With a solid legal background and specialised knowledge of immigration in the Middle East. I have developed a comprehensive understanding of asylum and country information, especially in the context of Iraq, Kuwait and the wider gulf region. My experience includes assessing legislative frameworks, analysing national conditions, and case law related to protection claims.
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
I am a Kurdish-British independent consultant specialising in Middle Eastern politics, particularly the political structures of Iraqi Kurdistan, Kurdish affairs, and regional geopolitics. I provide expert country of origin (COI) reports, political analysis, and cultural briefings for legal professionals and private entities. My work bridges lived experience, academic research, and institutional understanding, ensuring nuanced and evidence-based insight into complex political and social dynamics. I also work as an interpreter and have worked with an intelligence company as a due diligence researcher and interviewer with a focus on the Middle East.
Dr. Sana Yaseen Khudhur is an author and lecturer at the Department of Education/ Arden University.
She completed her BA in English Language and Literature at Salahaddin University/Erbil in 2011 and was awarded a scholarship to pursue MA degree in Practice of Teaching and Learning English Language. In 2014, she was awarded another scholarship to pursue a PhD in Intercultural Linguistics.
Registered as a full member of NRPSI (National Register of Public Service Interpreters)
Registered as a fellow member of CIOL (Chartered Institute of English Language Linguists)
Published a number of academic articles and books in the field of English language learning and teaching, and the experience of ESOL, EFL and ELL by Kurdish learners
Produced a number of articles on language assessment, ethnicity, country background and information, tribal and political issues in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
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.
Professor and Head of Research Group Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/S., Germany. 20 years of experience preparing expert reports concerning the issues mentioned under “Expertise: Areas of expertise”.
The Expert has expertise on forced displacement and migration in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean and the links with gang violence, organised crime and corruption in the region. For the last fifteen years they have conducted academic and professional research on migration and internal displacement linked to violence, criminal groups and impunity in Central America and Mexico and on human trafficking in the broader region of Latin America and Caribbean, making several fieldwork trips and authoring NGOs reports and academic articles. They also have expertise in gender issues in the region, including gender-based violence, LGBTQ+ discrimination and hate crimes, and access to abortion and reproductive rights, including judicial persecution related to this.
The expert has ten years of experience writing expert witness reports for dozens of cases in the United Kingdom asylum system, with numerous judges commenting in determinations on how useful, relevant and comprehensive their reports are in informing decisions.
Dr. Muzong W. Kodi has more than 40 years of research, writing and lecturing on Africa as well as working and residing in several African countries. He has written more than 200 country expert reports for asylum seekers and other migrants from several African countries. He has also provided more than 100 authentication reports for official documents and several reports on nationality and adoption cases. As a consultant, he has been contracted by international organisations, regional African organisations, and multinational companies. He previously held senior management positions in Transparency International, Amnesty, International, and the African Centre for Monetary Studies. I also taught at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and the University of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He holds a PhD in African History from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA, and speaks fluent French, English, Lingala, and Kikongo, as well as intermediary Swahili.
Occupation: International Consultant in governance, anti-corruption, human rights, as well as political and investment risks in Africa.
Countries of expertise: the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo (ROC or Congo-Brazzaville), Angola, Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, Rwanda,… Read more
Prof. Kostadinova is a Political Scientist specializing in political institutions in Bulgaria, and at the European Union level. The main focus of her research includes political parties and their rhetoric, government policies, role of media in the political process, and inter-institutional relations within the European Union. Prof. Kostadinova provides expertise on how government actors and policies impact individual rights, including those of marginalized groups.
International Lawyer (LLB, LLM) | Country of Origin Information Specialist | Expert Witness
UK-based international lawyer, political scientist, and expert witness with over 20 years of experience in immigration, asylum, human rights, and Country of Origin Information (COI) research. Educated at the University of Prishtina and the University of Kent, with specialist expertise in International Law, International Relations, immigration law, and geopolitical risk assessment.
Author of more than 350 expert reports for UK Immigration and Asylum Tribunals, Extradition Courts, Crown Courts, and other judicial proceedings. Regularly instructed by solicitors, barristers, and courts to provide independent expert evidence on country conditions, political developments, human rights issues, and risk on return assessments.
Specialist areas of expertise include blood feuds, honour-based violence, human trafficking, modern slavery, forced labour, domestic abuse, organised crime, political persecution, human rights violations, torture, and inhuman or degrading treatment. Particular regional expertise in Western Balkans focusing on Albania and Kosovo.
Accredited by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) between 2005 and 2012 to provide regulated… Read more
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.
