Soli Sorabjee

Soli Jehangir Sorabjee (born 9 March, 1930) is an Indian jurist.

Biography

Soli Sorabjee was born in 1930 in Bombay, and after an education at Government Law College, Bombay, was admitted to the bar in 1953. At college, he was awarded the Kinloch Forbes Gold Medal in Roman Law and Jurisprudence (1952).

In 1971, Sorabjee began representing the government as Senior Advocate to the Supreme Court of India. He served Solicitor-General of India from 1977 to 1980. He was appointed Attorney-General of India on 7 April, 1998, a post he held until 2004.

In March 2002, Soli Sorabjee was awarded the Padma Vibhushan for his defence of the freedom of expression and the protection of human rights.

Sorabjee was a close friend and colleague of Nanabhoy ("Nani") Palkhivala. Sorabjee's daughter, Zia Mody, is also a lawyer.

Offices

Soli Sorabjee holds several offices in organizations of national and international repute.

In India, he is Chairman of Transparency International and Convenor of the Minority Rights Group.

On the international circuit, he is Special Rapporteur to the United Nations Human Rights Commission since 1997, a member of the United Nations Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities since 1998. Sorabjee served as member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague from 2000 to 2006.

Sorabjee is also President of the United Lawyers Association, Vice-President of the Human Rights Committee of the International Bar Association, Vice-President of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, Executive Committee member of the International Association of Constitutional Lawyers and member of the Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament Law of the International Law Association.

Publication record

In addition to his columns for the Indian Express (see further reading, below), Sorabjee also has a number of other publications to his credit:
* Books:
** "The Laws of Press Censorship in India" (1976)
** "The Emergency, Censorship and the Press in India, 1975-77" (1977), ISBN 0-904286-00-2
** "Law and Justice" (2004), ISBN 81-7534-367-2
* Essays and Monographs:
** "Fundamental Rights" as published in "Public Law of India" (1979), ISBN 0-7069-1390-6
** "The Constitution and the Governor" as published in "The Governor, Sage or Saboteur" (1985)
** "Protection of Human Rights in Emergencies" (1988)
** "Equity in the United States and India" published in "Constitutionalism and Rights" (1990)
* Articles:
** "Obliging Government to Control Itself; Recent Development in Indian Administrative Law", Spring 1994 issue of "Public Law"
** "Freedom of Expression and Censorship: Some Aspects of the Indian Experience", Winter 1994 issue of Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly
** "Freedom of Expression", Commonwealth Law Journal Bulletin (1994).

References

* [http://www.rlek.org/sorabjee.html Human Rights Center entry for Soli Sorabjee]

External links

* [http://iecolumnists.expressindia.com/columnist_index.php?columnist_id=37 Articles written by Sorabjee for "The Indian Express"]
* [http://rshrc.nic.in/htm/e-SpSorabji.htm Sorabjee on Human Rights]
* [http://www.hrsolidarity.net/mainfile.php/2001vol11no4/49/ Sorabjee on Racism]