IRI

Fascinating development at the trial of 43 pro-democracy NGO staffers in Egypt, including members of the American democracy-promotion agencies NDI and IRI: the judges have withdrawn from the case, forcing the regime to appoint new judges and start the trial again, if it can. The reason for the judges’ withdrawal: “The court felt uneasiness,” the now-former lead judge said. Which is precisely what one would have hoped they’d feel.

In the Globe, a former staffer at Rights and Democracy and a former staffer at the Forum of Federations note the state of Canadian democracy promotion: