Tahrir Team

Aisha AlAdawiya and Hassen Abdellah

Aisha AlAdawiya is founder and director of "Women in Islam" based in New York. She joins us as an occasional host on Tahrir.

Reem Nasr

Reem Nasr is currently completing her bachelors degree at NYU in Journalism and Middle Eastern Studies. She graduated from Noor Ul-Iman High School, NJ in 2007. Nasr sees her work with Tahrir as a way to give back to Muslim and Arab communities that helped her achieve her dream of studying journalism. She hopes that wherever life takes her, it will find her in the service of fair and accurate journalism that helps dispel misconceptions. Tahrir, she says, is groundbreaking in this respect.

Maysoon Zayid

Maysoon Zayid is an actress and professional stand-up comedian. She has appeared on major TV programs and tours widely performing standup comedy.

Zayid is co-producer of The Arab American Comedy Festival in NY , now planning its 5th season. Follow her performances on www.maysoon.com

Ryme Katkhouda

Co-founder of the dcradiocoop.org and wbix.org, Ryme is executive producer of "Voices With Vision", airing Thursdays at 11am on WPFW 89.3FM in DC.

She has been a senior producer and trainer at WPFW 89.3FM since 2003 and is also national correspondent with Free Speech Radio News FSRN.org

Hanan alShaykh and Tahrir members

Tahrir producers Lea Khayata, Reem Nasr and BN Aziz with the author. Hear an excerpt about Hanan and her mother on "features"and the full interview, in 2 parts-- Sept 29 and October 13, now podcast.

Sarah Malaika

Sarah Malaika completed her MA in anthropology, Middle East and museum studies. She works in NYC museum programs and remains as an assistant producer with Tahrir after completing our intern program in radio journalism. "I joined Tahrir to be part of a creative radio voice on air." Malaika is a long-time community radio fan and has been involved in community programs for many years.

Hassen Abdellah

Hassen Abdellah joined our team as co-host in 2001. He likes to bring controversial issues on to the air and open the phones to for listener call-ins. WBAI offers a perspective not found elsewhere, he says.

A graduate of Seton Hall Law School and Bucknell U.,PA, now has his own law firm in Elizabeth, NJ. He is chairman if the board of Darul Islam Elizabeth Inc. Mosque in New Jersey.

At high school and college Br. Hassen played basketball and football and continues to follow NBA, NFL and college sports.

Tamara Issak

Tamara Issak, returning from a Fulbright year overseas (2008-09) is completing her MA in English at Rutgers University, NJ. She originally joined Tahrir in 2004. "I'm attracted to Tahrir as a program that allows Arabs and Muslims to tell their own stories. I've had enough of people speaking for me. Because WBAI is founded on the principles of free speech and justice, productions aim to provide listeners with unbiased and honest information. Working for Tahrir has given me a sense of agency. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the amount of misinformation about Muslims and Arabs, but if we resign ourselves to this helpless condition, then nothing will ever change. At Tahrir, I am able to share some of the voices I know so well-the rich and diverse sounds of Muslims and Arabs from across the world."

Barbara Nimri Aziz

Dr. Barbara Nimri Aziz is an anthropologist and a print journalist as well as a broadcaster. As a student at Queen's University, Canada, Aziz was a radio producer for CFRC. She returned to broadcasting in 1989 when she took up journalism in New York. Aziz has been with Pacifica WBAI in New York for 17 years where she produces news as well as features, and co-hosts his regular weekly magazine. Based on her early interviews working with Arab and Arab American writers, Aziz founded the Radius of Arab American Writers Inc. (RAWI), a national organization. Aziz regularly visits the Arab countries on assignment. Many of the productions broadcast over WBAI are based on interviews conducted abroad. Aziz also writes for a variety of publications.

Nadja Middleton

Nadja worked as Tahrir's sound engineer for more than two year's. She then specialized in community news. In recent years Middleton has been working as a producer with NPR's "Story Corp".

Robert E. Meyer

Meyer helped build our program web site in ,2003 and has contuinued supporting Tahrir WBAI thoughout our work and growth.

