06 June 2013

Free Nancy Okail. Free Egypt's NGOs

Nancy Okail is the Director of Freedom House's Egypt office.

She and 42 others were arrested on Tuesday in a crackdown on foreign NGOs in Egypt.

It is a sad day for democracy in Egypt.

Nancy is an IDS alumna and a thoroughly impressive development professional and freedom advocate.

See her in this chillingly prescient video interview from a year ago.

Nancy is not in Egypt and was sentenced to a 5 year term in absentia. She is soft spoken but with a core of steel. You can follow her tweets at @NancyGEO.

This is a quote from the linked CSM article.

“I used to live in England,” she said. “When the revolution happened, I went back to Egypt to work in human rights and democracy, and I was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison, while the police officers accused of killing the protesters all got acquitted. I can't say anything more than that.”

January 25 2011 feels like a long time ago.

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