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Dear Friends and Colleagues:
Thank you for your continued support and encouragement. Together, we can build a better future for the Muslim world, and improve relations and understanding between the US and the Muslim world.
The CSID Weekly E-mail Bulletin is sent once a week to 27,600 activists, scholars, experts, politicians, and religious leaders all over the world. Please forward it to all your friends, and ask them to subscribe. It is FREE, and it will keep them informed of major developments in the struggle for freedom, human rights, and democracy.
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The Project on Middle East Democracy and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies present:
Looking Back & Moving Forward:
Human Rights in the Arab World in 2009 and Beyond
Last month, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) released its annual report concluding that the state of human rights in the Arab region "has worsened compared to 2008." The report, which features 12 country studies by regional authors, paints a detailed picture of trends and developments over the past year that have threatened personal freedoms and regional progress towards improved human rights standards. These trends include the persistence of "widespread impunity and flagrant lack of accountability" in addition to a variety of repressive legal measures regimes have taken to undermine basic liberties, such as emergency and anti-terrorism laws. The report also takes a closer look at the state of women's rights at a time when Arab governments have actively engaged on that issue. Finally, it reviews the behavior of Arab governments in regional and international organizations.
Please join us for an in-depth discussion of the report and its implications for U.S. policy, with remarks from: - Amal al-Basha, President, The Arab Sisters Forum for Human Rights (Yemen)
- Bahey Eldin Hassan, General Director, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
- Marina Ottaway, Director, Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Jeremie Smith, Director, Geneva Office, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
- Radwan Ziadeh, Director, Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC 20036 Root Room, 2nd Floor
Lunch will be served.
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A new Policy Paper on
Strategies for Engaging Political Islam
Published by the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
By Shadi Hamid and Amanda Kadlec
The report assesses existing policies toward political Islam and argues that engaging with mainstream Islamist groups is in the national security interest of the US and EU countries. It looks at three levels of Western engagement - low-level contacts, strategic dialogue, and partnership - and considers the advantages and disadvantages of each. The paper draws on discussions held in Washington last year with Ruheil Gharaibeh - Deputy Secretary-General of the Islamic Action Front and leading member of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood. During his time in Washington, Gharaibeh met with members of the policy community to discuss the relationship between Islamists and the West
 INTRODUCTION: Political Islam is the single most active political force in the Middle East today. Its future is intimately tied to that of the region. If the United States and the European Union are committed to supporting political reform in the region, they will need to devise concrete, coherent strategies for engaging Islamist groups. Yet, the U.S. has generally been unwilling to open a dialogue with these movements. Similarly, EU engagement with Islamists has been the exception, not the rule. Where low-level contacts exist, they mainly serve information-gathering purposes, not strategic objectives. The U.S. and EU have a number of programs that address economic and political development in the region - among them the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the Union for the Mediterranean, and the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) - yet they have little to say about how the challenge of Islamist political opposition fits within broader regional objectives. U.S. and EU democracy assistance and programming are directed almost entirely to either authoritarian governments themselves or secular civil society groups with minimal support in their own societies.
The time is ripe for a reassessment of current policies. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, supporting Middle East democracy has assumed a greater importance for Western policymakers who see a link between lack of democracy and political violence. Greater attention has been devoted to understanding the variations within political Islam. The new American administration is more open to broadening communication with the Muslim world. Meanwhile, the vast majority of mainstream Islamist organizations - including the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Jordan's Islamic Action Front (IAF), Morocco's Justice and Development Party (PJD), the Islamic Constitutional Movement of Kuwait, and the Yemeni Islah Party - have increasingly made support for political reform and democracy a central component in their political platforms. In addition, many have signaled strong interest in opening dialogue with U.S. and EU governments.
The future of relations between Western nations and the Middle East may be largely determined by the degree to which the former engage nonviolent Islamist parties in a broad dialogue over shared interests and objectives. There has been a recent proliferation of studies on engagement with Islamists, but few clearly address what it might entail in practice. As Zoé Nautré, visiting fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations, puts it, "the EU is thinking about engagement but doesn't really know how." In the hope of clarifying the discussion, we distinguish between three levels of "engagement," each with varying means and ends: low-level contacts, strategic dialogue, and partnership.
