Middle East

[Garima Dhankhar holds an LL.M. in International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution from the National University of Singapore. She currently works with Justice Indu Malhotra, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India and a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, assisting in international arbitrations.] The past few years have demonstrated, with increasing clarity, that geopolitical conflicts are no longer peripheral...

[Konstantinos Deligiannis-Virvos is a PhD Research Fellow with the Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea (NCLOS) at the Law Faculty of UiT-The Arctic University of Norway] The illegal armed attack against Iran by Israel and the US on February 28, 2026 prompted Iran to “close” the strait of Hormuz to international navigation. The attack against Iran clearly contravenes Art....

[Kate McInnes and Elsa Wyllie practice international criminal law at Arendt Chambers] Bill 5776-2026, establishing a special tribunal for the perpetrators of the October 7 attacks on Israel (the “October 7 Court”), is rapidly advancing through the Knesset.  The legislation’s earliest iterations presented the October 7 Court as a hybrid tribunal in all but name. What was proposed was a special judicial...

[Jessica Dorsey is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Utrecht University School of Law; Elke Schwarz is a Professor of Political Theory at Queen Mary University London; Ingvild Bode is a Professor of International Relations, University of Southern Denmark; Zena Assaad is an Associate Professor at the School of Engineering, Australian National University; and Neil Renic is a Lecturer...

[Fadel Abdulghany is executive director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights and author of The Use of Chemical Weapons in Syria and the Failure of the International Community and Undermining the Independence of the Judiciary in Syria and Pathways to Its Reform. Kenneth Roth is a former executive director of Human Rights Watch, a visiting professor at Princeton’s School of Public and...

[Mojtaba Touiserkani has a Ph.D. in international relations from the University of Tehran] In early January 2026, Iran went dark. Protests that began as economically driven unrest—sparked by a collapsing rial—spread rapidly beyond Tehran and quickly widened in demands. The state answered with escalating force. On 8 January, authorities imposed a complete nationwide internet shutdown, severing the public’s ability to see,...

[Elliot Dolan-Evans is a lecturer in law at Monash University and RMIT. Sophie Rigney is a senior lecturer in law at RMIT University and the author of Fairness and Rights in International Criminal Procedure (EUP, 2022).] On 22 October 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) handed down its latest ruling concerning Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). This Advisory Opinion was on...

[Nandini Bulchandani holds an LLM in international law from UCL and is an incoming foreign law clerk at the Constitutional Court of South Africa] Introduction On Monday 17 November 2025, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution that sidesteps crucial international legal norms to foist a foreign administration upon Gaza.  Stripping law of effect and reanimating imperial hegemonies, UNSC Resolution 2803 is a...

[Jason Beckett is an associate professor of law at the American University in Cairo] Introduction The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) recently released an analysis of Egypt’s proposed budget for 2025-6, titled, “Egypt in the Grip of Debt”. It is a gloomy read, documenting Egypt’s ongoing immiseration, but concludes with a strangely sentimental optimism. “After all, the state’s role is not...