Mohamed Mandour is a Middle East and North Africa researcher at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). He is also a research fellow at the Human Rights Foundation (HRF). With a master’s degree in human rights, specializing in national security and accountability, and a minor in law, obtained from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School, Mandour brings a strong academic background to his work.

Previously, he served as a Bassem Sabry research fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, where his article on Egyptian exile activism was recognized as one of the top 10 articles of 2022. His academic article on the criminalization of minority free speech received an honorable mention for the 2022 Graduate Student Paper Award from the American Sociological Association’s Human Rights Section.

Mandour’s expertise has been acknowledged by the Forum on the Arms Trade, focusing on U.S. military assistance to the MENA region and arms and emerging technology trade policies. His research interests encompass various aspects of the MENA region, including exile activism, transnational repression, and digital repression.