Leadership

Board of Directors

Nizam Missaghi
Chair of the Board of Directors

Nizam Missaghi is an Iranian-American physician.
He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia and pursued his medical education at the Medical College of Virginia. After completion of his residency in anesthesiology, he moved to the Phoenix metro area where he is a founding member of Grand Canyon Anesthesia and a clinical assistant professor of anesthesiology at the University of Arizona School of Medicine.He is the author of multiple articles in Persian and English with a focus on Iran related topics. He has delivered numerous lectures about social psychology and human behavior covering various cognitive biases including in-group bias and prejudice. He is the founder and chairman of The Simpatico Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with the mission of promoting diversity and cross cultural understanding.

 

Gissou Nia, B.A., J.D.

Gissou Nia is a human rights lawyer and Senior Fellow with Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council, where she heads the strategic litigation program. She previously served as the Executive Director for IHRDC, and the Deputy Director for the Center for Human Rights in Iran. She has led investigations in Turkey, Kosovo, Malaysia, and throughout North America and Europe to gather documentary and testimonial evidence of atrocity crimes and human rights violations. Gissou started her career in The Hague, where she worked on war crimes and crimes against humanity trials at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Court. She lectures and publishes widely on human rights developments in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the rule of law in post-conflict and transitional societies.

 

Payam Akhavan, LL.B., LL.M, S.J.D. (Professor, McGill University Faculty of Law)
Payam Akhavan is Professor of International Law at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He earned his Doctorate from Harvard Law School and was previously Senior Fellow at Yale Law School and Distinguished Visiting Professor at University of Toronto. He is the author of numerous publications and his 2001 article “Beyond Impunity” in the American Journal of International Law has been recognized as one of “the most significant published journal essays in contemporary legal studies.” Professor Akhavan was the first United Nations war crimes prosecutor at The Hague, and played a key role in the trial of Yugoslav leaders such as President Milosevic. He also served with the UN in Bosnia, Cambodia, Guatemala, East Timor, and Rwanda, and has been appointed as legal counsel in leading cases before the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and the European Court of Human Rights.

 

Shahin Milani, J.D., LL.M  (Executive Director)

Shahin Milani obtained his J.D. from Howard University School of Law and his LL.M. from Vermont Law School. He joined IHRDC in 2012, and he is the principal author of four IHRDC reports entitled Denied Identity: Human Rights Abuses against Iran’s LGBT Community,  Apostasy in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Restrictions on Freedom of Expression in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Excluded from the Public Sphere. Shahin can be found on Twitter @shahinmilani81.