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The Hamas-run government in Gaza is introducing a law that will allow execution of drug dealers, AFP reports.
Attorney-general Mohammed Abed said the government is cancelling the existing (Israeli) drug law and replacing it with an Egyptian law from 1962.
"The latter law is more comprehensive… Read more
Recalling that a prominent Saudi cleric declared the tsunami of 2004 to be a punishment from God for fornication and homosexuality in south-east Asia, I had been wondering what religious folk would make of the castrophic floods that hit Saudi Arabia last week – during… Read more
There is speculation among bloggers and on Twitter about the health of the Tunisian president, Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. The president, who is 73 and won a fifth presidential term in elections last month, abruptly cancelled a visit from the king of Spain which had been scheduled for last… Read more
Yemen dragged Saudi Arabia into its conflict with the Houthi rebels after realising it would not be able to defeat them militarily on its own, former vice-president Ali Salim al-Beidh claims in an interview published by Gulf News today.
Al-Beidh, who has been in exile since leading the… Read more
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,… Read more
From Dalia Ziada at Bikya Masr:
On the morning of the first day of Eid el-Adha, while watching the sheep from my house and other houses in my street herded, without resistance, to a spot at the end of the street to be slaughtered, they reminded me of the submissive majority of my country, who… Read more
My book, What's Really Wrong with the Middle East, is reviewed in the Guardian today by Avi Shlaim. He describes it as "lively, highly readable and illuminating".
For other recent reviews, see Patrick Seale (al-Hayat), Sholto Byrnes (New Statesman), … Read more
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… Read more
One of the more impressive features of the hajj, I have always thought, is its egalitarianism. Pilgrims perform their rituals in a state that is as close as possible to what nature intended. Wrapped only in a single piece of unstitched cloth and with the simplest of footwear, they do… Read more
A BBC radio programme broadcast on Monday (re-playable here) has shed some new and intriguing light on Britain's role in the Omani coup of 1970 when Sultan Qaboos deposed his father.
Basically, it was decided that Qaboos would serve British interests better than his father and plans were… 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
