User:Ossoltan94/sandbox/Tarek Hussein

Tarek Hussein ( Arabic: طارق حسين‎‎,) (b. August 15, 1993), human rights activists and lawyer, best known for his work on the case of Tiran and Sanafir, the notorious Egyptian judicial case to stop the surrender of Egyptian Islands to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Tarek Hussein, became politically active with the spark of the Egyptian Revolution which led his activity to the study of law, to focus on issues of social justice, human rights, and more. Tarek Hussein is a member of the Constitution Party in Egypt and has been a a colleague of Former Vice President Mohamed Baradei and Presidential Candidate Khaled Ali. Tarek Hussein was arrested twice, once during the reign of overthrown Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and another following his work on the Egyptian Islands under the reign of current President Abdelfattah El-Sisi.

Upbringing
Flashback to 2010 in a quiet village in Al-Qalyoubia governorate right before the uprising, a kid sat in a high school classroom with enough understanding that a president should not be in power for 30 years and that opposition should not only be composed of underground Muslim Brotherhood members, but not enough knowledge or awareness to take action.

Tarek Hussein had no idea that, in six years, he would be a lawyer to defend those who stood up for the values of revolution.

“Political spaces were non-existent in governorates,” began Hussein.

Abu Zaabal prison had opened in Al-Qalyoubia and it was complete chaos, Hussein recalled, but no protests had erupted, driving Hussein to travel to Cairo to be part of the unfolding events.

“I participated in revolution for the sake of understanding the situation,” Hussein recalled.

Basic understanding of how toppled Hosni Mubarak could not be in power for 30 years was not to be found among Hussein’s circles in his hometown.

Hussein went back to school, with a hope renewed, and a foot having taken its first step on the path of political awareness. He vividly recollects his headmaster doubting the revolution, and any changes to follow. The 18-year-old strongly defended what he lived and the martyrs the he saw fall.

“I felt proud because I stood up to what I believe in,” Hussein said.

By the end of 2011, Hussein had started law school, and protested in each and every protest since then, from the Mohamed Mahmoud events, where clashes between protesters and security forces took place marking one of the peaks of the 25 January revolution, till after 3 July and Abdelfattah Al-Sisi’s takeover.

“After the revolution I imagined we would live a Utopia,” but by the end of the year Hussein’s dream crashed. With this crash, he came to realize what human rights are. It is a crime to torture people behind bars, it is a violation to imprison anybody without knowing why, home raids should not happen, and protests are a universal right.

“I researched, read, and listened to others. I learnt so much from those I met at protests,” Hussein said. He took his learning process, and his newly found citizen reporting skills to social media, becoming the popular Tarek “Tito.”

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