Saad Eddin Ibrahim

Saad Eddin Ibrahim
Saad Eddin Ibrahim, January 2009
Born	(1938-12-31) 31 December 1938 (age 79) Bedeen, Mansoura, Egypt
Nationality	Egyptian
Other names	سعد الدين إبراهيم

Saad Eddin Ibrahim (Egyptian Arabic: سعد الدين إبراهيم‎, IPA: [ˈsæʕd edˈdiːn ebɾˤɑˈhiːm]) (born 31 December 1938) is an Egyptian American sociologist and author. He is one of Egypt's leading human rights and democracy activists, and a strong critic of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Born in Bedeen, Mansoura, Egypt, Ibrahim is credited for playing a leading role in the revival of Egypt's contemporary research-based civil society movement. For most of his professional career Saad Eddin Ibrahim was a professor of sociology at the American University in Cairo. He is the founder of both the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies in Cairo and the Arab Organization for Human Rights. He is married to Barbara Lethem Ibrahim. Barbara Ibrahim is the director of the Gerhart Center for Civic Engagement and Philanthropy in Cairo. The Ibrahims have two children, Randa and Amir Ibrahim. Randa has two kids Lara and Seif, and Amir has Adam and Gebriel.

Well before his confrontations with the Egyptian government in the early 2000s, Ibrahim had become a controversial figure in Egypt. He reversed his earlier criticism of Anwar Sadat for his peace initiative with Israel. He gained the respect of Egypt's human rights and civil society community for championing different causes, including Copts, Bahá'ís. and other minorities at a time of rising sectarian tensions.