NDI staff member Lila Jaafar testified July 24 before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa. Subcommittee Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen presided over the hearing, “The Struggle for Civil Society in Egypt.”
“There is still a great hunger for democracy in Egypt – especially among the youth who now recognize that it will take more than street demonstrations to create a more pluralistic and democratic system,” Jaafar said during her testimony.
Jaafar was one of 43 NGO workers convicted last June as part of a crackdown by the Egyptian government on NGOs. Jaafar and other witnesses were asked to recount their experiences being convicted in Egypt and the impact it has had on their lives.
Jaafar was joined by witnesses Charles Dunne, director of Middle East and North Africa programs for Freedom House; Sam LaHood, former Egypt country director for the International Republican Institute; and Patrick Butler, vice president of programs for the International Center for Journalists.
