Rod Charles is a former Metropolitan Police officer, retiring in the rank of Chief Inspector after 30 years service. Beginning his career as a constable at Notting Hill, through combination of appointments and promotions subsequently served in boroughs in all four primary geographical zones and in Central London. Firearms, security co-ordinator and public order responsibilities further enhanced his experience managing incidents pan London and when deployed to various countries in Europe, to work in concert with international law enforcement agencies, to prevent adverse impact from and detect violent offenders. An advanced paralegal (Chartered Institute of Legal executives) also has a diploma in social policy and criminology. Currently engaged as an independent investigative researcher, focusing on abuse of power.
Role: Expert Witnesses
Paul O’Connor
Paul O’Connor is the manager at the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry, north of Ireland. The Centre has offices in Derry, Belfast and Armagh and also has a base in Dublin through its project Justice for the Forgotten and provides advocacy support to families bereaved through the political conflict on the island of Ireland. This support usually entails seeking documents and information from public bodies. Paul and other staff at the PFC have been mining the archives at the UK National Archives for many years. Paul is a graduate in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Ulster and lives in his native Derry. He has lived, worked, studied and/or volunteered in the US, Germany, Spain and Nicaragua.
Luke Daniels
Luke Daniels is a social and political activist, an author and father to eight children. He trained as a counsellor and worked at the Everyman Centre in London with perpetrators of domestic violence. His work with perpetrators was the subject of 1994 Channel 4 documentary, Pulling The Punches. He is the author of two books on ending violence against women and girls. He is President of Caribbean Labour Solidarity and a member of Nicaragua and Venezuela solidarity executive committees. He is chair of Islington Pensioners Forum and is an active campaigner for Reparations for trans-Atlantic chattel slavery.
Gargi Bhattacharyya
Professor Gargi Bhattacharyya is Director of the Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation at University College London. Professor Bhattacharyya is the author of Tales of dark-skinned women (1998); Sexuality and Society (2002); Dangerous Brown Men (2008); Traffick (2005); Crisis, Austerity and Everyday Life (2015); Rethinking Racial Capitalism (2018); We, the heartbroken (2023); The Futures of Racial Capitalism (2023). I have also co-authored books with colleagues (and continue to believe that collaborative work is an important element
of the project, despite the challenges it can bring). My collaborative works include: Race and Power (2001); Go Home? Mapping Immigration Controversy (2017); How media and conflicts make migrants (2020); Empire’s Endgame (2021).
Asim Qureshi
Dr Asim Qureshi graduated in Law (LLB Hons, LLM), specialising in International Law. He completed his Ph.D. in International Conflict Analysis from the University of Kent. He is the Research Director at the advocacy group CAGE International, and since 2003 has specialised in investigating the impact of counterterrorism practices worldwide. He has published a wide range of NGO reports, academic journals and articles. He has written the books Rules of the Game: Detention, Deportation, Disappearance (Hurst, Columbia UP, 2009); A Virtue of Disobedience (Unbound, 2019); the editor of I Refuse to Condemn: Resisting Racism in Times of National Security (Manchester UP, 2020) and When Only God Can See: The Faith of Muslim Political Prisoners (Pluto, 2024). Since 2009, he has been advising legal teams involved in defending terrorism trials in the US and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Gus John
Professor Gus (Augustine) John is an equality and human rights campaigner and an associate professor and honorary fellow of the UCL Institute of Education. Gus is an international consultant and executive coach and a scholar and activist, who is also an award winning author, lecturer and researcher. He is an associate professor of education and honorary fellow of the University of London (UCL) Institute of Education and Director of All Africa Advisors Ltd. As a management consultant and an educationalist, he has a deep commitment to life-long learning. He has worked internationally as an executive coach and a management and social investment consultant since 1990’s. He became the first African Director of Education and Leisure Services in Britain in 1989. He was named as one of 30 of the ‘Most Influential African Diaspora Leaders’ in 2016.