Egyptian diplomat Mohamed Mostafa ElBaradei was born in Cairo in 1942. He comes from an environment where human rights were considered important. ElBaradei's father was a lawyer and defender of democracy, free press and independent law. Between 1962 and 1974, Elbaradei studied in Cairo, Geneva and New York. From 1974, he worked for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. This included work at the United Nations (UN) in New York and Geneva. Dr ElBaradei worked in various positions at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after 1984. There, he was director general from 1997 to 2009.

Dr ElBaradei got a lot of attention when he called the US invasion of Iraq (2003) an example of “the sad fact that the use of force does not solve problems, but exacerbates them”. As director-general of the IAEA, he said he believed in weapons inspections. He said, “We have to get rid of the idea that the use of weapons of mass destruction would be morally defensible. The existence of those weapons must and can be established”. According to Dr ElBaradei, precisely conducted inspections had shown that Saddam Hussein did not possess such weapons. This unjustified imputation cost the lives of tens of thousands of innocent civilians.

The United States opposed the reappointment of ElBaradei in 2005, but this was unsuccessful. The IAEA director was supported in the situation with Iraq, and his views on Iran's nuclear ambitions. It became known that the George W. Bush administration had phone conversations eavesdropped between Dr ElBaradei and representatives of Iran. In response, Dr ElBaradei warned Israel, which he said was a nuclear power that refuses inspections. Dr ElBaradei said, “If Israel bombs targets in Iran, it will create a big fireball in the Middle East and the whole Muslim world will retaliate.” Countries like the United States, Israel and North Korea were outraged by Dr ElBaradei's statements, who are against the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

In 2005, Dr ElBaradei and the IAEA received the Nobel Peace Prize. He also received the Golden Dove Peace Prize, the Collar of the Nile, the Peacebuilding East-West Award, the Indira Ghandi Prize, the Delta Prize for Global Understanding, the Mostar Peace Award and numerous honorary doctorates.