Meet The Team

Dr Rebwar Fatah PhD

Director

Rebwar is a MENA specialist and has been working as an expert witness since 2000 focusing on issues across the Middle East and North Africa region, in addition to Iran and Afghanistan. Rebwar speaks Kurdish Sorani (native), Arabic, Farsi,and Dari, with a working knowledge of Pashto. He is also familiar with different Kurdish and Arabic dialects.

Since 2000, Rebwar has produced thousands of expert reports, which have been commissioned for and cited in a number of immigration appeals, as well as family and criminal cases.

Rebwar has represented MECS in conferences and meetings at various institutions (universities, human rights bodies, research organisations, parliamentary groups at the UK House of Commons and the Finnish parliament) across the world on matters related to the Middle East and North Africa. He is a regular contributor to Voice of America, TVC News, Al Jazeera, and BBC News.

Kate Hashemi MA

Senior Research Associate

Kate joined the team in 2017. She holds an MA in Iranian studies from SOAS University of London and is the lead Iran researcher at MECS.

Kate has particular expertise in asylum and gender-based issues the region and has Farsi (Persian) language skills. She has also worked for a number of organisations supporting the needs of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

Kate has published papers on gender-based issues in Iran and the Kurdish question in Iraq. She has represented MECS at a number of academic conferences on the MENA region.

Jason Pereira MA

Research Consultant

Jason joined the team in 2017. He has an academic background in international relations and war studies, with a focus on counter-terrorism policy.

Jason has country-specific expertise on Egypt, Iraq, and francophone North Africa.

Yara Barazy MA

Research Consultant

Yara is a MENA specialist, focusing on issues across the Middle East and North Africa region. Yara is an expert in the Levantine dialects, and she has an academic background in Islamic theology, radicalism in conflict areas, modernity and religion in the Middle East.

Moreover, Yara holds a Master’s degree in Translation, with a specialism in English and Arabic Literature. Since 2007, Yara has translated over 10 books, including the authors: Khaled Husseini, Krishna Murti, and Ekhart Tolle.

Since 2021, Yara has worked as a MENA researcher and an Arabic linguist at MECS. She has country-specific expertise on Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq.

Yara has also worked for several organisations supporting civil society organisations in Syria, and the needs of refugees and asylum seekers in the Netherlands.

In June 2022, Yara has represented MECS at the LSE conference on Syrian Refugees in Regional and Global Context.