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Salma Islam

Salma Islam is a British journalist who has been based in Cairo since 2013.

Salma Islam is a British journalist who has been based in Cairo since 2013. She focuses mainly on Egyptian politics, culture and society. Salma has a background in British politics, and was a political consultant in London before moving to Egypt.

A woman burns a portrait of ousted President Mohamed Mursi at the funeral of Egyptian public prosecutor Hisham Barakat, on the second anniversary of the June 30 protests, in Cairo, Egypt, June 30, 2015.

Five years of Sisi’s crackdown has left ‘no form of opposition’ in Egypt

Conflict & Justice

Egypt’s “second revolution” unleashed a fierce crackdown which is showing no signs of slowing down. Here’s now it happened.

A voter's finger is marked with ink at a polling station during the second day of the presidential election in Alexandria, Egypt, March 27, 2018.

Egypt targeted ‘fake news’ ahead of presidential elections

Global Politics
The site of Grand Egyptian Museum

A new Egyptian museum will bring treasures of the pyramids back to practically where they were buried

Culture
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi attends a welcome ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, Cyprus, Nov. 20, 2017.

In Egypt’s ‘joke’ election, Sisi’s only challenger is perhaps his biggest fan

Conflict
Visitors walk around pharaonic artefacts inside the Egyptian Museum

Tourists are returning to Egypt after years of staying away

Economics
Women wearing headscarves sit in chairs at a public beach in Alexandria, Egypt

In some affluent circles in Egypt, the hijab and burkini just won’t do

Culture

In Egypt, numerous bars and restaurants that target an affluent clientele have some sort of veil ban in place — that includes headscarves like the hijab or other forms of Islamic headdress as well as the niqab where only a woman’s eyes can be seen.

Mohamed Zaree giving a talk with the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies in Egypt.

Meet the winner of the ‘Nobel for human rights’ that Egypt doesn’t want you to know about

Conflict

Mohamed Zaree has won the Martin Ennals Award announced in Geneva, but Egypt wouldn’t let him leave the country to receive it.

A resident looks on from his traditional house at the Nubian Gharb Suheil village, near Aswan, southern Egypt.

Egypt detains Nubians during a peaceful, singing protest

Justice

Nubians are the descendants of an ancient African civilization and they were marching for the right to return to their ancestral homeland of Nubia.

A man plays music on a traditional musical instrument in the Nubian village of Adindan

Egypt’s indigenous Nubians continue their long wait to return to ancestral lands

Culture

Nubians are descendants of an ancient African civilization as old as Egypt itself. Their historical homeland, Nubia, stretches along the Nile covering present-day southern Egypt and northern Sudan.

Egypt journalists protests

Egypt is blocking access to news sites on an ‘unprecedented level’

Media

Observers say it’s a sign of President Sisi’s weakening support. But Egyptian journalists are feeling more at risk than ever.