M. Cherif Bassiouni

M. Cherif Bassiouni is a former UN official who was forced out of the organization under US pressure for producing a report critical of Human Rights abuses by US forces in Afghanistan. Distinguished Research Professor of Law at DePaul University College of Law and President of the International Human Rights Law Institute. He is also President of the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences in Siracusa, Italy, as well as the Honorary President of the International Association of Penal Law (President 1989-2004), based in Paris, France.

Professor Bassiouni has served the United Nations in a number of capacities, including: Member and then Chairman of the Security Council's Commission to Investigate War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia (1992-94); Commission on Human Rights' Independent Expert on The Rights to Restitution, Compensation and Rehabilitation for Victims of Grave Violations of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1998-2000); Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the 1998 Diplomatic Conference on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court; and the Vice-Chairman of the General Assembly's Ad Hoc Committee on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court (1995). In 2004, he was appointed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights as the Independent Expert on Human Rights in Afghanistan.

In 1999, Professor Bassiouni was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the field of international criminal justice and for his contribution to the creation of the International Criminal Court. He has received the following medals: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (Commander), Federal Republic of Germany (2003); Legion d’Honneur (Officier), Republic of France (2003); Order of Lincoln of Illinois, United States of America (2001); Grand Cross of the Order of Merit, Republic of Austria (1990); Order of Sciences (First Class), Arab Republic of Egypt (1984); Order of Merit (Grand’Ufficiale), Republic of Italy (1977), and Order of Military Valor (First Class), Arab Republic of Egypt (1956).. He has also received numerous academic and civic awards, including the Special Award of the Council of Europe (1990); the Defender of Democracy Award, Parliamentarians for Global Action (1998) The Adlai Stevenson Award of the United Nations Association (1993); and the Saint Vincent DePaul Humanitarian Award (2000).

Professor Bassiouni is the author of 27 and editor of 44 books, and the author of 217 articles on a wide range of legal issues, including international criminal law, comparative criminal law, and international human rights law. His publications have appeared in Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, Georgian, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Spanish. Some of these publications have been cited by the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the United States Supreme Court, as well as by several United States Appellate and Federal District Courts, and also by several State Supreme Courts.

He was included in Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet.

Affiliations

• Human Rights Watch – Member of the Middle East Advisory Committee.

Publications, External links, Notes

Publications

Bassiouni, M Cherif (1982) 'Media Coverage of Terrorism: The Law and the Public', Journal of Communication. Vol 32, No 2 : 128-143.

Links

• "Biography", Accessed 7 June 2007.