Dean Obeidallah

Obeidallah is a standup comedian working in many venues. Co-director with Maysoon Zayid of the successful Arab American Comedy Festival, they also hosted "Fen Meshnoon with Dean and Maysoon" on Tahrir from 2004-2006. Dean is based in NYC but travels constantly, performing and organizing festivals. See www.deanofcomedy.com.

2008 Tahrir Producers

Sarah Malaika, Saadia Aslam, BNimri Aziz, Aydin Baltaci

Sally Sharif

Sally Sharif recently received her BA from Montclair State U. NJ. She plans to pursue a masters degree in communications, towards her goal of a career in media as the owner of her own media network. She says Tahrir has inspired her in numerous ways: “It ultimately gave me confidence in pursuing my passions and dreams in media. I am honored to be part of a distinctive on-air voice on for the Arab and Muslim community.“

2004 co-producers

Kareem Freeman,Saadia Aslam, Rachida Mohammedi, Imran Ahmed, and BN Aziz

Mona Iskander

Mona Iskander is now associate producer with PBS TV, having spent two years as a producer at CNN in New York and NPR Radio.

She started her journalism career in 2002, as an intern with Radio Tahrir, WBAI New York. Iskander has a master's degree from the Columbia Journalism School.

Jad Abumrad

A graduate in music composition and a Tahrir intern from 1999-2001, Jad is now host and curator of RadioLab, a weekly program on WNYC, NY.

Each episode of RadioLab is a patchwork of people, sounds, stories and experiences centered around One Big Idea. On RadioLab, science bumps into culture... information sounds like music. radiolab@wnyc.org

Lynne Stewart with our interns

Civil rights Attorney Lynne Stewart with Nazek Habatfa(l) and Mona Iskander.
www.LynneStewart.org

Saadia Aslam

Saadia finsihed her MPS in Art Therapy at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and currernly works in Orange, New Jersey. She joined Tahrir in 2004. As a broadcast journalist, Aslam takes delight and pride in discovering voices in our Muslim communities and introducing new personalities to Radioland.

Aydin Baltaci

Aydin Baltaci, assistant producer, is www.RadioTahrir.org’s webmaster. He holds a B.S. from Istanbul and M.A. in Geography from Hunter College N.Y. “Tahrir offers me a refreshing, down-to-earth, yet sophisticated work atmosphere. I enjoy great colleagues while I engage in the honorable work of bringing unbiased voice to our worthy minority peoples. These are some of the things that attracted me to Radio Tahrir."

Tahrir Podcast

Now you can listen to our programs from our podcast pages.

Radio Tahrir Podcast

Tahrir Diwan

a poem.. a song..

"I Am Palestinian", by Mohja Kahf
read by poet and author Mohja Kahf

See poems and songs list

Qur'an Surat Al-Qadr
from 'Approaching The Qur'an' CD, male reciter

See audio list

Book review

Elsa Marston's
Santa Claus in Baghdad
reviewed by BN Aziz.

See review list

Tahrir Team

Aydin Baltaci

Read about Aydin Baltaci in the team page.

See Tahrir Team

Select Links

• Africa/World International News
• alIraq News from Occupied Iraq
• Arab American Journalists
• Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media
• Attorney Lynne Stewart--civil rights defender
• Baghdad 2003
• Busboys and Poets; DC Bookstore & Cafe
• Electronic Iraq
• IndyMedia
• Iraq-- Nineveh Digital Mapping
• Majid Ali, MD "Science, Health and Healing"
• Pacifica Radio Network
• Palestinian Initiative
• WBAI Peace and Justice Radio
• AlBasrah Iraq News
• American Muslim News
• Arab Civilization and Art
• Arab Writers Conference, 2007
• AWAIR, Arab World & Islamic Resources
• Boycott IsraelCampaign
• Electronic Intifada
• FSRN Pacifica Radio News
• Iraq Virtual Museum
• Journalists MiddleEast
• Muslim Women Lawyers
• Palestine--ongoing Cultural Genocide
• Sami Al Arian