International Criminal Court Bar Association

Ibrahima Hamidou DEME began his judicial career in 1998 and served as a prosecutor for 13 years in the instance and appeal courts in Senegal. He was thus a prosecutor in the criminal division Court of Appeal of Dakar, judging on appeal the most serious crimes, involving cases of homicide and aggravated violence in particular. In his career as a magistrate, he was also associated with the drafting of many legal texts, in particular, the code of ethical obligations for Senegalese magistrates. In addition, he was an elected member of the higher Council of the magistracy, a division that is responsible for managing the career and discipline of Senegalese magistrates. After his resignation from the magistracy in 2018, he continued his teaching activities in human rights and children's rights started in 2013 at the University of Dakar, where which he exercises in the same vein with those of the expert-consultant in human and children's rights and judicial reforms alongside the United Nations’ organizations. He is also counsel in the African Court on Human and People’Rights. Holder of a master's degree in public law at Gaston Berger University of Saint Louis and a master's degree in human rights and humanitarian law at the University of Dakar, he is also the author of several works on criminal procedure, justice reform and the judicial protection of children.

Haydee Dijkstal is a UK barrister and US attorney with over nearly 15 years experience practicing international criminal and human rights law before international tribunals including the ICC. She currently serves as the ICCBA Victims Committee’s Chair, as well as on the Working Groups on Victims Representation in Early Stages of Proceedings and the Working Group on Duty of Care. She has previously served multiple terms on the ICCBA’s Executive Council and was elected as Vice President for Victims. Haydee’s practice includes work before the ICC, ICTY, SCSL, African Commission and Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and various UN bodies.  Haydee has been a member of legal teams before the International Criminal Court since 2011 representing parties including the defence, victims and Governments. Haydee has extensive experience with victim representation before the ICC.  She is currently representing victims at the ICC in the Situation in Afghanistan and Situation in Ukraine. Additionally, she previously acted as co-counsel on the legal team for the Comoros Government and victims in the Registered Vessels situation; as a member of the legal team for Sudanese victims in the Banda Jerbo case; and as counsel for a number of Article 15 Communications on behalf of victims – including for victims from Syria and of flight PS752. Other instructions before the ICC include acting on the defence team for Abdullah Al-Senussi in the Libya Situation; and on the legal team for the Kenyan Government. In addition, she has been instructed as counsel for amicus curiae  submissions in Palestine situation and Ntaganda case.

Ms. Dimitri brings over two decades of experience to her role before international courts. Currently, she serves as the Lead Counsel for Alfred Yekatom in the Central African Republic II Situation at the International Criminal Court and has also worked as Associate Counsel for Mr. Jean-Pierre Bemba (Article 70). At the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Ms. Dimitri represented Dr. Augustin Ngirabatware, the Minister of Planning, as his Lead Counsel through both trial and appeal stages. Additionally, she was Co-Counsel for Arsène Shalom Ntahobali, the son of the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, in their trial and appeal proceedings. Ms. Dimitri has also navigated trials in absentia, notably co-representing Mustafa Badreddine’s rights and interests at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon until the proceedings were terminated. Subsequently, she transitioned to a Legal Consultant role for Mr. Hassan Habib Merhi.  In Canada, she undertook a ground-breaking trial under universal jurisdiction, defending Désiré Munyaneza against charges related to the 1994 Rwandan Genocide before both the Quebec Superior Court and the Quebec Court of Appeal.  Ms. Dimitri is also an esteemed speaker, having delivered numerous lectures and conferences on open-source investigations and the intricacies of defending suspects in wartime. She was also part of a group of experts invited by the Nuremberg Academy to debate on the length of the proceedings before the ICC. Additionally, she has conducted specialized training for Ukrainian lawyers, further showcasing her commitment to legal education and international human rights. She was also invited to provide a presentation on international criminal courts and tribunals to the appeals judges in Quebec, Canada during their annual training.

Despoina Eleftheriou is a Greek lawyer, admitted to the Thessaloniki Bar. She studied law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Faculty of Law, followed by an LLM in International Studies from which she graduated with Honours. In November 2019 she graduated cum laude from the University of Amsterdam with an LLM in International Criminal Law (Joint program with Columbia University in the City of New York). In February 2020, she joined the Defence team for Mr Charles Blé Goudé before the International Criminal Court as a Case Manager. In September 2020, she joined the Defence team for Mr Patrice-Édouard Ngaïssona, and in April 2022 she became a Case Manager. Prior to her joining the Defence at the International Criminal Court, she worked as a trainee lawyer at L. Trampa and Associates, based in Thessaloniki (Greece), dealing mostly with civil, criminal and administrative law cases. She has also worked as a legal trainee at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the Department for International Relations in Thessaloniki.

