Democracy for the Arab World Now - DAWN

08/14/2026

“Today marks 13 years since the Rabaa massacre, a horrifying assault on humanity by those now ruling Egypt. The massacre came less than three years after Egypt's 2011 uprising, when millions took to the streets demanding an end to Hosni Mubarak's nearly three-decade rule, calling for democracy and an end to authoritarian rule. Rabaa was the worst single-day mass killing in Egypt's modern history, in which the regime killed at least 817 people and more likely over 1,000. Having witnessed the countless crimes against my fellow Egyptian citizens that day, the world cannot be allowed to forget this crime,” writes Fatema Yahya.

“As a neurosurgeon, I volunteered at the Rabaa Field Hospital that day, located just across the street from Rabaa Square.”

“The first people who arrived were already dead. Many had devastating injuries that left us unable to save them. We attempted emergency treatment as more wounded arrived, including intubation and stabilization, hoping they could eventually be transferred to intensive care either in the medical center or a more advanced hospital,” Yahya says.

“Transfers, however, quickly became impossible. Ambulances could not safely reach or leave the area because the army and security forces blocked access.”

Read Fatema Yahya’s full account of the Egyptian government’s Rabaa massacre, 13 years ago today:

Today marks 13 years since the Rabaa massacre, a horrifying assault on humanity by those now ruling Egypt. The massacre came less than three years after Egypt’s 2011 uprising, when millions took to the streets demanding an end to Hosni Mubarak’s nearly three-decade rule, calling for democracy an...

08/14/2026

“July 25 marked five years since Tunisian President Kais Saied suspended the elected parliament, dismissed the government and began ruling by decree. He called it a rescue mission, a necessary response to a paralyzed political class and a country in crisis, while promising to fight corruption, restore dignity to ordinary Tunisians and build a 'new republic' answerable directly to the people. Instead, Saied has achieved none of his promises while securing unchecked and indefinite power at the expense of Tunisia's 2011 revolution and its people,” writes Radwan Masmoudi of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy.

“As Tunisians marked the anniversary of that day, many were not celebrating. Instead, thousands took to the streets at night, blocking roads and burning tires because their electricity had been cut for hours, their water had stopped running in the middle of a heat wave and the medicine many of them depend on to stay alive had either disappeared from pharmacy shelves or had become unaffordable.

“The convergence of the anniversary with the multiple crises facing Tunisia and its people, both imposed by the president and stemming from his inability to provide basic services as he has deepened repression, is not incidental. These developments represent the clearest evidence yet of what five years of concentrated, unaccountable power produces,” Masmoudi says.

July 25 marked five years since Tunisian President Kais Saied suspended the elected parliament, dismissed the government and began ruling by decree. He called it a rescue mission, a necessary response to a paralyzed political class and a country in crisis, while promising to fight corruption, restor...

08/13/2026

"The duty of care under international law for a planning a strike like" the one that the US carried out on a school in Minab, Iran "is to take all feasible precautions to distinguish civilian targets from military targets, and to ensure that civilian casualties didn't occur, or were minimal. That's the requirement under international humanitarian law. And that clearly did not happen here," Charles Blaha, DAWN senior advisor and former longtime State Department official, told BBC News.

08/13/2026

“In Gaza, life is no longer measured by normal daily routines. No one plans for the coming months or thinks about the future in the usual sense. Instead, planning is influenced by factors that should be ordinary elsewhere ... time has been twisted into a waiting game measured by whatever allows us to get through the day," Hassan Herzallah writes from Gaza.

“Each of us carries a small future suspended on a piece of news, a faraway policy decision, a road that may be blocked or destroyed, a tired body skipping meals or enough sun to charge a phone.”

“It feels as if we were not only sitting by the sea but forced to wait indefinitely within different conceptualizations of time itself.”

Read more from Hassan Herzallah about the how Israel’s genocide has changed the meaning of time for people in Gaza: https://dawnmena.org/how-genocide-changes-the-meaning-of-time-in-gaza/

08/13/2026

"The catastrophic impacts of dismantling the ICC are hard to overstate. Any realistic attempts at seeking proper accountability ... would be severely affected, if not foreclosed completely."

Janine di Giovanni and Kip Hale of The Reckoning Project write in Foreign Policy on Trump administration attacks on the ICC: https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/08/10/icc-trump-campaign-rubio-sanctions-international-justice/

08/12/2026

Four human rights groups — the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Human Rights Watch (HRW), and the Open Society Foundations — just filed a lawsuit in US federal court challenging the Trump administration’s sanctions against ICC prosecutors and judges, a UN human rights expert, and three Palestinian human rights groups.

The sanctions regime, and the executive order on which it is based, undermines access to justice for victims of serious international crimes around the globe and prevents civil society from working together to combat impunity, the groups say.

The groups state that the sanctions are a blatantly illegal attack on international justice and should be struck down. The groups assert the sanctions infringe their constitutional rights to free speech, association, and religion, and violate US law and US obligations under international law.

In July, DAWN and Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s ICC sanctions, charging that they violate Americans’ constitutional right to engage in Palestine-related human rights advocacy, by barring engagement with the ICC, Palestinian human rights NGOs, and a UN expert.

