Mira Hammad, a barrister in England and Wales, and Rania Muhareb, a PhD scholar at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, will speak at the “Confronting Israeli apartheid in British courts” event on Monday 24 January.

The free event, hosted by The Learning Co-operative and the Materialist Lawyers’ Group, comes as lawyers increasingly encounter the international legal concept of apartheid in the course of their professional practice.

It will discuss “how lawyers practising in British courts can deploy the concepts of apartheid, colonialism, Zionism, and anti-Zionism in a variety of domestic jurisdictions to advance justice, democracy and Palestinian liberation”.

Ms Hammad is a human rights barrister specialising in criminal defence, inquests and inquiries. Her criminal defence practice particularly focuses on defending protesters. In her inquests and inquiry practice she represents bereaved families whose loved ones have died in a wide range of circumstances involving the state or private companies. Prior to coming to the bar, she practised as a solicitor.

Ms Muhareb is an Irish Research Council and Hardiman PhD scholar at the Irish Centre for Human Rights at NUI Galway. She is a policy member of Al-Shabaka – The Palestinian Policy Network and former legal researcher and advocacy officer with the Palestinian human right organisation Al-Haq. Her PhD research examines the relevance and implications of applying the apartheid framework to Palestine.

The event will be chaired by Franck Magennis, a barrister in England and Wales who practises in public, civil and criminal defence.