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6th February 2010
A brief update on Hanefi Ould Dehah, the Mauritanian journalist whose case I reported last December. After completing a six-month sentence for "indecency", Ould Dedah – editor of theTaqadoumy news website – was not released but continued to be held in jail illegally.
At a new trial on Thursday, he… Read more
6th February 2010
AFP is reporting that the Yemeni government has drawn up a ceasefire timetable and relayed it to the Houthi rebels via an intermediary. There is also talk of having the ceasefire implementation overseen by parliamentary committees.
This is beginning to look more hopeful. At least one previous… Read more
6th February 2010
Calm analysis of Yemen's problems, by Yemenis from inside the country, is rather scarce but Abdullah al-Faqih, Professor of Political Science at Sana’a University, provides exactly that in an articleheaded "The challenges of dealing with Yemen’s deep crises".
It's a clear and concise review of the… Read more
5th February 2010
A video purporting to show members of the Saudi armed forces torturing suspected Houthi rebels has been posted on the internet.
The Washington-based Saudi Information Agency (critical of the Saudi regime) says:
The prisoners, who are suspected to be affiliated with the Houthi rebel group operating… Read more
5th February 2010
Hussein Ibish, of the American Task Force on Palestine, has written a thoughtful and, I think, important essay about the controversy surrounding Joseph Massad and gay rights in the Arab countries.
This is partly in response to those on the American right who seem more eager to tar Massad with the… Read more
4th February 2010
Five years ago this month, there was a good deal of excitement in Saudi Arabia when men (but not women) were given an opportunity to vote for the first time in 40 years.
They were electing half the members of municipal councils – the other half to be appointed by the king – and there was no… Read more
4th February 2010
An intriguing clip from YouTube, apparently filmed at the home of Sheikh Tariq al-Fadhli, erstwhile jihadist and associate of Bin Laden, and now self-appointed leader of Yemen's southern separatists.
It shows the hoisting of an American flag in his compound with people standing to attention as the… Read more
3rd February 2010
Following on from my talk at SOAS last week about the "crunch points" in Arab society, a reader asks:
How do you explain the apparent contradiction between the authoritarian nature of all of these societies and the apparent (often shocking) lack of order and discipline, and an almost chronic… Read more
2nd February 2010
Eager to promote traditional family life, the Conservative party in Britain is promising tax incentives for married couples if it wins the next election.
But already Iraq has gone one better (and possibly two or three better) with financial incentives to promote polygamy, according to Al-Iraq al-… Read more
2nd February 2010
Yesterday's discussion of Arabic transliteration prompted several emails from readers. One pointed out that Junblatt – the Lebanese politician's name – is usually written as Jumblatt in English. This seems to be a case of phonetics taking priority over the written form: if you say "Junblatt"… 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
