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Around 25 men arrested at gay parties in Syria earlier this year are expected to go on trial shortly, according to a note posted on Facebook. Seventeen of them are facing three to seven years in jail for "unnatural acts" while others are likely to be tried for drugs offences.
The Gay… Read more
Three people in their twenties were arrested in Lebanon yesterday for allegedly defaming President Michel Sleiman on Facebook.
A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a fourth person,AFP reports:
The justice ministry said the case met the requirements for a slander and defamation… Read more
Writing for the Foreign Policy website, Soha Abdelaty discussesthe death of Khaled Said in the context of Egypt's semi-permanent (and recently renewed) emergency law:
In many ways, the case of Khaled Said is tragically symbolic of everything that is wrong with the state of… Read more
The long-running drought in eastern Syrian – and the upheaval it is causing – has so far received scant attention. The UN's World Food Programme says it has received less than half the $22m needed to support 300,000 vulnerable people this year. Consequently, 110,000 will not be given help… Read more
About two dozen people were arrested in Sudan on Thursday night as they emerged from a fashion show. Those arrested included male and female amateur models as well as make-up artists and others who had provided the clothes.
So far, there has been no official explanation from the Public Order Police… Read more
Six Yemeni soldiers died in an attack on a military site in the southern province of Shabwa yesterday. Officials are blaming militants connected with al-Qaeda.
Meanwhile, fighting involving the Houthi rebels resumed in northern Yemen after a ceasefire agreed less than 24 hours… Read more
The Egyptian regime is under growing pressure to take action in the case of Khaled Said, the 28-year-old man who died while being arrested in Alexandria on June 6. Witnesses say he was severely beaten and horrific photographs of his body show extensive injuries to… Read more
More news of the workshop on gay liberation in the Middle East which was due to be held in Detroit last Thursday. The hosting body – the US Social Forum (USSF) – cancelled it at the last minute following complaints about the workshop's organisers, a militant Zionist organisation… Read more
At last, someone is talking sense on the issue of Egypt's discriminatory new personal status law for non-Muslims. Yesterday, the security forces graciously allowed a group of Coptic lawyers ("of a secular disposition") to hold a 30-minute protest at the justice ministry.
The lawyers… Read more
A second autopsy on Khaled Said, the 28-year-old Egyptian, who witnesses say was beaten to death by police, has concluded that choked on a "foreign body" (a packet of cannabis that he attempted to swallow). The report says his injuries (gruesomely pictured here) were "light… 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
