Bahey Hassan

[1] In 2014, and after receiving death threats for his human rights work, Hassan had to leave Egypt and currently lives in self-imposed exile in France.

Hassan is also a journalist, lecturer, author and editor of several published articles, papers and books on human rights and democratic transformation in the Arab region.

In 1988, after a debate among board members, followed by an institutional consultation with members of EOHR on whether to heed the authorities' warning or not, Hassan was elected as the Secretary General of EOHR, marking the beginning of a transformation in its discourse and mission, as it also started to document abuses against Islamists and advocate for their rights, despite the organization's strong secular orientation.

[2] Hassan also refused to re-join the NCHR, once during President Mohamed Morsi's tenure and another time under the-military backed government in 2013–2014.

[3] For safety reasons, and after being advised to do so by NGOs, academics, and senior diplomats inside and outside of Egypt, including from the UN, Hassan has been living in self-imposed exile in France since 2014.

[4] In April 2016, and although never being formally notified, Hassan learned from the media that in relation to the notorious Foreign Funding Case targeting Egyptian human rights NGOs, a court is looking into an asset freeze[5] order against him, his wife, two minor daughters, and his adult daughter who's married to renowned Egyptian activist and blogger Alaa Abdelfattah.

The sentence was widely criticized, including by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Parliament, and hundreds of public figures, journalists, academics, artists, and intellectuals from across the world.

In several of his writings, Hassan argued that for as long as the grievances that fuelled the Arab Spring are not addressed, any form of stability achieved will remain unsustainable.

[14] Hassan attributes the proliferation of terrorism in the Arab region and through the rest of the world, to the continued failure in addressing the root causes of the problem and over relying on security approaches from as far back as the 9/11 attacks.

He also partly attributes Tunisia's status as the success story of the Arab Spring, to the positive role played by the military during the democratic transition.

Dr Mahmood Monshipouri, Palgrave Macmillan, USA, 2011 • Fall of the barriers - human rights in the Arab world: the annual report 2011.