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Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

Credit Steve Barrett

International correspondent Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is based in Cairo and covers the Arab world for NPR from the Middle East to North Africa. Her reports can be heard on NPR's award-winning programs including Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

In 2006, Nelson opened the NPR Kabul Bureau. During the following three and a half years, she gave listeners an in-depth sense of life inside Afghanistan, from the increase in suicides among women in a tribal society that sees them as second class citizens, to the growing interference of Iran and Pakistan in Afghan affairs and the impact of Western policies in the region. For her coverage of Afghanistan, she won a Peabody award, Overseas Press Club award and Gracie in 2010.

Nelson came to NPR in 2006, after spending more than two decades as a newspaper reporter. She served as Knight Ridder's Middle East Bureau Chief from 2002 to 2005 where she specialized in covering Iran. As a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Nelson was sent on extended assignment to Iran and Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Nelson spent three years as an editor and reporter for Newsday and was part of the team that won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for covering the crash of TWA flight 800. She also spent time at the the Orange County Register covering Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

A graduate of the University of Maryland, Nelson speaks Farsi, Dari, and German. She is married to long-time reporter Erik Nelson and they have a son.

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Afghanistan
12:32 pm
Thu August 30, 2012

For Afghan Leaders, Facing Death Is A Fact Of Life

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Credit Mamoon Durani / AP
The aftermath of a truck bomb in Kandahar, the main city in southern Afghanistan, which wounded the provincial police chief and killed two civilians Monday. Taliban attacks against Afghan officials are up sharply this year.
Credit Ahmad Nadeem / Reuters via Landov
Afghans bury the mayor of Kandahar, Ghulam Haidar Hamidi, after he was killed in a suicide bombing in July 2011. Afghan officials have extensive security but are still vulnerable to attack.
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Originally published on Thu August 30, 2012 8:17 pm

Almost daily, Taliban assassins target Afghan government officials and community elders with ambushes or bombings. The United Nations says such killings are up more than 50 percent compared to the same period last year.

On Monday, the target was the powerful police chief in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province. A suicide bomber struck the convoy of Gen. Abdul Raziq, who survived the attack and is at a U.S. military hospital recuperating from burns and other injuries.

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Afghanistan
4:12 pm
Fri August 17, 2012

Afghan Attacks On Western Partners Rising Sharply

Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Afghan soldiers (right) patrol with U.S. troops in the Panjwai district of southern Afghanistan in May. The two armies have been working together for years, but Afghan attacks against U.S. and NATO forces have been rising recently.
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Originally published on Fri August 17, 2012 6:03 pm

In the past two weeks, seven Afghans in uniform have opened fire on Western forces. The most recent incidents occurred Friday. First, a newly recruited policeman in western Afghanistan turned his gun on U.S. military trainers, killing two and wounding a third. A short time later in southern Kandahar province, an Afghan soldier shot and wounded two foreign troops.

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Africa
3:25 am
Tue July 10, 2012

Mubarak's Dream Remains Just That In Egypt's Desert

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Credit Holly Pickett / Redux
A sign on undeveloped land welcomes visitors to "New Toshka City." Toshka was to be a new settlement along the Upper Nile Valley, complete with enough jobs and infrastructure to support the relocation of 20 million Egyptians from polluted and over-crowded cities.
Credit Holly Pickett / Redux
An empty water canal at Sheikh Zayed, near Toshka. Fifteen years after the project's inception, there are just 21,000 hectares of farmland, no schools or hospitals have been built, and the food produced is mainly for export to benefit private landholders.
Credit Holly Pickett / Redux
Fishing boat captain Adel Mohamed Hussein (right), at Sheikh Zayed Canal, is one of the few Egyptians who has benefited from the Toshka project.
Credit Holly Pickett / Redux
Engineer Mamduh Diab, chief of agricultural affairs for the South Valley Company, stands among grapevines on the company's land.
Credit Holly Pickett / Redux
Wheat grows on South Valley Company's land.
Credit Holly Pickett / Redux
Laborers pull weeds from watermelon fields on South Valley Company land in Toshka.
Credit Holly Pickett / Redux
Water pumped from Lake Nasser cascades down an irrigation canal to crops on South Valley Company land.
Credit Holly Pickett / Redux
Yasmine, 16, prunes green grapes at Saudi-owned KADCO.
Credit Holly Pickett / Redux
An industrial-sized sprinkler waters alfalfa plants at Saudi-owned Kingdom Agricultural Development Company (KADCO).
Credit Holly Pickett / Redux
Khaled Mohamed tills the soil after a wheat harvest at KADCO.
Credit Holly Pickett / Redux
Critics say Egypt lacks the means to transport large quantities of wheat and other produce from Toshka to the rest of the country.
Credit Holly Pickett / Redux
A sign on undeveloped land welcomes visitors to "New Toshka City." Toshka was to be a new settlement along the Upper Nile Valley, complete with enough jobs and infrastructure to support the relocation of 20 million Egyptians from polluted and overcrowded cities.
Credit Holly Pickett / Redux
Mohamed Abdul Fattah is secretary-general for the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party in Aswan, Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood is adamantly opposed to Toshka and other projects that it links to the excesses of former President Hosni Mubarak.
Credit Holly Pickett / Redux
Ibrahim Dahrouk, a crop manager at Saudi-owned Kingdom Agricultural Development Company in Toshka, says the farm provides hundreds of jobs to local residents, including women. The wages of $6 to $9 a day are considered good for the region.
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Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 8:57 am

In the middle of southern Egypt's windy desert, wheat fields stretch as far as the eye can see on a 24,000-acre farm. It's part of a grandiose project called Toshka that was dreamed up 15 years ago by the government of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's authoritarian leader who ruled the country for three decades before being ousted last year.

