Contents

Bothaina Kamel

Egyptian democracy activist

Bothaina Kamel
Born	(1962-04-18) 18 April 1962 (age 62) Cairo, Egypt
Nationality	Egyptian
Alma mater	Cairo University
Known for	Political activist Presenter
Political party	Independent Constitution Party[1]

Bothaina Kamel (Egyptian Arabic: بثينة كامل; born 18 April 1962, in Cairo) is an Egyptian television anchor, activist, and politician. A long-time pro-democracy advocate, particularly in Shayfeencom, her professional career has been marked by repeated conflict with authorities. In June 2011 she announced her candidacy for the Egyptian presidency,^[2] although she did not receive enough signatures to make the ballot.^[3] She announced on 12 April 2014 that she would run in the 2014 presidential election^[1] though she was unable to collect enough endorsements to run.^[4]

Kamel hosted an Egyptian radio program called Nighttime Confessions from 1992 to 1998. She later worked as a new presenter for Egyptian state television, and hosted a show called Please Understand Me on the Saudi Arabian-owned Orbit satellite TV network. In each assignment, she eventually encountered official resistance: Confessions was cancelled after outcries by religious conservatives; she took a leave of absence from Egyptian state television rather than participate in propaganda surrounding the 2005 elections; and Understand Me was taken off the air by the Saudi producers when they became concerned that its coverage of the 2011 Egyptian revolution would implicate Saudi interests.^[2]

She has long been active in pro-democracy activities, often present a pro-democracy rallies, forming the election monitoring group Shayfeencom, in 2005, and immediately taking to the streets during the 2011 revolution.^[2]

She is a self-described social democrat,^[2] and ran as an independent. A Sunni Muslim, she has taken anti-sectarian stances, endorsing proposals for equal treatment of Coptic and Muslim places of worship and for trying those who incite sectarian violence.^[2] Additionally, she wears a Muslim crescent and a Christian cross necklace both are symbols of Egyptian unity and also were the symbol of the 1919 Egyptian Revolution.^[5] She criticized the military, rather than either sect, for sectarian clashes that have erupted in the wake of the revolution.^[2] Other positions include reducing the minimum age of parliamentarians from 30 to 22 in view of the youth participation in the revolution.