Sa’eda Al-Kilani
Mob: +962-79- 5578880 e-mail: saedaa@gmail.com
PO Box: 815454 Amman Jordan
Date of birth
:
 July 14, 1967
Nationality
:
 Jordanian,
Career
:
 Writer/ Media Freedoms & Human Rights Expert
Work Experience 1999 - until Now
:
Founder/ Director of the Arab Archives Institute for Publishing and Research.

 
The Institute documents, carries out studies
and organises conferences on human rights, media freedoms, transparency and women rights in the Arab countries.
2009-2010   Director for the MENA region - London – based ARTICLE 19
1996 - Jan 2004
:
 Correspondent for Reporters Sans Frontieres.
2000 - Jan 2004
:
Representative/founding member of a chapter for Transparency International in Jordan
1989 -1998
:
Senior political Reporter for the Jordan Times daily
Covering regional summits of leaders, council of ministers, parliament, press freedoms, political parties. In-depth reporting on human rights, women issues, islamic issues
1992 -1996
:
 Columnist /Reporter for the French page “Le Jourdain” at the weekly newspaper the Star – Jordan.
1990 -1991
:
Reporter / Translator for CBS ( American TV), Canal + (French TV), Antenne II (French TV) – Jordan
Conducting interviews, preparing press summaries and translating articles during the Gulf War.
• Contributing writer for several publications, in Arabic, English and French including the French La Croix daily, the French L’express magazine, the Canadian New Internationationalist magazine and Arab human rights organisations reports.
• Contributing Researcher to several international reports and books including the Global Corruption Report, World Bank report, Middle East Report (MERIP), and the US based Lawyers Committee’s report.
• Founding member of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network.
• Member of IFEX – International Freedom of Expression Exchange.
• Member of the Bjornstjerne Akademiet- The Norwegian Academy for Literature and Freedom of Expression.

 
Educational Record
:
  
Oct. 1992
:
Maitrise in Political Science – University of Paris VIII – France
Oct. 1998
:
Sorbonne 1 – French Cultural Center- Jordan
July- Aug.89
:
University courses in French Literature at the University of Bourgogne – Dijon, France.
1989
:
BA English Literature – University of Jordan.
1983
:
Certificate of Proficiency in English – University of Michigan.
Languages
:
Arabic, English, French - fluent in writing and speaking all three languages.
Publications
2007   Editor of a book entitled Against Corruption- The Role of Arab Civil Society in Fighting Corruption  in cooperation with GTZ.
2005
:
Author of a book entitled Jordan Press Association – The Unwritten history.
2004
:
Author of a book entitled Freedom Fries: Fried Freedoms, a study on Arab satellite channels between state control and western pressure.
2002
:
Author of a book entitled Press Freedoms in Jordan,
published by the Euro-Mediterranean Network for Human Rights- Copenhagen and the Arab Archives Institute, May 2002
2002
:
Co-author of a book entitled Wasta- The Declared Secret ,
published by the Arab Archives Institute. March 2002
2001
:
A report on Corruption in the Middle East and North Africa region, published in the Annual report of Transparency International, 2001.
2001
:
A study on Monitoring Elections in Jordan carried out with the support of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung- Amman
2000
:
Co-editor of a book entitled Towards Transparency in Jordan, published by the Arab Archives Institute.
1998
:
A report on press freedoms entitled Black year for democracy in Jordan on media freedoms in Jordan presented at the European Parliament and supported by Euro-Mediterranean Network for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, Committee to Protect Journalists, ARTICLE 19, Federation Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l’Homme and Reporters Sans Frontieres.
1997
:
A book-report on Press Freedoms entitled Blaming the Press ,
published by the London-based ARTICLE 19 organisation. October 1997.
1993
:
A booklet on the situation of human rights in Jordan, entitled And Jordan Too.
1993
:
Co-author and editor of a booklet entitled Islamic Action Front Party.
To be published
:
  
2011
:
 Poets  and Princes: Diary of  a human rights activist in the Middle East
 
Scholarships
:
* One-week fellowship at the Salzburg Seminar in October 2000, Salzburg, Austria.
   
* Three-week scholarship to the USA in 1999 upon the invitation of the US State department.
   