Download Full Report (PDF) Back to top
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Concerns for Health of Iranian political prisoner Ebrahim Yazdi
Friends and relatives of Dr. Ebrahim Yazdi have expressed concern over the state of his health and have appealed to international organizations for help in securing his release.
 A Jaras reporter in Tehran has confirmed that Yazdi, a member of the Islamic Revolution Council, had been spotted in prison attire in the revolutionary court on Moalem street last week. He had been brought there to extend his temporary arrest warrant and appeared to look extremely haggard and unwell. In addition, his family had been asked to bring him medicine and personal hygiene items. Dr. Yazdi is 79 years old and suffers from several ailments. Two years ago he traveled abroad to be treated with chemotherapy and underwent surgery months ago. Yazdi's family and friends are seriously concerned for his health.
A member of the Freedom Movement of Iran who wished to remain anonymous told the Jaras reporter: "We plead for all human rights organizations, as well as all those who care about humanity to help secure our leader's freedom so that he can proceed with his medical treatment. His life is in danger."
Dr. Yazdi has already been arrested twice over the past year. During the latest incident, officials from the Ministry of Intelligence arrived at his home at 3am on 28 December 2009 (the day afer the bloody Ashura protests).. Two weeks ago, counter to the constitution, the Iranian government had completely prohibited the oldest Islamic political party in Iran from engaging in any political activity. Several party members, as well as family members of the party leaders have been arrested..
Yazdi was also held in detention for 72 hours during the aftermath of last year's presidential election, during the time that he was hospitalized. Some say that he is the oldest prisoner in Iran.
Read Family Appeal Here Back to Top
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Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial delayed
 Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial, which opened last week, was halted Monday after the defense moved for the judge's disqualification.
High Court judge Mohamad Zabidin Diah postponed the proceedings until Tuesday when he will hear the application by Anwar's attorney Karpal Singh seeking the judge's recusal, Bernama news agency reported.
The defense's application relates to the judge's ruling on its claims of bias in some local media coverage of the trial. The application said the ruling "brings to surface an element of real danger of bias on the part of the learned trial judge," Bernama reported. The trial was halted as the defense was set cross-examine a 25-year-old former male aide that Anwar is accused of sodomizing at an upscale private condominium in June 2008.
The 63-year-old former deputy prime minister has denied the charge, saying the ruling National Front is targeting him because it sees his opposition coalition as a political threat. The government has said it is not involved. Anwar was arrested last July four months after his opposition coalition parties made major gains in parliamentary elections. The U.S. State Department has expressed concerns over his arrest.
It is the second such trial on similar charges for Anwar, who could be sentenced to 20 years in prison if convicted. In the earlier case, he was convicted of sodomy and corruption in 1998 and spent six years in prison before his conviction was overturned.
Read Full Article Back to top
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Egypt Arrests 3 Top Muslim Brotherhood Leaders
By PAUL SCHEMM | The Associated Press
The No. 2 leader of Egypt's opposition Muslim Brotherhood and two other top figures have been arrested by police Monday in a dawn sweep targeting members of the nation's most powerful opposition group across the country. The arrests, part of an ongoing crackdown, come just as the group chose a new leadership and ahead of parliamentary elections set for October.
 Police arrested the new deputy leader, Mahmoud Ezzat, and two other members of the Guidance Council, Essam el-Erian and Abdul-Rahman el-Bir. A fourth member of the group's top level decision making body was not home when police raided his house.
"These arrests will not prevent the Brotherhood from the path it has chosen to realize the renaissance of the nation and it will continue its struggle through all available peaceful means to provide freedom and confront corruption and combat tyranny," the group said in a statement.
"This regime doesn't want neither a partner nor a participant," in running the country, said spokesman Mohamed Morsi, describing the arrests as a continuation of the state's "pressure and marginalization of the whole nation."
Police said the charges against the men, as well as at least 10 other leading members arrested in the provinces, were for engaging in banned political activity - a standard government charge used against the group. Morsi said the arrests wouldn't alter plans to participate in October's parliamentary elections.
