Al-Ahram Weekly Issue No. 242 12 - 18 October 1995
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

For women and ecology

Farkhonda Hassan, 65, is the secretary-general of the NDP's Women's Committee, a member of the Shura Council and a geology professor at the American University in Cairo (AUC).

As a member of the Shura Council, Hassan campaigned for women's rights, the environment and scientific and technological progress. She was recently a member of the official Egyptian delegation to the Beijing women's conference. In the 1980s she was instrumental in the passing of a number of laws concerning the protection of the Nile from pollution, the founding of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency and nature reserves such as Ras Mohamed. Early in her political career, Hassan also opposed the attempt to establish a nuclear power plant along the northern coast of Egypt, which she felt would be a form of technological and scientific colonisation.

Born in 1930, Hassan graduated from Cairo University's Faculty of Science in 1952. It was not until a decade later that she pursued her post-graduate studies in Pittsburgh University where she received a PhD in geology in 1970. She has been a professor of geology at the AUC since 1964.

First elected to the People's Assembly in 1979, she has served for four successive terms, and was the first woman from the Third World to receive an honorary life membership of the International Parliamentary Union. During her career, Hassan has held a number of posts in international institutions concerned with women, the environment and development.

Parliamentary diplomat

Mohamed Abdellah, 49, is chairman of the foreign affairs committee in parliament as well as the NDP's foreign affairs and Arab relations committees, and is vice-president of Alexandria University.

Abdellah believes that the existence of a parliamentary foreign affairs committee is necessary to foster relations with other parliamentary forums. In an evolving world of diplomacy, argues Abdellah, contacts on the executive level are no longer the only instrument of foreign policy. "Hence it is important to develop parliamentary channels which can be very effective." A specialist in the tax system, his other main interests are foreign relations and developing the educational system.

Born in 1946 in Alexandria, Abdellah graduated from the Faculty of Commerce, Alexandria University, when he was 20, and returned to lecture there after receiving his doctorate. While preparing for his PhD in economics from Paris University, Abdellah was a syndicated reporter on economic news and later a writer on Middle East affairs for Agency France Press. While in France, the 1973 War broke out, prompting him to become an activist among students, in the media and televised debates.

He was one of the 100 founders of the National Democratic Party, soon become NDP secretary-general for Alexandria and was elected to the People's Assembly as year later. In 1982 he was appointed to the NDP's general secretariat.

In 1987 he received a Francophone decoration as a member of the Francophone Parliamentary Union and five years later was awarded the Legion d'Honneur by the French government.

Contentious legislator

Fawzia Abdel-Sattar Ali, 64, heads the legislative committee of the People Assembly and is a member of the NDP's women's, legislative, housing and education committees. She is a law professor at Cairo University, where she has also been appointed legal councellor.

Abdel-Sattar, among others, was at the centre of the controversy which erupted this summer after Law 93 of 1995, which stiffened penalties for publication offences, was rammed through parliament. The Press Syndicate reacted by deciding to withhold the publication of her picture or stories about her. On the issue of the press, Abdel-Sattar says that while both sides are entitled to their points of view, it is parliament which has the final say. She insists that "journalists who work within the legal and constitutional boundaries have nothing to fear".

In the past Abdel-Sattar initiated a fruitful five-year campaign for the establishment of private universities in Egypt, and her interest in women's issues led her to lobby for the appointment of women judges and omdas (village heads) and the simplification of procedures in the personal status law. Abdel-Sattar's last official trip abroad was as member of the Egyptian parliamentary delegation to the Beijing women's conference.

Born in Alexandria in 1931, Abdel-Sattar received a law degree from Cairo University in 1957 and a PhD in criminal law in 1967. In the same year she began lecturing in criminal law at Cairo University and is registered as a lawyer as a lawyer with the Court of Cassation. In 1990 Abdel-Sattar was the first woman to become legal counsellor to Cairo University.

Five years earlier Abdel-Sattar had joined the NDP and become a member of the party's woman, housing, education and legislative committees. In 1987 she was appointed to parliament and became chair of the legislative committee in 1990.

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