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Middle East
5:05 pm
Sat June 2, 2012

Life Sentence For Ex-Egyptian Leader Hosni Mubarak

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Credit Khaled Desouki / AFP/Getty Images
Protesters hold Egyptian flags during the demonstration in Tahrir Square.
Credit Fredrik Persson / AP
Egyptians gather at Tahrir Square in Cairo to call for a new revolution Saturday. A court sentenced ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his interior minister to life in prison, but acquitted six security chiefs in the deaths of protesters last year.
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Originally published on Sat June 2, 2012 6:49 pm

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison Saturday for his role in killing protesters during the revolution that ousted him from power.

A hushed courtroom listened as the head judge read the verdict: guilty of accessory to murder and attempted murder. Mubarak lay motionless on a hospital gurney inside a courtroom cage, his only noticeable emotion being the slight quivering of his lips.

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Middle East
5:08 pm
Tue May 22, 2012

Egyptians Prepare For Historic Presidential Vote

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Credit Amr Nabil / AP
An Egyptian woman walks under a campaign banner in Cairo on Tuesday. Egypt holds its first competitive presidential election on Wednesday and Thursday, with a dozen candidates in the race.
Credit Marco Longari / AFP/Getty Images
A police officer carries empty ballot boxes to a polling station in Cairo. Turnout is expected to be heavy.
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Originally published on Tue May 22, 2012 8:46 pm

The first free presidential election in Egypt begins Wednesday.

Twelve candidates are running for the top spot vacated by Hosni Mubarak during last year's revolution. But none is expected to get an outright majority, and if that proves true, then a runoff will take place next month between the two leading vote-getters.

Many Egyptian voters say they are excited about the presidential election, which the country's ruling generals promise will be fair.

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Middle East
8:39 am
Sun May 20, 2012

Egyptian Candidate Gains Support, Despite Reputation

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Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Egyptians are getting ready for an historic vote, their first real presidential election since former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted during the Arab Spring. Twelve candidates are in the running. One them, former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, is already dividing voters ahead of Wednesday's vote. Many consider Shafiq a corrupt holdover from the old regime.

But as NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports from Cairo, he is gaining widespread support from Egyptians fed up with the growing insecurity in their country.

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Middle East
2:52 pm
Fri May 18, 2012

Egypt's New President Could Come From Old Guard

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Credit Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters/Landov
Amr Moussa, a prominent figure during the rule of former President Hosni Mubarak, is the front-runner as Egyptians prepare to vote for president next week. He is shown here during a campaign event on the outskirts of Cairo on Wednesday.
Credit Khaled Desouki / AFP/Getty Images
Among the candidates in Egypt's presidential election is Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood. Here, his young supporters campaign for him on the outskirts of Cairo on Thursday.
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Originally published on Fri May 18, 2012 6:34 pm

In Egypt's historic presidential race, opinion polls place the oldest candidate with the most political experience far ahead of his 11 rivals.

Many opponents try to portray Amr Moussa as a holdover from the hated regime of Hosni Mubarak. Moussa was Egypt's foreign minister under Mubarak and later the secretary-general of the Arab League.

Yet many voters believe he is the only candidate who can end the country's growing insecurity and economic problems.

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Africa
5:10 pm
Fri May 4, 2012

Political Rift Widens Between Egyptian Islamists

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Credit Khalil Hamra / AP
Egyptian presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh is welcomed by supporters upon his arrival at a meeting north of Cairo, on April 26. He was formerly a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, but was kicked out of the organization.
Credit Amr Nabil / AP
Mohammed Morsi is the candidate for the Muslim Brotherhood, the group that got the most votes in parliamentary elections. He's shown here at a campaign rally in Cairo on April 30.
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Originally published on Fri May 4, 2012 6:31 pm

The two top Islamists running in Egypt's first real presidential race share a common history.

Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a physician, is a former senior leader in the Muslim Brotherhood whose moderate stance has made him popular not only with Islamists, but with liberal and secular Egyptians.

Mohammed Morsi, an engineer, heads the Brotherhood's political party, which holds nearly half the seats in parliament.

Yet despite their common political background, the two men are bitter rivals.

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Middle East
10:02 am
Sun April 29, 2012

Egyptian Comedian's Case Raises Free Speech Concerns

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Originally published on Mon April 30, 2012 12:31 pm

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

One of the Arab world's most popular comedic actors is facing jail time in Egypt after a judge ruled he insulted Islam in some of his past film roles. The case worries those already concerned about the growing influence of Islamists in Egypt. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson has that story from Cairo.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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Africa
4:06 pm
Thu April 26, 2012

At Last, Egypt Settles On Presidential Candidates

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Credit Khaled Desouki / AFP/Getty Images
Amr Moussa, the front-runner in the Egyptian presidential race, speaks during a press conference in Cairo on Apr. 22. The country's election commission said Thursday that Moussa and 12 other candidates are eligible to compete in next month's election.
Credit Amr Nabil / AP
Ahmed Shafiq, who served as prime minister under Hosni Mubarak, will be allowed to take part in Egypt's presidential race. The country's election commission said Thursday that he is eligible, one day after he had been ruled ineligible. In this photo, he's shown speaking at a news conference in February 2011.
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Originally published on Thu April 26, 2012 6:27 pm

After months of anticipation, and just a few weeks before the voting, Egypt now has a list of 13 officially approved presidential candidates.

Amr Moussa, the former secretary-general of the Arab League, is one of the 13, and he is ahead in most opinion surveys in advance of the May 23-24 election.

And in a reversal, Egyptian election officials agreed Thursday to let one of Hosni Mubarak's former prime ministers run for president.

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