Nora Noralla

Nora Noralla is a Nonresident Fellow at TIMEP focusing on gender and sexuality in the Middle East and North Africa region. She is also the institute’s first Sarah Hegazi Fellow. She is an Egyptian human rights researcher and consultant focusing mainly on issues of sexual and bodily freedoms as well as Islamic Sharia and human rights in the MENA region. Her engagement with the human rights field started in the wake of the January 25 revolution in Egypt. She has worked in different NGOs including Cairo 52 Legal Research Institute, Human Rights Watch, Article 19, and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. She holds a Masters degree in Human Rights Law from the Central European University and has authored different articles and publications including “One True Sharia: A Historical Background” and “El Karakhana: History of Sex Working in Modern Egypt between Legalization and Criminalization.” You can follow her on Twitter: @NoraNoralla.

Articles by: Nora Noralla

The Quiet and Dangerous Anti-LGBTQ+ Ideology of The Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church 

Non-Islamic religious institutions in Egypt, such as the Coptic Orthodox Church, receive little to no scrutiny for their anti-LGBTQ+ actions, even though the church plays a role in the state’s anti-queer agenda.

Digital Persecution: Surveillance in Queer Digital Spaces 

While digital spaces have often been a haven for queer communities and movements in the MENA region, governments are increasingly compromising these spaces through entrapment, blackmail, arrests, and persecution.

The “Chromosome Trap”: Anti-Trans Narratives and Policy in Egypt

Access to gender-affirming healthcare in Egypt is hobbled by medical policy that emphasizes the “chromosome trap” and thus disqualifies potential trans patients. What are, then, consequences for trans people and communities across...