LAW 6829- Immigration Practice Clinic Guide

Nashville Pro Bono Attorney Resources

Are you employing an expert to provide a general affidavit about conditions in Afghanistan? Obtaining an expert report is common in asylum cases. For the Afghan cases, my students and I obtained expert witness reports – some of the experts wrote reports/affidavits for free. Below are the names of the expert witnesses we contacted and their expertise. Please contact the expert to obtain their consent to use the document prior to submitting it with your case. You will want to have the expert sign and notarize the statement (if possible).

  • General List of COI Afghan Experts - here
  • Afghan Military Expert, Tim Foxley - timfoxley@aol.com (charges fee)
  • Hazara Expert
    • Dr. Iqbal Akhtar - iakhtar@fiu.edu (no fee)
    • Dr. William Malely – Hazara Expert from Australia – generic Affidavit attached – also email from Maley recommending other expert witnesses (no fee for generic report)
    • Yalda Royan - yalda.royan@yahoo.com – Hazara & Women’s Rights Expert (worked for the UN recommended by UDC professor – recent arrival) (small fee)
    • Dr Niamatullah Ibrahimi, Lecturer (Assistant Professor in US terminology) in International Relations at LaTrobe University, is author of what is now seen as the definitive work on Hazaras: The Hazaras and the Afghan State: Rebellion, Exclusion and the Struggle for Recognition (London: Hurst & Co., 2017). His email address is n.ibrahimi@latrobe.edu.au
    • Besmellah Rezaee is a Barrister and Solicitor based in Adelaide, and principal solicitor in the law firm Beena Rezaee. He is an Hazara himself and has appeared successfully for many Hazara clients. See https://www.brlegal.com.au/besmellah-rezaee/
    • Dr Melissa Kerr Chiovenda is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, and has extensive experience in providing pro bono assistance in asylum cases: see https://zayed.academia.edu/MelissaKerrChiovenda
  • Afghan Naming Conventions
    • Jawad Sukhanyar Affidavit – Regarding Afghan naming conventions, dates, etc.
  • Afghan Women’s Rights Expert - Dr. Morwari Zafar at Georgetown

Throughout your case, you may need to hire a Dari or Pashtu interpreter in the Nashville area depending on the language your client and fact witnesses speak. Please find below two resources.