Staff

Tayab Ali

Director

Tayab is an internationally recognised and highly respected Solicitor Advocate. His practice encompasses criminal and civil/public law in both the UK and international jurisdictions. He is a partner and Head of International Law at leading and award-winning London law firm Bindmans LLP.

As a lawyer, Tayab’s work and case profiles have consistently been recognised by the principal Legal Directories which have ranked him as a leading lawyer in multiple practice areas.

Chambers & Partners described him as “an irresistible force – he’s fearless and he always gets the right results for his clients”. He is rated as a Super Lawyer by Thompson Reuters and recognised in the field of Civil Liberties by The Legal 500.

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Haydee Dijkstal

Chief Counsel (external)

Haydee is a barrister at 33 Bedford Row Chambers and is instructed to act as chief counsel for the ICJP. Haydee is ranked in both The Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners as leading in the area of international criminal law (ICL). Haydee also practices international human rights law and general crime. In May 2024, she won Advocate’s ‘International Pro Bono Barrister of the Year’ Award.

Haydee’s cases have been heard before the International Criminal Court, International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and has involved the representation of victims, governments and accused. She has also worked on cases addressing international crimes in domestic courts under the principle of universal jurisdiction, and has worked on cases the application of international in domestic courts.

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Abdelrahman Rizk

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Abdelrahman is an experienced Human Resources management and organisational development professional. He previously worked in management roles within the media sector as well as the NGO sector.

Prior to joining ICJP, Abdelrahman was a project manager involved in the UK Year of Service programme led by the National Citizen Service (NCS) in partnership with several NGOs across the UK.

Abdelrahman previously had leading positions at civil society organisations domestically and internationally where he worked closely with renowned institutions such as the European Parliament, European Commission, United Nations and Council of Europe.

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Mira Naseer

lEGAL OFFICEr

Mira is a US attorney admitted to the New York Bar who has worked at a variety of human rights non-profit organizations in the US and the UK. Prior to joining ICJP, she worked on accountability for gender crimes at international courts and other justice mechanisms. Mira also has experience in financial accountability and reparations for human rights violations, asylum and immigration law, and international strategic litigation.

Mira holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an MPhil in Public Policy from the University of Cambridge, and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Sarah Tamimi

LEGAL RESEARCHER

Sarah is a journalist by trade and a legal researcher by training. Prior to joining ICJP, she worked with multiple international media outlets covering breaking news and politics.

She was deployed as a reporter to the US to cover multiple stories including the Trump impeachment trial and US policy on Sheikh Jarrah.

Sarah has then shifted into law, pursuing an MA in International Law from SOAS, University of London.

She also holds a BA in Journalism, a Minor in Political Science and a diploma in Middle Eastern Studies from the American University in Dubai.

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Zaki Sarraf

lEGAL OFFICEr

Zaki has expertise in international and human rights law. Prior to ICJP, Zaki worked at Reprieve where he led the casework, investigation and international advocacy of death penalty cases in the MENA region. He has also worked in the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) Legal Protection team, in Duncan Lewis Solicitors’ Public Law team, and as an asylum and immigration lawyer in Egypt.

>He holds an LLB Law degree from SOAS University and an LLM in Transnational Criminal Justice from BPP University.

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Jonathan Purcell

Senior Public Affairs and Communications Officer

Jonathan has expertise in public affairs, policy, communications and campaigning, with previous experience working across the NGO sector. He has worked on policy areas including interfaith relations, disability advocacy and fuel poverty.

He holds a BA in History from University College London and an MSc in International Migration and Public Policy from the London School of Economics.

Jonathan has volunteered with movements related to pacifism and nuclear non-proliferation, as well as with a non-partisan voter engagement campaign during the 2020 US Presidential Election.

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Jodie Chun

Social Media assistant

Jodie is a charity communications expert specialising in human rights and the nonprofit sector. She has previously worked on indigenous peoples’ and community land rights in the Americas and on anti-torture law internationally.

She has a BA in English Language & Literature and an MA in English Literature, both from the University of Leeds.

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ICJP Canada

Shane Martínez

Lawyer - (ICJP Canada)

Shane Martínez is a Toronto-based criminal defence and human rights lawyer at Martínez Law Professional Corporation. He served as counsel on the first private prosecution of Israeli military recruitment in Canada, and has pursued complaints to the Canada Revenue Agency regarding the funneling of charitable donations to the Israeli military.

Shane also defends individuals criminalised because of their participation in Palestine solidarity protests. In 2024 he represented Independent Jewish Voices, the Jewish Faculty Network, and the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association in their joint intervention in the case of Sarah Jama, a Member of Provincial Parliament in Ontario who was censured for calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

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Asaf Rashid

Laywer - (ICJP Canada)

Asaf Rashid practices criminal, immigration and prison law under Asaf Rashid Law in Halifax / k’jipuktuk. He is a member of the Canadian Prison Lawyers Association, Nova Scotia Criminal Lawyers Association and is on the board of the East Coast Prison Justice Society. He is also a former union organiser and author of “Solidarity Beyond Bars: unionising prison labour”, published in 2022 by Fernwood Publishing.

In recent years, he has spent a substantial amount of time representing many who were arrested protesting eviction of homeless encampments. As of late, he has been spending increasing time on assisting Palestinians or those in solidarity who have faced consequences for speaking up for Palestinian human rights.

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Jouman El-Asmar

Laywer - (ICJP Canada)

Jouman El-Asmar is founder and principal attorney at El-Asmar Legal, a boutique law firm specialising in Immigration and Refugee Law. Jouman’s practice focuses on gender-based asylum claims and family reunification of separated minor children. She has successfully represented Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza seeking asylum in Canada. She is currently working with the Legal Center for Palestine on litigations involving Canadian family members of the victims of the genocide in Gaza.

Jouman cofounded the Canadian Muslim Lawyer’s Association (CMLA) – Alberta chapter in 2021. In October 2021, she was elected by her peers to sit on the national executive board of the Canadian Association for Refugee Lawyers (CARL).

Jouman graduated from McGill University in 2006 with a degree in Psychology and International Development Studies and completed a law degree at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) in 2010. During her studies in law, she received multiple awards for students with excellent academic standing.

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