Mohamed Chande Othman served as Chief Justice of Tanzania, from December 2010 to 18 January 2017. Prior to that had served as a Judge of the High Court, and a Justice of Appeal with the Court of Appeal of Tanzania, the Apex Court.

Justice Othman currently serves as Eminent Person ( since, 2017) appointed by the UN Secretary General with the mandate to examine new information related to the conditions and circumstances resulting in the tragic death in Ndola, Zambia,  on 18th September 1961, Dag Hammarskjöld, the UN’s second Secretary General and of the members of the party accompanying him. Justice Othman was also one of the nine-members of Independent Expert Review Group appointed the ASP of the Rome Statute of the ICC, in December, 2019 to review the performance, efficiency and effectiveness of the Court and the Rome Statute system.

Justice Othman’s previous experience includes that of Prosecutor General of East Timor and Chief of Prosecutions of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Under the UN auspices he has served as a Member of the UN Human Rights Council’s High-Level Commission of Inquiry into the Situation in Lebanon following the Israel-Lebanon Armed Conflict in 2006; as well as the UNHRC’s Independent Expert on the human rights situation in the Sudan (2009-2010).

His publications include books and peer-reviewed articles on International Humanitarian Law, International Criminal Law, Refugee Law, Criminal Law and Evidence, and Peacekeeping.