OLBIOS CORRESPONDENT BELGIUM

Tommaso Virgili works at the European Foundation for Democracy, a Brussels-based policy instituted aimed at preventing radicalisation and promoting the liberal-democratic values on which Europe is based. A recent Ph.D. graduate in Comparative Law at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, he specialized on Islamic constitutionalism and the relation between sharia and individual liberties, with particular focus on the rights of homosexuals and free thinkers in Egypt and Tunisia.
He has previously held posts at the European External Action Service (covering Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan), the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia and the Italian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. Tommaso holds a Master’s degree in Law from Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, where he mainly focused on internal law and human rights, and a Master’s degree in Middle East and Islamic Studies from the American University of Paris and Cairo.