Julian McMahon – Australian Human Rights Advocate

The barrister, Julian McMahon, is known for his work around the world as he opposes the death penalty internationally. He is the lawyer who takes the cases that no-one else wants to take and defends those who are really in need.

He is well-known for his time spent in Singapore in 2005, as he challenged the Australian citizen Van Nguyen’s execution. Not to mention his time saving the members of the Bali Nine, which was a group of Australians that were convicted for smuggling heroin from Indonesia to Australia. All of the Bali Nine were sentenced to death and he helped saved two men from the firing squad.

McMahon is a Melbourne barrister, who studied at the University of Melbourne. He was a vocal member of the debate club, which was called the Dialectic Society. In 1998, he was admitted to the Victorian Bar and started practicing law. For as long as he can remember, “the death penalty is just part of life... and after Van Nguyen was executed,” he knew that he had to do something about what was happening.

The masculine name Julian is from the Roman name Iulianus that was derived from Julius, which is a Roman family name taken from the greek work ioulos that means “downy-bearded”. However, it could also be related to the Roman god Jupiter, which is from the latin luppiter, that is taken from the Indo-European word Dyeu-pater. The name is comprised of the two elements Dyeus that means “sky” or “shine” and pater that means “father”.