Ahmed Hararah (

Egyptian Arabic Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( ar, العامية المصرية, ), or simply Masri (also Masry) (), is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic dialect in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and o ...

: "أحمد محمد علي البلاسي "حرارة, born February 11, 1980) is an Egyptian political activist who was blinded in both eyes in separate protesting incidents during the

2011 Egyptian Revolution The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...

. He lost his first eye to Police gunshots on 28 January (also known as the Friday of Wrath), and his second eye also to police gunshots during the events of Mohamed Mahmoud on 19 November of the same year. The nickname "Hararah" means heat and zeal. Hararah continued his activism for several years following the revolution. Among his most famous actions was forming the polity party Dostor, along with other prominent figures including Dr. Mohamed El-Baradie. Hararah was also a prominent figure in modifying the articles in the Egyptian Constitution that guarantee the rights of disabled people. He used his fame to advocate for many crucial political and human rights issues at the time. After losing his career as a dentist, Hararah decided to pursue his studies in a different field and has already obtained a Master's degree in Social Policy from

LSE LSE may refer to: Computing * LSE (programming language), a computer programming language * LSE, Latent sector error, a media assessment measure related to the hard disk drive storage technology * Language-Sensitive Editor, a text editor used on ...

University in London and is currently pursuing his second Master's degree in Middle East Issues with the AUC University in Cairo. He also works as a part time researcher. Hararah is married and currently lives in Cairo.

About

The former dentist became a symbol of the

25 January Revolution The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...

in which protestors called for the removal of President

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...

. He initially decided to join the Revolution to protest against police brutality against the poor and the weak in Egypt and continued to call for the slogans of the Revolution ‘bread, freedom, and social justice’. Hararah was named the Person of the Year 2011 in the Times Magazine and interviewed widely during the years following the Revolution.

Injuries

Hararah sustained injuries that left him blind.

Right eye

On January 28, 2011, known as the Friday of Wrath, protesters clashed with police on the Qasr El Nile Bridge. Hararah felt it was the first day all of Egypt showed up. Hararah was shot in the face with a shotgun and after three days in a coma woke up in hospital. The gunshot's pelts caused 64 lacerations to his head, 4 caused his right eye’s retina to completely burn, 6 were sustained to his neck, and 4 had injured his lungs.None of the pelts were removed.

Left eye

On November 19, 2011 Hararah was shot a second time while demonstrating on Mohamed Mahmoud St. near Tahrir Square, but this shotgun was loaded with one large pellet, which hit him directly in the left eye, resulting in total blindness.

References

External links

Ahmed Harara: One year after the "25 January Revolution"Ahmed Harara on TwitterIsquat al-Nizam Wiki Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harara, Ahmed 1980 births Living people Egyptian activists Egyptian revolutionaries People of the Egyptian revolution of 2011 Place of birth missing (living people) Egyptian blind people