Senior Management Team
Anna Segall - Chief Executive Officer
Anna joined Freedom from Torture as Interim Chief Executive in April 2026.
A lawyer by training, Anna is passionate about human rights, equality and justice, refugees and victims of armed conflict. Anna brings many years’ experience in leading organisations and was Chief Executive of World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) for four years prior to joining Freedom from Torture.
Anna has worked in human rights and humanitarian law with the International Committee of the Red Cross. She was Director of International Standards and Legal Affairs at UNESCO and Director of Legal Affairs and Director of Field Operations (Jordan) at the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees, which provides protection and assistance to Palestine refugees in Gaza, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria
Anna has also served as a trustee and in advisory roles with WaterAid, Hope and Homes for Children and the Mines Advisory Group (MAG).
Before joining Freedom from Torture, she worked with the United Nations, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and in international development NGOs.
Kolbassia Haoussou - Survivor Leadership and Influencing Director
Kolbassia Haoussou MBE is a torture survivor who came to the UK in 2005 after fleeing persecution in central Africa.
His career began with campaigning and advocating when he co-founded the Survivors Speak OUT (SSO) network in 2006, a network led by survivors, campaigning for survivors. He has worked at Freedom from Torture since 2009 where he has been instrumental in building Freedom from Torture’s survivor activism and making sure survivors eare centred in all aspects of the organisation.
Since launching SSO, Kolbassia has represented the network at the UN Human Rights Council, at meetings with the Special Rapporteur on Torture and at the Global Summit on Sexual Violence in London.
Alongside ambassadors Angelina Jolie and William Hague, Kolbassia called for improved international frameworks to eradicate torture.
In 2019, he became a survivor champion for the UK government's Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative and in 2020 received an MBE for his work with survivors.
Rocio Roberts - Director of Finance and Central Services
Rocio is Director of Finance and Central Services at Freedom from Torture, where she’s worked for more than 30 years.
In that time Rocio has played a key role in the growth and development of Freedom from Torture from a small London charity to becoming a national organisation. She ensures that sound financial management is in place and that major risks are mitigated as well as overseeing the ICT, facilities and reception functions.
Dr Katy Robjant - National Director of Clinical Services
Katy is a consultant clinical psychologist with decades of experience in treating PTSD and other trauma spectrum disorders in asylum seekers, refugees and survivors of torture and trafficking and providing medico-legal reports.
Katy served as Freedom from Torture's National Director of Clinical Services from 2019 to 2022 and after that was appointed as Executive Director of Clinical and Counter-Trafficking at the Helen Bamber Foundation.
Previously she led a trauma-related mental health project for victims of sexual and gender-based violence and former child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), served as head of therapy services at the Helen Bamber Foundation and worked in specialist post-traumatic stress disorder services in the NHS.
Katy has been a member of the British Psychological Society Presidential Taskforce on Asylum Seekers and Refugees, served as Vice President of Vivo International, and is co-founder of both Trauma Treatment International and the Narrative Exposure Therapy Institute. She has published widely on the treatment of severely traumatised and migrant populations and on the harmful impact of legal and political systems on the mental health of asylum seekers.
Mel Oley - Director of Fundraising and Communications
Mel is Director of Fundraising and Communications at Freedom from Torture. Starting her career as a direct marketing fundraiser, Mel has a career spanning 20 years with experience across the spectrum of income sources at organisations including Greenpeace and ActionAid. As well as responsibilities for income generation at Freedom from Torture, Mel leads on media and campaigning for the charity. Prior to joining Freedom from Torture, Mel led the fundraising programme for Mental Health UK and Rethink Mental Illness. Mel has recently taught an MA module on Fundraising for Social Justice at the University of Westminster and is a mentor through the Elischer Foundation, supporting future fundraising leaders.