Karim Alrawi

Karim Alrawi (Arabic كريم الراوي) is a writer born in Alexandria, Egypt. He has taught at universities in the UK, Egypt, US and Canada. He was an International Writing Fellow at the University of Iowa and taught creative writing at the university's International Writing Program.

While in the UK, he was active in the anti-racist movement, writing for publications including those of the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism and, in 1984, was a speaker at the Greater London Council's anti-racism conference. He is a long-time peace activist and proponent of a Palestinian state. He was a keynote speaker, in 1982, at the founding conference of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in London. In 2003, he testified before the US Congress arguing for strengthening civil society institutions and supporting independent media in the Middle East and North Africa. He was also a delegate to Madrid+15 conference in 2007 to develop a framework for a two-state solution, laying the groundwork for the Annapolis Conference between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

In Egypt he was deputy secretary general and foreign press spokesperson for the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights and president of Egyptian Pen (the local branch of the international writer's organization) from 1992 to 1994 replacing Mursi Saad El-Din. He was followed in the position by novelist Gamal El-Ghitani.

He was in Egypt during the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011–2013. After the return of military rule, Alrawi was among 190 Egyptian human rights and civil society activists charged by Egyptian State Security under case 173–2011. The charges pertained to his training journalists in media ethics and use of the internet, purportedly a contributory factor to the Arab Spring 2011 uprising. On December 20, 2018, an Egyptian court dismissed the charges. A decision confirmed by the court of appeal on December 4, 2020. On March 20, 2024, an investigative judge declared the case closed.