Mozn Hassan

Mozn Hassan (; born 1979) is an Egyptian women's rights campaigner. The founder of Nazra for Feminist Studies, she took part in the protests of the Egyptian revolution of 2011 and worked to help those who were sexually assaulted at the time. Since then she successfully campaigned for changes to be made to the Constitution of Egypt and sexual crime laws to safeguard women. Hassan was awarded the Global Fund for Women’s inaugural Charlotte Bunch Human Rights Award in 2013. She also received the Right Livelihood Awards, known as the "alternative Nobel Peace Prize", in 2016. She is currently subject to a travel ban and asset freeze by the Egyptian government for allegedly violating foreign funding laws.

Early life Mozn Hassan was born in Saudi Arabia in 1979 to Egyptian parents. Her father worked at a university there and her mother was an academic. Hassan had to wear a veil in Saudi Arabia from the age of 10, against her wishes, until the family returned to Egypt when she was 14. Hassan has said that her mother inspired her to become a feminist. The organisation works to document human rights violations across the country. Nazra took an active part in the protests at Tahrir Square during the Egyptian revolution of 2011 and helped to provide a coordinated response to the sexual assaults that occurred there. Also in 2011 the organisation helped to establish a union for bread sellers in Suez. Since 2012 Nazra has helped to relocate 12 survivors of rape and threatened women's rights activists. It has also provided medical and psychological assistance to more than 60 victims of sexual assault and provided legal advice to more than 100 women who were subject to sexual harassment or were arrested due to participation in protests. Since her return to Egypt she has been prevented from leaving the country by a court-issued travel ban.

The actions of the Egyptian authorities were condemned in a joint-statement by 43 women's rights organisations which described Hassan as "a prominent feminist ... known for her extensive work on feminist movement-building and combating sexual violence in the public sphere". A separate statement signed by 130 academics stated that "we consider the investigation [against] Mozn Hassan a direct threat to the feminist and activist engagement of Nazra for Feminist Studies, whose work has focused on contributing to the continuity and development of the feminist movement in Egypt". The travel ban prevented her from travelling to Stockholm to claim her Right Livelihood prize.