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24th June 2013
posted on Twitter following yesterday's attack" src="/sites/default/files/egypt-shia-killing_0.jpg" style="border-style:solid; border-width:1px; height:291px; width:388px" />
At least four Shia Muslims – including a prominent religious figure – were killed yesterday when a mob attacked homes in… Read more
21st June 2013
Following my blog posts about the coming-out of Yemeni revolution activist Alaa Jarban (here and here) I received an email from another Yemeni who identifies as gay. I'm posting it below, with the sender's permission:
When I read Alaa’s coming-out news on Albab, I was tearful… Read more
20th June 2013
"In a dictatorship," the Sudanese-born intellectual Abdel-Wahab al-Effendi once remarked, "the role of the minister of culture isn't to protect culture, but to stifle culture and to protect the regime".
For 24 years, this was the role that Farouk Hosni performed in Egypt as the "civilised" face of… Read more
18th June 2013
President Morsi's decree appointing new governors for 17 of the Egypt's 27 provinces has triggered a new wave of protests and further raised political tensions ahead of the mass demonstrations against Morsi which have been called by opposition groups for June 30.
Seven of the new governors are… Read more
17th June 2013
Metal music has a following in Saudi Arabia, despite accusations of Satanism. Picture: Saudi Gazette
In a country where superstition is rife and belief in black magic is official government policy, the authorities need to demonstrate from time to time that they are actively combating the power of… Read more
14th June 2013
A survey of people's attitudes towards homosexuality has shed some interesting (if predictable) light on the Middle East. The 39-country poll by the Pew Research Center found the Middle East and sub-Saharan African had lowest levels of acceptance worldwide.
In all the Middle Eastern countries… Read more
13th June 2013
It's happened again in Egypt. A thirteen-year-old girl died after being circumcised at a private clinic in Dakahliya. The Egypt Independent reports:
The victim's father, Mohamed Ibrahim, a farmer, told Al-Masry Al-Youm: "We left our daughter with the doctor and the nurse. Fifteen minutes later,… Read more
12th June 2013
This photo, posted on Twitter, is said to show King Mohammed with a young Moroccan immigrant in Paris
In 2011, amid fears that the Arab Spring could spread to Morocco, King Mohammed VI announced a programme of reforms and ushered in a new constitution that appeared, on the surface, to give more… Read more
11th June 2013
The Saudi authorities, inching their way towards the 20th century, have decided that foreign domestic workers – servants and drivers – should be given one day off at weekends.
The Labour Ministry has also decreed that their wages must be paid into bank accounts. This is meant to put an end to… Read more
11th June 2013
On Sunday evening, just as I was about to post my interview with Yemeni activist Alaa Jarban, I saw the news about Edward Snowden. Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA, had decided to reveal that he was the source of leaks about American government surveillance.
What… 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
