2023 Speakers

Former Judge, with over 20 years of experience in the area of criminal justice and crime prevention, and considerable regional and international exposure.

Currently, UNODC Representative for GCC Region, based in Abu Dhabi, UAE and Senior Crime Prevention Expert for UNODC. Provides leadership in directing technical inputs assisting the field offices in the development of project ideas and project documents, the planning and conduct of programming missions to promote those ideas, the implementation of technical assistance projects and provide technical guidance and expertise to regional and national counterparts as well. Nevertheless, takes the lead on developing partnership with other international, regional, bi-lateral, non-governmental organizations active in governance and criminal justice fields in addition to his participation in developing policy and technical guidelines, toolkits, handbooks and other anti-corruption, criminal justice and integrity publications and analyzing their effectiveness while guiding and monitoring junior staff, administrative staff and interns in the delivery of their relevant mandates.

Previously served as Chief Prosecutor for the Criminal Justice Department of the North Cairo district where he interrogated and prosecuted defendants on issues related to: murder, terrorism and drug dealing. Later, as Judge for the Criminal Justice Department of the Egyptian Ministry of Justice, he gained further exposure to formal, domestic, legal and judicial practice which provided him with decent knowledge and experience on the function and mandates of the law enforcement and criminal justice institutions.
He later served as Resident Representative for the International Institute for Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences (ISISC) for Afghanistan and led this organization’s mission to Afghanistan. This demanded a keen sense of organization and planification. It also required good teamwork and leadership skills and the ability to know how to find a balance between them. Where he performed various tasks in this capacity. Also designed and lead training/legal assistance programs in the field of justice reform and coordinated these activities with the relevant national law enforcement agencies. His responsibilities also included drafting and implementing over-all strategies for Justice and Counter Narcotics projects of the IJPO and the UNODC offices in Afghanistan. Assistance of an advisory nature was also required for partners of donors on matters of: criminal justice, human rights and counter narcotics. Furthermore, he provided legal expertise regarding the ‘Islamic Legal System’ to the different Legal Drafting Committees on national and international levels. This period of intense project and advisory work broadened his expertise in the area of project implementation and technical assistance.

Nevertheless, he then broadened his field of practice by becoming a Regional Representative for the ISISC for the Middle East. This opportunity allowed for a more international experience and helped develop his interpersonal and executive skills, as he negotiated with different Governments and other private agencies in the region. This post also demanded the planification and coordination of ISISC activities which ranged from legal assistance to capacity building programs, and included managing approved programs. He also had to design or, where possible, obtain the relevant evaluation mechanisms for each project. the job functions also demanded participation, as an expert, in different drafting committees which focused on model laws in the area of Criminal Justice; this involved encouraging International/Regional Cooperation on penal matters. By practicing these functions, he massively improved his existing inter-personal and negotiation skills and made ample use of his language, cultural, and comparative skills.

Meanwhile, he also served as a Legal Expert to various organizations and contributed to their drafting of several important manuals. Through such participation he further developed his drafting and reviewing skills and have incorporated the values of timeliness and of research and analytical accuracy which are so crucial to these functions. The varying nature of the organizations he contributed to, and the different contexts in which they operated, necessitated a high degree of flexibility and adaptability on his behalf. For example, over the last ten years, on an ad hoc basis, he had served as a Legal Expert to the Italian Justice Project’s Office in Afghanistan for the drafting of the ‘Provincial Justice Initiative Implementing Manual’. This manual enabled Italy to launch a large, integrated legal training/capacity building plan on a provincial level in Afghanistan, and obtained a Justice Monitoring Mechanism on a sustainable basis. The drafting of this document differed, for example, to that of the ‘Counter Narcotics Judicial Task Forces Implementation Manual’ on which he assisted the UNODC in Afghanistan. This manual, in turn, enabled UNODC to make use of a wide range of legal training/mentoring mechanisms for the CJTF. More importantly, he also acted as Legal Expert for the Arab League committee of experts in the drafting of a ‘Model Law on International Cooperation in Penal Matters’ as well as to a UNODC group of experts for the drafting of a ‘Criminal Assessment Toolkit’. Furthermore, assisted various Arab states in drafting model laws to include International Criminal and Humanitarian Law in their National Legislation. Also lectured on various topics related to: the Islamic Legal Context (“Sharia’a”), ICL, IHL, and IHRL. This period of work has helped him to develop decent presentational skills and consolidate his drafting capacities.