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Ayman Al-Sayyad

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Ayman Al-Sayyad
Al-Sayyad (June 2012)
BornMarch 17, 1956
Al-Santa, Al-Gharbiah, Egypt
Alma materCairo University
Occupation(s)Journalist, columnist
Notable credit(s)"Weghat Nazar" Editor in Chief, Senior Advisor to the 1st elected Egyptian President (2012)
Websitehttp://www.shorouknews.com/columns/ayman-al-sayyad

Ayman Al-Sayyad (Arabic: أيمن الصياد, born March 17, 1956) is an Egyptian journalist, writer, magazine editor and political commentator. He has been editor of Weghat Nazar Periodical since 2000, and has a weekly column in Al Shorouk Newspaper.[1] In addition to his journalistic career, on August 27, 2012, Al-Sayyad was chosen as a senior advisor to the first elected Egyptian president after the January 25 uprising, Mohammed Morsi.[2][3] He had earlier declined a ministerial post as Minister of Information, to keep his editorial independence.[4]

Al-Sayyad resigned from the Presidential Advisory Board in protest over the constitutional draft of November 2012,[5] which he considered a key failure of the Muslim Brotherhood to govern inclusively. He first announced his resignation through his Twitter account,[6] and later wrote an open letter to then-president Morsi, which has created wide controversy after it ran in Al-Shorouk newspaper.[7][8]

Following the 2011 uprisings in the Arab Middle East, Al-Sayyad devoted much of his writing and time to the issue of transitional justice[9][10][11][12] and has been since considered an expert on the topic. He has provided consultancy in the field of transitional justice to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and, in 2013, he was appointed by the Egyptian ministry of Justice as a member of the four-member-committee to work on transitional justice in Egypt.[13][14]

Education and early career

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Al-Sayyad was born in the Nile Delta town, Al-Santa, Egypt, to which his father had moved to from the neighbouring village-town of Balkim in the mid 1940s. He later moved, first to Tanta as a college student to study medicine, and afterwards to Cairo, where he graduated as valedictorian from Cairo University with a BA in Broadcast Media Journalism in 1983. He began his journalistic career as a Cairo correspondent at the Pan-Arab London-based weekly magazine “Al-Majalla”, which he later served as its Cairo-Bureau Chief between 1991 and 1998. In 1995, Al-Sayyad was awarded The Ali & Othman Hafiz Award for Best Story in the Arab Press.[15]

Writing and photography

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Despite the polarized political climate post Arab Spring in the region, Al-Sayyad's writing has been noted to have maintained a readership from opposite ends of the political spectrum.[16] In his writing, lectures[17][18] and interviews,[19] he repeatedly argues that “there is too much McCarthyism in the media nowadays,[20] while what is badly needed is fairness.”[21] his interest in dialogue and open discussion has also been noted in his work as an editor. In 2009, he established Weghat Nazar Dialogues, a culture initiative that conducts seminars and consultations around key political and development issues in the region.[22]

Al-Sayyad has further had an interest in photography since the beginning of his journalistic career. He studied photography, and began taking pictures himself for all journalistic features. In 1990, The UNICEF chose a series of his photographs for their 1990s campaign “Facts for Life.” The pictures were published in the regional version of the initiative's promotional book, which was one of UNICEF's most widely used publications in the nineties. Photography still plays a role in Al-Sayyad's writing, where his weekly essay[23] invariably relies on a reading of what he considers the ‘photo of the week.’

Organizations, honors and awards

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In addition to his journalistic and writing career, Al-Sayyad has provided consultancy services to a number of media / cultural institutions, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Arab Thought Foundation (ATF),[24] Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (MBRF),[25] and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).[26] He is a board member of the Arab Journalism Award,[27] a member of the advisory board for the UNDP's Arab Human Development Report (AHDR), and a member of the board of trustees for the Strategic Documents Center, Egypt.

