Terry Waite is a former hostage and hostage negotiator. He first came to public attention in the 1980s after successfully negotiating the release of hostages from both Iran and Libya. But he became a hostage himself when he was taken captive in 1987 while negotiating for the release of Western hostages in Lebanon. He was held for 1,763 days - the first four years of which were spent in solitary confinement.

Early in his career Mr. Waite worked as an adviser to the Anglican Bishop of Bristol after leaving college. In 1969 he moved to East Africa to take up the position of an adviser to the first African Anglican Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. From his office in Kampala he founded the Southern Sudan Project and was responsible for developing programmes of aid and development for the war-torn region. He then moved to Rome to work as an International Consultant to a Roman Catholic Medical Order. In 1980 he moved to London after being recruited by the Archbishop of Canterbury as an adviser.

Following his release from captivity in 1991 Mr. Waite decided to make a career change. He has been involved in humanitarian work, has written several books, including Taken on Trust, and has been in demand as a lecturer, writer and broadcaster. He is involved with numerous organisations and charities that provide international relief, assistance and support to prisoners, victims, hostages and the homeless. He was elected Visiting Fellow to Magdalen College Oxford for the Trinity term 2006.

Mr. Waite's honours include the Commander of the Order of the British Empire which he was awarded by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992.

Dr. Kubba is the director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the National Endowment for Democracy and a former adviser to the Iraqi Prime Minister.

Dr. Kubba has been director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the National Endowment for Democracy since 1999. Throughout 2005 he was a senior adviser to the Iraqi Prime Minister Jaafari and a spokesman for the Iraqi government in Baghdad.

Dr Kubba has been involved in Iraqi politics for many years. From 1993 until 1998, he was the director of International Relations at the Al Khoei Foundation (of the late Grand Ayatollah Al Khoei). In 1994 he established and ran Islam21, a project on modernity of Muslims' thoughts.

He was born and educated in Iraq, has a Bachelors degree from the University of Baghdad (1976) and a Ph.D. from the University of Wales in the United Kingdom.

Lt. General Asad Durrani is the former head of the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). He joined the Pakistani army in 1959 and during his military service he took part in two wars against India and was an instructor at the Military Academy and at the Command and Staff College. He was appointed Director General of the Military Intelligence (MI) and of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in 1990.

He also headed the Training and the Doctrine Branch of the GHQ (General Headquarters) before retiring in 1993 as Commandant of the National Defence College. After retiring from the army he served as Pakistan's Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany (1994 to 1997) and to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (2000 to 2002).

Gen. Durrani takes part in a number of conferences, seminars and workshops both at home and abroad.

Adam Holloway is a British MP and member of the House of Commons Defence Committee.

He was elected as a Member of the British Parliament in May 2005 and is a member of the opposition Conservative Party. Soon after being elected, he was appointed to the Defence Committee, which is a Committee of 14 Members of Parliament appointed by the House of Commons that monitors and holds to account the UK's Ministry of Defence. In April this year he travelled to Afghanistan at his own expense to find out more about the prospects for British soldiers that have been sent there.

After finishing university, Mr. Holloway went to Sandhurst, the Royal Military Academy in the UK. He was then commissioned into the Grenadier Guards and fought in the first Gulf War in Iraq in 1991. After leaving the Army he became an investigative journalist. In his television career he was best known for his work as an undercover reporter - his programmes included the award winning "No Fixed Abode" series where he lived homeless in London for about three months, showing the plight of those who live on the streets. He also reported from Bosnia during the war.

Mr. Holloway was educated at Cambridge University (MA Social and Political Science) and holds an MBA from Imperial College London.

He is currently involved with a number of charities.

Back to Top