Bahia Hariri بهية الحريري |
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Born | 1952 Sidon, Lebanon |
Nationality | Lebanese |
Spouse(s) | Mustafa Hariri |
Bahia Bahaeddine Hariri (Arabic: بهية الحريري) (born 1952) is a Lebanese politician and sister of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and her second brother Shafic Hariri.
Bahia Hariri was born in Sidon, Lebanon In 1952.Hariri was born to a modest Sunni Muslim family, along with her two siblings Shafic and Rafik Hariri. In 1970, she graduated from a teacher’s academy.
Hariri worked as a teacher upon graduation in Sidon and the south Lebanon until 1979. She headed the Hariri Foundation in Sidon, founded by her brother Rafik Hariri in 1979. The foundation is a major educational and charitable institution. She is also the president of the administrative council of the Hariri-Saida foundation.
In 1992, Hariri was elected as member of Parliament for the Sunni seat in Saida. She was reelected in 1996 and 2000 for the same seat. From July 2008 to November 2009 she was the minister of education.
She was again elected to Parliament in June 2009. She currently heads the Parliamentary commission for education and culture in the Lebanese Parliament, in addition to being member of the Parliamentary commission for foreign and immigration affairs. in addition to being the vice-president of the commission for women at the inter-parliamentary Arab Union (UNESCO,2012) She is also a goodwill ambassador for UNESCO, and heads the Islamic Organization for Higher Education. She also serves on the Advisory Council of World Links Arab Region.(IWSAW,2012)
She also launched the appeals from Kuwait, Tunis, Algiers and Beirut between 1999 and 2000 to support the establishment of a "Day of the Arab woman" and a "Permanent Summit of the Arab Woman" (UNESCO,2012)
Since 1992, Hariri has been member of the board of trustees of the Lebanese American University.