Joe Stork, a beloved mentor and friend to human rights activists across the Middle East and a treasured colleague whose career at Human Rights Watch spanned more than three decades, died unexpectedly on October 23, 2024, at his home in Washington, DC. He was 81.
Stork, who joined Human Rights Watch in 1996 as the Middle East and North Africa Division’s advocacy director and later became the division’s deputy director, played a pivotal role in shaping the division into what it is today. One of his first assignments with Human Rights Watch was to document rampant abuses in Bahrain, a country on which he continued to do research and advocacy for decades.
“Anyone who had the pleasure of crossing paths with Joe will remember him not just for his brilliant mind and shrewd advocacy, but as a humble, warm, encouraging, and kind colleague and friend,” said Tirana Hasan, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “To many of us, myself included, Joe was not just a colleague but a mentor, too.”
During his time at Human Rights Watch, Stork contributed extensively to groundbreaking reports on Israel/Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, and the Gulf states.
He was a lifelong advocate for the rights of Palestinians and the author, among his many contributions, of a major report in 2002 on suicide bombing attacks against Israeli civilians.
Stork was also the rare Middle East expert who took an active interest in every country in the region. He made countless working trips to countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa during and after his many years at Human Rights Watch.
Stork was a tenacious investigator with a deep understanding of the region and its issues. He also had uncanny timing, coincidentally landing in Cairo on January 25, 2011, as the Arab Spring uprisings unfolded that year. Stork’s editing was rigorous and informed by his knowledge of the subject matter and the polemics surrounding it.
He was willing to help colleagues wherever and at whatever late hour he was needed and responded effectively and with sharp judgment to the many diverse crises in the Middle East and North Africa.
Joe Stork had a master’s degree in International Affairs/Middle East Studies from Columbia University.
Before joining Human Rights Watch, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Turkey. He went on to co-found the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) and from 1971 to 1995 was the chief editor of Middle East Report, its bimonthly magazine. He joined the Gulf Center for Human Rights Advisory Board in 2011 and served as the board chair from 2019 until 2022.
Stork testified numerous times before congressional committees, including on the human rights conditions in Bahrain during the government’s violent crackdown on pro-democracy and anti-government street protests in 2011. But as Stork himself noted, it was in the field where he “felt most keenly the worth of the work we do,” because he was able to work “hand in hand” with local activists, many of whom became close friends over the years.
“Joe was a mensch, a mentor, and a major intellectual figure in Middle East reporting and analysis,” said Joost Hiltermann, Middle East and North Africa program director for the International Crisis Group and a close friend of Stork’s for 40 years. “He founded MERIP/Middle East Report, taught countless young scholars and activists through his editing and his example, and he and his wife, the late Priscilla Norris, opened their house to anyone ready for an animated conversation and a mouth-watering meal.”
As word of his passing spread, tributes began pouring in from across the Middle East.
“This is a deeply sad day as I mourn a mentor, a teacher, and a great friend,” said Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. “Joe was also a close family friend, and during the seven long years I spent in prison, he stayed in contact with my family, offering them comfort and support. His presence, even from afar, gave me hope and strength in those difficult times.”
Sayed Alwadaei, advocacy director at the UK-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said that working with Stork affected him deeply: “To me, Joe was not just a mentor but a true expert on the Middle East—a master of the craft. He taught me to question every detail to make sure things are reported accurately and to always remember my duty to victims first. The Bahraini people have lost a true friend and dedicated advocate.”
Eric Goldstein, who worked closely with Stork for many years in Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, said that Stork and his wife frequently hosted people from the region in their home.
“Joe seized every opportunity to travel and made lifelong friends and admirers wherever he went,” Goldstein said. “His and Priscilla’s long dining table was a never-ending procession of Middle Easterners, colleagues, and friends discussing the region over copious meals served on Palestinian hand-painted dishware.”
Stork attempted to retire in November 2017, sending a farewell email to colleagues at Human Rights Watch with a photograph of himself kicking back in a lawn chair beside a lake, a hat pulled over his eyes. But the bucolic leisure did not last long. Stork rejoined Human Rights Watch as an acting deputy director and later senior editor focusing on work in the Gulf until January 2024.
“Over the time we shared at Human Rights Watch, Joe was truly my partner, mentor, guide, and shoulder to cry on, and as I told him as often as he would hear it, I could not have survived in that job without him,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, former director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, who was originally hired by Stork. “He tried and tried to retire, but we kept bringing him right back to work with us, because no one wanted him to leave, ever!”
After his departure from Human Rights Watch, Stork continued to follow the situation of human rights activists whose work he had supported and whose safety deeply concerned him.
Stork is survived by his daughters Nora Stork Sivo, Zafra Stork, and Leila Wright, and his grandchildren Jason Sivo, and Neila, Sekai, and Adira Wright.