Haneen is an international criminal law practitioner from Syria; she has experience in the defence in the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. She is currently part of the defence team of Mr. Maxime Mokom at the ICC as a Case Manager. Prior to her current position, she was a member of the defence team of Mr. Al Hassan and has practiced in various jurisdictions. Haneen has experience working on SGBV (UN Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence), reparations, and a wide range of procedural issues related to international criminal proceedings, namely disclosure and management of evidence. Haneen is a graduate of LLM Public International Law from Leiden University and the Sorbonne.

Kate Gibson has been representing accused before the international criminal courts and tribunals since 2005. At the ICC, Kate was the Co-Counsel of former Vice-President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean-Pierre Bemba and the Co-Counsel of Bosco Ntaganda.  At the SCSL, she was Co-Counsel of former Liberian President Charles Taylor. At the ICTY, Kate was the Associate Legal Officer of Judge Mohamed Shahabadeen, and then Co-Counsel of former President of the Republika Sprska Radovan Karadžić before the IRMCT. At the ICTR, Kate was Lead Counsel of former Minister Justin Mugenzi and Co-Counsel of Jean-Baptiste Gatete, and is currently Lead Counsel of Prosper Mugiraneza before the IRMCT. Currently, Kate is Associate Counsel to Joseph Kony before the ICC, and Legal Consultant to Maxime Mokom before the ICC. She is also part of the legal team of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi before the Kosovo Specialist Chamber. Kate also represents a group of Rohingya victims in the Myanmar/Bangladesh situation, and was part of a legal team representing victims in the first case before the ECCC.  Kate also works in hostage diplomacy, and was Lead Counsel of Paul Rusesabagina detained in Rwanda, and currently represents US citizen Ryan Corbett, detained by the Taliban. Kate is the former President (2023) of the Association of Defence Counsel Practising before the International Courts and Tribunals (ADC-ICT), a former member of the ICCBA Executive Council (2022), and regularly lectures, teaches and trains in international law and procedure. Kate is an Associate Tenant of Doughty Street Chambers, holds an LLM in International Law from Cambridge University.

Laura is a criminal lawyer based in Italy (Rome and Genoa), with experience in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. She is currently a professor of International Relations and Intelligence Systems at Cusano University in Rome and formerly taught Sociology of Human Rights and International Cooperation at the University of Perugia. Laura is a member of the European Law Institute Council in Vienna, supported by the European Commission, and serves as a member of the Human Rights Committee of the Bar Association of Rome. She is the Secretary General of the Universities Network for Children in Armed Conflict and is also an expert for the OSCE Moscow Mechanism, having taken part in the 2022 mission to Ukraine. She is a legal consultant for the Italian National Institute for Migration and Poverty, working on international human rights projects. She has also served in other national and international institutions. Among these, she held the role of Secretary General of the Italian Inter-Ministerial Committee for Human Rights at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was a member of the Management Board of the European Agency for Fundamental Rights. Her academic background includes a Ph.D. from Trinity College Dublin and the University of Genoa, alongside Master’s degrees in Law, Political Science, and International Relations. Laura has authored publications on human rights law, with her work featured by publishers such as Routledge, Springer, Sage, and Mondadori.

Anta Guissé has been a practising lawyer at the Paris Bar in France since 1999. Her working language is French, while she also speaks English. As a criminal defence lawyer, she has appeared regularly before national criminal courts and the Assize Court in particular. In addition, Ms Guissé has several years of experience appearing before the international jurisdictions. Between 2002 and 2010, she worked with several different defence teams before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, firstly as a legal assistant and then as counsel. In 2010, Ms Guissé had an assignment in a team of Legal Representatives of Victims before the International Criminal Court. She was also Defence Counsel at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Since 2012, Ms Guissé has been acting as an international lawyer for former Chairman KHIEU Samphân before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and is currently Counsel for Mr. Yekatom at the ICC. Ms Guissé also regularly presents at training workshops for colleagues on the subject of international criminal justice.

