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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Minnesota officials are demanding to have a role in the investigation into Alex Pretti's killing by federal agents as videos and eyewitnesses contradict the Trump administration's account.
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A 37-year-old man was killed by federal officers in Minneapolis, sparking new protests; many Senate Democrats say they plan to vote against DHS funding; winter storm knocks out power to thousands.
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A second person was killed in Minneapolis over the weekend by federal officials. The political finger-pointing began almost immediately.
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As arctic weather and icy conditions gripped several states, up to a million people were without power on Sunday and thousands of flights were cancelled.
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NPR's Leila Fadel asks Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell how his city is coping after the massive winter storm that swept across much of the country this weekend.
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NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Chelsie Glaubitz Gabiou, president of the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, which endorsed an economic blackout in protest of ICE's actions.
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Statewide economic blackout against ICE to be held in Minnesota Friday, Zelenskyy gives scorching critique of Europe in Davos speech, millions of Americans prepare for massive winter storm.
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NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Andrew Weissmann, a former lead prosecutor in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office, following Jack Smith's testimony on the Hill Thursday.
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NPR's A Martinez asks William Taylor, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, about his thoughts following President Zelenskyy's speech at Davos.
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European leaders will gather in Brussels Thursday night for an emergency meeting on tensions with the U.S. over Greenland and President Trump's tariff threats.