Egypt
Laila Soueif’s Last Stand
Laila Soueif, mother of Egyptian political prisoner Alaa Abd el-Fattah, has been on hunger strike since September 2024 to protest her son's continued unlawful detention. Now critically ill, she persists, joined by Alaa himself.
Bulldozing the Sinai
Egypt’s government is pushing ahead with a massive tourism project in the Sinai Peninsula’s St. Catherine region — a sacred, UNESCO-protected site. Local Bedouin communities and experts warn that the development is destroying heritage, muzzling dissent and displacing the Jebeleya tribe.
The Making and Mourning of Ahmad Adawiya, a Musical Legend
In 1975, when Egyptian radio commentators ranked the best singers of their time, Ahmad Adawiya’s name did not even feature. Yet a new medium, the humble cassette, would allow his popular shaabi songs, often scorned by critics, to reach an audience beyond the gatekeepers and change the country’s musical landscape.
Assad’s Fall Sparks Fear and Reflection in Egypt
Amid Egypt's political divides and economic struggles, the fall of Assad has sparked deep reflection and fear that similar events could unfold in the country.
What the Stabbing of a Nobel Prize-Winning Novelist Tells Us About Power in Egypt
The attempted assassination of the Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz is remembered as a story of Islamist extremism. Yet the original controversy sparked by his work, particularly “Children of the Alley,” was more to do with his powerful political vision than his views on religion.
In Egypt and Sudan, Nubians Are Trying To Bring an Alphabet Back From the Dead
It is widely acknowledged that the extinction of a language is a devastating cultural loss for ethnic minorities, but these Nubians raise a different question: What happens when an alphabet disappears? And is it possible — or even desirable — to save a script?
An Egyptian President Once Spoke to Nubians in Their Own Language
The question of whether Egypt’s first president delivered a speech in the threatened Nubian language of Kenzi is more than purely symbolic. It goes to the heart of questions of identity that have long plagued Nubia and its marginalized people, torn between their roots and the Egyptian nationalist project.