Our Staff

Ahmed Rehab

Executive Director

Ahmed Rehab is CAIR-Chicago's Executive Director. Rehab is a regular contributor to the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Public Radio. Rehab is the founder of MyJihad Inc., a global PR and outreach campaign that seeks to take back Islam from Muslim and Anti-Muslims extremists alike. He is also the founder of theChicagoMonitor.com, The Muslim Youth Leadership Symposium, and the Co-founder of Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University. Prior to joining CAIR in August of 2004, Rehab was a freelance speaker, writer, and activist in the fields of interfaith collaboration, education, and community outreach. Between 1999 and 2002, Rehab served as a consultant for Arthur Andersen LLP – a global consulting firm. Rehab served on the board of the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR). He also served on IL. Governor Pat Quinn’s Muslim Advisory Council, and as vice-chairman of RegugeeONE, Illinois’ premiere refugee resettlement organization. He is a former board member and secretary of the Egyptian American Society, a member of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ (CCGA) Muslim task force, an Eisenhower fellow of the American Assembly, and alumnus of the FBI Citizen’s Academy. More

Sufyan Sohel

Deputy Director & Counsel

Sufyan Sohel serves as CAIR-Chicago’s Deputy Director & Counsel. Sufyan is a trained mediator.  Before CAIR-Chicago, he worked with DePaul University‘s International Human Rights Law Institute where he researched global human rights abuses and collaborated with international partners on rule of law projects in the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. Sufyan also worked with the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights in Cairo, Egypt where his focus was community education, advocacy, and research on gender inclusive policies. Sufyan earned his undergraduate degree from Tulane University and holds a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and a Master of Science in Finance (M.S.) from DePaul University. He proudly serves on the Chicago City Clerk’s Civic Engagement Advisory Council, the Red Cross Diversity & Inclusion Task Force, and the DePaul Law Alumni Board, and is a volunteer magician with Open Heart Magic.  Sufyan is a recipient of the Chicago Bar Association’s Vanguard Award, the DePaul College of Law Young Alumnus Award, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Community Leadership Award, and is a 2018 Fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago. He can be reached at ssohel@cair.com.

Phil Robertson

Litigation Director

Phil Robertson is CAIR-Chicago's Litigation Director. Phil received his Bachelor's degree in journalism from Marquette University and his law degree from Northern Illinois University. After passing the bar, Phil opened his own law practice in DeKalb, Illinois, focusing on personal injury, criminal and family law cases. In 1993, he took an appointment as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Illinois in the General Law Bureau of the Illinois Attorney General's Office in Chicago. There, he focused on civil rights cases on behalf of several departments and agencies in the state. Since then, Phil has worked in a variety of areas - in both the private and public sector - including real estate, land use and zoning, municipal, government and administrative law, labor and employment security, charitable trust law, whistleblower cases, health care and pharmaceutical law, elder law, estate planning, tax law and debt collection. In 2002, he became the Director of the Rockford Regional Office for the Illinois Attorney General's Office. He can be reached at probertson@cair.com.

Tamer Y. Abouzeid

Staff Attorney

Tamer Abouzeid serves as Staff Attorney at CAIR-Chicago. Tamer graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) with a degree in marketing (2007) before receiving his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center (2015) and his Mediation Certificate from Northwestern University (2019). After graduating from law school, Tamer worked as an Associate at Shearman and Sterling with his practice focused on international arbitration and litigation. Most recently, Tamer worked as an investigator at the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, investigating allegations of misconduct against Chicago police officers. Tamer is also a member of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression as well as the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America, where he organizes in pursuit of community control of the police and the long-term goal of abolition of the prison-industrial complex. You can reach Tamer at tya@cair.com.

