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13th June 2015
Arrested: GNRD's founder/president Loai Deeb
Last February, a few months after I began investigating the Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD), the Norwegian-based organisation issued a press release urging people to take no notice of what I was writing.
"After carefully examining all… Read more
12th June 2015
During the last two years there have been 62,312 terrorist incidents worldwide which left 632,716 people dead and 1,763,802 injured.
Worldwide, terrorists are in full control of approximately 12.5 million square kilometers of territory.
Military means have limited the ability of terrorism… Read more
11th June 2015
Anne-Marie Lizin, the disgraced Belgian politician and "High Commissioner" of the Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD) was in Cairo recently, hobnobbing with President Sisi. She seems to have been so thrilled by her handshake with the Egyptian dictator that she posted a photo of it on… Read more
9th June 2015
A few days ago I wrote about a newly-emerging concept in Sisi's Egypt: the concept of "faith security". In essence this means suppressing unorthodox religious ideas in the name of security or the "protection" of society. It also harnesses al-Azhar, Egypt's supreme religious authority, in the… Read more
8th June 2015
Dr Omar Hassan (right) on a visit to Bahrain. Photo: BNA
The grandly-titled Gulf Centre for Strategic Studies is a small limited company registered in the UK, with two directors: Dr Omar Said al-Hassan and Mrs Siham al-Hassan. It is sometimes described as a think tank.
Despite its small size and… Read more
7th June 2015
Former Obama adviser Philip Gordon: the Middle East is falling apart. Photo: US State Department
Tectonic shifts that America cannot control
"There are historic, tectonic changes going on that will take a generation or generations to play out," Philip Gordon, a former Middle East adviser to… Read more
4th June 2015
A new and dangerous term is being deployed in Egypt to legitimise the suppression of debates about religion: "faith security".
The phrase was used this week by al-Azhar's Dean of Sciences in connection with the trial of TV presenter Islam El-Beheiry who has been sentenced to five years' jail on… Read more
3rd June 2015
More tosh from WAM, the official Emirati news agency, which reports on a human rights symposium organised by the UAE's quasi-parliament, the Federal National Council (FNC).
WAM quotes Mohammed Ahmed al-Murr, speaker of the FNC, as saying that the UAE is "proud of its clean record of human… Read more
1st June 2015
In Egypt the Sisi regime's campaign against "religious extremism" has claimed another victim. On Saturday, TV presenter Islam El-Beheiry was sentenced to five years in jail on blasphemy charges.
The court case followed a complaint from al-Azhar that his show, broadcast on a private TV channel,… Read more
29th May 2015
When making policy decisions it is generally a good idea to have as much input as possible from the people who are going to be affected. Listening to a broad range of views – not just those you want to hear – may seem like an unnecessary nuisance but it usually results in more workable policies.… 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
