Essam Shiha is an Egyptian lawyer, politician and human rights activist. Shiha is a member of the

National Council for Human Rights The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) is an Egyptian human rights organization established in 2003 with a mission of promoting and maintaining human rights in Egypt. The NCHR publishes annual reports concerning the current status of human ...

, president of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights and former member of supreme committee of The Wafd Party Shiha was one of the protegees of one of the party's historical leader

Fouad Serageddin Fouad Pasha Serageddin (2 November 1911 – 9 August 2000), was a leader of Egypt's Wafd Party. When President Hosni Mubarak allowed the Wafd to emerge from a prolonged period of dormancy in 1984, Serageddin proved a skilful political operator ...

and for decades has been an influential leading member of the party. Shiha led a reformist faction of the Wafd that opposed

El-Sayyid el-Badawi El-Sayyid el-Badawi Shehata ( arz, السيد البدوى شحاتة, ) (born 1950) is an Egyptian businessman and the President of Al-Wafd Party. He is the head of the Board of Directors of Al-Hayah Egyptian television network. Early life Ba ...

's leadership of the party which led to his suspension for a few years. However Shiha was reinstated to his old post in the party after

Bahaa El-Din Abu Shoka Mohamed Bahaa Eldeen Abou Shaka is an Egyptian lawyer and politician. He is a professor of public law, and the current President of the New Wafd Party. He is the founder of Abou-Shoka Advocates, a Cairo law practice, and was a member of the Shu ...

replaced el Badawi as party leader. Shiha is also an ardent defender of human rights and basic freedoms, and occupied the post of Secretary General of the

Egyptian Organization for Human Rights The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), founded in April 1985 and with its headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, is a non-profit NGO and one of the longest-standing bodies for the defense of human rights in Egypt. It investigates, monitors, an ...

, one of Egypt's oldest and largest human rights associations; and after the death of EOHR's president

Hafez Abu Seada Hafez Abu Seada ( ar, حافظ أبو سعدة; 1965 – 26 November 2020) was an Egyptian politician, human rights activist, and Chairman of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, Egyptian Organization for Human rights, Egypt's oldest hu ...

Shiha was unanimously elected by the board of trustees to replace him as president. In October 2021 the Egyptian

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

announced the new composition of Egypt's

National human rights institution A national human rights institution (NHRI) is an independent state-based institution with the responsibility to broadly protect and promote human rights in a given country. The growth of such bodies has been encouraged by the Office of the United ...

the

and Essam Shiha was among the principal new appointees. As a member of NCHR Shiha pledged to resume his efforts to promote and defend human rights and basic freedoms in Egypt.

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Egyptian lawyers Wafd Party politicians Egyptian human rights activists 21st-century Egyptian lawyers {{Egypt-law-bio-stub