In a In a dictatorship, independent journalism by default becomes a form of activism, and the spread of information is essentially an act of agitation.

My name is Hossam el-Hamalawy, an Egyptian journalist and scholar-activist, currently based in Germany, where I received my PhD in Political Science from Freie Universität Berlin. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the role of the security services in the 2013 Egyptian counterrevolution.
Over the past two decades, I’ve worked as a news reporter, photographer, editor for a number of Egyptian and international news outlets, such as Al-Masry Al-Youm and the Los Angeles Times. I have also published opinion pieces in the Guardian, New York Times, Jacobin, Middle East Eye, New Arab, Al-Jazeera and others. My reporting on the Egyptian uprising earned me the 2011 Anna Politkovskaya Award for Courage in Journalism.
I send out a newsletter, usually twice a week through Substack, including updates and analyses related to the Egyptian security sector. Please consider subscribing. To contact me: hossam[at]arabawy[dot]org