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Leila Fadel

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Leila Fadel is the Cairo Bureau Chief for NPR.

Before joining NPR, she covered the Middle East for The Washington Post. In her role as Cairo Bureau Chief she reported on a wave of revolts and their aftermaths in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria.

Prior to her position as Cairo Bureau Chief for the Post, she covered the Iraq war for nearly five years with Knight Ridder, McClatchy Newspapers and later the Washington Post. Her foreign coverage of the devastating human toll of the Iraq war earned her the George. R. Polk award in 2007.

Leila Fadel is a Lebanese-American journalist who speaks conversational Arabic and was raised in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.

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Africa
3:30 am
Mon January 28, 2013

Egypt's Salafis Emerge As Powerful, And Controversial, Political Force

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Credit Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters/Landov
A protester holds a Quran at a Salafi rally for the enforcement of Islamic Shariah law last fall in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Repressed during the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, the country's ultra-conservative Salafis have seen a resurgence since the Arab Spring uprising.
Credit Leila Fadel / NPR
Sheikh Gamal Saber, founder of a Salafi party called Ansar, is banding with other Salafi groups behind a hardline agenda that would ban alcohol, segregate the sexes and require women to wear veils.
Credit Amr Nabil / AP
Female supporters of the Nour Party flash victory signs outside a polling station in Cairo on Jan. 30, 2012.
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Originally published on Mon January 28, 2013 10:11 am

The uprisings of the Arab Spring unleashed a new political force in the region — Salafis. These ultra-conservative Muslims aspire to a society ruled entirely by a rigid form of Islamic law. Their models are the salaf, or ancestors, referring to the earliest Muslims who lived during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad.

To their critics, the Salafis are religious fanatics who are trying to drag the region back to 7th-century Arabia. But the Salafis maintain that they are offering the purest alternative to the dictatorships that have long dominated the region.

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The Two-Way
4:17 pm
Sat December 22, 2012

Constitution Vote Seen As Referendum On Egyptian Brotherhood

Credit Gianluigi Guercia / AFP/Getty Images
Egyptians wait in line to vote on a new draft constitution in Giza, south of Cairo, on Saturday.
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Originally published on Sun December 23, 2012 8:22 am

Update Dec. 23, at 5:30 a.m.:

Egypt's constitution appears to have passed with 64 percent of Egyptians voting "yes," according to preliminary results issued by state-run media. But the document passed under a cloud of controversy as the opposition to the Islamist-backed document cried fraud.

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Africa
5:47 pm
Mon December 3, 2012

Is Morsi Morphing Into Authoritarian He Opposed?

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Credit Andre Pain / EPA/Landov
Egyptian protesters hold a banner depicting Morsi as a pharaoh, during a rally expressing opposition to Morsi's decrees, in Cairo, on Nov. 23.
Credit AP
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi speaks to supporters outside the presidential palace in Cairo on Nov. 23, a day after he issued decrees that gave him sweeping powers.
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Originally published on Mon December 3, 2012 6:08 pm

When Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was elected, some Egyptians jokingly referred to him as the Muslim Brotherhood's "spare tire." He was the backup candidate of the Islamist organization, whose first choice for the presidency was barred from running.

But Morsi has proved much more formidable than many Egyptians believed.

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Middle East
5:04 am
Fri November 30, 2012

Egypt's Constitution Vote Mired In Controversy

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Originally published on Fri November 30, 2012 7:05 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And in Egypt, a panel of Islamist lawmakers has approved a new draft constitution, but what should have been a welcome step in the country's transition to democracy is instead mired in controversy. NPR's Leila Fadel has our story from Cairo.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

PRESIDENT MOHAMMED MORSI: (Foreign language spoken)

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Middle East
5:48 pm
Sat November 24, 2012

Burst Of Protest In Egypt But No Revolution, Yet

Credit AP
Pro-democracy demonstrators occupy Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday night. The writing on the tent reads, "Egypt is not a farm, Constitution party, Egypt for Egyptians."
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Cairo's Tahrir Square was nearly empty as the sun rose Saturday. A few demonstrators camped out overnight after mass protests on Friday condemned controversial decrees by Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi.

Earlier this week, Morsi gave himself unchecked powers until a constitution is written and passed by a popular referendum — in about two months. He also decreed that neither the body writing the constitution nor the upper house of Parliament could be dissolved by the courts.

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