Profile: Egyptian Human Rights Organization’s chief dies after contracting coronavirus

CAIRO – 26 November 2020: Head of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights Hafez Abu Seada has died aged 55, days after he was moved to a hospital for treatment from coronavirus.

Head of the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights Nehad Aboul Qomsan, wife of the deceased human rights activist, announced his death, calling him “the greatest man she has ever seen”.

Abu Seada was a human rights lawyer and a member of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR).

He was born in Cairo, obtained a BA in law from the Giza-based Cairo University and worked as a human rights lawyer, state’s Al-Ahram reported.

He obtained a PhD in international law in 2011 from Alexandria University and earlier obtained his masters in international, legal, commercial and logistical dealings in 2009 from the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport.

He became the chairman of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights in 2009 and had been a member at the National Council for Human Rights since 2004.

He also was a legal advisor at the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights and an envoy of the International Federation for Human Rights.

Abu Seada participated in many international human rights conferences and attended sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva regularly, as a representative of his organization, which has an advisory membership with the UN, giving it the right to observe the UN sessions.

He married the human rights lawyer Aboul Qomsan and their marriage continued until he died.