visits to closed institutions in various countries (Canada, Georgia, Japan, Spain, Turkey and England & Wales). 

Vicki Prais is an internationally recognised award-winning human rights lawyer, independent human rights consultant, academic, trainer and career coach with expertise in the protection of prisoners’ rights, prison reform, humane detention and the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment in detention. She brings 29 years of professional experience in International Organisations (the UN, Council of Europe), the British Government (Human Rights Advisor to the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Government Legal Department), civil society (Amnesty International, Penal Reform International), national human rights institutions (the Scottish Human Rights Commission) and academia (Visiting… Read more

Dr. Branislav Radeljic is a professor, consultant, and expert witness, focusing on European and Middle Eastern political and socioeconomic developments. He lectured for many years in the United Kingdom and, more recently, he has held professorships in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, he has held visiting appointments at Nebrija University in Madrid, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Michigan and the University of Pittsburgh. 

Dr. Radeljic has conducted research and provided specialized services to a broad range of clients, including government entities and non-governmental stakeholders. His work has involved thorough evaluations of governance regimes, institutional transparency and accountability, and prospects for increased citizen participation. He has conducted in-depth analyses of risk and conflict management, identifying effective strategies for mitigation and resolution. His expertise extends to examining regional cooperation initiatives and the roles of international organizations in facilitating collaborative efforts across borders.

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

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

Salih Tarhan has ten years of experience in criminal law, with a focus on European Court of Human Rights practices. He earned his LLM in U.S. Legal Studies from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He has worked on both affirmative and defensive asylum cases. Currently, he is involved in legal tech projects that automate the filling out of governmental forms and the authentication of documents.

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.

I am a Scholar and Legal researcher with expertise in South Asian countries, specialising in the preparation of country expert reports. Provide independent, impartial, and evidence-based analysis on country conditions, including political, legal, social, and human-rights contexts. My work supports solicitors, counsel, courts, and tribunals by delivering well-researched expert opinions grounded in academic sources, field knowledge, and authoritative reporting, with a clear understanding of the duties and standards applicable to expert evidence.

Dr. Maggie Zraly is a medical and psychological anthropologist with extensive training in public health and mental health. Her research and practice have focused on conflict-affected populations, including survivors of conflict-related sexual violence/genocide-rape and GBV, youth heads of household, and children associated with armed forces and armed groups. Dr. Zraly conducted five years of in-depth fieldwork on the ground in Rwanda between 2003 and 2024. In 2016, she conducted short-term research in Afghanistan on human trafficking, and in 2017, she directed a center for mental health in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. She has completed short deployments for child protection and mental health support in emergency response, the longest of which was for 3 weeks in 2016 across Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, and Serbia to assess the protection situation of forcibly displaced Syrian, Afghan, and Iraqi children seeking asylum.