SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

Overview

Name:

Mr Moataz El Fegiery

Email address:

337488@soas.ac.uk, melfegiery@hotmail.com

Thesis title:

Islamic Law and International Human Rights in the Thought and Practice of the Society of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

Year of Study:

Second year

Internal Supervisors

• Mashood Baderin
• Lynn Welchman

PhD Research

This thesis examines the relationship between Islamic law and international human rights as articulated by the Society of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Islamists movements are influential actors in many Muslim states today. The application of Islamic Shari'ah has been a central demand for most of these movements. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has emerged as a major political actor in post-Mubarak era. It won the largest number of seats in the first parliamentary elections after the revolution and one of its leaders was elected as the first civilian president in Egypt since 1952. Founded in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood is the oldest organisational manifestation of Islamist resurgence from which other Islamist movements have emerged across the Muslim world. The thesis focuses on the positions of the Muslim Brotherhood on certain international human rights issues including religious freedom, the rights of religious minorities, freedom and expression, and the rights of women. The researcher tracks the views of the main ideologues and scholars of the Muslim Brotherhood and its political records in Egypt over the last three decades. The researcher will also conduct a fieldwork in Egypt to interview a number of leaders of the group and its political party as well as a group of Egyptian experts and human rights defenders.   

PhD Publications

In English

El Fegiery, M. (2012) A Tyranny of the Majority? Islamist’ Ambivalence about Human Rights, Fride working papers.  

El Fegiery, M. (2012) Crunch Time of Egypt’s Civil-Military Relations. Fride Policy Papers. 

El Fegiery, M., ‘Islamic Law and Human Rights: Muslim Scholars’ Approaches’ in Human Rights and Cultural Dialogue (the Danish Institute for Human Rights, 2011)  

El Fegiery, M., ‘Egypt: Towards A New Constitutional and Political Order’ in Hard Choices: the EU’s Options in a Changing Middle East (Finish Institute of International Affairs, 2011).

Dunne, M., El Fegiery, M., and Mc Inenerary, S., "Egypt: Will Democracy Succeed the Pharaoh?” in A Diplomat’s Handbook for Democracy Support Development (A project of the Community of Democracies, 2010).

El Fegiery, M., Human Rights and The European Neighborhood Policy, Europe Retreats, Southern Mediterranean States Hostile to Human Rights in the Ascendant, the European Council on Foreign Relations, September 2010.  

El Fegiery, M., and Lanon, E., European Neighborhood Policy: Human Rights and the EU-Egypt relations (the Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Network, 2006).  

Co- author, the third annual report of human rights in the Arab region in 2010, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS),

Co-author of the First Annual Report of Human Rights in the Arab Region in 2008 “From Exporting Terrorism to Exporting Repression”, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS).

Short Articles

El Fegiery, M., Save the Judiciary, Save the Revolution, Ahram on line, 7 August 2011

El Fegiery, M., and Kausch, K., Egypt and US: marriage of convenience, web commentary, FRIDE, 03/06/2009,  

El Fegiery, M., The Effectiveness of Human Rights Commissions in the Arab World, Arab Reform Bulletin, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, June 2008,

El Fegiery, M., Arab States: How Criticizing the Government becomes Illegal, Arab Reform Bulletin, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, July 2007,

El Fegiery, M and Radwan, Z., Salaam Darfur: the Arab position towards the crisis in Darfur, the new internationalist magazine, June 2007.  

El Fegiery, M., Arab Media and Elections, Arab Reform Bulletin, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, September issue, 2006,

In Arabic

Edited Books and Chapters

The constitutional amendments in Egypt, Co-editor and contributor, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, 2007.

The Arab League and Human Rights, Editor, published in Arabic, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, 2006.  

Towards a new Egyptian Constitution, Editor, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, published in Arabic, October 2005.

The royal establishment and the political reform in Bahrain in Amr Hamzawy (editor)," reform programs and discourses in a changing world", center for developing studies, 2004.   

Articles

Islamic Law and Religious Freedom in Egypt: the Jurisprudence of Egyptian Administrative Justice, Rowaq Arabi Periodical October 2012.

Islamic Shar’ia and Human Rights: Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im as a Case Study, Rowaq Arabi periodical, October 2010.

Human Rights under States of Emergency: Egypt as a Case Study, Rowaq Arabi periodical, October 2010.  

PhD Conferences

• Islamist Parties and Human Rights in Egypt and Tunisia, Casa Arab, Madrid 26 September 2012.
• Freedom of association in Egypt in a seminar titled ‘shrinking Political Space of Civil Society’, the Danish Institute for Human Rights, Copenhagen, September 2011. 
• Human Rights and Cultural Dialogue, a conference organised by the Danish Institute for Human Rights and Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Copenhagen, December 2010.
• Speaker in a seminar titled "Engaging on Human Rights in the Middle East: Multilateral Frameworks and the Role of the U.S", Washington DC, 1 September 2009.
• A seminar on Human Rights in the Arab World, speaker on the Behavior of Arab Governments at the International and Regional Human Rights Mechanisms, Carnegie Endowment for Middle east, Beirut, 10 March 2009.   

PhD Affiliations

• Member of the Board of Directors of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS).
• Treasurer and member of the Executive Committee and Treasurer of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN)
• President of the Board of Directors of Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies.