Blog archive all
This year's Riyadh Book Fair, held in the Saudi capital earlier this month, acknowledged the war in Yemen with a military theme. Hala Aldosari writes:
Guests browsing publishers’ stalls passed through “barracks row” honouring the Saudi troops camped on the border with Yemen. At the… Read more
The Sisi regime's attempt to blame a "criminal gang" for the death of Italian postgraduate student Giulio Regeni has been greeted with derision and disbelief in Italy.
Regeni disappeared in Cairo on January 25 and his body – half-naked and horribly mutilated – was discovered at a… Read more
The Egyptian interior ministry claimed yesterday that police had found – and killed – the murderers of Italian PhD student Giulio Regeni.
Regeni, 28, who had been researching trade union activism in Egypt, disappeared on January 25. His mutilated body, showing classic signs of torture, was found… Read more
The picture above advertises a popular Turkish soap opera – Harim Soltan (the Sultan's harem).
But there is also a satirical version (below) in which the Sultan's face has been replaced with that of Algeria's president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Besides "Sultan" Bouteflika himself, it shows… Read more
Yesterday I wrote about the case of a student and two teachers in Bahrain who were charged with "violating the Islamic religion and insulting its rituals". Their arrests were the result of a video which showed the student reciting (some say "singing") verses from the Qur'an while one of his… Read more
One year ago this month, an event occurred in Bahrain which – to quote Gulf News – "shook the nation to the core". A secondary-school student and two teachers were arrested and Bahrain's parliament established a special committee to investigate the matter. Its official title was the "Committee for… Read more
The killing of postgraduate student Giulio Regeni, apparently at the hands of Egypt's security apparatus, has put the Sisi regime on the spot. In the face of an international outcry, the regime is responding with a mixture of bluster, conspiracy theories and diversionary tactics. … Read more
Fighting for Fallujah against the Islamic State has been going on for months. Why is it taking so long? Politics, popular sentiment and muddy farming roads are all part of the answer.
By Mustafa Habib in Baghdad, via Niqash
For several months now, soldiers from the Iraqi army… Read more
Some unusually dramatic weather hit the United Arab Emirates last week. In the words of Gulf News:
Rain and thunderstorms caused major disruptions across the UAE on Wednesday as flights were cancelled, motorists were stuck for hours, traffic on major roads diverted and schools were… Read more
At the United Nations, Qatar has been boasting about its support for the right to "freedom of religion or belief" and the right to "freedom of opinion and expression". The "positive practice" of these two rights "can contribute to strengthening both of them", according to Sheikh Khalid… 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
