Mohamed Soliman

Background

Mohamed was born to a middle-class family in 1991 in Cairo. Mohamed holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Construction Engineering from the Egyptian Aviation Academy.

Early activism

Mohamed was a protester from the Egyptian opposition movement Kefayaat the age of 14. Then, he joined the National Association for Change, and worked on collecting petitions calling for reforming the political system in Egypt. Mohammed was one of the organizers for Mohamed ElBaradei campaign for presidency pre Egyptian revolution of 2011.

The Constitution Party

Mohamed played a role in collecting membership for the recently established the Dostour Party. Shortly after establishing the party, Mohamed served as an executive board member. Mohamed was tasked with the establishment of the party student branch. He also manages the party's foreign relations committee. The departure of Mohamed ElBaradei to Vienna changed the party leadership structure. The party members elected Mohamed as a political officer leading the party political bureau. In his term as a political officer, Mohamed engineered the party campaign to support the opposition presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi against Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in the Egyptian presidential election, 2014 Mohamed drafts the party policy against the unconstitutional regime policies and their continuous attack on freedom of speech, human rights and activists. Mohamed is also critical of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's foreign policy towards Russia, Syria and Yemen. Mohamed led the party opposition campaign against The regime deal with Saudi Arabia that included the giving away of Tiran and Sanafir islands to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Al-Midan Student group

When AlDostour's party first started, Mohamed was elected as the President of AlDostour’s Party Student chapter then founded Al-Midan chapters in 20 public and private universities. Mohamed oversaw Al-Midan and a wide ranging coalition of the liberal student campaign in the 2013 student union election against the Muslim Brotherhood students. Al-Midan became the majority in most of the Student unions. During his two-year leadership in Al-Midan Student group, Mohamed voiced his opposition against decisions and statements made by the party’s political committee and identified himself with significant statements that reflect the student opinions, who are the largest supporters of the party, rather than the party’s leaders. Mohamed criticized and attacked Al-Midan Affiliated Egypt student union president Mohamed Badran, when he supported the brutality against the Muslim Brotherhood students. Mohamed set partnership between Al-Midan and US-Middle East Youth Network. The network, which is a platform that aims to enrich the debate and exchange of views between American and middle eastern youth about the ongoing political situation such as the Arab Spring and the rise of Islamic State.

2012 Egyptian protests

Mohamed was one of the architects of the 2012 Egyptian protests that erupted against the former president Mohamed Morsi. Morsi issued a constitutional decree that granted his position legislative and judicial powers to use against his opposition groups. Mohamed was involved organizing demonstrations, rallies and making media appearances. Mohamed publicity challenged president Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood group. He publicly called Morsi's constitutional decree undemocratic. Mohammed and other leaders from The constitution party leaderships were accused of toppling down the Muslim Brotherhood regime. This accusation led to several investigations against Mohammed and his fellows. Mohamed provided local and foreign newspapers with detailed information on the numbers of party members who are imprisoned for their political views against president Morsi.

Egypt, five years on

Mohamed appeared in a The Economist documentary by British journalist Leila Dundas entitled “Egypt, five years on". The documentary which included interviews with Sally Toma and Mahmoud Salem. Mohamed was highly critical of the Sisi regime's human rights violations and crackdown on civil society. He also predicted a new wave of demonstrations against the regime in every town square will be a new Tahrir Square. The documentary sparked a state media attack against Mohamed and his colleagues.

post June30th

After the military intervention in the political process and ousting president Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian politics lost the freedoms it gained after the revolution. Mohamed voiced the anger views of the liberal groups in various occasions. Mohamed criticized the regime of excluding everyone from the decision making process. Mohamed was promoting for the constitution party's ideological stands that contradict between the army and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt Israel relations

Mohamed has a research focus on the Egyptian Israeli relations in lights of the new regime change in Cairo. Mohamed has published extensively on the security and political cooperation between Egypt and Israel.

U.S. military aid to Egypt

Mohamed is a supporter of the U.S. military to Egypt. He also made positive comments on U.S. cut of aid. Mohammed considers the military aid a fundamental tool for the Egyptian military war on terror in Sinia.

Political Analysis

Mohamed studied construction engineering but became engaged in political analysis at the start of the Egyptian uprising in 2011. He was driven to analyze the political and security events as they unfolded, and by his graduation he had launched a career of research. Mohamed’s balanced analysis and commentary throughout the 2011 Egyptian revolution, 2013 Egyptian coup d'état, and following the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi attracted a global audience. Mohamed writes on Egypt & Middle East Politics in many prominent English and Arabic publications. Mohamed's articles have been featured in Foreign Affairs, OpenDemocracy, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, PJ Media, Fikra Forum, La Stampa, DailyNews Egypt and Eutopia magazine. Mohamed has a weekly column at Egyptian Daily Tahrir News and also wrote for Al-Masry Al-Youm and Al-Maqal News. Mohamed has research interest in the Egypt–Israel relations , Egyptian intervention in Libya, Egypt–Palestine relations, Sinai insurgency and Lone wolves.

Published works