Interviews with Bahey El Din Hassan

I was an active member in the committee of press freedoms at the press syndicate since the beginning of the ´80s, of the 20th century, which means now almost 30 years. Later on, by the end of 1983 there is a regional organization was established to protect the human rights. It was called the Arab Organization for Human Rights, and I joined this organization as a member.

Later on, I guess, by April 1985, the Egyptian members of this organization decided to establish an Egyptian section called, it was called the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights. And this organization is still functioning until now. And later on, it has become fully independent or separate human rights NGO from the organization and even this Egyptian organization has become, later on, the mother organization for the human rights movement in Egypt.

Later on, by 1994, I decided that with other human rights experts and defenders, to establish a new regional human rights organization for the Arab region, but to address mainly, the question of the universal principles of human rights, and what some called the Arab culture which– and its main component which is the religion which– it has a substantive impact on shaping such culture and its attitude towards the principles of human rights.

If we address the problem of human rights, the universal principles of human rights, we are talking about Arab culture not just Egyptian culture. This is how I started to join the human rights struggle and I am still an active member and director for the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies.

Bahey El Din Hassan is an Egyptian human rights activist who has worked tirelessly to promote human rights culture in his native Egypt and throughout the Arab world.

Prior to the Egyptian revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak’s government, Hassan, a professional journalist, was an ardent advocate for freedom of the press. Through this activism, he became more interested in the importance of educating others on human rights. In 1983, he joined the Arab Organization for Human Rights and two years later helped establish an offshoot group called the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR). Over the years, the Egyptian government cracked down on EOHR’s work, arresting and torturing several of the organization’s members and stripping its status as a legally registered entity. Despite the threat of violence or arrest, Hassan and others helped EOHR to endure and continued to strengthen Egypt’s human rights movement.

In 1993, Hassan co-founded the Cairo Institute for Human Rights (CIHRS), an independent NGO that promotes human rights and democracy in the Arab region. Today, Hassan serves as the Director of CIHRS. Through these various organizations, Hassan has played a role in educating a new generation of young Egyptians on the importance of embracing a universal code of human rights that encourages freedom and dignity for all people.

In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, Hassan continues his efforts to strengthen human rights education in Egypt and the greater Arab world. Hassan argues that the fall of Hosni Mubarak’s regime was only the beginning, and that Egyptians must cultivate a democratic tradition, bolstered by a robust civil society, that respects human rights in order to be successful. As a journalist, lecturer, and author, Hassan educates audiences in the Middle East and North Africa on human rights, democratic transformation in the Arab world, and the challenges facing human rights defenders throughout the region.