Moataz El-Fegiery is an Egyptian academic and human rights activist. He is a founding member of the Egyptian Forum for Human Rights and a member of the executive committee for the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network.
Sada asked experts to analyze potential flash points for the next U.S. administration—ranging from the globalization of Libya’s war to the ongoing conflicts in Syria and Yemen, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and increasing authoritarianism and violations of civil liberties and human rights.
The Egyptian parliament is in the process of finalizing amendments to the 2014 constitution that would allow President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to stay in office for twenty years, increase military control of politics, and end judicial independence.
Unwilling to remain on the sidelines in the reform debate that the region has witnessed for the past two years, Arab governments have asserted themselves against civil society activists and reformists, creating a significant rise in the numbers of Arab prisoners of conscience.
Increasing calls for media independence are part of the new political reality in the Arab world; such calls have been particularly strong regarding media coverage of elections.