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Colonel Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, has become the latest victim of censorship in Libya. Printing of his weekly newspaper, Oea, has been suspended after it called for a "final assault" on government corruption.
The suspension order came from prime minister Al-Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi, though the… Read more
This is the time of year when various organisations publish their annual international league tables. During the last three weeks we've had the Global Gender Gap, the Press Freedom Index and the Corruption Perceptions Index – in which Arab countries generally performed badly.
Yesterday there was… Read more
Saudi Arabia's most senior religious scholars have set themselves at odds with government policy – perhaps deliberately – by issuingtheir fatwa about working women last Sunday.
The fatwa, signed by the Grand Mufti and six other top clerics, forbids women from working "in a place where… Read more
Rizana Nafeek, the Sri Lankan maid who was convicted of murdering a four-month-old child in Saudi Arabia, has just over two weeks to live. Arab News reports that she will be executed after Eid al-Adha (November 16).
Ms Nafeek, who is reportedly unaware of her… Read more
According to numerous reports yesterday, the initial tip about the "parcel bombs" plot came from Jabr al-Faifi, who was released from Guantanamo five years ago for "rehabilitation" in Saudi Arabia but then "escaped" to Yemen and joined al-Qaeda there.
Later, Faifi reportedly became… Read more
Back in August, the Saudi king issued a decree banning unauthorised fatwas. In future, the only fatwas allowed would come from scholars of his own choosing. The idea, as stated at the time, was to put a stop to "strange" and "obsolete" fatwas.
Well, the official, royally-approved… Read more
Hanan Mohamed al-Samary, the 22-year-old student arrested in Yemen on Friday in connection with the parcel bombs affair has now been freed. The move followed protests in Yemen over her detention.
As I suggested here yesterday, it appears that she was the victim of identity theft. She was… Read more
Still in Yemen, the government's 26 Sepember website is celebrating the country's "progress" against corruption. This is based on the fact that Yemen has moved up eight places, from 154 to 146, in Transparency International's latest annual
Corruption Perceptions Index.
In fact, the change… Read more
A young woman described as a medical student has been arrestedat her home in Sana'a, along with her mother, in connection with the parcel bombs found on planes bound for the United States.
She was identified by US officials through a SIM card found in one of the devices, according to… Read more
Following the court ruling in Egypt a week ago that state security forces must be removed from university campuses, it's not surprising to see that practical objections to the ruling are now being raised.
Mohamed Tawfiq Abul Naga, one of the founders of the university guard squads at… 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
