Egyptians bid farewell to 2011 with news of raids and closure of human rights organizations last week. Although the news is nothing short of shocking, “shocking” has been the characteristic …
The Arab Spring at the Human Rights Council: Success and selectivity
Laila Matar 2011 was the year of unexpected and unprecedented change for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Events in the MENA region also tested the relevance and efficiency …
Why Tunisia succeeds while Egypt fails
Bahey el-din Hassan I traveled to Tunisia over a week ago to attend the country‘s first free elections. As I left Cairo, I had given in to a sense …
Egypt’s Electoral Commission: Who’s Running the Show?
The Higher Electoral Commission is an independent, neutral body capable of performing its functions, according to Egyptian government officials and high ranking members of the National Democratic Party (NDP). An …
Muslim Brothers Party‘s Platform in Egypt From a Human Rights Perspective
Last year’s Autumn the Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt, often simply referred to as the Brotherhood, sent its political party’s draft Platform entitled “Party’s Platform- First Reading” to …
Democratise or disintegrate
The failure of the Middle East democratisation project is not something to celebrate, even if outside forces championed it; it prefaces the disintegration of the Arab world, writes Bahey Eldin Hassan[1] …
Egyptian Civil Society and the Proposed Constitutional Amendments
Bahey Eldin Hassan On December 26, 2006 President Hosni Mubarak formally requested that the People’s Assembly amend some 34 articles of the constitution, a move heralded by the government-controlled press …
The acceptable face of opposition
The Muslim Brotherhood and National Democratic Party tread the same path, writes Baheyeddin Hassan A widespread debate ensued in Egypt following comments by the minister of culture, Farouk Hosni, criticising the hijab, …
Three years later
The government’s flagship human rights organisation has done nothing to limit human rights violations, writes Bahey Eldin Hassan* On 18 January 2007, the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) will end …
Arab Governments Strike Back
Bahey Hassan If some of the Group of Eight (G-8) countries had not found some resolve at the final moments of the concluding session of the Forum for the Future …