Param Cumaraswamy has been practicing as an advocate and solicitor in Kuala Lumpur since 1967.

He began his practice in the law firm of Shook, Lin and Bok in Kuala Lumpur and became a partner, and later the chief executive partner, when the firm was one of the three largest in the country. He resigned from the firm in 1998 for the reasons I will tell you about later.

In addition to developing a distinguished law practice he devoted himself to the causes of human rights, the independence of lawyers and judges, the rule of law - both in his native country, Malaysia, and around the world.

He served in positions of great responsibility in national and international organisations, acting daringly sometimes at the risk of his livelihood and his very life, and always in full adherence to the principle of justice.

Param was a member of the Malaysian Bar Council continuously for 25 years until 1998. During those years he held the offices of treasurer, secretary, vice-president, and from 1986 to 1988 was its chairperson. He was also a founding member of the Bar Council's human rights committee and legal aid committee.

From 1986 to 1989, Param was the chairperson of the human rights committee of the International Bar Association. In 1989, he was appointed a member of the advisory board of the Geneva-based Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers.

In 1991, he was appointed to the International Commission of Jurists and served on its executive committee from 1998 until April 2002. In 1994, he was appointed as the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers by the UN Commission on Human Rights.

Charged for sedition

Between 1985 and 1990, Param was subjected to the considerable pressure, harassment and intimidation, including death threats, for his defence of human rights in Malaysia.

It has been his indomitable defence of the independence of the judiciary that has exposed him to extreme hardship and has gained him universal respect and recognition in the international legal community and from the United Nations.

In 1985, he was charged before the Kuala Lumpur High Court for sedition for a public statement made in his capacity as Malaysian Bar's vice-president and chair of its human rights committee. In his statement, inter alia, he called for the Pardons Board not to discriminate between the rich and the poor in connection with the petition for the commutation of a death sentence imposed on a labourer.

He was acquitted after a six-day trial. The judgment of the court was then hailed by the media and others as a landmark judgment on freedom of expression in Malaysia.

In 1987, Param was banned by the Singaporean government from entry to that country for his protests over detentions without trial in that republic. Some of those detained were lawyers.

During the judicial crisis in Malaysia in 1988, when six Supreme Court judges were subjected to tribunal hearings for alleged judicial misconduct on trumped-up charges framed by the executive, Param undertook a courageous defence of judicial independence.

Three of the six judges were eventually dismissed including Salleh Abas, lord president of the Supreme Court - the country's highest court. The events of 1988, including the role of Param are described in detail in the book, 'Mayday for Justice'.

Sued for RM426 million

In 1995, four defamation suits were brought against Param by a few key Malaysian personalities and corporations claiming a total of RM426 million. This was over an interview he gave to a London-based legal periodical in his capacity as UN special rapporteur. In the interview, he had commented on allegations of impropriety in the Malaysian judiciary.

The UN claimed immunity on his behalf under the Convention on the Immunities and Privileges of the United Nations. However, this was not recognised by the Malaysian courts. After exhausting all his domestic avenues to have his UN immunity from legal process, the matter was taken to the International Court of Justice. It found Param was immune from legal process and directed Malaysia to honour its international obligations.

After further protracted hearings before the Malaysian courts, the civil suits were eventually withdrawn. The advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice was considered as a triumph for the independence and integrity of the thematic mandate holders of the UN Commission on Human Rights.

The legal suits against Param were given wide publicity in the media and as such became a source of harassment to him and an embarrassment to the law firm where he was chief executive partner.

As a result he resigned from the firm to avoid any further embarrassment to his partners and loss of income for the firm. He has since set up a one-man practice but devotes a very substantial part of his time to the promotion and protection of judicial independence through the mandate entrusted to him by the UN Commission on Human Rights.

As UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Param has intervened in more than 100 countries where judicial independence and the independence of lawyers were reported to have been put at risk.

The above is an abstracted citation by RAINER VOSS, president of the International Justice in the World Prize Jury, at Madrid's International Justice in the World prize award ceremony on June 5.