Haifa El Aissami Maddah (5 April 1971) is a Venezuelan lawyer. In the 1980s, she was involved in investigating

extrajudicial killing An extrajudicial killing (also known as an extrajudicial execution or an extralegal killing) is the deliberate killing of a person without the lawful authority granted by a judicial proceeding. It typically refers to government authorities, ...

s in Venezuela. In 2010, controversially, she became her country's ambassador to the Netherlands, and in 2016 she was appointed as the ambassador to the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

Biography

She was a prosecutor with national jurisdiction in the

Public Ministry of Venezuela The Public Ministry of Venezuela is an organ belonging to Citizen Power, it has autonomous and independent character. It is under the direction of the Attorney General of the Republic who is elected by the National Assembly for a period of seve ...

, where she led the investigations of the Yumare massacre in 1986 and the El Amparo massacre in 1988. She also stood out in the indictment and sentencing of Iván Simonovis, and , police officers accused of ordering the shooting of demonstrators in downtown

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

during the

Llaguno Overpass events The Llaguno Overpass (''Puente Llaguno'' in Spanish), also known as the Llaguno Bridge, is a bridge in central Caracas, Venezuela, near the Miraflores Palace, made infamous by the events of 11 April 2002, when snipers opened fire upon the crowd o ...

on 11 April 2002, during which an opposition march demanding the resignation of President

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...

. In 2010 she was appointed as Venezuela's ambassador to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in the Venezuelan Official Gazette No. 39.565. Since he had no diplomatic experience, this appointment generated criticism and accusations of

nepotism Nepotism is the act of granting an In-group favoritism, advantage, privilege, or position to Kinship, relatives in an occupation or field. These fields can include business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, religion or health care. In ...

, being the sister of interior affairs minister

Tareck El Aissami Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah (; born 12 November 1974) is a Venezuelan politician, who served as the vice president of Venezuela from 2017 to 2018. He served as Minister of Industries and National Production since 14 June 2018, and as Ministe ...

. On 7 January 2016, in Official Gazette No. 40,823, she was appointed as ambassador permanent representative of the Venezuelan mission to the International Criminal Court, to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and to other international organizations and tribunals in the Netherlands.. After the announcement by the

on the opening of a preliminary examination of Venezuela for the investigation of crimes against humanity, Attorney General in exile

Luisa Ortega Díaz Luisa Marvelia Ortega Díaz (born 11 January 1958) is a Venezuelan lawyer. Between December 2007 and August 2017, she served as the Prosecutor General of Venezuela. A proponent of the Chavismo ideology, Ortega Díaz was fired as Prosecutor Gene ...

announced in February 2018 that she would request the expulsion of El Aissami as the ambassador to The Hague because "she has become a disruptive element in the ICC investigations against Venezuelan officials." In 2021 she was appointed by

Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and former union leader serving as the 53rd president of Venezuela since 2013. Previously, he was the 24th Vice President of Venezuela, vice president from 2012 to 20 ...

as permanent representative of Venezuela to the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...

of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

(FAO). Following the arrest of her brother Tareck El Aissami on April 09, 2024, it remains unknown if his arrest has effected her career within the government.

Personal life

Haifa is the sister of

, a high ranking government official that has held positions such as interior affairs minister and Vice President. Their father's origins go back to

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and their mother's origins go back to

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, and they belong to the

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

community.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:El Aissami, Haifa Living people 1971 births Venezuelan women ambassadors Ambassadors of Venezuela to the Netherlands Permanent representatives of Venezuela to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Venezuelan women lawyers Venezuelan Druze people

Biography

Personal life

See also

References