When international accountability mechanisms fail: options to address impunity in Africa and the Middle East

Professor Mohamed Elewa Badar holds the Chair in Comparative and International Criminal Law & Islamic Law at Northumbria Law School, Newcastle, UK. He previously held a position as a Senior Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Brunel Law School, London (2007-2013). He has also taught and acted as a convenor of International Law & Islamic Law module at Durham Law School (2011-2013). Prof Badar served as Senior Prosecutor and Judge in Egypt from 1997-2006. He recently acted as a Senior Expert for Euromed Justice IV, a project funded by the European Commission for enhancing Euro-Mediterranean mutual legal assistance on the investigation and prosecution of complex judicial cases i.e. terrorism, money laundering and cybercrime and was selected by EUROJUST to continue the other phases of the same project. He also served as a senior Police investigator in Egypt. He was a member (investigator) of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate and report on allegations of human rights violations during the civil unrest in Bahrain in February/March 2011 and has participated in the judicial reform in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan under the supervision of Professor M Cherif Bassiouni. He had the opportunity to work as an expert for the United Nations Interregional Crimes and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), the United States Institute for Peace (USIP), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). Prof Badar is the single author of The Concept of Mens Rea in International Criminal Law (Oxford: Hart, 2013/2015) and the Islamist Militants and the Their Challenges to Sharia and International Criminal Law (Hart, 2022). He published 50 articles in refereed journals and chapters in prominent books. His work was cited and quoted by the international criminal tribunals and by distinguished scholars. He presented his research in 35 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and US and has acted 12 times as a PhD external examiner Prof Badar is Member of the Editorial Board and Reviewer for the International Criminal Law Review, the International Human Rights Law Review, the Asian Yearbook of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and the International University of Sarajevo Law Journal. In May 2021, Prof. Badar was invited by the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da‘esh/ISIL (UNITAD) to participate in the training course that aims to deepen the knowledge and expertise of key members of the Iraqi judiciary in the areas of International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law.