Digital Democracy Now in collaboration with Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, the Egyptian Human Rights Forum [Samar Elhusseiny], Euromed Rights – [Moataz El fegiery] organized a saide-event panel entitled Transnational Repression and the Shrinking Space for Freedom of Expression in the MENA region at the 60th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva in September 2025.
The event examined Lebanon’s role in transnational repression, including the misuse of the Arab Interior Ministers Council to target dissidents. Focusing on the case of poet Abdulrahman Yusuf — arrested in Lebanon, extradited to the UAE, and forcibly disappeared for his critical writings — the panel explored legal reforms to protect freedom of expression and prevent such abuses.
