Sahar Baassiri

Sahar Baassiri (also spelled Baasiri) (Arabic: سحر بعاصيري) is currently Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Lebanon to UNESCO in Paris. Prior to her move into diplomacy she was a trailblazing Lebanese journalist. [1]

Ms. Baassiri worked for the leading Lebanese daily An-Nahar newspaper between 1981 and 2009. In 1993, she became the first female foreign editor at a Lebanese daily newspapers. And was the first woman in the Arab world to write a front-page column in a daily paper. [2] She was also the United Press International (UPI), Beirut correspondent between 1989 and 1991.

She is the author of two books (in Arabic): Lebanon on Hold [3] and The Wandering Arabs [4] both published in 2009 by Dar An-Nahar. Ms. Baassiri earned her BA in Political Science from the American University of Beirut and an MS in Journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.