Maha has been working in the field of immigration, asylum and human rights for almost two decades. She is a versatile barrister able to provide advice and representation to a wide range of clientele.
She represents asylum seekers and other vulnerable clients, as well as private clients who want assistance with their personal or business immigration matters.
She is very experienced with domestic and international jurisprudence on the Refugee Convention, European conventions (including ECHR, Istanbul Convention and ECAT) and international human rights conventions and standards.
Maha is regularly invited to speak and provide training on asylum, human rights, trafficking and immigration issues.
She is a contributing author to the leading immigration practitioner text, Macdonald’s Immigration Law and Practice. She co-wrote the chapters on “Visits and other temporary purposes” and “Working, business and investment in the UK”.
REFUGEE LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
Overview
Maha is a dynamic advocate regularly appearing in the First and Upper Tier Tribunals, the High Court and the Court of Appeal in asylum, human rights, deportation and deprivation appeals.
She is passionate about the protection and representation of vulnerable clients, including victims of torture, unaccompanied minors and cases concerning FGM and trafficking.
Maha is experienced in judicial review proceedings and has been involved in some of the leading cases, including the initial Rwanda litigation in the High Court and Court of Appeal in June 2022, where the Garden Court team secured injunctions at an emergency hearing before the Court of Appeal (Master of the Rolls and Singh, Simler LJJ) for asylum seekers due to be removed on the Home Office chartered plane to Rwanda.
She also acted in the judicial review cases of a high-profile Afghan judge and a female human rights defender challenging the lawfulness of the ARAP scheme and refusal to consider their LOTR applications: see R (S and AZ) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Secretary of State for Defence [2022] EWCA Civ 1092 and KBL v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 87 (Admin).
Maha represented a high-profile Afghan female prosecutor, AB, where it was argued that she and other Afghans seeking to relocate to the UK, have been discriminated against pursuant to Article 14 ECHR, by comparison with the treatment of Ukrainian nationals by the Government: AB v SSHD [2023] EWHC 287 (Admin).
In Summer 2025, Maha was part of the Garden Court legal team representing 40 students from Gaza in urgent proceedings concerning biometric deferral, evacuation and entry clearance to the United Kingdom. The case involved extensive pre-action correspondence raising complex issues of public law and humanitarian protection. This led to a further legal development in R (Manar al-Houbi) v SSHD and SSFCDO, concerning the entry clearance of dependent family members of sponsored students.
Maha’s practice also includes proceedings before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) and she was part of the legal team who represented F3 where SIAC allowed F3’s application to extend time under Rule 8(5) SIAC Procedure Rules.
She was also involved in the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, the largest public inquiry in British history, where she was one of the counsel team representing Doctors of the World (‘DOTWUK’), The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (`JCWI’), Kanlungan Filipino Consortium, and Medact, who formed a collective known as the Migrant Primary Care Access Group (‘MPCAG’).
Maha recently acted as junior counsel successfully defending a Home Office appeal in the Court of Appeal in KS v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWCA Civ 149.
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Immigration Law
Overview
Maha has considerable experience with private immigration matters having worked in the private client team at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) LLP and other private firms, where she assisted individuals with a wide range of immigration services. She is experienced in the Points Based System, family-based applications, nationality, visit visas and EEA applications, among others.
During her time in the corporate sector, Maha gained commercial skills and business acumen representing numerous high net-worth and high-profile clients. In addition, she has advised companies applying for sponsor licences and has drafted representations and grounds successfully challenging Home Office decisions to refuse, suspend or revoke their licences.
Maha co-wrote the widely acclaimed chapter on the new Points Based System in Macdonald’s Immigration Law and Practice.