The Brotherhood was banned in 1954 but is occasionally tolerated by the state. Its candidates are allowed to run for parliament as independents and in 2005 won 20 percent of the seats, making them Egypt's largest opposition bloc.
The move comes just weeks after the movement selected a new supreme guide, Mohammed Badie, to great fanfare and media attention. He immediately embarked on a round of meetings with various intellectuals and opposition figures in the country.
Read full article Back to top
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Ali Vurak Ak Center for Islamic Studies at George Mason University Announces the Spring 2010 Lecture Series
Mapping Jihad and Martyrdom: Contested Semantics and Narratives of Dissent
First Speaker in the Series is Dr. Asma Afsaruddin, Professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Indiana University, Bloomington.
Thursday, February 18, 2010, at 5.00 pm
A light reception will precede the lecture
Venue: Mason Hall, Conference Room D3AB
George Mason University
 Asma Afsaruddin is Professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Indiana University, Bloomington. She received her Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the Johns Hopkins University in 1993 and previously taught at Harvard and Notre Dame universities. She is the author and/or editor of four books, including The First Muslims: History and Memory (Oxford: OneWorld Publications 2008) and Excellence and Precedence: Medieval Islamic Discourse on Legitimate Leadership (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2002). She has also written over fifty research articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries on various aspects of Islamic thought. She lectures widely in the US, Europe, and the Middle East and frequently consults with governmental and non-governmental organizations on contemporary issues in Islam.
Professor Afsaruddin has served on the editorial boards of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Modern Islam; the Bulletin of the Middle East Studies Association, the Routledge Encyclopedia of Medieval Islamic Civilization,and the Oxford Dictionary of Islam, and is
currently co-editor of the Islam section of Religion Compass, published by Blackwell Publications. She has also been a fellow of the American Research Center in Cairo and of the American Research Institute of Turkey. Currently, she is the chair of the Board of Directors of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID), and serves on the advisory board of Karamah and of the Muslim World Initiative of the United States Institute of Peace. A recipient of grants from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation, Afsaruddin is currently completing a manuscript on jihad and martyrdom in Islamic thought and practice, forthcoming from Oxford University Press.
Read full article Back to top |
Abdolkarim Soroush on the Goals of Iran's Green Movement
By Robin Wright | The Huffington Post
 Five major figures in Iran's reform movement issued a manifesto Sunday, Jan. 3, calling for the resignation of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the abolition of clerical control of the voting system and candidate selection.
The signatories, all Iranians living outside the country, include Abdolkarim Soroush, dissident cleric Mohsen Kadivar; former parliamentarian and Islamic Guidance Minister Ataollah Mohajerani; investigative journalist Akbar Ganji; and Abdolali Bazargan, an Islamic thinker and son of a former prime minister.
Whose views does this manifesto reflect -- just the leadership or the wider range of followers?
This is a pluralistic movement, including believers and non-believers, socialists and liberals. There are all walks of life in the Green Movement. We tried to come up with the common points for all. We know there are many more demands, many more than these.
Maybe in the next stage, they may demand redrafting the constitution. But for now, they would like to work within the framework of the constitution, and we were careful not to trespass those limits.
What's next for the Green Movement?
Nobody knows. There are all sorts of cries that the leaders of the Green Movement should submit themselves to the supreme leader, but that won't take place. Both sides have to be prepared for a serious negotiation. That could be the next stage. [Former President] Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani might step in to start a negotiation for national reconciliation.
Can the regime crack down to the point of eliminating the Green Movement?
I don't think so. It is a product of the reform movement, which was suppressed. Ahmadinejad did his best to remove all sort of reform movements and to start a new era. But the regime could not put out the fire. And now we have the Green Movement, which is a culmination of the reform movement, a new stage.
I hope the government recognizes it has to have negotiations with the Green Movement and will have to sacrifice something for them to be productive. Heaven forbid that it turns into violence, which would be bad for the Green Movement and the country.
Read full article Back to top
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The Return of the Neocons
Neoconservatism was once deemed dead-'Buried in
the sands of Iraq.' But it persists, not just as the de facto
foreign-policy plank of the Republican Party but, its proponents
assert, in Obama's unapologetic embrace of American military might.
