| Laila Soueif | |
|---|---|
 Soueif with her daughter Mona Seif | |
| Born | 1956 (age 68–69) |
| Nationality | Egyptian |
| Alma mater | Cairo University |
| Occupation(s) | human and women's rights activist, and mathematician |
| Title | Professor of mathematics, Cairo University |
| Spouse | Ahmed Seif El-Islam (died 2014) |
| Children | Alaa Abd El-Fattah Mona Seif Sanaa Seif |
| Relatives | Ahdaf Soueif (sister) |
Laila Soueif (Arabic: ليلى سويف; born 1956) is an Egyptian human and women's rights activist, a mathematician and professor at Cairo University. Al Jazeera has called her "an Egyptian revolutionary". She is the widow of fellow activist Ahmed Seif El-Islam, and all three of their children are noted activists: Alaa Abd El-Fattah, Sanaa Seif, and Mona Seif. Her sister is the novelist Ahdaf Soueif.
Early life
Soueif was born in 1956, the daughter of university professors. She went to her first political protest in 1972 in Cairo's Tahrir Square, when she was just 16. Two hours later her parents tracked her down and brought her home, "From that, I learned that it was easier to defy the state than to defy my parents".
Soueif studied mathematics at Cairo University in the mid-1970s.
Career
Soueif is a professor of mathematics at Cairo University.
Soueif is the founder of the 9 March Professors' Movement for Universities Independence.
In November 2014, Soueif and her daughter Mona Seif ended a 76-day hunger strike, protesting against the imprisonment of her son Alaa Abd El-Fattah, but El-Fattah and his sister Sanaa Seif reportedly remained on hunger strike.
Personal life
Soueif met her future husband, Ahmed Seif El-Islam, while at Cairo University in the mid-1970s, where he was already the "leader of an underground communist student cell calling for revolution". He became a left-wing human rights activist and lawyer, and they were married until his death in 2014.
They are the parents of the activists Alaa Abd El-Fattah, Sanaa Seif and Mona Seif. Her sister is the novelist Ahdaf Soueif.
References
- ^ "An Egyptian revolutionary". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
- ^ Al-awsat, Asharq. "Laila Soueif Archives - ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive". ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
- ^ "Loading site please wait..." dailynewsegypt.com. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
- "Family of jailed Egypt activists on hunger strike". timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
- Scott Anderson (4 May 2017). Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart. Pan Macmillan. p. 48. ISBN 978-1-5098-5272-7. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
External links
- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Laila Soueif", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
- 1956 births
- Living people
- Egyptian activists
- Egyptian women activists
- Egyptian feminists
- Cairo University alumni
- Academic staff of Cairo University
- 20th-century Egyptian mathematicians
- Women mathematicians
- Egyptian human rights activists
- Egyptian revolutionaries
- Female revolutionaries
- 21st-century Egyptian mathematicians