From 2002-2013, Hossam Bahgat was the founding executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, where he still remains as chairman.  He recently became an investigative journalist for the independent news service Mada Masr.  A journalist and human rights defender with a background in political science and international human rights law, Hossam is based in Cairo.  He serves as board chair of the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net), a member of the board of directors of the Fund for Global Human Rights, and an advisory board member of the Open Society Foundation’s Arab Regional Office and its Justice Initiative.  In 2010, Human Rights Watch awarded Hossam the Allison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism.