Nancy Okail is an Egyptian activist and a scholar with a focus in democracy and power relations of foreign aid. In 2013, Okail was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison in the controversial Egyptian court case against local and foreign non-governmental organization (NGOs).
She speaks publicly about Middle East politics and civil society and has spoken at Princeton University, Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, Tufts University, and Georgetown University. Her interviews and articles were featured in international journals and media outlets such as CNN, the Atlantic, Huffington Post, Al monitor, NPR, Cairo Review and the Washington Post.
Overview
Okail’s story, as Defendant No. 34 in the controversial Egyptian court case against Local and Foreigner NGOs, was featured in several international media outlets (the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Global Post). Okail is particularly well known for her act of resistance against the Egyptian government: reading George Orwell whilst awaiting trial in a cage in an Egyptian courtroom. After awaiting and standing trial in this court cage for six months, she was finally sentenced to five years in prison on June 4, 2013, in absentia while she was in the US. She is currently unable to return to Egypt where her family, including her four-year-old twin son and daughter, live.
Okail is the former Executive Director of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) in Washington DC. Prior to heading TIMEP, she was director of Freedom House’s Egypt program. She has more than 13 years’ experience in promoting democracy and development in the Middle East/North Africa region and is a visiting scholar at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
Previously, Okail worked with the Egyptian government as a senior evaluation officer of foreign aid and has managed programs for Egyptian pro-democracy organizations that challenged the Mubarak regime. In the summer of 2005 she came to the US to complete a fellowship at Stanford University's Center for Developing Democracy and Rule of Law. She later moved to the UK for her doctoral studies at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex when she was awarded the British Chevening scholarship.
In 2011, Okail returned to Egypt to participate in the struggle for democratic transition after the January 25th Revolution. Shortly after her arrival she was subject to harassment by state security until she was prosecuted in the NGO trial. Her professors and colleagues at Stanford University and University of Sussex strongly supported Okail's innocence and were against the injustice of the Egyptian government. They showed their support by writing extensively to advocate for her from abroad. Her supporters included Stanford University, Lawrence Haddad, and Naysan Adlparvar of the Institute of Development Studies.
NGO Trial
US-Egyptian relations, though historically friendly, became strained during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. At that time US government officials tried to encourage then-president Hosni Mubarak to enact government reforms, allow peaceful protests and refrain from using violence against protesters. Relations between the two countries hit a low point when Egyptian authorities raided the offices of 17 local and foreign NGOs—amongst them were the International Republican Institute, Freedom House, the National Democratic Institute, and the German Konrad-Adenauer Foundation. The NGO workers, whose offices were raided on December 29, 2011, were arrested on allegations of illegal funding from foreign donors, working without legal permits, and fomenting unrest in Egypt. The US retaliated by threatening to halt a $1.3billion military aid package to Egypt, calling the raids an attack on democratic values.
As several American NGO workers were implicated, the United States reacted quickly to ensure the timely release of the prisoners. However, Egyptian government officials refused to allow the accused to leave the country and moved forward with the prosecution. Seven of the Americans implicated were placed on a no-fly list, and Egyptian media depicted the case "as a battle for national sovereignty against Western bullies."