Religious liberty advocates are calling the death of Tunisian human rights lawyer Abdelfattah Amor a great loss for the international religious freedom community.

Amor, who served from 1993 to 2004 as the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, died January 2 following a heart attack.

Amor, a Muslim, was widely acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost advocates of religious freedom for all people of faith. In 1995, he was one of the few UN representatives to visit Iran, and he subsequently issued a groundbreaking report on religious intolerance and repression in that country.

At the time of his death, Amor was a member of the UN Human Rights Committee and had recently been appointed as president of Tunisia’s National Commission for the Investigation of Corruption and Bribery.

Amor “proved himself to be a valued friend of the Adventist Church’s religious freedom work,” said John Graz, director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty for the Seventh-day Adventist world church.

Amor spoke at the denomination’s 4th and 5th world congresses on religious liberty in Rio and Manila, respectively. He visited world church headquarters in Maryland and spoke at Spencerville Adventist Church, also in Maryland.

“On a number of occasions he reported before the UN General Assembly in New York on [the] persecution of Adventists around the world, and his support proved very helpful to us,” said Graz, who last met with Amor last November in Geneva.

“[Amor] was a man of great knowledge, openness, courage and integrity. He had tremendous compassion for all those who suffered discrimination or oppression,” Graz said.

“My deepest sympathy goes to his wife and children,” he added. “They are in our prayers as they mourn their loss.”