Manwah Alothman joined the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law (IIJ) in 2025 as a Senior Legal Adviser, seconded by the Government of Kuwait. She began her prosecutorial career in 2014 when she was appointed as one of the first female prosecutors in Kuwait, following her graduation with distinction from the Kuwait Institute for Judicial and Legal Studies’ Foundational Training Program for the Preparation of Public Prosecutors, where she ranked seventh in her cohort. Her prosecutorial expertise has focused on violent crimes, bank fraud, and commercial affairs offenses.

During her tenure with the Public Prosecution, Ms. Alothman represented Kuwait at numerous international and locally hosted conferences on topics including anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism, and cybercrime investigations and prosecutions. Many of these engagements were organized in cooperation with the United States Department of Justice, Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT). Alongside her prosecutorial work, she dedicated significant efforts to advancing legal education, mentoring women in the legal profession, and pursuing higher academic achievements. In 2021, she earned a master’s degree in international public law from Kuwait International Law School, authoring a thesis entitled “The Silent Genocide of the Rohingya People – Upholding Accountability.”

With the support of the Ministry of Justice and the Public Prosecution, Ms. Alothman has also been an active advocate for enhancing women’s participation in the judiciary. She has delivered speeches at national and international forums and notably represented the Public Prosecution at the implementation event of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on “Women, Peace and Security.” The event was organized by the National Committee for the Implementation of UNSCR 1325 in cooperation with the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator, the Delegation of the European Union, the NATO Mission, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with other relevant authorities.

In recognition of her professional accomplishments, Ms. Alothman was appointed Deputy Director of the Commercial Affairs Prosecution Office in 2021, becoming one of the first women to hold a supervisory and administrative post within the Public Prosecution. In 2024, she was further appointed Director of the Farwaniya Prosecution Office, joining the first group of women to assume senior leadership positions in the prosecution service. In this capacity, she oversees prosecutorial performance, manages case distribution, supervises investigations within the office’s jurisdiction, and ensures compliance with directives issued by the Attorney General. She also coordinates with law enforcement and judicial bodies in the Farwaniya Governorate, monitors crime scenes alongside prosecutors to safeguard proper legal procedures, and supervises and authorizes search warrants to ensure their lawful execution.

Beyond her leadership roles, Ms. Alothman has contributed extensively to the training and development of junior prosecutors and legal researchers. Between 2021 and 2024, she delivered lectures, workshops, and foundational training programs in partnership with the Kuwait Institute for Judicial and Legal Studies, reinforcing her commitment to building prosecutorial capacity and fostering the next generation of legal professionals.

Prima is an alumna of The IIJ. She completed the online and in-person components of the Financial Counter-Terrorism Academic Curriculum (FIN CTAC) for Southeast Asian practitioners in 2024. Prior to joining The IIJ, Prima served as a prosecutor for the Department of Justice (DOJ), Philippines, for ten years. She was a designated prosecutor for cases involving extrajudicial killings, media killings, trafficking in persons, terrorism and terrorism financing cases. She was also a prosecutor-evaluator for the DOJ Witness Protection Program of Region XII in Mindanao, Philippines.

Aside from prosecutorial work, Prima was part of the training pool of the Special Projects Division, DOJ National Prosecution Service. She was the Course Manager for the Technical Working Group (TWG) for Environmental Crimes, and a member of the TWGs for Techniques in Witness Handling, International Humanitarian Law, and Counterterrorism and Terrorism Financing. Before becoming a prosecutor, she was a legal counsel of the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ) for seven years. As FFFJ counsel, she served as a private prosecutor in several media killing cases including the consolidated Ampatuan, Maguindanao Massacre cases.

Rachel joined the IIJ as a Resident Fellow at the IIJ’s Academic Unit in 2024. She oversees
designing and delivering courses in counter terrorism and transnational crime. Qualified as a
solicitor in England and Wales, Rachel brings 15 years of experience specialising in domestic
practice and criminal defence, including extensive experience conducting serious and complex
cases. At the international level, Rachel spent five years working as a Senior Legal Officer for the
OSCE Mission in Kosovo working on issues including terrorism and transnational crime. She has
experience managing donor funded projects on organised crime and corruption and designing and
implementing capacity building activities for legal practitioners.

