Print Projects
Co-founder, Reporter, Mada Masr
Mada Masr is Egypt's last surviving independent news site. I proudly co-founded this progressive investigative news and analysis site in 2013 along with 24 journalists after our previous newspaper was censored and shut down. Together we decided to take matters into our own hands and create what is now Egypt's only reliable news source.
Today, Mada Masr is a multi-award-winning news outlet and has received many accolades, including the Free Media Pioneer Award (awarded 2016), the Reporters without Borders Prize (nominated 2018), the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award (nominated 2018). Our Editor-in-Chief, Lina Attalah, was also named one of TIME's 2020 100 Most Influential People in the world.
I also was a political reporter and reported extensively on politics, the judicial and police system, and geopolitical conflicts over natural resources such as water.
Reporter, The Guardian
I reported extensively on the 2011 uprising and current affairs in Egypt from 2011 onwards.
My proudest work was an investigation revealing that Egypt's police deliberately killed almost 900 people during the uprising, a claim Egypt's Ministry of Interior repeatedly denied.
I also reported on the large-scale impact of bread subsidies and rising food prices on Egyptian bakers and the bread subsidy system.
Reporter, Financial Times
I was a reporter for the Financial Times for the North Africa bureau. I also reported extensively on the aftermath of the 2011 uprising for the news outlet, not only in Egypt but also in Algeria, Libya, and the Maghreb.
My most notable work includes political reporting on political insurgencies in Algeria, civil turmoil in Libya, and outrage from constitutional scholars over constitutional reforms during the presidency of Mohammed Morsi in Egypt.
I also reported on Egypt's increasingly unstable economy and the crash of its local currency, the Egyptian pound.
Reporter, Egypt Independent
Egypt Independent, the English-language sister newspaper of prominent Egyptian outlet, Al Masry Al Youm, was considered one of Egypt's most reliable news sources. It was launched in 2011 just after the Egyptian uprising against then-President Hosni Mubarak.
Sadly, as Egypt's short-lived golden era of a somewhat free press was tightening up, the newspaper was censored and shut down, leading to a huge campaign from reporters, including myself, to keep it alive. Finally, we decided to create our own news outlet called Mada Masr (mentioned above). It was revived by another team years later.
As a reporter, I covered politics and social movements, including labor movements. My most notable work was covering a months-long sit-in in the famous Tahrir Square organized by Egyptian protesters. I also covered police torture of activists, the criminal trial of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, and fears by scholars over the erosion of women's rights and the rights of religious minorities during constitutional reforms under Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohammed Morsi.
