Max du Plessis SC appointed as member of Iran fact-finding mission by the President of Human Rights Council
Max du Plessis SC has been appointed, by the President of the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Jürg Lauber (Switzerland), to serve as an independent member of the Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Max du Plessis SC replaces Ms. Shaheen Sardar Ali of Pakistan on the three-member investigative panel and joins Ms. Sara Hossain of Bangladesh and Ms. Viviana Krsticevic of Argentina. Ms. Hossain serves as chair of the Fact-Finding Mission.
The Human Rights Council established the Fact-Finding Mission with resolution S-35/1 of 24 November 2022, adopted at a special session, to “investigate alleged human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran related to the protests that began on 16 September 2022, especially with respect to women and children”. The three-person Mission was further requested to “establish the facts and circumstances surrounding the alleged violations and collect, consolidate and analyse evidence of such violations and preserve evidence, including in view of cooperation in any legal proceedings”.
Max du Plessis SC is a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, and senior counsel in South Africa with an extensive practice in international, administrative and constitutional law. He has acted, advised or appeared in leading cases on international law and human rights in the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and the SADC Tribunal, and has acted as adviser to governments and NGOs on questions of international and international criminal law. Max has acted as counsel in South Africa's leading international law cases before the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court of Appeal (including cases on diplomatic protection, the death penalty, the duty under international law to combat corruption, and extradition and non-refoulement).
Max has represented NGOs in South Africa in utilising South Africa's Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act in pursuing cases against individuals accused of international crimes in Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Gaza and Madagascar.
He has written widely in the field of international and international criminal law. Max is adjunct professor of public law at the Nelson Mandela University.
Read more about the appointment and about the Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran here.
Read more about Max du Plessis SC and his work here.