Megan Hirst is an Australian lawyer, practicing from the London bar. She has been working at and before the ICC since 2009, with a particular focus on victim participation. At the ICC she has undertaken victim representation in the Ongwen Case, the Bangladesh/Myanmar Situation and the Afghanistan Situation. From 2019 until 2022 she was International Lead Co-Lawyer for victims participating as civil parties in Case 002/02 at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. Megan was previously a legal officer in the Registries of the ICC and the STL, primarily working on victim participation. Megan has previously served three terms on the Executive Council (2019-2021, 2023-2024) and in 2019-2021 was also Vice President for Victims and a member of the Victims’ Committee.

I am a Criminal Defense Attorney based in Atlanta, Georgia and Miami, Florida.  I began my legal career as a State Public Defender in Miami in 1990 and was involved in over 100 Trials ranging from Murder and Rape, to Kidnapping and Drug Trafficking; I became a Senior Trial Attorney responsible for a Major Crimes caseload which primarily consisted of murder cases or high-profile media cases in Atlanta. I was also a Federal Public Defender in Florida and was a member of the defense team in one of the first federal trials of terrorists in the United States in which our client was ultimately absolved of any criminal responsibility. I served as a War Crimes Prosecutor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) where I served as the senior trial attorney in the prosecution of the Armed  Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). Subsequent to Sierra Leone I spent a year in Cairo, Egypt as a special advisor to the Egyptian government attempting to establish a formal, national criminal defense office.  Additionally I have served as a trial rapporteur, monitor, and training attorney on behalf of the International Bar Association and the American Bar Association in Zimbabwe, Malawi, the United Arab Emirates, Mongolia and Kosovo. I worked in the Atlanta office of the Johnnie Cochran Firm where I was involved in both criminal and civil trials and the development of the Firm’s Latino outreach.  During this time the Cochran firm entered into agreements with the Guatemalan and Mexican governments to provide legal support to their foreign nationals throughout the United States.  My trial expertise has led to civil judgements in excess of $25,000,000.00 for our clients and acquittals or reduced charges in numerous murder and drug cases over the past several years. Currently, I am the lead defense counsel in the war crimes case of USA v. Encep Nurjaman (aka Hambali), being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Audrey MATEO is currently a Legal adviser in the Defence team of Mr. Abd-Al-Rahman at the ICC. She was also an active member of the Executive Committee at the ICCBA  (2023-2024). In 1997, she completed her law studies in Aix en Provence and Montpellier, France. She then studied in Cape Town, South Africa where she obtained an LL.M. in human rights and international law at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). Early in her career, at the European Commission in Brussels, she worked in the task-Force on the Future on the European Union. She then worked as a Legal officer for 10 years in Chambers at the ICTY and at the ICC in the Katanga trial. She lived two years Cambodia where she worked as both a legal and pro bono consultant for human rights NGOs and supporting victims’ lawyers before the ECCC. She was also a consultant at the at the KSC-SPO. Since 2021, Audrey works as an UNHCR judge at the Cour Nationale du droit d’ Asile in Paris, and she also gives trainings as a consultant on the prevention of sexual harassment at work. She is also an active member of the Association des Magistrats Internationaux Francophones (AMIF).

A veteran lawyer with 20 years of experience, holding a Master's Degree in Public Law (LL.M.) from Tel-Aviv University (Magna Cum Laude). For several years he served as a teaching assistant for penal law, evidence law and criminal procedure in several law faculties in Israel; and published several academic articles in the field of criminal law which were cited by the Israeli Supreme Court. He also published a theoretical book (in Hebrew) titled: "Transitional Justice: The Implications of the Shin Bet Affair on Israeli Society". As a criminal defense attorney, he served as lead counsel in one of the largest criminal organization cases in Israel (the Asi Abutbul case) after the former lead defense attorney (Yoram Hachacham) was murdered in the middle of the trial [See: Criminal Case no. 1049/ 07 The State of Israel v. Yosef (Asi) Abutbul and 23 others, (published in the "Nevo" database)]. In the field of professional responsibility, he currently serves as a judge at the District Disciplinary Tribunal of the Tel-Aviv Bar Association. Before that, he served as a disciplinary prosecutor for several years and after that as a disciplinary defense attorney. He also served as arbitrator on behalf of the Ethics Committee in fee disputes; as well as representing private clients in civil litigation regarding legal malpractice and fee disputes.

