Dr Rania Khoury

Syria Expert — Human Rights, Political Situation & Asylum Cases

Expert at The Human Rights Experts, an international expert witness organisation.

We provide expert witness reports for asylum cases worldwide, covering human rights violations, political persecution, and systemic oppression. Our reports are trusted by lawyers, courts, and immigration authorities, in full compliance with procedural standards and tribunal requirements in the UK (CPR Part 35, Upper Tribunal PD, First-tier Tribunal IAC PD), USA (Federal Rules of Evidence), Canada, and the EU.

Occupation

• Country Witness Expert on Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan
• Human Rights Specialist
• Legal Researcher and Academic Consultant
• Independent Journalist and Investigative Reporter on Human Rights

Expertise

I provide expert analysis on all five Refugee Convention grounds — political opinion, religion, ethnicity, membership of a particular social group (including LGBT and gender-based cases), and nationality — with a focus on the following countries:

Syria: The Syrian conflict has produced one of the largest displacement crises in modern history, with state security forces and non-state armed groups responsible for enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, and extrajudicial killings targeting political dissidents, activists, and perceived opponents. Religious and ethnic minorities, including Christians, Alawites, Druze, Yazidis, and Kurds, face targeted persecution depending on the controlling authority in their region, while women and girls experience systematic gender-based violence including sexual violence used as a weapon of war. LGBT individuals face severe criminal penalties under Syrian law and are subjected to violence by both government and opposition forces, and statelessness disproportionately affects Palestinian refugees and Kurdish populations stripped of nationality under discriminatory census policies.

Lebanon: Political expression in Lebanon is constrained by sectarian power dynamics, with activists, journalists, and civil society members who challenge the ruling establishment facing intimidation, arbitrary detention, and violence from both state and non-state actors. The country's confessional system entrenches religious discrimination, and sectarian tensions continue to fuel intercommunal violence, while migrant domestic workers — predominantly women from African and Southeast Asian countries — are subjected to exploitation and abuse under the kafala sponsorship system. LGBT persons face prosecution under colonial-era morality laws and encounter pervasive societal hostility, and Palestinian and Syrian refugees endure severe restrictions on residency, employment, and movement that amount to systematic marginalization.

Jordan: Jordanian authorities maintain tight control over political expression, with security services monitoring and detaining critics of the monarchy, political activists, and journalists who report on sensitive topics such as corruption or tribal politics. Religious minorities, including converts from Islam and members of unrecognized faiths, face legal and social discrimination, and honour-based violence remains a persistent threat to women and girls despite recent legislative reforms. LGBT individuals are subject to societal persecution and police harassment even in the absence of explicit criminalization, and long-term Palestinian refugees continue to face differential treatment in access to citizenship, employment, and public services.

Experience

• Served as an expert witness in over 90 asylum and immigration cases before the UK First-tier Tribunal (IAC), Upper Tribunal, and US Immigration Courts, providing detailed country condition assessments on Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.
• Provided sworn testimony and written expert reports for the Royal Courts of Justice and the Board of Immigration Appeals, covering issues of political persecution, sectarian violence, and gender-based asylum claims.
• Authored comprehensive country condition reports on the evolving security landscape, detention practices, and treatment of minorities in the Levant region for legal practitioners and humanitarian organisations.
• Former Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern Studies and Human Rights Law at Aleppo University, with extensive fieldwork across Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan documenting abuses against civilian populations.
• Collaborated with international human rights monitoring bodies and non-governmental organisations to investigate enforced disappearances, torture in detention, and violations of humanitarian law in the Syrian context. Expert member of The Human Rights Experts.

Full professional experience is available in the CV. Please email us to receive the detailed expert CV.

Publications

Available upon request and detailed in the expert CV.

Languages

• Arabic (Native)
• English (Fluent)
• French (Professional proficiency)

Religious Groups Expertise

All religious groups

Contact Email

info@thehuman-rights.com