Middle East File

Knox Thames is an international human rights lawyer, advocate, and author who has dedicated his career to promoting human rights, defending religious minorities, and combatting persecution. Over his 20 years of service in the U.S. government, Knox held several key positions advocating for freedom of religion or belief, including at the State Department and two different U.S. government foreign pol...

Jason Klocek is an Assistant Professor in Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham. He is also a senior researcher at the United States Institute of Peace and a Faculty Affiliate of the University of Notre Dame's Center for the Study of Religion and Society. In this conversation, we discuss Regime change and religious discrimination after the Arab uprisings, published i...

Samirah Majumdar is a research associate at the Pew Research Center, where she focuses on global restrictions on religion. She is an alumnus of Barnard College and Georgetown University and the author of multiple Pew Research Center reports, including the latest study: Globally, Government Restrictions on Religion Reached Peak Levels in 2021, While Social Hostilities Went Down . The Middle East Fi...

Mairéad Smith is a consultant with the Coalition for Just Reparations (C4JR) and a PhD candidate at Brown University. In this conversation we discuss the C4JR Annual Report on implementation of the Yazidi Survivors Law: More than "Ink on Paper": Taking Stock Three Years After the Adoption of the Yazidi [Female] Survivors Law. The report provides an overview of YSL implementation and the work of th...

Lou Ann Sabatier is a consultant with decades of leadership experience in non-profit and corporate publishing, marketing and communications. She has worked with clients including World Vision/Save the Children, the International Monetary Fund, the OECD, the Federal Reserve Bank, National Geographic, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. She also currently serves as Director...

Dr. Sandra Iman Pertek is a ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Birmingham. She is a gender and social development specialist with over a decade’s experience in humanitarian, development, and migration settings. Her research integrates intersectional and ecological approaches for developing religious engagement with the continuum of violence in forced migration. In this conversation, we...

Fadi Hachem is a human rights lawyer and researcher specializing in Gender and Cultural Rights. He has worked as a consultant and advisor with a number of local and international organizations, including ALEF - Act for Human Rights, the International Commission for Missing Persons, ACTED, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, UNICEF, and Pax for Peace. Fadi served as the editor and coordinator of this researc...

Farahnaz Ispahani is a Senior Fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute and joins to discuss her new book: Politics of Hate: Religious Majoritarianism in South Asia (Harper Collins, 2023).  South Asia-home to almost 2 billion people representing every major and minor religious belief-has also witnessed religious extremism, often supported by the state apparatus. In Politics of Hate, noted sch...

David H. Warren, lecturer in the Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies department at Washington University in St. Louis, joins to discuss a new report: Tolerance, Religious Freedom, and Authoritarianism (USCIRF, 2022).  This report details how authoritarian states promote religious tolerance without necessarily ensuring freedom of religion or belief. It distinguishes between these two c...

Geneive Abdo is a Fellow in the Middle East Program of the Wilson Center and joins to discuss a new report: Charting a Nationalist and Secular Iraqi State: The Road Ahead (EPIC / Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, 2022).  Young people are changing Iraq. But what kind of state do they want? The report covers the results of a national survey conducted by EPIC of 1,062 eligible Iraqi voters ages 18 – 40...

John D. Barton , Professor of Teaching of Religion and Director, Center for Faith and Learning, Pepperdine University joins to discuss his new book Better Religion: A Primer for Interreligious Peacebuilding (Baylor University Press, 2022).  In the twenty-first century, humanity faces both unprecedented existential threats and remarkable possibilities for development. While no one knows how th...

Bayar Mustafa Sevdeen, Dean of External Engagement and Research at the University of Kurdistan Hewler and Dr. Thomas Schmidinger Lecturer at the University of Vienna and a Visiting Professor Politics & IR at University of Kurdistan Hewler join to discuss the recent conference Syrian Religious Communities and the Transnational War .  The conference brought together a wide range of contribu...

Haider Elias, President, Yazda, joins the Middle East File to discuss We Cannot Return: Collapsed Security Threatens the Future of Yazidis & Minorities in Sinjar co-authored by Yazda and The Zovighian Partnership and published by the Wilson Center. This first paper in a two-part series presents and recommends immediate solutions to strengthening security in Sinjar. Published by the  Wilso...

