Archive: egypt
22nd December 2009
The results of elections to the Muslim Brotherhood's 16-member Guidance Bureau in Egypt are being interpreted as a victory for the conservative camp amid a growing rift with reformist elements.
The wing now dominating the movement is more focused on the religious aspects and is not in touch with… Read more
21st December 2009
Supporters of the niqab (face veil) have won the latest round in their long-running battle with the Egyptian authorities.
Yesterday, the Administrative Court annulled a decree by the education minister that banned students wearing the niqab from entering dormitories at Cairo's Ain Shams University… Read more
19th December 2009
An Egyptian member of parliament has filed a lawsuit against a female journalist over a newspaper article headed “My four husbands and I”.
Writing in the independent daily, al-Masri al-Youm (here, in Arabic), Nadine al-Bedair asked why Muslim men are allowed to have more than one wife, while women… Read more
15th December 2009
Among the objects on sale at the British Museum shop in London are miniature reproductions of the Rosetta Stone, along with Rosetta Stone bags, Rosetta Stone neckties, Rosetta Stone mugs, Rosetta Stone teatowels, even Rosetta Stone umbrellas.
All that could stop if Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s… Read more
9th December 2009
The Egyptian authorities seem to be worried about the growing number of women adopting the niqab – the face veil traditionally worn in the Gulf countries. Its use is relatively new in Egypt, and it tends to be favoured by those of a Wahhabi/Salafi religious disposition.
Various news sources are… Read more
8th December 2009
Egypt's opposition parties have become so fixated on campaigning against the succession of President Mubarak's son that they are losing sight of other issues crucial to their political future, Amr Hamzawy of the Carnegie Middle East Centre says in an article for The National:
While opposition… Read more
6th December 2009
“Things have just gotten a lot more interesting,” the Arabist blogsays, commenting on news that Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the IAEA and Nobel peace prize winner, is thinking or running for the Egyptian presidency in 2011. The Arabist continues:
This may peter out in smoke, but … ElBaradei’s… Read more
28th November 2009
Why is it, I wonder, that cartoons are seen as such a threat in Arab countries? Following the recent cases in Tunisia andMorocco, an Egyptian cartoonist and his publisher have been fined for corrupting "public morals".
Last year, Magdy el-Shafee produced a book called Metro, which is thought to be… Read more
27th November 2009
Egypt is holding hundreds of people in indefinite detention because they are suspected of trying to emigrate to Europe illegally, according to a local human rights organisation.
The Cairo-based Land Centre for Human Rights appears to have uncovered a previously-unreported category of prisoners… Read more
4th November 2009
Amid all the fuss about the Goldstone Report and accusations of anti-Israel bias at the Human Rights Council, another damning UN report – this time about Egypt – has attracted zero attention from the world's media.
The report, issued last month, is by Martin Scheinin, the UN Special Rapporteur on… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
