Soraya is a criminal defence barrister specialising in complex terrorism cases, serious violence and organised crime, as well as fraud and financial crime. She regularly defends in cases involving the preparation of acts of terrorism, dissemination of terrorist material and membership to or support for proscribed organisations.
Soraya’s practice also includes sanctions-related matters, international law, as well as professional discipline. She has represented petitioners seeking de-listing from UN Security Council sanctions, as well victims of gross human rights abuses before the UN Special Procedures.
In her professional discipline practice, Soraya frequently represents professionals who find themselves before their regulators due to social media activity that has led to allegations of misconduct or breaches of professional standards.
Between 2021 and 2023, Soraya combined her practice alongside her role as Deputy Director of Reprieve UK, a leading international legal services NGO working to end the use of the death penalty globally, and to end extreme human rights abuses carried out in the name of counterterrorism or national security.
Terrorism
Overview
Soraya regularly defends, both as led junior and junior alone, in complex and high-profile terrorism cases involving a range of offences including membership to or support for proscribed groups, dissemination of terrorist publications and preparing acts of terrorism, particularly where they raise issues around freedom of expression and opinion.
Notable Cases
R v BG (2026) – Junior alone representing a woman of good character accused of recklessly supporting a proscribed organisation on social media.
R v SD and TW (2026) – Led junior representing the first defendant, a youth, in the “teenage terrorist couple” case, alleged to have prepared an act of terrorism and disseminating terrorist publications including ISIS propaganda on a video streaming platform. The Crown offered no evidence to preparing an act of terrorism, and SD was acquitted, after trial, of all six counts of disseminating terrorist publications.
R v CT and Others (2025 ) – Led junior for the first defendant representing a young man of good character alleged to have prepared an act of terrorism, with others, through identifying and taking steps to manufacture or complete 3D printed firearms.
R v GK (2025) – Led junior representing a vulnerable defendant facing several counts of disseminating terrorist publications on social media.
R v TG (2025) – Representing a young man, who was a child at the time of the offences, for disseminating publications and possessing material likely to assist in the preparation of acts of terrorism.
R v AHK (2024) – Representing a previously convicted member of Al-Qaeda, who faced several counts of breaching the notification requirements under Part 4 of the Counterterrorism Act, possessing material likely to assist in the preparation of an act of terrorism, and three counts of fraud involving crypto-currency. Successfully argued the exclusion of extensive “mindset” evidence.
R v AM (2024) – Representing a man of good character alleged to be affiliated with ISIS in East Africa, facing six counts of being possession of material likely to assist in the preparation or commission of acts of terrorism on encrypted messaging platforms, namely manuals for the manufacture of 3D printed firearms. The case involved extensive expert evidence, including high-tech, Islamic theology and firearms.
R v SS (2024) – SS was acquitted of three counts of disseminating terrorist publications, in the three-week trial. The case involved complex legal arguments, including geopolitical issues surrounding the legitimacy of conflicts in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Ukraine, as well as Islamic law and international law on the status of foreign fighters. Successful legal arguments were made to exclude extensive “mindset” evidence, which suggested SS’s alleged radicalization by anonymous ISIS and Al-Qaeda supporters and on the proper interpretation of ‘terrorist publication’ under s.2 Terrorism Act 2006.
R v MAS (2023) – Representing the “toilet bomb joker”, Soraya was led in a four-week trial representing an autistic client facing eight counts of possession of material likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, resulting in acquittals on five counts.
R v KA (2022) – Led junior in a three-week terrorism trial representing a client facing three counts of disseminating terrorist publications and possession of a machete, in circumstances which give rise to a reasonable suspicion, that his possession was intended for a purpose connected with the commission or preparation of an act of terrorism, resulting in acquittals on all counts.
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Criminal Defence
Overview
Soraya has a strong general crime practice, specialising in defending in cases of serious violence, firearms offences (including 3D printed guns), complex fraud and financial crime. She is regularly instructed in cases involving large-scale investigations, covert operations and multi-handed conspiracies.
Notable Cases
R v FX (2026) – Junior alone representing a young defendant accused of attempted murder and violent disorder.
R v OMS (2025) – Led junior in a murder involving complex psychiatric evidence.