Anand A. Shah is an American attorney, and presently Associate Counsel on the team of the Common Legal Representative of Victims in the Abd-Al-Rahman (“Ali Kushayb”) trial before the ICC. Prior to this he assisted in the representation of defendants in the Darfur, Kenya and Libya Situations before the ICC, in cases before the STL, and acted as counsel before the ICC Disciplinary Board. He is the current ICCBA Vice President for Victims, and has previously served on the Executive Council, as well as the following Committees: Victims, Professional Standards, Amicus, Legal Advisory, and Counsel Support Staff. He has also taken a leading role on ICCBA working groups addressing matters of legal aid, taxation, and work place harassment.

Chief Charles Taku has  over 40 years  experience , including 25 years specializing in international criminal law and human rights. He has represented individuals, state and non-state entities, as well as international organizations in various courts and tribunals. Chief Taku served as president of the International Criminal Court Bar Association (ICCBA) from 2018-2019 and is a life member of the Governing Council of the African Bar Association (AFBA). He has appeared before the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), the African Court for Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and numerous national courts across Africa and Europe. Beyond his legal practice, Chief Taku is a prominent cultural leader and a strong advocate for reparations for colonial injustices. He has authored four books and numerous scholarly articles, contributing significantly to the field of international law. A frequent speaker at global institutions, Chief Taku has recently lectured at prestigious venues, including Harvard Law School and Kwame Nkrumah University. He is fluent in English, French, and Bangwa.

Gregory Townsend started as a deputy public defender in Los Angeles. In 1998, he joined the ICTR, where he clerked for a judge and worked as a prosecuting trial attorney. He later became a prosecutor for the UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo and ICTY. He served as Head of Office for the SCSL in The Hague. He joined the STL in 2010 as chief legal advisor to the Prosecutor. From 2014 to 2018, he served as Chief of the Registry’s Court Support Services Section for ICTY & IRMCT, where he oversaw witness protection, court operations, judicial records and legal aid. He is a professor of international law and on the list of counsel to represent victims before the KSC and ICC. He was previously duty counsel to Mr. Mokom before the ICC.

Since being called to the Berlin Bar, Natalie von Wistinghausen specialises in criminal law as a trial advocate and has acquired wide-ranging legal experience in domestic and international legal criminal work. She was admitted to the List of Counsel at the ICC, the KSC, the STL and the MICT. Before the ICTR, she was Legal Assistant in the defense team of former Cabinet Minister Justin Mugenzi and in Germany, she was Lead Counsel in a case against Rwandan bourgmestre Rwabukombe who was accused of charges relating to the genocide. Besides her domestic work as defense counsel, she was assigned as Co-Counsel to protect the interests and rights of one of the accused in the in absentia proceedings of at the STL. She also worked as a Senior Rule of Law expert in the UK government project „Strengthening the Judicial System in Kosovo“. Since 2019 Natalie is representing Yazidi victims in universal jurisdiction cases against alleged „ISIS“ members before Higher Regional Courts in Germany. She has also filed criminal complaints on behalf of NGOs who are representing victims of chemical attacks in Syria as well as victims of international crimes committed in Ukraine. In October 2021, she was appointed as Common Legal Representative of Victims in the case against Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (situation in Darfur, Sudan) at the ICC.

Ingo Klaus Wamser is the principal of a German law firm specialized in international and transnational criminal law since 2005. He served as a voluntary board member of the Munich Bar from 2013 to 2015. In 2015 he was appointed as a disciplinary judge for counsel’s misconduct cases by the Bavarian Ministry of Justice and was re-appointed in 2020. Ingo is a founding member of the ICCBA and the KSC-IRB and served in different positions on various committees, i.a. as Chairperson of the ICCBA Membership Committee for three terms. He was appointed as Alternate Commissioner of the ICC in 2019. He is author of a commentary and a handbook for professional standards and disciplinary procedures for counsel and lecturer for international law at an Austrian state university.

Regina is a human rights barrister based in Tasmania, Australia, where her domestic civil practice as counsel principally relates to historical sexual and serious physical institutional abuse of minors and other vulnerable persons. From 2007 to 2016, Regina was an ICC prosecution lawyer in the formative years of the Court, where she worked on cases emanating from Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo amongst others. She prosecuted war crimes and crimes against humanity including sexual and gender-based violence in the context of large-scale atrocities, worked in situ with victims and witnesses of SGBV and has appeared as prosecution counsel before the Pre-Trial and Trial Chambers of the ICC. Prior to her call to the Bar, Regina held senior legal positions in the Australian Federal Government. Regina is also Chair of the Australian Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Committee in Tasmania and an advisory board member of the Hague Justice Portal.