Saʿd al-Dīn Ibrāhīm

Saʿd al-Dīn Ibrāhīm (born Dec. 3, 1938, Al-Manṣūrah, Egypt) is an Egyptian American professor and civil rights activist known for his vocal criticism of Egyptian president Hosnī Mubārak.

Ibrāhīm graduated from Cairo University (B.A., 1960) and was awarded a government scholarship to study sociology at the University of Washington (Ph.D., 1968). He took U.S. citizenship and, while teaching at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., met his future wife, Barbara Lethem. In 1975 Ibrāhīm returned to Cairo, where he won a tenured position at the American University. He performed pioneering research on militant Islamic movements in Egypt. In 1988 he founded the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies, which soon became a leading institution in the Muslim world for the study of human rights, civil society, and minority rights.

On June 30, 2000, Ibrāhīm was arrested and imprisoned by Egyptian authorities. Two of the charges against him were related to a $250,000 European Commission grant Ibrāhīm had won to make a documentary about voting rights in Egypt. The charge that he had received funds from foreign organizations without government approval was considered suspect by many because the Ibn Khaldun Center was a registered organization that paid Egyptian taxes and therefore was entitled to make such transactions. Similarly, the embezzlement charge was shaky because Ibrāhīm’s handling of the grant money had been properly audited. The third accusation—that Ibrāhīm had defamed Egypt’s reputation abroad—stemmed from his participation in seminars on the plight of the Coptic population, who had suffered widespread discrimination at the hands of the Egyptian authorities, and from his studies on parliamentary elections that proved unflattering to the Mubārak regime. On Aug. 10, 2000, Ibrāhīm was released on bail, and his trial opened in Cairo some three months later, on November 18.

On May 21, 2001, less than two hours after the defense lawyers had completed their summation, Egypt’s High Security Court found Ibrāhīm guilty of the charges against him. Sentenced together with 27 co-defendants, Ibrāhīm received seven years’ imprisonment at hard labour, despite the fact that he was age 62 and in poor health. Ibrāhīm’s case sparked considerable tension between Egypt and the United States, an ally, and led to U.S. threats to withhold aid over the issue. In March 2003, after multiple retrials, Ibrāhīm was acquitted of the charges by Egypt’s Court of Cassation. In 2008 Ibrāhīm left Egypt, opting for voluntary exile in the United States rather than risk arrest with his return. In August 2008 Ibrāhīm was convicted and sentenced to prison, in absentia, for damaging Egypt’s reputation; the conviction was later overturned.