*Two-month scholarship to France in 1996 offered by the French Center for Training Journalists (CFPJ) in France. The course was entitled Intensive training in Journalism
   
*Three –week scholarship to Japan in 1995 offered by the Japanese Foreign Ministry. I conducted interviews with officials, politicians and human rights activists
   
*Six-month scholarship to the U.S.A in 1994 offered by the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships. I worked as an intern reporter/columnist for the daily Charlotte Observer, in North Carolina.
Lectures    
2000 - 2010
  
Participated, given lectures, chaired sessions, organised and co-organised conferences and workshops regionally and internationally related to media freedoms, freedom of expression, human rights, governance, transparency and fighting corruption. Countries included South Africa, United States, France, Lebanon, Morocco, Canada, Egypt, Italy, Yemen, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden.
 
Early key lectures delivered:
 
2004 September 
 :
Freedom of thought in islamic history, delivered in Alexandria, Egypt upon the invitation of the Beacon for Freedom of Expression, Norway.
2003 May
:

Jordan Press and Publications law, delivered at the Dead Sea, Jordan upon the invitation of the Jordan Press Association
2000  

February: Media And democracy in the Arab world, delivered in Amman, Jordan at the invitation of the International Press Institute.

February: Press freedoms in Jordan, delivered in Amman, upon the invitation of the London-based ARTICLE 19.
1999  

December: My experience at the European Parliament, delivered in Warsaw, Poland.

October: My experience at the European Parliament, delivered at the European Parliament, Brussels.

August: Press and Publications law in Jordan delivered in Athens, Greece upon the invitation of the Arab movement for Human Rights

April: Freedom of Expression in the Euro-Med region and the Barcelona Declaration, delivered at a conference on Human Rights and the Peace Process in Stuttgart, Germany
1998
:
*Black year for democracy in Jordan, delivered at a conference on Elections in third world countries, in Providence, USA
1996
:
*Stereotyping Women in the Media delivered at Queen Zein al Sharaf Complex, Jordan.
Aug.1994 - Nov. 1994
 :
*Islam and the Middle East Peace Process delivered to committees of the Council on Foreign Relations.
*Women and Islam delivered at several American universities and churches.
Both types of lectures were delivered at six different American states upon the request of the New York based Council on Foreign Relations. I was selected one of three best speakers by the Council for the 1994 year.
The states included: Boston, Kansas, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Nebraska
1993
 :
*Journalism and Religion delivered at al Zarqa Secondary School – Jordan
*Freedom of the Press delivered at Abdul Hamid Sharaf School – Jordan
Conferences :

As Director of the Arab Archives Institute, and in 2009 as ARTICLE 19 MENA Director, I organised conferences related to transparency, media freedoms, human rights and promoting democracy in Arab countries. The main conferences are:

*December 13-15, 2009: Organised an international conference on right to information and transparency in the MENA region.

* 2009: Organised seven workshops in Yemen on Freedom of Expression and access to information.

*September 2006: Regional conference on Transparency in coordination with Transparency International.  
  
*November 30, December 1, *2005: An international conference on Media Freedoms II. December 6-8, 2003: An international conference on Media Freedoms I.

 *March 31-April 2, 2002: An Arab and international conference entitled: Transparency II- the different facets of Wasta”.

 *May 22, 2000: A conference entitled “Towards Transparency in Jordan I”.

 Details of these and other conferences, lectures, studies and reports can be seen at the Arab Archives Institute website: www.alarcheef.com

 

 
Successful Campaign:
 

As a human rights activist and media expert, I conducted two important campaigns to change and introduce laws. Both were successful.

    * Changing the Press Law: With the help and support of the Euro-Meditteranean Human Rights Network, I lobbied at the European Parliament for the change of the 1999 Press and Publications law that imposed sweeping censorship in Jordan and led to the closure of 13 newspapers. The campaign was very successful and my report was supported by ARTICLE 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), Reporters sans Frontières, Centre for Media Freedom in the Middle East and North Africa and EMHRN. The government pledged and did change the law the following year.

* Introducing Legislation on Wasta: As AAI Director, I suggested and carried out a campaign against Wasta in Jordan (the use of public post for private gain) with the support from AAI colleagues. The campaign - that included studies, opinion poll, conferences and lobbying the government- ultimately went on five years (2000-2005) through studies, press releases and conferences as well as lobbying the Jordanian government. It finally led to the government’s adoption of a code of honor against the use of Wasta.  With the special support of HM King Abdullah and the remarkable cooperation of the Prime Minister and the Jordanian government, a national promise to promulgate a law was made at our conference in 2005. A year later, in 2006, Parliament issued the first law of its kind to incriminate Wasta users.