Rate My Professor Afshin Ellian

Afshin Ellian is Professor of Jurisprudence, Head of the Department of Jurisprudence, and Deputy Academic Director of the Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of the Law at Leiden University’s Faculty of Law. Born in Tehran, Iran, on 27 February 1966, he studied at Tilburg University (formerly the Catholic University of Brabant), graduating in 1996 with studies in public international law, criminal law, and philosophy. Ellian obtained his PhD from Tilburg University in 2003 with the dissertation *Een onderzoek naar de Waarheids- en Verzoeningscommissie van Zuid-Afrika*, which analyzed South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission within the framework of political transition.

In 2003, Ellian was appointed Associate Professor of Jurisprudence at Leiden University, advancing to Professor of Social Cohesion, Citizenship, and Multiculturalism in 2005, and later to his current chair in Jurisprudence. His academic interests include philosophy of law, jurisprudence, criminal law, constitutional law, international law, multicultural society, political Islam, separation of church and state, and terrorism. Key publications encompass edited volumes and books such as *Militant Democracy: Political Science, Law and Philosophy* (2018, co-edited with Bastiaan Rijpkema), *A New Introduction to Legal Method* (2022, co-authored with Paul B. Cliteur), *Terrorism and Counterterrorism after the Caliphate* (2020, co-edited with Bastiaan Rijpkema and Gelijn Molier), *Freedom of Speech Under Attack* (2015, co-edited with Gelijn Molier), *The State of Exception and Militant Democracy in a Time of Terror* (2012, co-edited with Gelijn Molier), *De Staat versus Wilders* (2019, co-edited with Paul B. Cliteur), and *Een nieuw commentaar op de Grondwet* (2022, co-edited with Bastiaan R. Rijpkema). Ellian writes columns for NRC Handelsblad and Elsevier.nl as an opinion maker, contributes articles to The Wall Street Journal and Le Figaro, serves on the editorial board of *Tijdschrift Liberale Reflecties*, and is involved with the Comité Iran Vrij Mensenrechten. He has published poetry books.