Nowrojee’s moral courage

"The global voice of the legal profession” — the International Bar Association (IBA) — conferred its fifth Bernard Simons Memorial Award on Kenyan advocate Pheroze Nowrojee. The award "recognizes personal endeavors in the practice of criminal law which make a substantial contribution to the promotion, protection and advancement of human rights,” as per a report of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). The award for the year 2002, citing Nowrojee’s "outstanding contribution to the promotion, protection and advancement of human rights,” was presented to the noted counsel by Durban Judge Vuka Tshabalala at the IBA conference in Durban on October 22, 2002.

In his acceptance speech Nowrojee noted, "Bernard Simons represented the best of our profession. He gave a voice and remedies to those who exhausted by injustice could no longer hope. Secondly, in the choice of his cases he neither sought popularity nor feared unpopularity. And thirdly, he did all this on the simple working basis that it was no more than a part of his job. For this last we respect him the more. Because that reminds us that there is no such category called ‘human rights lawyer’ as distinct from one who isn’t. Human rights is a fundamental component of all lawyerly work, from contract and conveyancing to arbitration, criminal law and civil procedure. Every practitioner, presiding officer, academic and corporate adviser is by definition a human rights lawyer.”

Nowrojee: reinforcing the rule of law

Though speaking from the perspective of Kenya and East Africa (he is a senior advocate at the High Courts of Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar) Nowrojee made a point that applies to many parts of the world: "Our continent... confronts today the cumulative and destructive weight of the past 40 years, and sometimes a more immediate and dangerous present, where governments and presidents have installed and maintained unfair and unjust societies. To do that requires inflicting harm of all kinds, on large numbers of our people, transforming nations into refugee camps and disagreements into civil wars...

"But more critically, our continent has also witnessed the breakdown of its infrastructure of ideas. We have seen in the 40 years between 1960 and the turn of this new century a systemic destruction or abandonment of the ideas upon which the Independence struggles were fought, and upon which our free societies were to be based, with consequential declines in adherence to the principles of the Rule of Law...

"However there is a greater danger. ‘It is one that affects us all. It is what James Mustich has observed, that ‘Moral courage withers without memory, and forgetting is the handmaid of evil.’

"We cannot restore our societies to what we aspire, without the nurturing of moral courage within them, and we cannot do that without nurturing and drawing upon our continent’s heritage of struggle, resistance and values. We are not strangers to pushing back oppression, and we are not strangers to the organization of resistance to oppression. And our struggles have deeply embodied demands for self-determination, human dignity and the values of inclusiveness and tolerance...

"We have to fight the marginalization of the achievements of our freedom fighters and their memory. We must restore to our young people what is important and worthwhile in our heritage.”

The packed audience gave him two standing ovations, writes Barbara Cole in her coverage of the IBA conference.

Nairobi born Nowrojee studied at Bombay University before proceeding to Lincoln’s Inn, London, where he was admitted as Barrister-at-Law in 1965. He obtained his Masters in Law from Yale University in 1974, as per a profile on the lawyer by Paul Crick in the International Bar News, December 2002. Over 24 years of private practice Nowrojee has represented individuals and organizations in cases relating to freedom of speech, freedom of association, the right to a fair trial and protection against abuse of process of the court. He played his part along with the legal fraternity of Kenya in processing the constitutional shift to abolish the death penalty. He is recognized for his defence of opposition politicians who spoke out against Kenya’s one party state, and his fight against the death penalty in Tanzania, notes the SABC news. He is known to have defended 80 capital punishment cases in Tanzania, many of which were commuted to manslaughter and prison sentences. In 1985 he was honored with the Jurist of the Year Award by the Kenya section of the International Commission of Jurists, notes Crick.

The human rights counsel is a trustee of the Independent Medical and Legal Unit, a non-governmental organization whose primary aims are to document torture for legal purposes, rehabilitate torture survivors, sensitize health professionals, lawyers, paralegals and the judiciary and work for the abolition of torture. He is also a trustee and board member of the Media Institute established in 1996 whose main concern is freedom of expression and, primarily, the freedom of the Press, writes Crick.

In 1990 Nowrojee was charged with contempt of court because he had criticized the judicial system in the case of Bishop Muge, an outspoken critic of the Kenyan government who perished in a suspicious car crash. Relating the event Crick notes that when the family’s request for an inquest was delayed by the government, Nowrojee alleged a cover-up. "He was immediate charged with contempt of court, which he saw as an attempt not to intimidate him, but the Bar. At his court appearance, many lawyers backed him by their presence in the courtroom. He was acquitted, sending out a strong message that clients’ interests must always come first, and that the legal profession in Kenya could not be intimidated. However, the Government won its point too and the inquest never took place,” recounts Crick.

The IBA simultaneously honored Law Society of Zimbabwe president Sternford Moyo for his work in supporting the independence of the judiciary and promoting the rule of law in Zimbabwe.

Also present at the IBA meet where he co-chaired the session on "Delivering justice: the challenges of applying international standards,” was noted Indian jurist Fali Nariman who is president of the Bar Association of India and co-chair of the Human Rights Institute.

Moyo, who complimented Nowrojee, is quoted by Crick as saying, "He is an exceptional human rights advocate. He displays a rare commitment and passion for justice and the core values of our profession. I was proud to witness the honoring of this highly capable and illustrious son of Africa, just a month after I had decided that he was the person to address our summer school on the role of lawyers in a democratic society. The work and life of Nowrojee are a visible example of what the best in our profession can achieve. He is truly inspirational.”