Alees Thomas Samaan (sometimes spelled as Alice) is a Bahraini politician and former ambassador to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. She was the first woman to chair a parliament in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

when in April 2005 she chaired

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...

's upper house of parliament, the Consultative Council. Samaan was one of four women to sit in the Consultative Council. She belongs to the native Bahraini Christian community. In March 2015, Samaan was awarded the

Grassroot Diplomat Grassroot Diplomat is a global non-profit, non-political, diplomatic consultancy established in 2013. The consultancy specialises in digital diplomacy and public diplomacy working with foreign governments and citizen diplomats to help build posi ...

Initiative Honouree for making it her priority to reconcile the people and bring them together. She became the first female Gulf Cooperation Council Ambassador to the UK. In 2002 Ms. Samaan became one of six women appointed to the Shura Council and later made history in the Arab world in 2005 by becoming the first woman to chair a session of Parliament in the region. Covered by the global media, the incident was viewed as a sign of gradual progress towards a more open democracy in Bahrain.

References

External links

Ms Saman's CV on Bahrain's parliament website
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Members of the Consultative Council (Bahrain) Bahraini Christians Bahraini women in politics Bahraini people of Syrian descent Ambassadors of Bahrain to the United Kingdom 21st-century Bahraini women politicians Women ambassadors Bahraini women diplomats 21st-century Bahraini politicians {{Bahrain-politician-stub