The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is saddened by the passing of Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni, an influential figure in the field of International Criminal Law.
 
Professor Bassiouni was an Egyptian-American law professor. He helped found the International Human Rights Law Institute at DePaul University in Chicago, where he had taught since 1964 and founded the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights, a training and research organization in Sicily in 1972.
 
Mr. Bassiouni was appointed to a number of U.N. commissions. He chaired the Commission of Experts established by the Security Council to investigate the crimes being committed in the former Yugoslavia and was appointed as the UN Independent Expert for Human Rights in Afghanistan. Recently, he chaired the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry and served as Chair and then member of the International Commission of Inquiry for Libya.
 
Professor Bassiouni made an enduring impact on International Criminal Law. He has written many books and articles on Islamic law and Middle East politics; and he is one of the contributors to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. For his many contributions to International Justice, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999, and was awarded numerous medals and decorations from the Austria, Bahrain, Croatia, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
 
The legacy Professor Bassiouni leaves behind will continue to contribute to the development of International Justice and Human Rights, for which he was often referred to as an uncontested godfather.