Professor Niaz Shah

2014

Professor Niaz Shah

Contact Professor

Niaz has considerable experience in Asylum & human rights cases in the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chambers) and the Upper Tribunal. As a former Protection Assistant at UNHCR, Niaz enjoys working on asylum cases.

Niaz practices in Public Law and has conducted judicial reviews and advised clients on judicial reviews.

Niaz practices Employment Law focusing on, but not limited to, capability and disciplinary procedures, redundancies, direct and indirect discrimination, unfair dismissal, and injunctive relief.

Niaz practices in Education especially higher education providers such as universities and the Office of the Independent Adjudicator and students’ complaints.

Niaz practices in international human rights law focusing on the United Nations Treaty Bodies such as the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD); Human Rights Committee (HRC); Committee against Torture (CAT); Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) as well as the European Court of Human Rights. Niaz has interned at the Women’s Rights Section in UN New York, working on the early registered and pending cases before CEDAW.

Niaz also practices in Public International Law and has advised clients (including governments) on international law.

Niaz has considerable experience in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Arbitration. He has worked for UNDP, Somalia and developed concept notes and manuals on ADR: Facilitator’s Training Manual on Traditional Restorative Justice and ADR for Puntland, Somalia (2013); Participants’ Training Manual on Traditional Restorative Justice and ADR for Puntland, Somalia; and ‘Regulations for Dispute Resolution 2014’, Somaliland, Somalia.

Niaz is currently assisting UNDP personnel with Arbitration under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (“UNCITRAL”) Arbitration Rules in New York.

Principal areas of practice

  • Public Law
  • Civil Liberties and Human Rights
  • Asylum and Immigration
  • Education
  • Employment Law
  • Equality and Discrimination
  • International Human Rights Law
  • Public International Law
  • Alternative Dispute Resolution and Arbitration

Notable cases  

Niaz is currently instructed in Ahmad v The Secretary of State ((CA-2024-000922) by the Advocate (formerly the Bar Pro Bono Unit). The case involves the revocation and application of Regulation 16(5) of the EEA Regulations 2016 to a pre-Brexit application of a primary carer of three minor British citizens stranded outside the UK along with their children. Other cases include:

  • GM (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWCA Civ 1002.
  • R (on the application of Iqbal) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] UKSC 63.
  • R (Mehmood) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 744
  • R (Tawinder Singh) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, [2015] EWHC 3633 (Admin)
  • R (Ali) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, [2014] EWHC 3967 (Admin) 

Country and Islamic law expert

Niaz is a recognised country expert on Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Islamic law. The Secretary of State for the Home Department instructed him in Hashim Tariq v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 378, where the Court of Appeal at [37] said: ‘Professor Shah’s evidence on the primary question he was asked is admirably clear’ and KA and Others (domestic violence – risk on return) Pakistan CG [2010] UKUT 216 (IAC), where the court at [202] said that they were aided by an ‘eminent expert [.]’. Niaz was also a key expert in the country guidance case on Afghanistan in AJ (Risk to Homosexuals) Afghanistan CG [2009] UKAIT 1, where the court at [46] said: ‘In understanding the complex nuances of life in Afghan society, we prefer, where there are differences, the evidence of Dr Shah’. Other cases include: HAR v The SSHD IA/00660/2021 (Upper Tribunal) and AM (Afghanistan) v The SSHD, PA/12938/2017 (Upper Tribunal).

Niaz was appointed as an Amicus Curiae by the Peshawar High Court, Pakistan in the case of Director Human Rights Cell v Transparency International 2024 where heavy reliance was placed on his brief.

Niaz is regularly instructed as an expert on Islamic law especially in family cases involving questions of Muslim marriage and law in the UK courts. Niaz is currently instructed by the Canadian Justice Department as an expert in a court case dealing with the Islamic concept of Kafalah and Guardianship.

Professor in Law

Niaz, as a Professor in Law, taught human rights law; refugee law, public and administrative law, and Islamic law for nearly two decades at the University of Hull. In January 2025, the University of Essex (Law School) appointed Professor Shah as an External Examiner for four years on their LLM modules. Before joining Hull University, Niaz was a Visiting Fellow at the Lauterpach Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge. Niaz completed his PhD at Queen’s University Belfast on a prestigious SPUR Scholarship in 2005 and before that attended a short course on international human rights law at Nottingham University.

Niaz has worked with governments and inter-governmental organisations, such as the United Nations (New York); UNDP (Somali & Pakistan); UNHCR and UNICEF (Pakistan); EU; NATO; The Commonwealth Secretariate, London and the United States Institute of Peace.

Publications

Niaz has been a prolific author and has published three monographs, an edited book, articles in research journals and training manuals. His research monographs include Islamic Law and the Law of Armed Conflict: The Armed Conflict in Pakistan (2011); Self-defence in Islamic and International Law: Assessing Al-Qaeda and the Invasion of Iraq (2008) and Women, the Koran and International Human Rights Law: The Experience of Pakistan (2006). His edited book is Islam and the Law of Armed Conflict: Essential Readings (2015).

