At the behest of former attorney general Dr Mohamed Shahabuddeen, his son Sieyf Shahabuddeen yesterday formally handed over a vast collection of law books and journals to the University of Guyana on behalf of his father.
In a small ceremony chaired by UG Librarian Gwyneth George in the foyer of the library Shahabuddeen handed over the vast collection of law books and journals to Deputy Vice-Chancellor Phillip DaSilva.
In remarks, Shahabuddeen said he was delighted to have the honour to present the collection on behalf of his father,
who was also a former deputy prime minister. He said it’s a difficult thing to part with such a prized collection but it is his father’s hope that these books will nurture the minds of the students of the university and wider country.
The books donated yesterday are said to be valued at approximately $2 million, but according Shahabudden are priceless, especially since many of them are no longer in publication.
Dr Mohammed Shabudeen, 82, currently retired and living abroad was an eminent judge of the International Court of Justice, recipient of the Order of Excellence, the Order of Roraima and the Cacique Crown of Honour from Guyana, Bachelor of Laws, Master of Laws, Doctor of Philosophy and Bachelor of Science in Economics, lawyer, public servant and diplomat.
He was awarded his Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1970 and Doctor of Laws Degree in 1986 as a result of his research on constitutional development of Guyana. He has made a major impact on his discipline, on the public life of the region and on the regional and international stages as a Judge on International Court of Justice and of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia among other Tribunals and for his role in the determination of nuclear weapons abolition, citing his arguments as ‘the most persuasive rebuttal’ to the Court’s professed inability to rule on the lawfulness of threat and use in an extreme circumstance involving the very survival of a state.
Shahabuddeen had donated just last week, a set of non-legal books to the National Library and a collection of French novels to the Alliance House in Queenstown.
