Panelists talk about efforts to promote democracy in the Arab world, challenges to such efforts in Iraq and Bahrain, access to information and freedom of the press, and restrictions to political participation. They also answer questions from the audience.
Bio
Ayat Abul-Futtouh
Ayat Abul-Futtouh has served as the managing director of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies in Cairo, Egypt, since 2003. From 2001 to 2003, she was the program manager in the Forum of Dialogue and Partnership for Development. Prior to this position, Ms. Futtouh worked in the National Center for Middle East Studies, a think tank specializing in political analysis. An Egyptian native, she is a founder and a steering committee member of the Network for Democrats in the Arab World.
Jad Al-Akhaoui
Jad Al-Akhaoui is a Cedar Revolution activist and the project manager for Quantum Communications in Beirut, Lebanon, where he oversees media and political consulting. Prior to this position, he served as a consultant for Dubai TV from 2003 to 2005. From 2002 to 2003, Mr. Al-Akhaoui also worked as a consultant to al-Hayat newspaper and the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation TV station, where he devised a plan to integrate the content of the two outlets following their merger. During 2001, he was the deputy director of news and managing editor for the Middle East Broadcasting Center in London. Mr. Al-Akhaoui covered the latter stages of the Lebanese Civil War as a correspondent for Abu Dhabi Radio and TV from 1987 to 1991. Born in Lebanon, he is a member of both the Foreign Press Association and the Union of British Journalists.
Hassan Mneimneh
With an academic background in History and Middle East Studies (Harvard University, Georgetown University, and the American University of Beirut), as well as a technical background in software and system design, Hassan Mneimneh was involved in the Iraq Research and Documentation Project (IRDP) since its inception at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University.
In the fall of 1999, with the Iraq Foundation assuming the principal role in IRDP, Hassan Mneimneh became IRDP co-director.
With the fall of the Saddam Husayn regime, the mission and scope of work of IRDP was expanded into the Iraq Memory Foundation.
As its Vice-President, Hassan Mneimneh relocated to Baghdad to supervise the development and implementation of its strategy. He has recently moved back to Washington DC to assume the function of Executive Director of the Iraq Foundation.
As its Vice-President, Hassan Mneimneh relocated to Baghdad to supervise the development and implementation of its strategy. He has recently moved back to Washington DC to assume the function of Executive Director of the Iraq Foundation.
Emad Omar
Emad Omar is a senior advisor for the Search for Common Ground’s Middle East and Partners in Humanity programs. A native of Jordan, he is also the executive editor of the Common Ground News Service. Mr. Omar is a human rights and peace activist, journalist, statistician, and researcher. Prior to his current position, he taught at Kuwait University and worked for the United Nations’ Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. Mr. Omar is the author of several books, including The Question of Human Rights and The NGO Capacity Building Handbook.
Michael Rubin
Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at AEI and editor of the Middle East Quarterly. Between 2002 and 2004, Mr. Rubin worked as a staff advisor for Iran and Iraq in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he seconded to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. He previously lectured in history at Yale University, Hebrew University, and three different universities in northern Iraq. Mr. Rubin is the co-author (with Patrick Clawson) of "Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos" (Palgrave, 2005), and the author of "Into the Shadows: Radical Vigilantes in Khatami's Iran" (Palgrave, 2001).
Omran Salman
Omran Salman currently directs the Arab Reformists Project, ‘Aafaq (Arabic for “horizonsâ€). Originally from Bahrain, he served as a senior editor of the Iraq Democracy Paper in conjunction with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies from 2004 to 2005. During this period, he also worked as journalist for Voice of America, where he broadcasted internationally in Arabic. From 2000 to 2003, Mr. Salman was a managing editor assistant for al-Jazeera in Doha, Qatar. In the 1990s, he worked as a journalist and columnist for two of Bahrain’s most distinguished papers, al-Ayam and Akhbar al-Khaleej. Mr. Salman has published hundreds of articles on Middle Eastern issues in a number of Arab publications.