Staff Article
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Egypt Doubles Down on State-Sponsored Crackdown of Peaceful Activists
Tags Share (February 17, 2016 | Washington, D.C.) In a troubling development, more than two years after his arbitrary arrest on January 25, 2014, Egypt’s East Cairo Prosecution has referred 20 year old Mahmoud Mohamed Ahmed Hussein’s case to the Supreme State Security Prosecution for further investigation. “The government’s sudden decision that a different branch…
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Suspected Mass Graves Uncovered in Burundi in the Wake of Post-Election Violence
Restricting civic space in Burundi creates a domino effect, allowing renegade leaders to avoid accountability and continue violating rights essential to the maintenance of a free and democratic society.
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Egypt’s Crackdown on Freedom of Speech Takes Dangerous Turn
Tags Share The crackdown on freedom of speech and expression continues in Egypt. This last weekend an Egyptian-German academic was denied entry and a social and political cartoonist was arrested and detained for 24 hours. Upon arrival to the Cairo Airport on January 29, Egyptian-German academic Dr. Atef Botros was detained by airport authorities and…
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A World Where ‘Never Again’ Means Something
Tags Share Today we commemorate the Holocaust and the massacre of 11 million people. As the former director of the Genocide Prevention Initiative at the US Memorial Holocaust Museum, my job was to give meaning to that otherwise empty phrase, Never Again. Holocaust survivor and the leader behind the creation of the museum, Elie Wiesel…
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Another Unhappy Anniversary for Mahmoud Hussein
Tags Share Two years ago today, Mahmoud Mohamed Ahmed Hussein put on a t-shirt that read a “nation without torture” and went to a peaceful protest. The government’s response to these simple acts changed his life and have become a glaring example of the deteriorating human rights situation in Egypt. On January 25, 2014, Mahmoud…
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Premature Celebration for Gambia’s FGM Ban
Tags Share The Gambia was thrust into the spotlight this week after the country’s longtime president, Yahya Jammeh, announced a ban on female genital mutilation (FGM). This pronouncement surprised many, especially after the country’s National Assembly rejected a similar proposal in March of this year, claiming that Gambians “were not ready.” Activists who work closely…
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Arrests in Zimbabwe Part of Broader Crackdown on Human Rights
Tags Share The media profession in Zimbabwe is once again under siege. During the past week, four newspaper journalists have been arrested, and three of them charged with slander, in a country already notorious for systematic violations of human rights. On the surface, this latest crackdown might be expected, or at the least, not altogether…
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