Who We Are

Ciara joined The Death Penalty Project as Deputy Director in April 2023. As a key member of the Senior Leadership Team, she provides support to the Co-Executive Directors and the Board, while managing the team to deliver the organisation’s mission and ongoing activity. Ciara is responsible for fundraising and leading on all aspects of governance and HR. She comes with almost 20 years’ experience of working in homelessness, leading a number of teams and programmes. Her background is in fundraising, programme management, business development and building strategic partnerships.

Anthony is Chair of the Board and has been involved with the DPP since its inception. A leading authority on domestic and international criminal law, Anthony has a wealth of high-profile court experience.

Anthony is chairman of the Board of the Royal Court Theatre and is a regular writer and broadcaster on legal affairs. He is a Council member of the all party organisation Justice and a Trustee of the Heart of England Forest. The Legal 500 ranks Anthony as a leader in his field, and the Chambers Guide describes him as “the criminal heartbeat of the firm…a calm authority”.

Simon is a highly experienced commercial lawyer at Simons Muirhead & Burton LLP, specialising in non-contentious media work. He is recognised by both the Chambers Guide and the Legal 500 as a key practitioner in his field, and is ranked in four different practice areas. Key clients include Dennis Publishing, Time Out and talent agency 42 MP. Simon is a visiting lecturer in media studies at Warwick University. He is also a Trustee of the PSA Foundation and frequently advises charities on commercial and IP issues.

Simon has been a key adviser to and ardent supporter of The Death Penalty Project for several years, advising on a wide range of fundraising and public profile matters.

Afua has been a member of the board since 2010. She is an author, journalist and broadcaster. She was the Guardian correspondent for West Africa, the social affairs editor for Sky News, and practised human rights law. She now writes a regular column for The Guardian, and is a presenter on weekly current affairs debate shows on Sky News and CNN, and feature length documentaries on Channel 4 and the BBC. Her bestselling first book, Brit(ish) about race, identity and belonging was published in 2018 by Jonathan Cape, and is the winner of the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Prize.

Parvais has for over two decades represented individuals facing the death penalty around the world at the appellate level and before international bodies. A recognised expert on the death penalty and human rights law, Parvais has led and participated in international delegations advising on criminal justice reform and regularly lectures and speaks on capital punishment issues.

In 2012, Parvais was awarded an MBE for his services to international human rights and in 2016, received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from Middlesex University.

Saul has dedicated his career to representing prisoners facing the death penalty in criminal and constitutional proceedings and also before international tribunals and courts. He is a leading authority on capital punishment and international human rights law and has published and lectured extensively on these topics.

In 2000, he was awarded an MBE for services to international human rights. In 2016, he was appointed as a Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Reading, where he has been awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws.

Joseph has been a board member since 2010. He is a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, where his practice areas include immigration, extradition and public/administrative law. He has been providing pro bono assistance to The Death Penalty Project for over 20 years, working on constitutional challenges in numerous Caribbean and African jurisdictions. He collaborated with local lawyers on the abolition of the mandatory death penalty in Malawi and Kenya and has also engaged with judges and lawyers in the subsequent training and re-sentencing processes. Joseph has acted for British citizens facing the death penalty in the DRC, Ghana and Kenya. He is author of “Behind the Prison Gates“, the DPP’s report on Belize Central Prison.

Razi has been a board member since the DPP’s inception. He is Managing Partner of Simons Muirhead & Burton and leads a team of litigators who advise on all aspects of claimant and defendant work for individuals, companies and international organisations. He has specialist expertise in providing pragmatic solutions to complex legal issues. He is ranked by Chambers and is described as “a straight-talking strategist who can also be very assertive when necessary,” and as someone who “gets right to the heart of things,” and who is a “shrewd commercial lawyer, a strategist and a street fighter”.

Lord Julian Fellowes is a multi-award-winning actor, writer, director and producer. As creator, sole writer and Executive Producer of the television series Downton Abbey, he has won three Emmy awards and a Golden Globe. He received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Gosford Park (2002). His work has also been honoured by the Writer’s Guild of America, The New York Film Critics’ Circle and the National Society of Film Critics for Best Screenplay. Lord Fellowes has also written a number of novels, including the international bestsellers Snobs, Past Imperfect and Belgravia. He is a patron of the Rainbow Trust and the Dorset Blind Association, and Vice-President of the Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB). He has been a member of the House of Lords since 2011.

Field Marshal the Lord Charles Guthrie of Craigiebank GCB LVO OBE DL is Colonel of The Life Guards and Gold Stick to The Queen, and Colonel-Commandant of the SAS. Lord Guthrie has had a long and distinguished military career, retiring as Chief of the Defence Staff in 2001. He is a Visiting Professor and Honorary Fellow of King’s College London University and the Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University. He is President of The Army Benevolent Fund, Action Research, and The Federation of London Youth Clubs. He is a patron of the Catholic homeless charities the Cardinal Hume Centre and Caritas Anchor House.

Phil is the founder and MD of both Bankside Films, an international film distribution company and Head Gear Films, a film, TV and video games investment company. Phil produces and executive produces and in the past decade has invested in over 200 feature films. Head Gear Films is now one of the world’s largest financiers of independent film.

Phil is a BAFTA voting member, mentor to National Film and Television producing students and regular speaker on the industry circuit. Phil is creating Bohemia, the world’s first private members club for the burgeoning alternative LGBTQI community in London. It will provide a safe space for people living outside mainstream culture.

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC is one of the UK’s most distinguished lawyers.

She has practiced at the Bar for over 40 years in the field of criminal law and has conducted many of the leading cases in those years.  She is the President of Justice,  the British arm of the International Commission of Jurists. She is the chair of the Booker Prize Foundation and a member of Microsoft Technology and Human Rights Advisory Council.  She is the Chancellor of Sheffield  Hallam University.  She is the new Director of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute.

Keir was a board member of the DPP since the DPP’s inception and was appointed a patron in 2020. He has been a Member of Parliament since 2005 and is currently the Leader of the Labour Party. Prior to becoming an MP, Keir was the Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales. He has had a distinguished career as a human rights barrister, appearing pro bono on behalf of The Death Penalty Project in many cases. In 2007, he was named QC of the Year in the field of human rights and public law by Chambers & Partners. He is also a winner of the Bar Council’s Sydney Elland Goldsmith award for his outstanding contribution to pro bono work.

Bryan Stevenson is the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). Bryan is a widely acclaimed public-interest lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping the poor, incarcerated and condemned. Under his leadership, EJI has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death-row prisoners, protecting the rights of those incarcerated, and aiding children prosecuted as adults. Bryan’s work fighting poverty and challenging racial discrimination in the criminal-justice system has won him numerous awards. His bestselling memoir, ‘Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption’, is a winner of the Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction.