FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 10, 2013 Project on Middle East Democracy Condemns Arrest of April 6 Leader Ahmed Maher The Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) condemns the arrest of April 6 leader Ahmed Maher in Egypt today, Friday, May 10.  According to an interior ministry official, Maher is accused of inciting a protest outside the house of Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim and is to be detained for four days pending an investigation. ...

The Project on Middle East Democracy is now accepting applications for our Summer 2013 internship term, which runs from May-August 2013. We have openings for the following positions: Policy Intern, Civil Society Partnerships Intern, Research Intern, and Egypt Programs Intern. Applicants are free to apply to multiple positions that fit their interests. Please see the descriptions below for each internship and feel free to direct any questions you have to ...

On January 30, 2013, the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) hosted an event entitled “Moving beyond Rhetoric: How Should President Obama Change U.S. Policy in the Middle East?” The event launched POMED’s new publication, which highlights recommendations from leading voices in the field on how President Obama should adjust his policies toward the Middle East in his second term. The event featured a panel discussion with Larry Diamond, Director ...

POMED and other rights groups call on President Obama to support political freedoms in Turkey. -- January 10, 2013 The Honorable Barack Obama President of the United States of America The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President, Turkey is a longstanding and valuable ally of the United States. On a bipartisan basis over the course of ten Presidencies, the United States has supported democratic and economic reform in Turkey, as well as the ...

Yesterday, on the occasion of International Day of Democracy, the Embassy of Lithuania organized a half-day public event on Capitol Hill.  The discussion featured political leaders from many democracies that have emerged in the past couple of decades, some pro-democracy voices from the Arab world, and numerous members of Congress from both parties. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) pledge his "allegiance" to the "critical work" of supporting democracies abroad and noted that ...

Be sure to check out this outstanding Al Jazeera documentary that chronicles the peaceful movement for democratic reform in Bahrain and the brutal response from the Bahraini and Saudi governments. The Bahraini government has essentially kept all international journalists critical of the regime out of the country for months.  Apparently one or two Al Jazeera reporters remained and filmed undercover, without using most of the interviews and footage until now, to ...

On Tuesday, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) welcomed membership bids from Jordan and Morocco, apparently unfazed by the fact that neither is on the Persian Gulf.  This appears to be an effort to undermine the already-weak Arab League - apparently the Gulf monarchies are uncomfortable with the possibility that the Arab League may soon include a moderately democratic government or two, so they're looking to expand the GCC beyond the ...

The Syrian regime's success in keeping international media out of the country makes it difficult to keep up with developments there as widespread violence continues - I strongly recommend signing up for the "Syria Revolution News Roundups" via Facebook - these excellent daily reports include links to dozens of videos and photos online.  Also, if you haven't already seen it, be sure to check out the policy brief on Syria ...

Following an 8-day visit to Egypt a couple of weeks ago, my big takeaways in a nutshell were (a) the mood about the political scene was overall more positive and upbeat than I had expected, and more positive than it had been a few weeks prior, (b) lots of uncertainty remained regarding the outcome of the upcoming elections and whether Egypt would progress as needed following those elections, but the ...

We were saddened last week by the abduction/arrest of Mattar Ebrahim Mattar, one of the 18 opposition Members of Parliament in Bahrain who resigned on February 27 in protest against violence by the Bahraini government against nonviolent demonstrators calling for reform.  I've known Mattar since 2009, when he participated in a series of workshops that we helped organize here in Washington, and he is exactly the kind of bright, reform-minded, ...

As part of POMED's revamped website, we'll now feature this new blog, where our Executive Director - me, Stephen McInerney - will make brief comments, observations, opinions, and highlight things that I find particularly interesting.  Most of the posts here will be pretty short for the time being, but I will experiment a bit with this space and let it evolve over time.  I look forward to hearing any thoughts ...

As you all know, the Egyptian government has tried to cut all communications - first the internet and text messaging went down late Thursday night, then all mobile phones down Friday morning.  Throughout the day, POMED will be in touch with our contacts on the ground in Egypt by telephone to landlines, while also tracking other reports online.Follow us on twitter, @pomedwire.This morning the streets of Cairo were eerily quiet, ...

Persia House has translated an interesting article from the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) on the rapid increase in the number of internet cafes in Iran, adding their own analysis of the report.  Persia House concludes, "The increase in internet cafes is a mixed blessing for the Iranian regime. On the one hand it can boast that the spread of the internet demonstrates the Islamic Republic’s continued technological progress in ...