Analyses
Middle East and North Africa
The Palestinian Factor in Alaa Abd al-Fattah’s Release
Gianni Del Panta 25 September 2025
Alaa Abd al-Fattah, one of the most iconic figures of Egypt’s 2011 revolution and the country’s most prominent political prisoner under President al-Sisi, was released last Monday, September 22, by presidential decree. The news, confirmed by family lawyer and former presidential candidate Khaled Ali, was met with jubilation among relatives and political activists alike. Alaa’s sister, longtime activist Mona Seif, posted a brief message on X: “My heart is about to stop.” Their mother, Laila Soueif—who had waged a prolonged hunger strike that left her in fragile health and sparked fears for her life—reacted from her home in Giza, where she sat beside her son, surrounded by family and friends. Alongside her joy, she insisted the struggle would not be over until Egypt is free of political prisoners.
  • Centuries of Jail Sentences Pile Up in Tunisia Crackdown
    Federica Zoja 18 September 2025
    Ramla Dahmani is the sister of Tunisian political commentator, journalist, and lawyer Sonia Dahmani, who is currently imprisoned in her country for allegedly spreading false information. Ramla herself, speaking out from a secret location in Europe to defend her sister and draw international attention to her case, has also been sentenced to prison. The ruling, issued in absentia on July 1, came to light only by chance, when her lawyers—having received no formal notification—stumbled upon it in judicial records. Otherwise, Ramla would have faced an unexpected arrest and imprisonment upon any return trip to Tunisia.
  • The Christian Martyrs of Algeria: Why They Stayed
    Pasquale Ferrara 10 September 2025
    The connection between religion and violence has long been seen as a political and sociological certainty. In recent decades, particularly after the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution and the September 11, 2001 attacks, religions have returned to the center of the international political stage, and not always for the right reasons. Examples abound: conflicts in Bosnia, Algeria, Kashmir, Palestine, and Sudan; as well as violent Islamism, Hindu nationalism, the Christian Evangelical right, and extremist Jewish parties. The return of religion to international politics has been linked to the broader theme of identity politics. Religions have often been considered an emblematic case of the encroachment of irrationality into international security.
  • The Triumph of Trump and Netanyahu: The End of the Two-State Solution?
    Claudia De Martino 8 November 2024
    Donald Trump’s clear-cut victory in the US presidential election has shaken the entire world, and has been greeted with sharply contrasting reactions, especially in Middle East. For Palestinians, it felt like the final nail in the coffin. Hopes for American mediation toward a fair resolution of the conflict are virtually non-existent, and Palestinians view the next four years through a lens of mere survival, trying to withstand the blows from Israel’s most right-wing government in history, which will now feel even freer from burdensome external constraints, such as the call to respect international law.
  • Hatem Nafti: “Tunisia, A Regime with No Alternative to its Rhetoric of Conspiracy”
    Federica Zoja 21 October 2024
    After surpassing 90 percent approval in the first round of the presidential elections on October 6, incumbent Tunisian leader Kais Saied faces his new term in a political, social, and economic climate vastly different from that of 2019. We discussed this shift with writer and essayist Hatem Nafty, whose latest work, Notre ami Kaïs Saïed. Essai sur la démocrature tunisienne (Our Friend Kais Saied: An Essay on the Tunisian Dictatorship), was presented in late September.
  • Tunisia Elections 2024: The Fake Reluctant Autocrat
    Ruth Hanau Santini 30 September 2024
    Since July 25, 2021, Tunisia has been in a state of self-coup. President Kais Saied, elected two years earlier, suspended parliament that summer, had the prime minister resign, and issued two presidential decrees that consolidated all executive powers in his hands – rather than sharing them with the prime minister, as outlined in the 2014 Constitution.
  • Tunisia: Clamping Down on Civil Liberties Ahead of Understated Presidential Elections
    Ruth Hanau Santini 24 May 2024
    Next autumn Tunisians will go to the polls to elect the President of the Republic. The Election’s date has not been confirmed, and the main opposition coalition, Chebbi’s National Salvation Front, has announced they will boycott the vote unless three conditions will be met: the electoral commission will be independent, the main Islamist party, Ennahda, will be allowed to re-open its headquarters, and all political prisoners will be freed. When Tunisians last voted for presidential elections, all those conditions were in place, but in the past few years, political and civil liberties have shrunk to the extent that the country is not only “partly” free but its democratic ranking continues to deteriorate, year on year.
  • Houthi Strikes: A Regional Escalation?
    An Interview with Hussein Ibish
    Giancarlo Bosetti , Alessandra Tommasi 19 January 2024
    The war in Gaza has expanded to include a new and dangerous flashpoint: the Red Sea. In recent weeks, Yemen’s Houthis have targeted “Israeli” cargo ships – and attacked others – in support of Hamas. The US and the UK have retaliated by bombing a number of Houthis’ targets in Yemen. ResetDOC interviewed Hussein Ibish, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, about the stakes for the Houthis and the risks of a wider high-intensity conflict.
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