Niaz’s selected research journal articles are:

  1. Haider Piri & Niaz A Shah, ‘The Application of Human Rights Treaties as Domestic Law in the Islamic Republic of Iran’ (2025) 47(2) Human Rights Quarterly.
  2. Niaz A Shah, ‘Constitutionalising Islamic Law and Human Rights in Pakistan’ (Forthcoming 2025) Journal of Law and Religion.
  3. Niaz A Shah, ‘Assessment Framework for the Compatibility of Islamic and Human Rights Law’ (Forthcoming 2025) Journal of Islamic Ethics.
  4. Niaz A Shah, ‘International Law in Pakistan’ Elgar Concise Encyclopaedia of Asian Law (Forthcoming 2025)
  5. Niaz A Shah, ‘Re-colonisation of Jammu and Kashmir and the Right to Self-determination’ (2022) 11(2) International Human Rights Law Review 186-220.
  6. Niaz A Shah, ‘The Application of Human Rights Treaties in Dualist Muslim States: The Experience of Pakistan’ (2022) 44(2) Human Rights Quarterly 257-285.
  7. Niaz A Shah, ‘The Unwilling and Unable Test in International Law: The Use of Force against Non-state Actors in Pakistan’ (2020) 2 The Asian Yearbook of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law 109-138.
  8. Khurshid Iqbal & Niaz A Shah, ‘Defining Terrorism in Pakistani Terrorism laws: A Comparative Jurisprudential Analysis’ (2018) 7 Global Journal of Comparative Law 272 – 302.
  9. Niaz A Shah, ‘The Right to a Fair Trial: Military Justice System in Pakistan’ (2018) 7 Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies 1-37.
  10. Niaz A Shah, ‘Charlie Hebdo: Testing the Limits of Freedom of Expression’ (2017) 14(1) Muslim World Journal Human Rights 83-111.
  11. Khurshid Iqbal & Niaz A Shah, ‘Civil Disputes Leading to Crimes: A Baseline Study of Terrorism Affected Northwestern Pakistan’ (2017) 18(1) The Australian Journal of Asian Law 1-17.
  12. Niaz A Shah, ‘The Use of Force under Islamic Law’ (2013) 24(1) European Journal of International Law 1-23.
  13. Niaz A Shah, ‘The Taliban Layeha (Rules and Regulations) for Mujahidin and the Law of Armed Conflict’ (2012) 3 Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies 191-228.
  14. Niaz A Shah, ‘The Taliban Layeha (Rules and Regulations) for Mujahidin’ (2012) 35(6) Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 456-470.
  15. Niaz A Shah, ‘The Women Protection Act 2006 of Pakistan: An Analysis’ (2010) 5(1) Religion and Human Rights1-10.
  16. Niaz A Shah, ‘War Crimes in the Armed Conflict of Pakistan’ (2010) 33(4) Studies in Conflict and Terrorism1-23.
  17. Niaz A Shah, ‘The Rule of Law in Pakistan’ (2009) Public Law Review 187-193.
  18. Niaz A Shah, ‘Self-defence in Islamic Law’ (2008) 12 Yearbook of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law 181-208.
  19. Niaz A Shah, ‘Self-defence, Anticipatory Self-defence and Pre-emption: International Law Response to Terrorism’ (2007) 12(1) Journal of Conflict and Security Law 95-126.
  20. Niaz A Shah, ‘Women’s Human Rights in the Koran: An Interpretive Approach’ (2006) 28(4) Human Rights Quarterly 868-903.
  21. Niaz A Shah, ‘Freedom of Religion: Koranic and Human Rights Perspectives’ (2005) 6(1) Asia-Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law 69-88.
  22. Niaz A Shah, ‘The Constitution of Afghanistan and Women’s Rights’ (2005) 13(2) Feminist Legal Studies 239-258.
  23. Niaz A Shah, ‘Honour Killings: Islamic and Human Rights Perspective’ (2004) 55(1) Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 78-89.

European Union Reports

  • Niaz A Shah et al, ‘Ex-post evaluation of the project ‘Civilian Capacity Building for Law Enforcement in Pakistan’ (CCBLE) (2012).
  • Niaz A Shah et al, ‘Identification of EU Rule of Law Programme for Pakistan 2013’.

Current training projects and manuals

Niaz has been running an extremely successful training programme for Pakistani judges on human rights and the rule of law since 2014 and has trained nearly three hundred judges. Training sessions are variously funded by the Pakistani judiciary, UNDP Pakistan and the Commonwealth Secretariat, London. Niaz has written the ‘Human Rights and the Rule of Law’ training manual for Pakistani judges (2024) and authored the Commonwealth ‘Judicial Resource Book on Violence Against Women for Asia’ (2018).

A delegation of Pakistani lawyers is expected to attend a one-week training on human rights and the rule of law in April 2025 at Nexus. A delegation of judges is expected to attend a one-week training on human rights and the rule of law in June 2025.

Awards and membership

  • PhD: SPUR Scholarship Queen’s University Belfast
  • The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn
  • Life Member of the Islamabad Bar Association, Pakistan
  • Bar Pro Bono Recognition List of the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales

Media

Selected Cases  

Supreme Court   

Court of Appeal   

The High Court of Justice: Administrative Court  

  • R (Tawinder Singh) v SSHD [2015] EWHC 3633 (Admin)  
  • R (Shabaz Ali) v SSHD [2014] EWHC 3967 (Admin)    

  

Expert witness / reports    

Professor Shah is a recognised expert on Pakistan and Afghanistan and regularly appears as expert witness before courts in the UK. Leading reported cases include:  

 

Publications  

Professor Shah has published a large number of monographs and peer reviewed articles which are available on his staff page at the University of Hull.    

Degrees:

MA (English) LLB (Peshawar, Pakistan)  

International Human Rights Law Course (Nottingham University)   

PhD (Queen’s University Belfast)   

PGCHE (Hull University)