Staff

Crispin Blunt MP

Director

Crispin is the Member of Parliament for Reigate in Surrey.

In June 2015, Crispin was elected by MPs to be the Chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, until Parliament was dissolved in May 2017.

He was Chairman of the Conservative Middle East Council from 2003 to 2008.

Crispin Blunt was educated at Wellington College and The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where he won the Queen’s Medal, gaining a Regular Commission. In 1979, Crispin was commissioned as an Army Officer into the 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary’s Own) and served until 1990. During the 1980’s he was stationed in Cyprus, Germany and the UK, serving as a Troop Leader, Regimental Operations Officer and Armoured Reconnaissance Squadron Commander, resigning his commission as a Captain in 1990 in order to stand for Parliament.

Show More Collapse

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 at leading 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.

Show More Collapse

Dr Selma Dabbagh

Head of Strategy and Partnerships

Selma Dabbagh is a British Palestinian lawyer and writer. She holds a BA in Law from Durham University, an LLM from SOAS and a PhD from Goldsmiths (both University of London). She qualified as a solicitor in 2000.

Selma has worked for numerous human rights NGOs in Palestine, Egypt and London. A qualified solicitor she has practised in various specialisations from actions against the police to regulatory telecommunications law with firms that include Fisher Meredith, Trowers & Hamlins and Hickman & Rose.

Her writing has won awards and been published by Bloomsbury, the London Review of Books, Granta, GQ Magazine and her plays produced by the BBC. She is on the Advisory Board of the Britain Palestine Media Centre (BPMC), and the British Palestinian Committee.

Show More Collapse

Ilora Choudhury

Senior In-House Counsel

Ilora Choudhury is a UK qualified solicitor with many years’ experience in public and private legal practice for Slaughter and May and the Government Legal Service in the UK, as well as international humanitarian and development experience for the UN and NGOs.

She has worked for UNRWA advising on the investigation of rights abuses against Palestine Refugees in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, drafting legal reports, conducting public and private advocacy and working with Palestinian communities and grassroots civil society organisations. She has also worked with UN human rights mechanisms including special procedures.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Manchester, an MPhil in Development Studies from Cambridge, a CPE from the University of London and an LPC from the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice.

Show More Collapse

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.

Show More Collapse

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 practices international criminal law, international human rights law and general crime. She is also a US attorney with nearly a decade of experience in international law.

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 is currently instructed as co-counsel at the ICC representing the Government of the Comoros, as well as victims, in the case concerning the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. She is also involved in victim representation in the ICC Situation concerning Palestine.

She has also worked on cases addressing international crimes in domestic courts under the principle of universal jurisdiction, and has worked on cases involving the Alien Tort Statute, Torture Victim Protection Act and Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act in US federal courts.

Show More Collapse

Jonathan Purcell

Public Affairs & 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 environmentalism.

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.

Show More Collapse

Dania Abul Haj

Legal Officer

Dania is a qualified Palestinian lawyer and a skilled legal researcher in human rights and international criminal law. She holds an LLM in International Law from the University of Edinburgh.

Dania’s main areas of interest, encompassed by her previous work, include accountability mechanisms for human rights violations, (particularly the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court); the censorship of pro-Palestinian digital content; and Israel’s defamation campaign against Palestinian NGOs.

Dania’s background covers the private, governmental and non-governmental sectors. She is fluent in both English and Arabic.

Show More Collapse