Norma Kriger is South African born and raised. She has a BA in Economics and Mathematics and a BA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Cape Town. She got her PhD in Political Science from M.I.T. She taught at Johns Hopkins University for more than a decade and produced two Cambridge University Press books on peasant-guerrilla relations during Zimbabwe’s war of independence and on the ruling party’s use of former guerrillas in its state- and nation-building project. She has done consultancies for organizations such as Human Rights Watch, International Rescue Committee, USAID, and the World Bank working in Senegal, South Sudan, Timor Leste, and Zimbabwe. At the Library of Congress, she did research on terrorist organizations, among other topics. In 2025, she did research in Zimbabwe evaluating USAID’s democracy, rights and governance programs and in Namibia on rights for LGBTQI+ individuals. Her two current academic research projects are on multinational corporations’ strategies in situations of violent conflict, and on Zimbabwe’s military coup in 2017. She has been a consultant for Communitology since 2022.
She finds access to the UK Home Office decisions before agreeing to write expert opinion reports helpful in determining if she can… Read more
Associate Professor at King’s College London with over two decades of internationally recognised expertise on crime, corruption, policing, prisons and criminal justice reform across the former Soviet Union. Known for combining rigorous academic research with high-level policy advisory roles for international organisations as well as UK and US government departments.
I am available to produce general country expert evidence reports on political, social, and economic conditions, corruption and crime environments, state protection capacity, and risks faced by specific social groups in my countries of expertise. I also provide expert reports and testimony for cases involving risks from political activism, exposure of corruption or organised crime, trafficking and exploitation, state collusion with criminal groups, police corruption, and inhumane detention conditions in former Soviet Union countries.
I have extensively travelled and conducted field research across former Soviet Union countries, gaining a deep understanding of how informal networks, weak rule of law, and criminal-state nexus structures create specific vulnerabilities for asylum claimants. My research has been published in leading academic journals and briefed to senior policymakers and officials… Read more
Joshua Kurlantzick is Senior Fellow for South Asia and Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he studies South Asian and Southeast Asian politics and economics, with a particular focus on democracy, authoritarianism, human rights, and political transitions. Experienced country of origin expert for all nationals from Southeast Asia and China; specialist from one of the leading think-tanks in the world. Have provided expert witness reports for fifteen years for asylum cases in the UK, Europe, and US for nationals from across South, Southeast, and Northeast Asia – related to political issues, trafficking, slavery, gangs, religion, and many other issues. Also have provided expert witness reports for non-asylum immigration cases for nationals from South, Southeast, and Northeast Asia.
Extensive experience in expert reports on all the countries listed, and also in particular, Kurds in country of origin and diaspora
Dr. Laker is a seasoned conflict, security and development practitioner with 15 years of experience with a specialized focus on forced displacement, gender, security sector reform, international humanitarian law, and transitional justice. Dr. Laker's consulting, research, and academic interests are grounded in the field of defence, strategic studies and international relations. He is currently Assistant Professor in international humanitarian law, conflict, security, military ethics, humanitarianism, and air, land, and sea operations to both junior and senior military officers, at Zayed Military University in Abu Dhabi, UAE. His book manuscript, Rethinking Internal Displacement: Geo-Political Games, Fragile States, & the Relief Industry was published in 2021.
Intercultural and psychoanalytic psychotherapist, specialising in issues relevant to various Muslim countries, incl vendettas, honour killing, domestic violence, PTSD, Rape Trauma Syndrome, assault in detention and traumas of migration and exile.
Gideon Lasco, MD, PhD is a physician and medical anthropologist. He is senior lecturer at the University of the Philippines Diliman's Department of Anthropology, affiliate faculty at the UP College of Medicine’s Social Medicine Unit, research fellow at the Ateneo de Manila University's Development Studies Program, and honorary fellow at Hong Kong University's Centre for Criminology.
I am a country-of-origin expert witness for Afghanistan. I prepare expert reports on different issues related to Afghan nationals for asylum, family and criminal cases.
I also verify the authenticity of documents issued in Afghanistan. I have completed my degree at the King’s College London and am studying for a Diploma in Linguistics.
I originate from Afghanistan and am British citizen. I take instructions on country conditions for Afghanistan, linguistic analysis for the determination of origin for individuals with a claim to be from Afghanistan. I also verify the authenticity of documents from Afghanistan.
I am multilingual and multiliterate, and hold an M.A. in Applied Linguistics and Communication from Birkbeck, University of London. I also hold a Graduate Certificate in Linguistics from Birkbeck, University of London and a Diploma in Language and Law from NCC College. I hold a Certificate in Law from the City, University of London.
I have circa 27 years of experience dealing with legal cases from Afghanistan as an interpreter and translator. This gives me a better chance of understanding various issues in the expert reports I prepared. I have 2 years’ experience as an expert for Afghanistan in: country conditions, linguistics, and document verification.
I am literate and conversant in Dari, English, Farsi, Russian, Pashto, Kabuli Punjabi, and Urdu.