Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

Credit Steve Barrett

International correspondent Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is based in Cairo and covers the Arab world for NPR from the Middle East to North Africa. Her reports can be heard on NPR's award-winning programs including Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

In 2006, Nelson opened the NPR Kabul Bureau. During the following three and a half years, she gave listeners an in-depth sense of life inside Afghanistan, from the increase in suicides among women in a tribal society that sees them as second class citizens, to the growing interference of Iran and Pakistan in Afghan affairs and the impact of Western policies in the region. For her coverage of Afghanistan, she won a Peabody award, Overseas Press Club award and Gracie in 2010.

Nelson came to NPR in 2006, after spending more than two decades as a newspaper reporter. She served as Knight Ridder's Middle East Bureau Chief from 2002 to 2005 where she specialized in covering Iran. As a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Nelson was sent on extended assignment to Iran and Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Nelson spent three years as an editor and reporter for Newsday and was part of the team that won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for covering the crash of TWA flight 800. She also spent time at the the Orange County Register covering Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

A graduate of the University of Maryland, Nelson speaks Farsi, Dari, and German. She is married to long-time reporter Erik Nelson and they have a son.

Egypt, Tunisia Try To Turn Elections Into Democracy

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Credit Odd Andersen / AFP/Getty Images

Egypt is holding parliamentary elections, but the military remains the most powerful force in the country. Here, election officials take away ballot boxes from a polling station in Cairo on Nov. 29, 2011.

Credit Fethi Belaid / AFP/Getty Images

Tunisians have elected an assembly to write a new constitution. Voters are shown here on Oct. 23, 2011, outside a polling station in the capital Tunis.

By Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

One year ago, the people of Tunisia and Egypt rose up against their autocratic rulers and forced them from power. Those revolutions spread across the Arab World, leading to the region's biggest upheaval in decades. It's still not clear how these seismic changes will play out, and so far, the results have been mixed. Today, NPR begins a six-part series looking at where the region stands today. In our first story, NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports on the elections in Egypt and Tunisia as these countries struggle to build democracies.

11:01 pm

Wed December 28, 2011

Will Islamist Politicians Hamper Egyptian Tourism?

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Credit Jamal Saidi / Reuters /Landov

Tourists visit the Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza near Cairo. Tourist numbers have plummeted this year with the political turmoil in Egypt. Now, some Islamist politicians are proposing rules that could discourage visitors.

Credit Khalil Hamra / AP

Foreign tourists stroll through the Khan el-Khalili market in Cairo.

By Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

Islamists are widely expected to hold a majority of seats in Egypt's new parliament when it convenes next month, and a leading priority is the sagging economy.

Yet their conservative religious approach could threaten a key pillar of Egypt's economy: Western tourists.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party received many votes from vendors at the Khan el-Khalili market, a hub for tourists in Cairo with narrow twisting lanes and soaring minarets.

3:33 pm

Wed December 14, 2011

Egyptian Islamists Favored In Second Phase Of Voting

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Credit Eman Helal / AP

Women stand in line waiting to cast their votes in Suez, Egypt, on Wednesday. For months after the revolution, the port city had no government or services. Some voters are turning to the Salafists or the Muslim Brotherhood to bring about change.

Credit Khaled Desouki / AFP/Getty Images

Egyptian women line up to vote in Giza, southwest Cairo, on Wednesday, during the second round of parliamentary voting. Islamists swept to victory in the first stage.

By Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

A steady stream of voters showed up Wednesday at polling centers in the port city of Suez and in eight other governorates in Egypt. Islamists are expecting to boost their lead in the second phase of the country's landmark parliamentary elections.

The first phase was held last month, and the third and final phase will come next month as the country votes by region.

3:00 am

Tue December 13, 2011

Egypt To Begin Second Round Of Parliamentary Elections

By Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

Islamists in Egypt are once again expected to dominate at the ballot box in the second round of parliamentary elections that begin Wednesday. Their anticipated win has many Egyptians fearing the new parliament will turn their country into a theocracy.

Middle East

3:01 pm

Wed December 7, 2011

Islamist Parties At Odds In Egypt's Ongoing Elections

Credit AFP/Getty Images

Egyptian soldiers stand in front of campaign posters for candidates from the hard-line Islamist Salafist Al-Nour party, in the coastal city of Alexandria.

By Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

As the Egyptian elections roll on over the course of several more weeks, the incoming parliament looks likely to be dominated by Islamists. But the two leading Islamist blocs have little in common and are doing their best to undermine each other.

The Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists do not get along in Alexandria's working-class slum of Abu Suleiman. Outside one polling station, the tension is thick as campaign workers for each group's political party hand out fliers.

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11:01 pm

Sun January 1, 2012