Sir Aziz Hadeed
Human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson will deliver a lecture examining the Commonwealth’s political potential on Friday, Oct. 30, in memory of Sir Aziz Fares Hadeed, the late businessman and former chairman of the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus Council.
The Sir Aziz Fares Hadeed Memorial Lecture, announced by the campus council, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Robertson’s keynote address is titled “The Political Potential of the Commonwealth.”
Hadeed helped guide the Five Islands campus from its establishment in 2019. His appointment as council chairman took effect on Aug. 1 that year, placing him at the head of the campus’ governing body.
His career spanned business and public service in Antigua and Barbuda. He became chairman of the Hadeed Group of Companies in 1980, served as chairman of regional airline LIAT from 1995 to 1998 and helped establish the Antigua Power Company in 1996. He also served two terms as an independent senator and was a Cabinet minister from 2004 to 2006, according to UWI’s account of his career.
Following Hadeed’s death in May, UWI Vice Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles praised his contribution to the university’s governance, his support for young people’s education and his commitment to philanthropy and social justice.
Robertson, a founding head of London’s Doughty Street Chambers, has argued constitutional, criminal and human rights cases before courts across the Commonwealth and Europe. He also served as the first president of the Special Court for Sierra Leone and is the author of “Crimes Against Humanity.”
His Caribbean legal work includes the landmark Pratt and Morgan v. Attorney General of Jamaica case, in which the Privy Council ruled against executing prisoners after prolonged delays on death row. The decision led to the commutation of hundreds of death sentences in the region, according to his professional biography.
This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: Memorial lecture honouring Sir Aziz Hadeed to examine Commonwealth’s political potential.