Human rights lawyer named Syria's ambassador to the UN

At 34, Ibrahim Olabi brings British education and international experience to post, signalling generational shift in Damascus

Ibrahim Olabi attends the International Conference on Syria in Paris, in February. AFP

Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara on Tuesday appointed Ibrahim Olabi, a British-educated human rights lawyer, as the country’s new ambassador to the UN.

Mr Olabi, who has built a career at the intersection of law, advocacy and international diplomacy, takes up the post after serving as legal adviser to Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shaibani.

In that role, he worked on dismantling Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile, easing sanctions, and managing contacts with international justice and accountability bodies.

His appointment also reflects the generational shift that the interim Syrian leadership has sought to project since the toppling of Bashar Al Assad’s regime in December last year.

At 34, Mr Olabi represents a younger cohort of Syrians who rose to prominence through human rights activism and engagement with multilateral institutions.

Raised in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and holding both British and German citizenship, Mr Olabi studied law at the University of Manchester, earning top honours at both undergraduate and graduate level. He then completed a master’s in public policy at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government.

He previously practised law with Guernica 37, a London-based company specialising in war crimes and accountability cases, and has advised the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Bar Association. He also served on the board of the Syrian British Council.

Over the past decade, he has trained hundreds of Syrian activists on documenting forced displacement and torture, witnessed the aftermath of a chemical attack in Aleppo in 2017, and testified at international conferences from Geneva to Washington.

Mr Olabi will replace Kusay Aldahak, a career diplomat who was appointed by Mr Al Assad, as UN ambassador.