By David Margolick | NEWSWEEK
For all his eminence - or maybe because of it - the funeral for Irving Kristol this past September was an understated affair. Some thought Dick Cheney might show up, but neither he nor any other Republican leader did; it seemed almost ungrateful, given Kristol's extraordinary contribution to the GOP - how he'd brought intellectual legitimacy and heft to what he himself had once called "the stupid party." None of the Republican congressional leadership was there, nor any of the would - be candidates for 2012 - not even Sarah Palin, whom Kristol's ubiquitous son, Bill, had helped turn into a political phenomenon.
 The assemblage of about 200 people wasn't exactly small, but in the gargantuan sanctuary of Adas Israel Congregation, built at a time - 1951 - when American Jews of Irving Kristol's generation wanted to proclaim they'd finally arrived and planned to stick around awhile, it was dwarfed by its surroundings; the burgundy back benches were empty. Adas Israel is Washington's most powerful Conservative congregation, the one to which every Israeli ambassador to the United States in history has belonged. Instead of the usual parade of celebrity eulogists, though, only two people-the rabbi and Bill Kristol-spoke, and briefly at that. In 40 minutes or so it was over.
But the strength of neoconservatism, the intellectual and political "persuasion" (as he once called it) that Irving Kristol launched and led, has never been in its numbers but in its firepower and ferocity. And had the elder Kristol - whose shrouded coffin sat inconspicuously below the stage, nestled between the American and Israeli flags - been able to survey the crowd, he'd have been pleased. For filling the pews were his progeny, not just biological but intellectual, and they were an impressive lot.
They came from the publications that neoconservatives either run, like Bill Kristol's Weekly Standard, or work for, like The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. Others came from the think tanks where neocons congregate, particularly the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). There were faces from the Iraq War, with which the neocons are inextricably linked, like former deputy secretary of defense Paul Wolfowitz (making a rare public appearance) and the former civilian administrator of Iraq, Paul Bremer. Charles Krauthammer, the impassioned and highly influential neoconservative columnist at The Washington Post, and the political scientist Francis Fukuyama (a rare lapsed and repentant neocon) hadn't spoken to each other for several years - ever since Fukuyama had taken exception to the roseate view of the Iraq War Krauthammer had offered in the American Enterprise Institute's 2004 Irving Kristol Lecture - but Kristol's death had briefly brought them back together, albeit in different parts of the synagogue. The more traditional wing of the Republican Party, the one the neocons had arguably routed, also paid homage: George Will, who'd come to view the Iraq War as an enormous mistake, took his seat respectfully.
Read full Article Back to top
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About CSID
By supporting CSID, you help to: - Create a better future for our children so they can have more opportunities for improving their lives and realizing their dreams.
- Educate and inform Americans about Islam's true values of tolerance, peace, and good will towards mankind, including peoples of other faiths.
- Improve U.S. relations with the Muslim world by supporting popular movements rather than oppressive tyrannies and corrupt regimes.
- Replace the feelings of hopelessness, despair, and anger in many parts of the Muslim world, especially among the youth, with a more positive and hopeful outlook for the future.
- Encourage young Muslim Americans, and Muslims everywhere, to participate in the political process and to reject calls for destructive violence and extremism.
- Build a network of Muslim democrats around the globe who can share knowledge and experience about how to build and strengthen democratic institutions and traditions in the Muslim countries.
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Please donate generously. Your contribution to CSID is both tax-deductible, and zakat-eligible. Your contribution will make a world of difference.
The Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy is a non-profit think tank, based in Washington DC - dedicated to promoting a better understanding of democracy in the Muslim world, and a better understanding of Islam in America. To achieve its objectives, the Center organizes meetings, conferences, and publishes several reports and periodicals. CSID engages Muslim groups, parties, and governments - both secularist and moderate Islamist - in public debates on how to reconcile Muslims' interpretation of Islam and democracy. CSID is committed to providing democracy education to ordinary citizens, civil society, religious and political leaders in the Muslim world, and has organized meetings, workshops, and conferences in over 25 countries, including Nigeria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Iran, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, etc.
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Human Rights Defenders Program
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