Gehad El-Haddad

Gehad El-Haddad (Arabic: جهاد الحداد; born c. 1981) is an Egyptian political activist for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. He acted as media spokesman for the Brotherhood from May 2013 until he was arrested on 17 September 2013.[1][2]

He became the most recognized face of the Muslim Brotherhood in foreign media during the period following former president Mohamed Morsi's ouster. He held several interviews with international media from inside Rabaa Square where protesters made a sit-in for more than a month.[3]

Early life

The son of Essam El-Haddad, a senior advisor for foreign relations for the Brotherhood, Gehad El-Haddad grew up in Alexandria. He worked for the Industrial Modernization Centre and then the Clinton Climate Initiative. While studying strategic marketing and filmmaking on a Chevening Scholarship at De Montfort University in the United Kingdom, he met Egyptian televangelist Amr Khaled and spent a year working on a television series with him called "Sunna al-Hayat" — "The Makers of Life."[4][2]

Political career

El-Haddad worked as a media strategist for Morsi's presidential campaign in 2011.[2] He volunteered for the Muslim Brotherhood Renaissance Project, which started while Morsi was in office. He was arrested along with other Muslim Brotherhood leaders in 2007 and was released in March 2011.[4] El-Haddad was again arrested in September 2013 as part of a military crackdown on Morsi's supporters following the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état, with officials citing "suspicion of incitement to violence".[5]

In February 2017, as some reports emerged that the Trump administration was mulling designating the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organisation,[6] Gehad El-Haddad wrote an op-ed for The New York Times from his prison cell in Tora Prison in Cairo outlining that the Muslim Brotherhood was not a terrorist organisation but rather a peaceful socio-political organisation.[7] Following its publication, he was moved to solitary confinement in Scorpion Prison.[8][9]

While in prison, he went on hunger strike.[10] On 25 October 2019, his brother Abdullah stated that Gehad had lost his ability to walk as a result of beatings and subsequent medical negligence.[11]

References

  1. ^ ""الإخوان" تشكل لجنة من أعضائها للتواصل وزيارة المؤسسات والشخصيات الإعلامية | المصري اليوم". www.almasryalyoum.com.
  2. ^ a b c "Brotherhood spokesman Gehad al-Haddad held in Egypt". BBC News. September 17, 2013. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
  3. ^ "MB spokesperson Gehad Haddad's family: We don't know if he's alive or dead". Mada Masr. 2015-10-06. Retrieved 2025-06-11.
  4. ^ a b Marroushi, Nadine (July 31, 2012). "Renaissance man: Gehad El Haddad works as the Islamist project's pragmatist". Egypt Independent. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
  5. ^ Kingsley, Patrick (September 17, 2013). "Muslim Brotherhood spokesman arrested in continuing Egypt crackdown". The Guardian. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
  6. ^ Baker, Peter (7 February 2017). "White House Weighs Terrorist Designation for Muslim Brotherhood". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  7. ^ El-Haddad, Gehad (22 February 2017). "Opinion | I Am a Member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Not a Terrorist". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  8. ^ "Jailed Brotherhood spokesman disciplined for New York Times article". Middle East Monitor. February 28, 2017.
  9. ^ "Egypt: End Gehad el-Haddad's solitary confinement and denial of medical care". Amnesty International Canada. May 28, 2018. Archived from the original on February 26, 2021. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  10. ^ "More inmates join hunger strike against abuses at Aqrab Prison". Mada Masr. 2016-02-29. Retrieved 2025-06-11.
  11. ^ "Egyptian political prisoner Gehad el-Haddad has lost ability to walk, says family". Middle East Eye. 25 October 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
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