Mona Samadi

About Mona Samadi

Dr. Mona Samadi is an Associate Professor of Law at Örebro University, Sweden. She has a Ph.D. in Law from Örebro University and a post-doc from George Washington University, USA. She has extensive research experience and has held appointments at Princeton University, USA; George Washington University, USA; Toronto University, Canada; Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Sweden; and the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, Turkey. She has also conducted field research in Iran. She previously taught at Stockholm University, Uppsala University, Swedish Defence University, University College Stockholm, and George Washington University. She has served as Chair of Examination Committee for doctoral dissertation and presented at conferences worldwide.

She was the Political Secretary for the Majority leader and Deputy Chair of the Defense Committee at the Swedish Parliament and the Academic Dean for the Human Rights Program at University College Stockholm. She also held positions at the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate at United Nations, New York, Swedish Consulate in San Diego, Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce, San Diego/Tijuana, and Business Law Inc., a San Diego-based law firm. She was named a Future Leader by the Atlantic Council in 2014.

Currently, she is a fellow at the Stockholm Center for International Law and Justice, the Department of Religion, George Washington University, and a sustainability-tech fellow at the Ayadee Foundation, focusing on finding solutions to use technology, especially blockchain, to trace human rights issues in global supply chains. She also serves as the expert advisor on gender and human rights initiatives for IMPACTO, an international hub of sustainability and impact experts advising the public and private sector.

Research
Mona Samadi’s main research areas are international law, Islamic law, human rights, comparative law, jurisprudence and the construction of rights, and socio-legal developments in the Middle East. She has published books, chapters, articles, and book reviews in English and Swedish and is a guest contributor for the Middle East Institute.

In her first book, “Defamation of Religion – The Right to Freedom of Expression in International and Islamic law,” she focused on the liberal dilemma of how a tolerant society should deal with intolerance by examining the parameters of the right to freedom of expression and freedom of religion, and the level of tolerance shown to those who argue for the protection of religion per se against offensive speech.

In her latest research project, she examines interpretations of Islamic law as they are related to women’s status and rights. In the book, “Advancing the Legal Status of Women in Islamic Law,” she presents the sources of gender differences in the Islamic legal tradition and provides various methods for facilitating change within the framework of Islamic legal theory. In the article, “The Transformation of Intimate Relationships and the Value of the Islamic Marriage Contract,” she argues for the need to reassess the marriage contract’s foundation in Islamic law.

Currently, she is working on two key research projects; “Mahr and Scandinavian Courts’ Interpretations of Marriage Contracts” and “The Legal Implications of White Marriages (unregistered marriages) and the Progression of Women’s Rights in Islamic Law.’” 

Teaching
Mona Samadi is the course supervisor and lecturer for the public international law and international human rights law courses at Örebro University. She is also supervising students at bachelor’s and master’s levels. She has previously taught courses in international law, Islamic law, comparative constitutional law, human rights in the Middle East, women’s rights, women and Islam, freedom of expression and the liberty of the press, freedom of religion in religious and secular societies, contemporary theoretical discourse on rights in law, asylum and refugee law, and the rights of the child. 

Mona Samadi is on sabbatical leave. She is currently teaching at George Washington University in Washington, DC, USA.