R v MA and Others (2025) – Junior alone representing the first defendant in a multi-handed firearms and ammunition conspiracy involving a two-year covert operation.
R v RS (2025) – Representing a father of four, acquitted of three counts of rape and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, following a week-long trial.
R v RD (2024) – Successfully represented a young man accused of fraudulent evasion, found with two suitcases with 30kg of cannabis on arrival from Thailand to the UK. RD was acquitted in under an hour.
R v SN and Others (2024) – Junior alone in the fourth and final trial in the ‘Kyron Lee murder trials’. Soraya represented SN, one of 15 defendants, a young mother alleged to have assisted her brother, who was convicted of Kyron Lee’s murder, in evading prosecution/arrest by helping him get to Heathrow Airport, meeting him in a safehouse in Türkiye, and perverting the course of justice by deleting key call records with her brother, over the period he evaded prosecution to conceal her role. After successful legal argument and representations by Soraya, the Crown offered no evidence against SN on all counts and not guilty verdicts were entered. News story here, the documentary ‘Catching a Killer’ here.
R v FH (2024) – Junior alone representing a former South African soldier facing 15 counts of converting imitation firearms and ammunition, as well as taking steps to print 3D firearms. He was described as setting up an “armoury” in a business centre, turned into a workshop for the conversion of imitation firearms into live firearms.
R v MI and Others (2023) – Led junior in the second of the ‘Kyron Lee’ murder trials, described as the “largest murder investigations” by Thames Valley Police. Soraya represented a young man of good character charged with assisting an offender in a murder investigation, where his brother stabbed a boy in an ongoing feud in Slough. MI arranged a safehouse, tickets to Somalia, and transport to airport for his brother. The case and trial received extensive media coverage, and featured in the Channel 4 documentary Catching a Killer: A Stab in the Dark. MI was acquitted.
R v KT and others (2023) – Junior alone successfully representing a young man facing several counts of possession of firearms with intent to cause fear of violence, conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, and possession of criminal property, following a gang-related shooting outside a gym.
R v JS and Others (2023) – Junior alone representing one of 20 defendants in a multi-handed money laundering operation linked to the importation of Class A drugs. Acquitted.
R v OT (2021) – Six-month conspiracy to launder money and recruit ‘money mules’ to transfer fraudulently obtained credit.
R v HL (2021) – Acquittal of a victim of modern slavery, with severe learning disabilities for firearms offences, who had been ‘cuckooed’ and exploited by an organised criminal group.
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Sanctions and International Law
Overview
Soraya has extensive experience advising and represents victims of gross human rights abuses, as well as non-governmental organisations, before the UN Special Procedures and other international courts and tribunals, both in respect of breaches of international human rights law and international criminal law.
Soraya also advises regularly on the imposition of human rights sanctions internationally, as well as representing persons seeking de-listing from terrorism sanctions before the UN Security Council.
Notable Cases
XC, BR, TL and AY v Government of Türkiye (2023 – ongoing) – Soraya is on the legal team representing female-led Yazidi NGO, Women for Justice, who act as intermediary for four complainants bringing a claim against the Government of Türkiye for redress and reparation following airstrikes by the Turkish air force against civilian hospital, Sikêniyê Medical Clinic in Sinjar, Iraq, on 17 August 2021. The airstrikes resulted in the killing of 8 civilians and serious injury to over 15 others. The Guardian news story here.
MA v Government of Pakistan (2023) – Successfully representing the brother of a former ministerial advisor to ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party before the United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances after he was unlawfully detained by unknown government forces. News story here.
Case 97 – Representing a Gulf national before the UN Ombudsperson to the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee seeking de-listing from terrorism sanctions.
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PROFESSIONAL DISCIPLINE
Overview
Soraya is frequently instructed to represent professionals, including barristers, solicitors, doctors and nurses, brought before their regulators on allegations of misconduct or breaches of professional standards, particularly where such alleged conduct is linked to freedom of expression, association or opinion.
GMC v Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah (2024) – Representing renowned reconstructive plastic surgery consultant Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, successfully resisting an application brought by the General Medical Council to suspend him from his medical practice pending investigation. News story here.
