Meet the Judges and People’s Advocate
Judge Dr. Jess Ghannam
Dr. Jess Ghannam is a Palestinian Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Global Health Sciences in the School of Medicine at UCSF. His research areas include evaluating the long-term health consequences of war on displaced communities and the psychological and psychiatric effects of armed conflict on children. Dr. Ghannam has developed community health clinics in Gaza, that focus on developing community-based treatment programs for families in crisis.
He is also a consultant with the Center for Constitutional Rights, Reprieve and other international NGO's that work with torture survivors. Locally he works to promote and enhance the health and wellness of refugee, displaced, and immigrant populations from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia and has established a community-based Mental Health Treatment Programs to support these communities. He has worked in Palestine for over 25years.
Judge Jalil A. Muntaqim
Jalil A. Muntaqim was released from prison to parole on October 6, 2020, after being confined for almost 5 decades. Jalil is a veteran member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, the co-founder (along with deceased Comrade Sister Safiya Bukhari, d. 2003 and Baba Herman Ferguson, d. 2014) of the National Jericho Movement to Free All Political Prisoners. Founding Jericho in 1998 was just one of Jalil’s many significant achievements. During his time in prison Jalil, received certifications in Office Management and Architectural Drafting, and college degrees, Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Bachelor of Science in Psychology. He mentored other prisoners and resolved numerous prison beefs. He stood by his principles and maintained the highest level of discipline, integrity and self-respect and respect for others. Jalil’s activism never ceased and is unquestionable. He has consistently provided movement leadership and guidance under the worst of conditions behind concrete and steel bars. Jalil is the author of “We Are Our Own Liberators”, “Escaping the Prism - Fade to Black” and his essays have been published in several books, magazines and newspapers.
Jalil continues in human rights activism and movement building in the fight for the release of the remaining national liberation and civil rights era Political Prisoners (www.thejerichomovement.com). While in prison Jalil called for the establishment of the “In the Spirit of Mandela Coalition.” (spiritofmandela.org) The major historic initiative that on October 25th, 2021, the International Tribunal-International Jurist found the U.S. corporate government Guilty of the charge of Genocides against Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples. As a result of the International Tribunal guilty verdict of the U.S. commission of Genocides against Black, Brown and Indigenous Peoples, Jalil has been organizing the Peoples’ Senate (see: spiritofmandela.org/PeoplesSenate). Presently, working as the Special Projects Coordinator for Citizen Action of New York, in Rochester, New York, Jalil is organizing on the behalf of 13th Forward campaign to end penal slavery in New York State.
The struggle continues!
Judge Corrina Gould
Judge Susan Abulhawa
People’s Advocate Lisa Hajjar
Lisa Hajjar is professor of Sociology at UCSB. Her research addresses law and conflict, human rights, political violence, and contemporary international affairs. She has published extensively on asymmetric wars, military occupations and courts, torture, targeted killing, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Her interdisciplinary scholarship contributes to Middle East Studies, American Studies, and Law and Society. In 2014-2015, she was the Edward Said Chair of American Studies and in 2015-2016, she directed the Center for American Studies and Research at the American University of Beirut. Hajjar is the only social scientist who has traveled to Guantanamo (15 times to date), where she conducts research and writes about torture and law in the military commissions. Two other areas of her current research focus on human rights in the Arab world and global carceral states. Her publications include Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza (2005), Torture: A Sociology of Violence and Human Rights (2013), and The War in Court: Inside the Long Fight against Torture (2022). Her new book project is titled Kidnapping Kissinger. She currently is co-chair of the editorial committee of Middle East Report, a co-founding editor of Jadaliyya, and a member of the Board of the Euro-Med Monitor for Human Rights.
WATCH: Why Do We Need a People’s Tribunal
Recent articles by Lisa Hajjar:
