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9th October 2009
Last week I wrote about the plethora of “hesba” lawsuits in Egypt where busybodies of a religious disposition launch what, in effect, are private prosecutions against people whose behaviour they consider un-Islamic.
Now, there’s an interesting new twist. The National reports that Naguib Gobraiel,… Read more
8th October 2009
Yemen's parliament yesterday called on the government to bring the Houthi rebellion to a swift end (reports: Yemen Postand Almotamar).
Although this can be interpreted as support for the government's policy (since ending the rebellion is the declared intention of Operation Scorched Earth), The… Read more
8th October 2009
This has been widely covered elsewhere but, since I've discussed the case on this blog here and here, I'll just note it for the record: the "Jeddah Casanova" has been sentenced to five years in jail and 1,000 lashes. He is appealing.
Posted by Brian Whitaker, 8 October 2009.
8th October 2009
The niqab debate rumbles on in Egypt. Yesterday, an Islamist MP called for the resignation of Mohammed Tantawi, the government-appointed Sheikh of al-Azhar, after he told a female student to remove her face veil (original story in Arabic here).
Tantawi, who said he plans to issue a formal ban on… Read more
7th October 2009
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of southern Yemen yesterday, calling for independence and waving flags of the former southern state which merged with the north in 1990. (Reports: AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa.)
The protests were timed to coincide with a visit to Yemen by Amr Moussa, head of… Read more
7th October 2009
Ever since Hisham Talat Mustafa was sentenced to death for murder, I have been wondering what device will be found to save him from the gallows.
Mustafa is no ordinary convict. He is – or was – a pillar of the Egyptian establishment: a multi-millionaire property magnate and a member of the upper… Read more
6th October 2009
The Yemeni government has taken the unusual step of publishing the names of several illegal arms dealers. Most prominent among them is Faris Mana’a, who headed the committee mediating with the Houthi rebels and is also brother of the governor of Saada.
Others named are mostly well-known tribal… Read more
5th October 2009
Choosing a baby’s name ought to be a matter for the child’s parents, but it’s not always so simple. In Morocco, the parents of Tiziri el-Bechnaoui are struggling to register her name, six months after her birth.
The problem is that Tiziri – which means “moon” in the Berber language, Tamazight – is… Read more
4th October 2009
With just three weeks to go before Tunisia’s presidential and parliamentary elections, the Ettajdid Movement (one of the permitted opposition political parties) is complaining that half of its parliamentary candidate lists have been rejected by the authorities “without any convincing legal… Read more
4th October 2009
A briefing note from the UN refugee agency highlights the extraordinary numbers of people who risk their lives crossing the sea from the Horn of Africa, hoping to find safety in Yemen:
September and October are the height of the sailing season and the number of arrivals by sea is staggering. More… 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
