Advisory Board

Justice for Victims of 1988 Massacre in Iran

The JVMI is a not for profit centre for research and documentation established in London which operates internationally.

Advisory board members:

Professor Lord Alton of Liverpool

Member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom; prominent human rights campaigner

Lord Alton was made a life peer as Baron Alton of Liverpool in 1997 and took his seat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher. He established the lobby group for human rights, Jubilee Campaign, in 1987, with the support of other members of parliament. He also co-founded Jubilee Action, a children’s charity established to fulfil the humanitarian needs highlighted by the work of Jubilee Campaign. In 2014 Jubilee Action changed its name to Chance for Childhood. In 2008, he spoke out against the British Olympic Association when it forced athletes to sign an agreement forbidding them from criticising China’s human rights record before or during the 2008 Summer Olympics. He is a patron of the International Young Leaders Network.

Ingrid Betancourt

Former presidential candidate for Colombia

A Colombian-French politician, former colombian senator and anti-corruption activist, was kidnapped on 23 February 2002 while campaigning for the Colombian presidency. She was held captive for six years which received worldwide coverage, particularly in France. Betancourt has received multiple international awards, such as the Légion d’honneur. In 2008, she received the Concord Prince of Asturias Award.

Sir Geoffrey Bindman QC

Renowned British human rights lawyer

British solicitor specialising in human rights law, and founder of the human rights law firm Bindmans LLP; Visiting Professor of Law at University College London and at London South Bank University; chair of the Board of Trustees at the British Institute of Human Rights.

QC, A British solicitor specialising in human rights law, and founder of the human rights law firm Bindmans LLP, described by The Times as “never far from the headlines.” He has been Chair of the British Institute of Human Rights since 2005. He won The Law Society Gazette Centenary Award for Human Rights in 2003, and was knighted in 2006 for services to human rights. In 2011 he was appointed Queen’s Counsel.

Tahar Boumedra

Former chief of the Human Rights Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and legal expert

Was Chief of the Human Rights Office of United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), and adviser to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Camp Ashraf affairs from 2009 until 2012. He was the Regional Director of Penal Reform International (PRI) for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), based in Amman, Jordan. He was working with the MENA governments to introduce human rights based reforms in the penal and prison systems in the region. In November 2008, he was offered the position of Chief of UNAMI Human Rights Office who also represents the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) in Iraq.

William Bourdon

Prominent French human rights lawyer

Acted as the 10th Secretary to the Paris Bar Association’s «Conférence du Stage» in 1981. A Paris Bar lawyer, he also pleads cases before the International Criminal Court and International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. William Bourdon practices primarily in the areas of criminal law, including economic criminal law, as well as communications law, especially press and publishing laws. He is also involved in major civil and commercial litigation, often with an international dimension, as well as in inheritance matters. Finally, he developed a consulting business for a variety of governments, NGOs and international institutions. He pleads before many ordinary courts (Assize Courts, Criminal Courts, High Courts, Court of Appeal), but also before administrative authorities (AMF). He is specialized in human rights, particularly specialized in defending the victims of globalization and crimes against humanity.

Professor Bill Bowring

Member of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England & Wales

Professor of Law in Birkbeck College, University of London; practising barrister at Field Court Chambers, Gray’s Inn; Executive Committee Member of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (1992 to present)

BA, Barrister, is Professor of Law in the School of Law, Birkbeck, University of London, and joined the Law School in 2006. He is a practising barrister at Field Court Chambers, Gray’s Inn.

He was Director of the Pan-European Institute, University of Essex from 1997-2000, and Director of the Human Rights and Social Justice Research Institute, London Metropolitan University, from 2003-2006. He is currently a Fellow of the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex, a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Northampton.

Professor Bowring has many publications on topics of international law and human rights. Other professional memberships include:

Executive Committee Member of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales, 1992 to present
President, European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights (ELDH), 2005 to present
Founder in 2002 and Chair of the International Steering Committee, European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC)
Trustee of REDRESS (reparation and compensation for victims of torture) since 1997
Member of the Council of Liberty (National Council for Civil Liberties) 2004 to present
International Secretary and past Chair of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, active 1986 to present
Member of the Open Society Institute’s Sub Board for Law and Human Rights, 2008 to 2012

Professor Bowring has extensive professional practice representing applicants and appearing in the European Court of Human Rights.

Kirsty Brimelow QC

Chairwoman of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England & Wales

Kirsty is head of the Doughty Street’s International Human Rights Team and part of the Doughty Street Equalities Team. She specialises in international human rights, criminal law, public international, constitutional and international criminal law. She is instructed in the most serious, complex and prominent cases nationally and internationally. Kirsty is an experienced trial barrister and has defended defendants and acted for Claimants before the Criminal and Civil courts in England and Wales and the European Court of Human Rights. Kirsty frequently advises before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the UN judicial processes and International Criminal Court.

Kirsty was twice listed in Management Today’s most influential 35 women under 35 (2003 and 2005). She was appointed a spokesperson for the Bar Council between 1998 – 2008 and remains a regular legal commentator in the media. Her hundreds of television and radio appearances include: Newsnight, Panorama, Dispatches, Law in Action, File on Four, Today programme, breakfast television and news programmes. She has made one television show “You be the judge” (2005).

Malcolm Fowler

Former member of the Human Rights Committee of the Law Society of England and Wales

Malcolm has 45 years of knowledge and experience in Criminal Law proceedings. In 1995 Malcolm gained his Higher Rights of Audience as a Criminal Advocate. In the same year, he became Chair of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association.

In 1999 Malcolm joined the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct which had a large role in the preservation and development of principles within the legal educational services. Alongside this Malcolm was Chair of the Law Society’s Criminal Law Committee. He continues to be a Law Society Counsel Member to this present day.

In addition to the above, Malcolm has a further 10 years or experience as a member of the Law Society’s Legal Affairs and Policy Board and has been a member of the Law Society’s Human Rights Committee since 2003 getting involved with numerous high profile Human Rights cases.

Malcolm is currently a Trustee of the Law Society Charity and is also a member of the Law Society’s Council Members’ Conduct Committee. As a Legal Spokesperson for the media Malcolm often speaks on behalf of the National Law Society.

Dr. Juán E. Garcés

Spanish human rights lawyer; chief lawyer in the Spanish case against General Augusto Pinochet

Between July 1970 and September 11, 1973, he was personal political adviser to Salvador Allende. In 1974 he joined the staff team of François Mitterrand in the elections to the Presidency of the French Republic as a candidate of the Common Program of the Left. In 1999 he received in the Swedish Parliament an award known as the Alternative Nobel Prize. The award is awarded since 1980 by the Right Livelihood Awards Foundation. In 2001 the President of the French Republic appointed him as Officier de l’Ordre Nationale du Mérite (Officer of the National Order of Merit).

Rama Yade

Former Minister of Human Rights of France

She was appointed in May 2007 as Secretary of State for Human Rights. While in the government, she denounced Muammar Gaddafi‘s state visit to France in 2008 due to the track record of his human rights abuse. She was appointed as French Ambassador to the UNESCO in December 2010. She serves as President of the Allons Enfants! think tank.