Leena Al-Belooshi is a human rights expert and interfaith leader who has spent more than a decade teaching human rights, advising decision-makers, and building the programmes and institutions that put them into practice. Her work has reached students, communities, judges, diplomats and government officials alike. She is a PhD researcher in human rights and Islamic studies at SOAS University of London, where she also earned her Master's in Human Rights Law.
Her career began in policy. At Bahrain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she worked with the Human Rights Directorate and the National Committee for Combating Human Trafficking, drafting proposals to reshape the national anti-trafficking strategy. She later served on the board of the Bahrain Trust Foundation before becoming its Executive Director, leading projects in Bahrain and internationally, including in Egypt, Mali and India.
In education, she co-wrote Bahrain's national human rights law curriculum, taught human rights and led the Foundation Programme at the British University of Bahrain, and briefed judges, prosecutors and Ministry of Interior officers on human rights standards. As Head of Education and Dialogue at the Abrahamic Family House, she led its education and dialogue department and planned its first Forum.
Her approach integrates Islamic jurisprudence, international human rights law, interfaith studies, psychology and neuroscience, guided by one conviction: lasting change requires aligning inner character with outer systemic action. She is the author of Human Rights in Bahrain: A Practical Guide for Global Institutions, UN Agencies, and Policy Advisors. Her paper "Reassessing a Legal Precedent: A Historical and Maqāṣid-Based Critique of the ʿĀʾisha Ḥadīth in Contemporary Child Marriage Debates" is currently under review. She is also creating Because We're Human, a forthcoming bilingual podcast on coexistence. She speaks Arabic, English and French.
