Hameeda Hossain

Hameeda Hossain (née Akhund; born 1936) is a prominent Bangladeshi human rights activist and academic. Hossain has published many books and articles relating to human rights and women’s issues in Bangladesh, in Islam, and worldwide. She is a founding member of Ain o Salish Kendra, a legal aid and human rights organization.
In 1969 in the then East Pakistan, along with economist Rehman Sobhan she founded English-language monthly current affairs magazine, Forum. The magazine became renowned for its outspoken criticism against the West Pakistani establishment, and advocacy of democracy and economic reforms in the Pakistani union.
Hossain is a member of the board of directors of the Centre for Secular Space, an international human rights organization that stands for International Defense Against Religious Extremism.

Hameeda Hossain (in the middle) at the Orientation Ceremony for the 2nd batch of Notre Dame University Bangladesh on 30 January 2015.

Hossain was born in Hyderabad, Sindh (now in Pakistan) in 1936. Her father, Abdullah Shafi Mohammad Akhund, was a judge. She graduated from the Wellesley College, USA and got her PhD from Oxford University.

Hameeda and Kamal among the NDUB faculty members

Hameeda Hossain is married to Kamal Hossain, who has been the president of the Gano Forum political party in Bangladesh since he founded it in 1992. They have one daughter named Sara Hossain, a lawyer and writer who is the co-editor of 'Honor': Crimes, Paradigms and Violence Against Women.