About us
Chair
Ahmed el Koshery,
President (2013-2019)
Law professor and international arbitrator, Ahmed Al Koshery was appointed to the Egyptian Council of State in 1952. At the age of twenty, he became the youngest Egyptian to work in the Council alongside the eminent legal expert El Sanhoury. He obtained his Ph. D in 1962 with the honours. His thesis dealt with the international contract under the direction of Professor Loussouarn. He taught International private Law at Cairo University, Contract Law at the Arab University of Beirut and International Economic Law at Ain Shams University in the 70’s. He worked as a researcher at the Hague Academy of International Law in the 60’s. In 1987, he was elected member of the Institute of International Law.
He handled some major arbitration cases such as the Pyramids case and the Aminoil Case against the State of Kuwait. He became an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice in the Lockerbie and the Taba cases. He is one of the founding members of the Senghor University in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1990 before becoming its president from 1997 till 2004.
From 1998 till 2002, he held the position of judge at the Administrative Court at the African Development Bank. Later, he became the vice-president of the International Court of Arbitration.
Ahmed Al Koshery is the founder of IEDJA.
He is the author of several publications in legal journals in the fields of International Private Law, International economic contracts and arbitration.
Tony Moussa,
President since 2019
Born in Lebanon in 1944, Tony Moussa is a French judge. He holds a bachelor’s degree in law from the Faculty of Law of the Lebanese University and a PhD in private Law from Jean Moulin, Lyon 3 University as well as a Bachelor in Arab literature from the latter University.
He has been working as trial and appeal judge. Later, he’s been councillor then dean of the Second civil Chamber of the French Court of Cassation. In parallel, he has been associated professor at the Faculty of Law at Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University.
All along his career, he participated in the continuous training of French judges and lawyers. He also accomplished several missions of expertise, training, and teaching within the framework of the bilateral cooperation or European programs.
These missions led him to chair, in 2012, a college of twelve experts, Frenchmen and Egyptians, that was asked to give recommendations as to how the Egyptian Court of Cassation could speed-up their decision delays.
He is the author, co-author and director of numerous books, articles and critics in varied legal journals.
Ever since he retired, he has been an independent consultant and an international expert. He has been registered on the list of arbitrators in the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration.
He is a founding member of IEDJA.
Vice-chair
Antoine Garapon,
Judge, Ph.D in Law, Antoine Garapon was a juvenile court judge during several years before joining the Institute of Advanced Studies on Justice (IHEJ) as secretary general in 1991. He is the author, co-author and director of several books. He directs the collection “Le Bien commun” of the editions Michalon and used to host the broadcast “Le bien commun” at France-Culture. Since 2018, he co-hosts the show “Matières à penser”. He is also a member of the editorial board of the Esprit journal.
Antoine Garapon received the insignia of the Legion of Honour on the 20th of December 2013. On this occasion, Guy Canivet, member of the Constitutional Council and first honorary president of the Cassation Court, honoured him.
Antoine Garapon is a founding member of IEDJA.
Secretary general
Amr Soliman, (October 2013- July 2019)
A lawyer by training, Amr Soliman holds a master’s degree in comparative international private law from the University of Jean Moulin Lyon III. He is a doctoral candidate from the same university. Amr joined IHEJ in March 2013 where he was responsible for the Arab countries development programme. Before joining IHEJ, Amr Soliman was deputy director for “Governance” at the French Embassy in Cairo. Since October 2013, he is Secretary General and founder of IEDJA. Amr returned to Egypt in 2015 as an advisor for the European Commission’s project on the Modernization of the Administration of Justice in Egypt. Today he a non-active member.
Deputy secretary general
Léo Marty,
Léo Marty holds a Master degree in international relations and Arabic from the National Institute for foreign languages and civilizations (INALCO) in Paris as well as a Master of Research in political studies from the advanced school for social studies (EHESS) where he worked on honor killings in Palestine. He joined IEDJA through the institute of advanced studies on justice (IHEJ) in June 2015. Since, Leo Marty has been actively participating in the development of IEDJA, promoting its activities, outreach, and projects. In March 2019, he has been nominated deputy secretary general of the institute.
Advisory board
Ahmad Mahiou,
Born in 1936 in Bouira (Algeria), professor at the Faculty of Law of Alger, at the Institute of Political Studies and at the National School of Administration. Professor Mahiou is also former dean of the Faculty of law and economic sciences of Alger, research director emeritus at the CNRS, former director of the Institute of research and study on the Arab and Muslim world (Aix-en-Provence), former president of the United Nations’ Commission on International Law, member at the Institute of International Law and judge ad hoc at the International Court of Justice.
In March 2019, Professor Mahiou became a member of the board of IEDJA.
He is the author, and director of numerous books and articles dealing with administrative law, international law, and normative issues encountered in international law regarding development.
Ali Mezghani,
Law professor, Ali Mezghani did his Law studies in Tunisia. He holds two master’s from Paris University and wrote his thesis under the supervision of Professor Mohammed Charfi on Tunisia’s international commercial relations from a legal perspective.
He taught for 25 years in Tunisia. Then, from 2000 till 2013, he directed the master’s on Law in Arab Countries at Paris I University. When this master is shut down, he leaves the teaching field and dedicates himself to his researches.
He is the author of several books and articles that cover a variety of topics from commercial Law to law and philosophy.
He is a founding member of IEDJA.
Neila Chaabane,
Neila Chaabane holds a PhD. in international public law, in tax law and public finance from Tunis Faculty of Law.
Head of the Faculty of legal, political and social studies of Tunis 2 law school since January 2016, she became Dean of the faculty in December 2017. Additionally, she started teaching public law as of July 2018.
In addition to her academic career, Prof. Chaabane has been Secretary of State for Women and Families from January 2014 till February 2015 where she was particularly involved in the protection of children’s, women’s and the elderlies’ rights. Prof Chaabane has also been working in the Tunisian Association of Constitutional Law which she chaired in 2013 and as a member of the Scientific counsel of the Academy of representatives. In March 2019, she became Board member of IEDJA.
She is the author of numerous books and articles dealing mainly with taxation and the fight against corruption.
Fabrice Durand,
Fabrice Durand holds a DESS from the University of Paris 2 Pantheon- Assas in Real Estate and Construction Law before accessing the French National School for the Judiciary. He was assigned, as a judge in training, at the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Ajaccio.
From 2002 till 2016, Fabrice Durand progresses in the judiciary hierarchy, occupying several positions such as vice-chair of the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Toulouse.
Since September 2016, he is assigned as Legal Cooperation attaché for the Middle East at the French embassy in Jordan.
Fabrice Durand became a board member of IEDJA in March 2019.
Programme Director
Sara Razai,
Sara Razai holds a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Law at University College London. Her thesis is a comparative study on the role and significance of the judiciary in the Arab world. She is also a legal consultant and has worked with several Governmental and non-Governmental organizations providing with legal and regional advise in the MENA region. Her primary research interests are Judicial Studies, with a particular focus on empirical legal methods.