“The US government’s efforts to dismantle the ICC and punish people seeking justice for grave human rights violations harm far more than the individuals and groups facing sanctions. It is an affront to all victims and survivors of war crimes and genocide,” said Joyce Ajlouny, General Secretary of AFSC, commenting on today’s lawsuit. “This executive order seeks to intimidate human rights defenders and deter people of conscience from advocating for the rights and dignity of others. We are joining this lawsuit because we refuse to stay silent when the pursuit of justice is criminalized.”

Read more from AFSC, CCR, HRW, and Open Society about their newly filed lawsuit: https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/08/11/rights-groups-sue-trump-administration-over-targeting-icc

08/12/2026

“When Mohammad returned to their shelter in the Abu Asi Orphan Camp in Al Bureij, central Gaza, in June 2026, Sara knew her brother would not listen to her plea for him to rest. Only hours earlier, Israeli drones had destroyed his vehicle just seconds after he had left it. His crime: Working to support children and other displaced Palestinians in the camp,” Rebecca Ruth Gould writes.

“This was not the first time his vehicle had been attacked, but it was the first time he had sustained severe injuries.”

“Mohammad survived the attack on his vehicle, and the work he risked his life to sustain continues. But the camp he helped to evacuate has been torn open. Thousands of people were made homeless by an order delivered through Israeli leaflets that rained down on Al Bureij in the first week of June. Yet these events fell beneath the radar of both English and Arabic media, which have yet to tell the story of this displacement,” Gould says.

When Mohammad returned to their shelter in the Abu Asi Orphan Camp in Al Bureij, central Gaza, in June 2025, Sara knew her brother would not listen to her plea for him to rest. Only hours earlier, Israeli drones had destroyed his vehicle just seconds after he had left it. His crime: Working to suppo...

08/11/2026

“In early April, the Global Sumud Flotilla set sail from Barcelona, Spain, with the goal of exposing what Saif Abu Keshek, an organizing committee member, described as international complicity and Israeli crimes,” writes .

“The flotilla aimed to challenge the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza, demanding the opening of a humanitarian corridor.”

“The most recent mission involved 428 participants from over 40 countries, carrying food, medicine and stationery … to Gaza aboard more than 50 vessels of various sizes and nationalities.”

“Organizers say it was in direct response to calls from Palestinians in Gaza, serving as an initiative rooted in Palestinian leadership while drawing its momentum from grassroots, pro-Palestine movements worldwide,” says Saeed.

“Like previous efforts to break the blockade, the participants understood the risks and chances of success, putting their safety on the line to peacefully push back on Israel’s genocide in the Strip.”

Saeed says that, “Organizers hope to transform these missions into a sustainable political force and a replicable model for global justice akin to an international movement independent of governments.”

See Nazeeha Saeed’s full report on the activists behind the Global Sumud Flotilla missions and their plans for next steps: https://dawnmena.org/the-gaza-flotilla-was-more-than-a-humanitarian-mission-it-was-a-challenge-to-israels-impunity/

08/11/2026

“The U.S.–Saudi strikes on Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) sites across Iraq on July 28 widened the regional war into another arena. They also disrupted a fragile domestic effort: Armed factions that had faced growing pressure to place their weapons fully under state authority by Sept. 30 gained an opportunity to present themselves as defenders of Iraqi sovereignty. That paradox — not only the immediate military damage — is central to understanding the political cost of using military force in Iraq,” writes Bakr Hazem Al-Zubaidy.

“Washington and Riyadh have likely made a serious strategic miscalculation. By acting as Baghdad attempted to consolidate control over arms, they weakened the government’s message, allowing armed factions to claim the mantle of sovereignty. A strike can destroy sites and capabilities, but if it increases the domestic legitimacy of the actors it targets, the strategic balance sheet may remain negative,” Al-Zubaidy says.

The U.S.–Saudi strikes on Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) sites across Iraq on July 28 widened the regional war into another arena. They also disrupted a fragile domestic effort: Armed factions that had faced growing pressure to place their weapons fully under state authority by Sept. 30 gained ...

08/08/2026

“In late June, Lebanon, Israel and the United States signed a tripartite security agreement, a Faustian bargain leaving the restoration of Lebanese sovereignty in Western hands,” writes Lucas Howarth.

“This is not a novel arrangement,” says Howarth. “It reflects a long history of foreign powers intervening in Lebanon, cultivating domestic partners along sectarian lines to further their geopolitical ambitions, often at the expense of Lebanese unity.”

The political divides over the deal in Lebanon “run along religious lines at first glance. The Christian president and Sunni prime minister find themselves opposed to Qassem and Berri, prominent Shia leaders.”

“However, history reveals that the true schism is over the definition of sovereignty itself.”

“By intervening to privilege certain communities while sidelining others, and by tying political power to sectarian identity, foreign powers long ago transformed Lebanon’s diversity into systemic antagonisms.”

In late June, Lebanon, Israel and the United States signed a tripartite security agreement, a Faustian bargain leaving the restoration of Lebanese sovereignty in Western hands. This is not a novel arrangement. It reflects a long history of foreign powers intervening in Lebanon, cultivating domestic....