Oussama (Sam) Cherribi was born in Morocco. He is a Dutch citizen and a permanent resident of the United States. He served as a Member of Parliament in the Netherlands from 1994 to 2002, during which time he also served as a member of the Council of Europe (an assembly focused primarily on human rights), of the West European Union, and twice of the Dutch delegation to the United Nations. He is presently a Senior Lecturer in sociology at Emory University.