Rachel spent five years in Colombia where she worked on the protection of human rights defenders
and completed a postgraduate specialisation in human rights and international humanitarian law.
She has published several articles and reports on topics including the legitimacy of lethal force, the
Colombian peace process and defense representation in Kosovo.

Emrecan joined the IIJ in April 2025 as a Senior Legal Adviser, seconded by the Government of Türkiye. Prior to joining IIJ he served as a Rapporteur Judge at the Court of Cassation, focusing on crimes related to privacy of private life and protection of personal data. He began his career as a prosecutor, later he also served as a Rapporteur Judge at the Ministry of Justice of Türkiye, within the Directorate General For Foreign Relations And European Union Affairs, where he worked on international rogatory issues.
Additionally he has participated in various workshops and programs that called International Judicial Co-operation Criminal Matters in Türkiye, for advancing legal education and empowering and mentoring criminal justice practitioners in the legal profession. He also lectured at Turkish Justice Academy to increase the awareness of prosecutor-judge candidates. Emrecan holds a master’s degree in public law with his work on extraordinary legal remedies.

Paul joined the IIJ in 2022 as Project Lead for CT PHARE – Platform for Human Rights Engagement where he oversees the design and implementation of the CT PHARE project activities. Prior to joining the IIJ, Paul was a member of An Garda Síochána (Irish National Police) with over 30 years’ experience at senior leadership and management level within the criminal justice sector, law enforcement, intelligence fields, investigations into organized crime, counter-terrorism, and on security sector reform across the political and technical process of improving state, and human security by making security provision, management, and oversight more effective and more accountable. Paul was seconded by the Irish Government on several deployments during his police career, and has worked in Bosnia Herzegovina, Afghanistan, and most recently in Iraq as Head of Operations with the EU Advisory Mission on Security Sector Reform. Paul holds a Masters in Terrorism Studies and Political Violence from the University St. Andrews, Scotland.   

Quentin joined the IIJ in October 2022. As Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Manager, he leads the implementation of the institutional M&E strategy. In this capacity, he spearheads, monitors and evaluates the impact of IIJ’s activities, provides advice on instructional design and evaluation processes. Quentin is also Lead of the multi-year EU FPI-funded project on the Prosecution, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration (PRR) of returnees from Iraq and Northeast Syria to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. He is responsible for its overall management, strategic direction and quality control.
Quentin previously worked in Brussels around the European judicial training scene, serving as Head of Office at the European Judicial Training Network (EJTN). He brings a wealth of professional experience ensuring team leadership, support to institutional development, and operational management of grants and projects in the field of judicial training and counterterrorism. He holds a degree in Political Science from Louvain and Executive Master in Management from Solvay University in Belgium.

John joined the IIJ as Senior Investigations Adviser in January 2023 seconded by the Government of the
United Kingdom. As a British Police Officer for 27 years, he served as a Senior Investigating Officer in the fields of counter-terrorism, homicide and major crime including the management of high-risk investigations at both strategic and tactical levels, leading covert deployments to manage risk within manhunts, threats to life and gun crime investigations.
John has extensive experience working with international law enforcement partners within national and
international frameworks to ensure the protection of Human Rights and legal compliance in counter-terrorism investigations.

Samna joined the IIJ as a Resident Fellow in the Academic Unit at the end of 2020. He is responsible for designing and delivering state of the art courses to successfully counter terrorism and transnational crime. As a member of the judiciary in Niger for 20 years, including 15 years in the Public Prosecutor’s Office, he brings his extensive national and international field experience in the fight against organised crime and terrorism. After serving as a judge, he continued his career at the Public Prosecutor’s Office and oversaw organised crime and terrorism proceedings as of 2011. He joined the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Niamey before becoming its Chief Prosecutor. In this capacity, he led the Judicial Unit specialising in the fight against terrorism and transnational organised crime, as well as the Financial and Economic Unit. He served as the focal point for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the West African Network of Prosecutors and Central Authorities (WACAP), and served as an expert and consultant for the UNODC notably in the field of firearms. He also initiated Niger’s Counter-Terrorism Coordination Committee.

Samna has led numerous initiatives that have contributed to building the capacity of judicial practitioners in the fight against terrorism in the Lake Chad and Sahel regions. This included research and legislative efforts, training, meetings and exchanges conducted by the UNODC, United States, African and European judicial training institutes, and European projects. Samna is a Knight of the National Ordre du Mérite of Niger.