Sawsan Chebli

Sawsan Mohammed Chebli (born 26 July 1978 in West Berlin, Berlin, West Germany) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Chebli was born to Palestinian asylum seekers in Germany and grew up with her parents and twelve siblings in Berlin's Moabit district. She was stateless until the age of 15, and her father was expelled from Germany three times and returned illegally each time. Chebli only started to learn German when she entered school. After completing her Abitur at Lessing-Gymnasium in Wedding, Berlin in 1999, she studied political science at the Otto Suhr Institute (OSI) of the Free University of Berlin. Chebli joined the Social Democratic Party in 2001. During her time at university, she worked as student research assistant to Gert Weisskirchen. From 2004, she served as chief of staff to Johannes Jung. Between 2010 and 2014, Chebli was the first spokesperson for intercultural affairs of the Berlin's State Minister of the Interior and Sport, Ehrhart Körting, in the state government of the Governing Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit. From January 2014, she served as deputy spokesperson of the Federal Foreign Office under Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel; she was the first Muslim to hold that post. From December 2016 until December 2021, Chebli served as State Secretary for Federal Affairs in the state government of the Governing Mayor of Berlin Michael Müller. As one of Berlin's representatives in the Bundesrat, she was a member Permanent Advisory Council, which is composed of the sixteen envoys of the federal states. In August 2020, Chebli announced that she would run for a parliamentary seat in the 2021 national elections. For her candidacy, she won many well-known supporters, including Auschwitz survivor Esther Béjarano, musician Marius Müller-Westernhagen, art collector Julia Stoschek and actors Sebastian Koch and Clemens Schick. In an internal vote, however, she lost out against Michael Müller.