Hossam Bahgat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hossam Bahgat | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born | 1978 (age 47–48) |
| Occupations | Activist, journalist |
| Known for | Rights activism |
Hossam Bahgat (Arabic: حسام بهجت [ħoˈsæːm ˈbæhɡæt]; born 1978) is an Egyptian human rights activist and the founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. He was an investigative journalist at Mada Masr. He was the 2011 recipient of the Alison Des Forges Award from Human Rights Watch "for upholding the personal freedoms of all Egyptians."[1]
Hossam Bahgat was born in 1978 in Alexandria.[1] He studied and still lives in the same city.
Career
Bahgat started his career as a journalist.[2] He subsequently worked for the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), but he was dismissed in 2001 following public disagreements over the organization's inaction regarding 52 gay men having been arrested on the basis of their sexuality (a mass arrest known as the "Queen Boat incident").[3][2]
On July 23, 2001, Bahgat published an article in MERIP criticizing government crackdown on Egyptian gay communities and a "shattered rights movement," directly addressing the mass arrest. He was dismissed from his EOHR position two days after publication.[3]
Following his departure from EOHR, he founded the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, a human rights organization, in 2002.[1][4] It was the first human rights organization in Egypt to recognize LGBT rights as human rights.[4]