Nathaly Espinoza

Operations Coordinator

Nathaly recently graduated Grand Valley State University with a Psychology and Spanish major. As a first generation native Mexican woman, she developed a passion for civil rights because of the injustices her family and friends have encountered. Nathaly lived in Barcelona, Spain for a couple of months and that is when she became more aware of the legal issues worldwide in regards to immigrants seeking asylum from their country. She hopes to become more educated and involved as a member of CAIR-Chicago. She can be reached at bespinoza@cair.com

Saadia Pervaiz 

Communications Coordinator

Saadia Pervaiz is one of CAIR-Chicago's Communications Coordinators. She recently graduated with a Masters of Arts in History from the University of Chicago in 2017. Since 2014, Saadia has been working with various organizations in documenting oral histories of first generation Partition survivors in the United States. In addition to her historical work, Saadia has been tapped by numerous institutions for graphic design and illustrative commissions, including premier sports start-up ClutchPoints. She has helped curate exhibits focusing on the South Asian diaspora in collaboration with the Field Museum and Indian American Heritage Museum. Her artwork has been published in-print and online on multiple media platforms. Saadia can be reached by email at spervaiz@cair.com

Hannah Faris

Communications Coordinator

Hannah Faris is a multimedia journalist and documentary filmmaker hired as in a Communications Coordinator in the summer of 2019. Her ultimate profession goal was to become a communications coordinator for nonprofit and activist organizations, able to shed light on global social issues and connect with international audiences. In addition to her passion for activist and nonprofit work, she values CAIR-Chicago’s mission of fighting bigotry and promoting tolerance. Hannah wanted to help keep the Chicago community aware and engaged with the mission and to provide a strong voice in speaking out against discrimination. She loves 35mm photography, filmmaking and traveling. Documentary photography and filmmaking are her favorite art forms, as she believes documentary to be a powerful medium in creating connection across cultures and borders. She can be reached at hfaris@cair.com.

Gerald Hankerson

Outreach Coordinator

Gerald Hankerson is CAIR-Chicago’s Outreach Coordinator, leading community outreach, youth development, and civic engagement efforts. He directs the internship program, presents workshops, coordinates events and international engagement, and advocates policy and voting issues. He serves as a member of the African American Leadership Advisory Council at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), which aims to maintain and increase recruitment and retention efforts for students of African and African American descent.  A President’s Scholar and Pipeline to Justice Fellow in the Social Justice Initiative at UIC, he graduated with a B.A. in Communications. Gerald served two terms in the Muslim Students’ Association as its Program Coordinator, was an UIC Ambassador through the African American Action Network, a member of the Black Student Union, and was inducted into the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. More.

Muhammad Tauseef Akbar

Research Coordinator

Tauseef Akbar is CAIR-Chicago’s Research Coordinator. Tauseef Akbar studied Arabic and foundational Islamic disciplines in Cairo, Egypt at the Al-Fajr Institute, affiliated with Al-Azhar University. He received a BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing and a minor in Chemistry at North Park University. He is slated to receive his MA in Islamic Studies from American Islamic College in Spring 2017. His research work has primarily focused on Islamophobia and demographic trends within the Muslim American community. As a researcher he has worked with leading Muslim American organizations and was also a past consultant to Georgetown Univesity’s Bridge Initiative for the study of Islamophobia. He has written and been published on the topic of Islamophobia, the War on Terror and the genocide against the Rohingya Muslims in various news media outlets. He can be reached at makbar@cair.com.

Christopher Nevarez Azdar

Census Fellow

An Outreach & Government Intern alum from Summer 2019, Nevarez Azdar is a senior double major in Political Science and Spanish at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).  In his new role, he will work with CAIR-Chicago and the Illinois Muslim Civic Coalition on 2020 Census related matters, namely building community awareness through workshops, presentations and events. Nevarez Azdar will have a particular outreach focus on college students and building strategic partnerships with similar peer civic engagement organizations.

Diaa Ibraham Abdelmotaleb

Operations Associate

Diaa Ibraham Abdelmotaleb graduated with an Associate Degree in Nursing, specializing in Cardiology care.  With seventeen years of nursing experience, this has helped cultivate Diaa into a caring, strong and passionate individual who believes in civil rights and equality for all.

Diaa is enthusiastic to be part of, and to stand united with the CAIR Chicago team in their efforts to stand against bigotry and to fight against discrimination.  Diaa’s ultimate goal is to serve the community and to bring people together.  He enjoys volunteering, has a talent for cooking Egyptian cuisine and would love to continue travelling abroad.