He is a substitute for the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Committee on Fisheries and the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Fava was born in Catania, Sicily. His father Giuseppe Fava, founder of the I Siciliani monthly magazine – for which Claudio Fava also worked – was killed by the Mafia on January 5, 1984.
Later he was the Regional Secretary of the DS in Sicily (1999-2001), and became a member of the national executive of the DS in 1999.
On November 5, 2006, he worked as an International Observer of the Nicaraguan Elections 2006 for the European Union.
Also in November 2006, he led the European parliament's special investigation into the role of European Union member states in the operation of CIA secret prisons. The report criticized the governments of Poland and Romania for failing to cooperate with investigations, and also chastised several top EU officials 
He is also a writer and a scenarist. He co-wrote the screenplay of the movie "One hundred steps" ("I cento passi") about the life and death of Antimafia activist Giuseppe Impastato that won the Venice Film Festival in 2001 for the best script.