The Egyptian journalist Hadeer El-Mahdawy is awarded the 2019 Feuchtwanger Fellowship by Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House and the University of Southern California. The fellowship was named after the Jewish writer Lion Feuchtwanger who had to leave Nazi-Germany in 1933 and lived at Villa Aurora in Los Angeles starting in 1943 until his death in 1958.

The Feuchtwanger Fellowship allows journalists from countries with restrictions on freedom of opinion, to live and work in Lion and Marta Feuchwanger's residence in California for a period of six months. Hadeer El-Mahdawy was nominated by Reporters Without Borders. Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House, in cooperation Feuchtwanger Memorial Library of University of Southern California award this fellowship, which is financed by the German Foreign Office. It commemorates the German exile in the United States and the persisting suppression of freedom of expression in many parts of the world.

Since 2006, Hadeer El-Mahdawy has worked for various independent Egyptian media, she is currently a full time reporter for the independent bilingual news website Mada Masr. She focuses on domestically sensitive topics, such as political detentions, labor, women's rights, refugees, religious minorities or the seizure of private property and land. Hadeer El-Mahdawy's dedication to human rights puts her and fellow journalists under threat of being arrested or persecuted by the security apparatus. In 2008, EL-Mahdawy and her independent colleagues were denied journalists' union press accreditations, for their work challenging the authorities. She eventually received it, but only after protesting and going on hunger strike together with her colleagues.

In Egypt, reporters can expect violent confrontations with police and demonstrators, often being harassed by riot police and sometimes by furious crowds of people. Gratuitous arrests and torture are daily fare. State-censorship is widespread. Many media outlets openly take sides with the army and the government, only few Egyptian journalists dare to be critical. In Egypt, reporters can expect violent confrontations with police and demonstrators, often being harassed by riot police and sometimes by furious crowds of people. Gratuitous arrests and torture are daily fare. Self-censorship is wide-spread. Many media outlets openly take sides with the army and the government, only few Egyptian journalists dare to be critical.

More information on freedom of the press in Egypt can be found here: rsf.org/en/egypt