I am a third year PhD candidate in the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, CSTPV (School of International Relations, University of St. Andrews, Scotland). Before joining CSTPV, I hold a MSc in International Relations from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland (with distinction), and a Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) in political science & Arabic Studies from the Institute of Arab Research and Studies, Egypt.

Since 2011 I have published six books (in Arabic) and more than 50 peer-reviewed papers (in Arabic, English and French). These publications qualified me to become–according to the Arab Citation & Impact Factor (ARCIF) foundation–one of the top 3% of most-cited Arab scholars in the fields of Political Science and International Relations (2012-2020) from almost 7000 researchers of 22 countries.

My thesis investigates the correlations between counterterrorism strategies and human rights in the post Arab Uprisings. The thesis interrogates the way certain states use violence and for what purposes? By deconstructing the discourse of counterterrorism, power dynamics and tracing state-building processes in the modern Middle East, this thesis examines to what extent the states’ excessive use of violence and repression had been employed as an excuse to suppress the democratic transition and diminish political opposition under the name of counterterrorism.