The undersigned organisations call on the Egyptian authorities to immediately lift the travel ban imposed ten years ago on Egyptian lawyer Hoda Abdelwahab, in connection with Case 173/2011 and to …
Political Dominance – When Economic Performance Takes a Back Seat - Ishac Diwan
In this paper, Ishac Diwan analyses how autocratic regimes in the Middle East sustain political dominance, including through the exploitation of rents that support the security state and entrench a system of crony capitalism wherein loyalty is secured through corruption as opposition is quelled. Economic performance is subsequently weakened under the ‘static inefficiencies’ endemic to such a system, with competition confined to ‘insiders and outsiders’ in the absence of liberalism.
Arab Limited Access Orders: Can They be Reformed? - Dr. Robert Springborg
In this paper, Robert Springborg analyses how elites in Arab states foreclose the potential for peaceful change by monopolising power and wealth while excluding the majority of citizens from influence on policymaking. Through repression and corruption, elites protect their privileges by resisting reform and reinforcing the encroachment of the ‘deep state’.
Civilian suffering compounded by expanding, devastating conflict threatening the Middle East
The US–Israel attack against Iran on 28 February 2026 and its regional spillover is plunging the Middle East into a new and devastating cycle of violence. Unless the international community …
Liberal Questions about the Current Arab Reality - Hazem Saghieh
In this paper, Hazem Saghieh examines the crisis of liberalism in Arab societies amid the absence consensus on the concepts of nation, state, and identity. Importing modern ideologies without historical and social adaptation has transformed liberalism into a mere ‘intellectual sensibility’ rather than a cohesive political project. Xenophobic nationalism, Islamist movements, and the rise of nationalist populism globally pose a threat to liberalism requiring profound intellectual and political revisions.
Algeria: Without Safeguards, Tebboune’s Invitation to the Diaspora Rings Hollow
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s recent remarks inviting Algerians living abroad to return project an image of openness and reconciliation. Yet in the absence of clear and binding guarantees against arbitrary detention, …
Egypt’s Cultural Elite: Guardians of Stagnation - Ezzedine C. Fishere
A scathing critique of Egypt’s cultural elites as “guardians of stagnation” rather than drivers of hope and progress, examining their failure to lead democratic transition due to dogmatism, victimhood, and state dependency, and tracing how the civic energies that emerged after 2011 were absorbed into old ideological frameworks.
UN Must Return to Inclusive Covid-19 Era Practices to Bolster Civil Society Engagement
To all Permanent Representatives to the United Nations Office at Geneva Your Excellencies, During the COVID-19 pandemic and in the period that followed, the Human Rights Council (HRC) and other …
Egypt: Human Rights Organizations Condemn Expansion of Supreme State Security Prosecution’s Use of Summons and Excessive Bail to Intimidate Independent Voices
The undersigned human rights organizations condemn the continued escalation in summoning human rights defenders, journalists, and political figures for investigation before the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP). These repeated summonses, …
Perceptions of Palestinian Politics and Struggle: The Case of Al-Aqsa Flood and the Israeli War of Genocide - Majed Kayali
An analysis of the aftermath of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation and Israel’s war on Gaza, and their impact on the Palestinian national movement, Hamas, and regional power dynamics. The article examines Israel’s internal and regional shifts, the crisis of Palestinian strategies, and the pressing question of what comes next.
YEMEN: NEW REPORT UNCOVERS HORRIFIC CONDITIONS IN SECRET DETENTION CENTER
A damning new report by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) and the Abductees Mothers Association (AMA) exposes a secret detention center in Aden operated by the Southern authorities in Yemen. Known as the Waddah Hall and once a civic center, the facility is part of a wider network of clandestine prisons that has proliferated across Yemen
Libya: Extrajudicial Killing of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Exacerbates Libya’s Impunity Crisis
The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) is gravely concerned by the latest manifestation of political violence in Libya following the assassination of Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi. The extrajudicial killing …
Political Transition in Post-Assad Syria: An Analysis of Discourses - Dr. Sari Hanafi
Sari Hanafi analyses the discourse on political transition in Syria after Assad. He explores the pragmatic ‘political Islam’ approach adopted by Ahmad al-Sharaa while critiquing ‘symbolic liberalism.’ A key challenge he identifies is the the new system’s capacity to distinguish between a common understanding of justice from individual perspectives on the common good.
The mirage of January 25: When freedom came last
Was January 25 a revolution or an uprising? This question concerns the future more than the past. Was the aim to change the system of governance, to remove President Hosni …
Egypt: Investigate Journalist’s Claims about ‘Murder’ of Disappeared Former MP Mostafa El-Naggar
The undersigned human rights organizations demand an urgent and transparent investigation into the complaint submitted by the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms to the Aswan Public Prosecution, on behalf …