Ismail Royer, Director of the Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team at the Religious Freedom Institute, joins the Middle East File to discuss his / Islam in the Constitutions of Modern Arab States: the Case of Tunisia .  The article is part of a Cornerstone Forum series looking at the implications of Tunisia’s new constitution on religious freedom, associated rights, governance, and stabili...

Nury Turkel is the author of No Escape: The True Story of China’s Genocide of the Uyghurs (Hanover Square Press, 2022) and is interviewed by Jeremy P. Barker, Director, Middle East, Religious Freedom Institute.  Nury Turkel is an attorney, author, foreign policy expert, and advocate with nearly two decades of experience working in the intersection of law, business, government, and the human r...

Mariam Ibraheem is the author of Shackled: One Woman’s Dramatic Triumph Over Persecution, Gender Abuse, and a Death Sentence (Whitaker House, 2022) and is interviewed by Jeremy P. Barker, Director, Middle East, Religious Freedom Institute. Mariam Ibraheem is Co-founder and Director of Global Mobilization for Tahrir Alnisa Foundation. Mariam was imprisoned for her faith in December 2013 before late...

Bob Fu is the author of The Politics of Inclusive Pluralism: Proposed Foundation for Religious Freedom in a Post-Communist, Democratic China (Pickwick, 2020) and is interviewed by Todd Huizinga, Senior Fellow for Europe, Religious Freedom Institute.  Bob Fu is the founder/president of China Aid and dedicates himself to advancing religious freedom for all in China. He earned his PhD in the fie...

Pastor John Cao is author of Living Lyrics: Poems from Prison (China Aid, 2021) and Julian Marley of China Aid is interviewed by Jeremy P. Barker, Director, Middle East Action Team, Religious Freedom Institute.  Living Lyrics is a collection of prison poems written by Pastor John Cao. Cao received a seven-year prison sentence in March 2018 for his Christian faith. Cao, a legal resident of Nor...

Mustafa Akyol is author of Why, As a Muslim, I Defend Liberty (Cato Institute, 2021) and is interviewed by Jeremy P. Barker, Director, Middle East Action Team, Religious Freedom Institute.  Mustafa Akyol is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, where he focuses on the intersection of public policy, Islam, and modernity. Since 2013, he has also...

Ewelina U. Ochab and David Alton are the authors of State Responses to Crimes of Genocide: What Went Wrong and How to Change It (Springer Nature, 2022) and are interviewed by Jeremy P. Barker, Director, Middle East Action Team, Religious Freedom Institute.  Ewelina Ochab is a human rights advocate, author, and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. She works on the topics of genoc...

Kay Rubaceck is author of Who Are China's Walking Dead? (Liberty Hill Press, 2020) and is interviewed by Jeremy P. Barker, Director, Middle East Action Team, Religious Freedom Institute.  Kay Rubaceck is an award-winning filmmaker, author, TV host, and speaker on faith, family, and freedom. Her work includes the film Finding Courage (2020), Hard to Believe, and numerous documentaries and spec...

Arielle Del Turco and Lela Gilbert with LTG (Ret.)Jerry Boykin are authors of Heroic Faith: Hope Amid Global Persecution (Fidelis Publishing, 2022) and are interviewed by Todd Huizinga, Senior Fellow for Europe, Religious Freedom Institute. Arielle Del Turco is the Assistant Director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Family Research Council. Her work has appeared in USA Today, RealClearPo...

Lela Gilbert is author of Baroness Cox: Eyewitness to a Broken World (Monarch Books, 2021) and is interviewed by Paul Marshall, Director, South and Southeast Asia Action Team, Religious Freedom Institute.  Lela Gilbert is Adjunct Fellow, Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute and Senior Fellow for International Religious Freedom and Coalitions Coordinator at Family Research Coun...

Stephen M. Rasche is author of The Disappearing People: The Tragic Fate of Christians in the Middle East (Bombardier Books, 2020) and is interviewed by Jeremy P. Barker, Director, Middle East Action Team, Religious Freedom Institute. Stephen Rasche is a Senior Fellow for International Religious Freedom in Conflict Regions at the Religious Freedom Institute, a member of the Board of Directors of th...

Sean R. Roberts is author of The War on the Uyghurs: China's Internal Campaign against a Muslim Minority (Princeton University Press, 2020) and is interviewed by Jeremy P. Barker, Director, Middle East Action Team, Religious Freedom Institute.  Professor Roberts is Associate Professor in the Practice of International Affairs and Director of the International Development Studies (IDS) MA progr...