Prof. Mehdi Zakerian, associate professor in Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Sciences & Research Branch, Tehran, Iran, professeur invite, faculté de Droit, Université Paris II Panthéon Assas (2012-2013), visiting professor of law in the School of Law, Pennsylvania University (Sep 2010 to Jan 2011), and his name as Professor in Center for Iranian Studies, SOAS, University of London (from 2013 to date).  

He teaches human rights and international issues. He is the editor-in-Chief of the International Studies Journal (ISJ), which is published quarterly in both Persian and English devoted to international affairs and human rights. He is elected as 1st president of Iranian International Studies Association (IISA) from 2007 to 2009. He is re-elected as a president of IISA for 2009 to 2011, at: https://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff90861.php

Zakerian was a senior researcher at the Center for the Strategic Studies of the Middle East1997-2008. In 2002, Zakerian was a fellow at the Hague Academy of International Law in the Netherlands and a visiting professor fellow in 2007 in ISIM in Leiden in the Netherlands. 

Prof. Mehdi Zakerian scheduled to join Penn Law in September 2008 but he was detained for 72 days by Iranian government. Prof. Zakerian has been prevented to leave Iran from that time specially in April 2009 to take part in a conference in Italy at European University Institute. Prof Zakerian had formal and informal threats and pressures from the part of Iranian government during 2011 to 2013 regarding his teaching in the university and his articles and activities in ISJ. 

Prof. Zakerian is author of 30 books and 150 articles/essays in English, Persian, Arabic and French. Zakerian was chairman of a quarterly titled: Studies on Israel & US form 1997-2008. He is Member of editorial board of several quarterlies in Iran and abroad. Prof Zakerian joined Penn Law in Pennsylvania University at September 2010.

Prof. Zakerian has done several projects with international organizations including United Nations Information Center, UNHCR, and ICRC and UN.

Prof. Zakerian Speak in Persian, French, Arabic and English.

Expertise

• Foreign Policy
• Global Human Rights
• Human Rights
• International Institutions
• International Law
• Law and Religion
• Terrorism and Democracy

Research Areas

Human Rights, Public International Law

• International Relations
• Middle East & Islamic Studies, Sharia Law, Transitional Justice in Koran
• Iran, EU and US
• Human Rights Dialogue, Ethics & Human Rights
• Transitional Justice

Courses

• Int'l Human Rights in Islam
• Human Rights in Middle East
• The Principle of International Law in International Relations
• IHL in Middle East
• Simulations in International Law & International Relations
• Transitional Justice in Koran
•  

Positions

• Editor-in-chief of International Studies Journal (ISJ) (2003 to date)
• President of Iranian International Studies Association (2006 -2011)
• President of International Studies and Global Dialogue Foundation (2019- ...)
• Faculty Member of Islamic Azad University, Sciences & Research Branch, Faculty of Law & Political Sciences, Tehran. Iran. (2001 to date)

So in the website of  Penn Law: A scholar of international law and international human rights, Mehdi Zakerian holds a Ph.D. in international relations from Islamic Azad University where he has been an assistant professor since 1999. With over seventeen years of experience teaching international and Islamic human rights, he has held lectureships at prominent Iranian universities and was recently appointed Chair of the International Studies Association of Iran. As co-founder and presently Editor-in-Chief (2004-07) of the International Studies Journal (ISJ), widely considered the most significant journal of international law and international politics in Iran, Zakerian promotes one of the few forums of academic dialogue in Iran to regularly publish and engage with colleagues from the West.  He has collaborated with local and international universities and NGOs to organize several conferences at which he has regularly presented papers on international relations and human rights in the Middle East. Zakerian has penned over 100 publications including books, translations, book reviews and over 70 published articles, many focused on the implementation of international human rights standards in the context of an Islamic state. On this subject, Penn Law Professor William Burke-White writes, “this is perhaps the most important topic for international human rights scholarship in the modern context and [this scholar’s] work is among the best there is.”