Al-Sayyad has been the recipient of a number of journalist and photography awards, including the Ali & Othman Hafiz Award for Best Story in the Arab Press (1995), BMW's Award for Best Photo in Middle East Press (1989), Mustafa Amin Award for best press-photo on Maternity (1989), and The Kodak Bronze Medal for professional photographers (1987).[28]

References

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  1. ^ "Al Shorouk Columns". shorouknews.com. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  2. ^ "Morsi spokesman reveals names of presidential assistants, advisers". english.ahram.org.eg. Ahram on line. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  3. ^ "Meet Morsi's presidential team". egyptianchronicles. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  4. ^ "Morsi spokesman reveals names of presidential assistants, advisers". Ahramonline. Al Ahram. 27 Aug 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  5. ^ "Presidential aides Abdel-Fattah, Sayyad resign to protest Brotherhood domination". Ahramonline. 5 Dec 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  6. ^ "Presidential aides Abdel-Fattah, Sayyad resign to protest Brotherhood domination". Ahramonline. 5 Dec 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  7. ^ Al-Sayyad, Ayman (30 December 2012). "An Open Letter to Mr. President". Al Shorouk. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  8. ^ Al-Sayyad, Ayman. ""Open letter to the president", English Translation". passionateegyptian. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  9. ^ Ezzat, Dina (18 Apr 2014). "Real citizenship is the great challenge for Egypt's next president: Interview with Ayman Al-Sayyad". Al Ahram. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  10. ^ Al-Sayyad, Ayman (24 February 2013). "في لزوم ما كان يلزم" [What we really lost]. Al Shorouk. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  11. ^ Al-Sayyad, Ayman (3 March 2013). "عن الثورة المضادة". Al Shorouk. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  12. ^ Al-Sayyad, Ayman (8 December 2013). "لا انتقامية .. ولا انتقائية". Al Shorouk. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  13. ^ "أيمن الصياد: تم تشويه "العدالة الإنتقالية" فى مصر". Nisf-el-Dunia Magazine. 22 October 2013. Archived from the original on 14 September 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  14. ^ "برغم وجود وزارة وخبراء وتجارب سابقة.. العدالة الانتقالية فى مصر "وفاة" قبل "الولادة"!". Al-Ahram Al-Arabi. 4 November 2013. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  15. ^ "Ayman Al-Sayyad's Biography". bibalex.org. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  16. ^ "Meet Morsi's presidential team". egyptianchronicles. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  17. ^ AlFasi, Kawther. "'Islamism and the Arab Revolutions: Dynamics of Change', Conference Report" (PDF). casaw.ac.uk. Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World (CASAW). Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  18. ^ "The Unfolding Crisis in Egypt". frontlineclub.com. The Frontline Club and MDI. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  19. ^ "Al-Sayyad: "transitional constitution will calm down the polarised climate", Presidential adviser Ayman Al-Sayyad speaks to DNE". Daily News Egypt. November 3, 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  20. ^ Al-Sayyad, Ayman (8 September 2013). "ألا تكون مكارثيا (in English: To Not Be McCarthyist)". Al Shorouk Newspaper. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  21. ^ Al-Sayyad, Ayman (11 May 2014). "عن التصالح مع المستقبل". Al Shorouk newspaper. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  22. ^ "Challenges to human security in the Arab Countries" (PDF). Arabparliamentary Bulletin (3): 10. November 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  23. ^ "Al-Sayyad's Articles at Al-Shorouk Newspaper". www.shorouknews.com. Al-Shorouk Newspaper. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  24. ^ "التقرير الثقافي العربي". Asharq Al-Awsat Newspaper. 11 December 2011. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  25. ^ "Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation To Publish Specialized Literary Magazine". middleeastevents.com.
  26. ^ "ICFJ Advisory Board". www.icfj.org. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  27. ^ "The 5th Board Member of the Arab Journalism Award". arabjournalismaward.com. Archived from the original on 25 August 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  28. ^ "Biography". bibalex.org. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
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