Advocating Human Rights and Science in Egypt
Egyptian sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim to receive Human Rights Award from the Academy for his commitment to justice, human rights, and democratic values.
Published September 15, 2003
By Fred Moreno
Academy Contributor

A sociologist who was arrested and tried three times for his outspoken advocacy of human rights in his native Egypt has been named the 2003 recipient of the Heinz R. Pagels Human Rights of Scientists Award, presented annually by The New York Academy of Scientists. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, professor in the Department of Sociology at the American University in Cairo, will be cited for his “relentless activism and commitment to justice, human rights, and democratic values in Egypt.”
The Pagels Award is presented in recognition of the honoree’s contributions to human rights and has been given in the past to such luminaries as Chinese physicist Fang Li-Zhi, American journalist A.M. Rosenthal, Canadian mathematician Israel Halperin, and Russian physicist Andrei Sakharov. Last year’s winner was Cuban economist Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello, who has been under arrest in Havana for several months.
A Man of Integrity and Scholarly Distinction
Prof. Ibrahim, who holds dual U.S. – Egyptian citizenship, has a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Washington and has taught at a number of universities in the United States. He is also director and chairman of the Board of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies. He has written and published extensively, including some 30 books in English and Arabic.
Recognized by colleagues in the scientific community as a man of integrity and scholarly distinction, he has long been a supporter of human rights in Egypt and a model for scientists in other Arab countries. Prof. Ibrahim was arrested in June 2000 for his outspoken advocacy and charged with “disseminating false information harmful to Egypt,” among a number of other accusations. These charges were widely criticized by international human rights groups, including The New York Academy of Sciences, as being unjust and politically motivated. He was tried three times on the same charges, with two of his convictions overturned; he was eventually acquitted in March 2003.