“I consider myself lucky” I told the 33rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva in 2016, when an Egyptian court ordered the freezing of my assets. Two years earlier I …
“The Sick Man of the 21st Century” Will Not Die in Peace
Despite that the Middle East and North Africa region is one of the least affected by COVID-19, the economic and political repercussions of the pandemic forebode a “long-term” catastrophe that …
Egypt’s Agenda for Reshaping the UN on Counterterrrorism: What Sentencing of Human Rights Leader Tells Us
By Neil Hicks An Egyptian terrorism court sentenced prominent human rights leader Bahey eldin Hassan in absentia on Aug. 25 to 15 years imprisonment. His crimes: “insulting the judiciary” and “propagating fake …
It’s official: In Egypt, you can now get 15 years in jail for a tweet
By Elisa Massimino and Neil Hicks In the six years since Abdel Fatah al-Sissi assumed the presidency in Egypt, the country has devolved into the deepest human rights crisis it has experienced in …
A job or a calling? Egypt’s human rights movement from the Mubarak era to Sisi
It was the morning of 3 July, 2013, with the military coup to be declared by Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi later that same day. Fourteen Egyptian rights organisations, under …
The UN Settlements Database is Out. Now What?
Following civil society organisations’ tireless efforts in Palestine and around the world, the UN Office of the High Commissioner fulfilled the mandate entrusted to it by the Human Rights Council in …
Gender Equality: Still a Long Way Down the Line
Messaoud Romdhani “Mind the Gap!!” In 1993, the UN General Assembly issued the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, defining such violence as “any act of gender-based violence …
A Question of UN Credibility: Releasing the Settlements Database
by Nada Awad, Maha Abdullah Hundreds of Palestinian, regional, and international organizations have called on the previous and current UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to release the UN database of companies engaged in …
Libya and International Justice Symposium: Impunity Begets Impunity
International accountability as a tool to empower and protect [Jeremie Smith is the Director of the Geneva Office at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies and Karim Salem is Libya …
New Political Struggles for Egypt’s Military
The internal debates over new amendments in Egypt reveal the renewed struggle between the president and the military for political dominance. Much of the focus on the Egyptian constitutional amendments …
Why we’re pushing back against the Egyptian president’s constitutional coup
This has been a grim month for Egyptians who seek a better life and believe in dignity and freedom. First, on April 9, there was President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi’s visit …
Egypt. The Permanent Coup
Throughout the six years that marked President Abdelfatah al-Sisi’s coup on Egypt’s first civilian president, Sisi orchestrated several political, security, legislative, constitutional, and electoral coups. Sisi is currently preparing a …
Open Letter to President Macron Before his Upcoming Trip to Egypt
Published in French on orientxxi.info – 27 January 2019 Bahey eldin Hassan Next week President Macron will be on his first official visit to Egypt. I’m sure he is aware …
The European Union is Responsible for the Refugee Crisis
The European Union’s support for dictatorships in the Arab world is often justified by the fact that authoritarian regimes are a bulwark against terrorism and illegal immigration. In reality, the opposite is true.
The high-level intrigue that’s overshadowing Egypt’s election
Egypt is approaching a critical moment. Since last fall, the popularity of President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi has steadily diminished not only among the public and many of Egypt’s secular and Islamist intellectuals but also among key supporters of his regime. He’s still going to win the sham presidential election scheduled for March 26 to 28. But there are many signs that his second term might not last for as long as he hopes.