In February 2021, the EU adopted “A New Agenda for the Mediterranean”, which claims to present a renewed and mutually-beneficial partnership with the Southern Neighbourhood. The agenda is centred around …
A critique of the Arab Spring elite: What is needed is a cultural revolution, not another uprising
“When the history of the January 25 revolution is written, it will be described as a revolution that cared more about cleaning up Tahrir Square than sweeping away the old regime. And in both …
The European Parliament resolution and critical mass for human rights in Egypt
High hopes were raised by the European Parliament’s 18 December resolution on the deteriorating human rights situation in Egypt. The exceptional recommendations contained in the resolution reinforce hope for improvement …
Al-Sisi’s Egypt is a force of instability and insecurity in the region: France must end its complicity
President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s visit to Paris comes amid the worst crackdown on freedoms in modern Egyptian history. The recent arrest of three members of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal …
Trump’s defeat shocked Sisi.. How he intends to survive the Biden era is not clear
While Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election could have been anticipated, it has caused a shock in Egyptian President Abdelfatah al-Sisi’s circles. Egyptian regime media covered the US election …
I escaped Sisi’s jails, but thousands of others haven’t been as lucky
“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 …