Iyad el-Baghdadi is a Palestinian activist and writer. Since 2011, he has been a prominent online voice and an internationally recognized intellectual. For his Arab Spring activism, he was summarily jailed and expelled from the UAE in 2014. He was subsequently granted political asylum in Norway. In 2019, the CIA alerted Norwegian authorities that he was a target of the Saudi regime. He has been under protection by Norwegian authorities since. El-Baghdadi is the founder of the Kawaakibi Center. He is a fellow of Norwegian think Civita and a board member of the Munathara Initiative. His book, “The Middle East Crisis Factory” was published in 2021.