Esraa Abdel Fattah: Organizing Egypt’s Revolution

Esraa Abdel Fattah is a leading Egyptian democracy and human rights activist. She was dubbed “Facebook Girl” after the Mubarak regime arrested her in 2008 for her part in organizing the April 6 Facebook Youth Movement—a mobilization of thousands of young Egyptians demanding political change.

This April 6 Movement, as it came to be known and of which Esraa was a co-founder, eventually helped to fuel the revolution that ended Mubarak’s reign on February 11, 2011.

Esraa played a leading role in the mass protests in Tahrir Square and is a prominent spokesperson for the youth protest movement in Egypt. She is the media director of the Egyptian NGO, the Egyptian Democratic Academy. During the protests in January and February 2011, Esraa was active on the Internet, on the ground in Tahrir Square, and in the media—regularly updating the news on the opposition both on Twitter and television. Glamour Magazine recently honored her as “Woman of the Year” for her role in the Egypt revolution.