Leila Fadel
Leila Fadel is a national correspondent for NPR based in Los Angeles, covering issues of culture, diversity, and race.
Most recently, she was NPR's international correspondent based in Cairo and covered the wave of revolts in the Middle East and their aftermaths in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, and beyond. Her stories brought us to the heart of a state-ordered massacre of pro-Muslim Brotherhood protesters in Cairo in 2013 when police shot into crowds of people to clear them and killed between 1,000 and 2,000 people. She told us the tales of a coup in Egypt and what it is like for a country to go through a military overthrow of an elected government. She covered the fall of Mosul to ISIS in 2014 and documented the harrowing tales of the Yazidi women who were kidnapped and enslaved by the group. Her coverage also included stories of human smugglers in Egypt and the Syrian families desperate and willing to pay to risk their lives and cross a turbulent ocean for Europe.
She was awarded the Lowell Thomas Award from the Overseas Press Club for her coverage of the 2013 coup in Egypt and the toll it took on the country and Egyptian families. In 2017 she earned a Gracie award for the story of a single mother in Tunisia whose two eldest daughters were brainwashed and joined ISIS. The mother was fighting to make sure it didn't happen to her younger girls.
Before joining NPR, she covered the Middle East for The Washington Post as the Cairo Bureau Chief. Prior to her position as Cairo Bureau Chief for the Post, she covered the Iraq war for nearly five years with Knight Ridder, McClatchy Newspapers, and later the Washington Post. Her foreign coverage of the devastating human toll of the Iraq war earned her the George. R. Polk award in 2007. In 2016 she was the Council on Foreign Relations Edward R. Murrow fellow.
Leila Fadel is a Lebanese-American journalist who speaks conversational Arabic and was raised in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.
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Morocco has done something extremely rare for the Arab world — granted legal status to many African migrants. But the migrants still face discrimination and steep cultural barriers. -
A Tunisian mother says poverty and a lack of education and opportunity drove her older daughters to join ISIS. Without help, she fears that her younger girls will become "two little bombs." -
Islamic State fighters from neighboring Libya stormed into a Tunisian border town this month. The Tunisian security forces beat ISIS back — this time. But the Tunisians fear more attacks are coming. -
The incident involving EgyptAir Flight 181 ended with an arrest and all passengers and crew being released. The suspect, whose demands changed during the morning, had partly personal motivations.
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Donald Trump promised to bring thousands of jobs and tourism to Aberdeen. A decade later, he has angered the neighbors of his luxury golf course. "He promises the earth, delivers nothing," says one. -
It's been three years since WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange took refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London. He was avoiding arrest and extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault.
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To reduce the number of foreign workers, some of those making less than $50,000 won't qualify to stay in Britain beyond April. Critics say the deal would cause labor shortages. -
Egypt has vowed stricter enforcement of a law requiring foreign men to pay if they marry much younger women. Activists say the country enshrines a practice that amounts to sex trafficking. -
Recent terrorist attacks have prompted changes to the U.S. visa waiver program. But the changes have caused confusion in Europe and critics say they could spark retaliation.
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An investigation into the killing in Britain of Alexander Litvinenko puts the blame on the Russian government. The British report says President Vladimir Putin likely approved the assassination.
