Hauwa Ibrahim JD, SJD, ML

Hauwa Ibrahim is a Visiting Lecturer on Women's Studies and Islamic Law at Harvard Divinity School and is currently a fellow at both the Human Rights Program and the Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard University. She is also a senior partner at Aries Law Firm. Working as a lead attorney with a team devoted to the cause of human rights for women in Nigeria, she has won a number of precedent-setting cases before Islamic Sharia courts. Ibrahim has been a visiting professor at Saint Louis University School of Law and Stonehill College, as well as a World Fellow at Yale University.

In 2005, she was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament, which honours individuals or organizations for their efforts on behalf of human rights and freedoms. She was cited for her work as defence counsel in approximately 50 cases that were brought under the aegis of Sharia law, many of which involved women sentenced to death by stoning. Ibrahim earned an LLB and a masters in international law and diplomacy from the University of Jos in Nigeria; a BL for legal practice from Nigeria Law School; and a masters of law degree in international studies at American University’s Washington College of Law.