Diaa Rashwan (, born 1 January 1960) is an Egyptian journalist, politician and the current Chairman of the

State Information Service The State Information Service is an Politics of Egypt, Egyptian government agency affiliated to the President of Egypt, Egyptian Presidency. It is the official media and public relations apparatus of the Egyptian state, with a number of local an ...

. Rashwan graduated from

Cairo University Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...

in 1981 with a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

from

, he also received a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in the same field from the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

based

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University () is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to the Middle Ages in 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon as a constituent college of the Unive ...

in 1985. Rashwan began his career in

Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies The al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies (ACPSS) is an Egyptian research institute specializing in political science created in 1968 as part of the al-Ahram Foundation. Independence In October 2019, during the Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ...

in the early 1980s as a researcher and has been an expert scholar over there since then and many years later in 2011 he became the Director of the Center. Rashwan was a dissident during the Mubarak era, and a founding member of

Kefaya Kefaya ( ''kefāya'', , "enough") is the unofficial moniker of the Egyptian Movement for Change ( ''el-Haraka el-Masreyya men agl el-Taghyeer''), a grassroots coalition which prior to the 2011 revolution drew its support from across Egypt's po ...

movement which was the seed of the 2011 revolution. Rashwan is also a member of the board of trustees 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, a ...

since the 1980s. In 2010 he nominated himself in the

parliamentary elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

against the candidate of the ruling National Democratic Party contesting the seat of

Armant Armant (; or ''jwn.w-šmꜥ.w''; Coptic_language#Bohairic, Bohairic: ; Coptic_language#Sahidic, Sahidic: ), also known as Hermonthis (), is a town located about south of Thebes, Egypt, Thebes. It was an important Middle Kingdom of Egypt, Middle ...

, however he lost to the NDP candidate due to widespread rigging of the elections by Mubarak's government. In March 2013 Rashwan was elected president of the Egyptian Press Syndicate however he failed to secure a reelection for a second term. As chief of the Press Syndicate, Rashwan strongly opposed the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

-led government of president

Mohamed Morsi Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa Al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012June 2013 protests that led to Morsi's subsequent overthrow in July that year. Rashwan was chosen to be appointed to the 50-member constitution committee during the second transitional period to draft Egypt's current constitution. The constitution was later approved by popular referendum in January 2014. In June 2017 Rashwan was appointed by President el-Sisi as Chairman of the

and later that year he was appointed as a member of the Supreme Council for Combating Terrorism and Extremism. In March 2019 Rashwan once again became president of the press syndicate after being elected by a landslide while retaining his position as senior government official which drew the criticism of some observers. In April 2022 the Egyptian president declared his intention to hold a national dialogue in Egypt under the auspices of the National Training Academy that will include all political parties including most of the secular opposition forces and all segments of Egyptian civil society. In June of the same year Diaa Rashwan was selected as the General coordinator of the National Dialogue in his capacity as both the Chairman of SIS and The President of the Press Syndicate. Rashwan couldn't run in March 2023 Egyptian association of journalists elections due to the 2 consecutive term limit stipulated by the law. Khaled Al-Balshy a dissident leftist journalist won the elections beating the pro government candidate Khaeld Meery. Rashwan comes from a political family, his father Youssef Rashwan was a member of the Egyptian parliament representing the district of Armant in Upper Egypt.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rashwan, Diaa 1960 births Living people Egyptian journalists Egyptian politicians Cairo University alumni Sorbonne University