This was taken during the 2014 parliamentary elections in Tunis. It shows a high school that served as a polling station for the elections.
I am a Human Rights defender, independent political science researcher and PhD candidate, a freelance journalist, photographer and political analyst, as well as a communications officer and consultant interested in the Human Rights situation in the MENA Region, Authoritarianism, Democracy & Democratization, Protest & Repression and Academic Freedom.
My research lies at the intersection of comparative politics, international relations and regional studies on Middle Eastern politics & societies. In my dissertation I explore the impact of protests on elite perceptions and decision-making in authoritarian regimes in Morocco and Egypt during 2011. In the beginning of 2018 I have joined Amnesty Internationals' German chapter at the Middle East Desk as a Human Rights defender and advocacy officer in the Berlin office. Since June 2016 I manage the WZB's Democracy Blog and the attached social media accounts as the communications officer of the research unit on Democracy and Democratization. In this line of work I have also started a political science podcast the WZB Democracy Podcast, in which I talk with colleagues from comparative politics and international relations on issues such as political parties, democracy, elections or political regimes and transition processes. You can reach me at: Twitter: @ilyas_saliba Mail: ilyas.saliba@wzb.eu 
Middle East Desk officer
Amnesty International Sektion der Bundesrepublik Deutschland e.V. Zinnowitzer Straße 8 D-10115 Berlin 
Resarch fellow and communications officer at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB) Research Unit: Democracy and Democratization Reichpietschufer 50 D-10785 Berlin 
PhD Candidate at the Berlin Graduate School for Social Sciences
Faculty for Social Sciences Humboldt University Berlin Luisenstr. 56 D-10117 Berlin 
Program Associate at the Robert Schumann Center for Advanced Studies – Europe in the World programme
Visiting Doctoral Student at the Department of Political and Social Sciences |