Saudi Human Rights Defenders Sentenced to Jail
Bayan Perazzo | 12 Mar 2013
Activists Mohammed Al-Qahtani and Abdullah Al-Hamad were both sentenced to at least 10 years in prison. This week, two distinguished human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia were sentenced to jail in Riyadh for establishing an unlicensed human rights organization. Mohammed Al-Qahtani and Abdullah Al-Hamad established The Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association...Successful Prosecutions in Kabul Bank Scandal Can’t Erase Damage
Fiona Shukri | 11 Mar 2013
Photo credit: Massoud Hosseini/AFP Twenty-one people were convicted in Kabul on March 5 for a scandal that nearly caused Afghanistan’s Kabul Bank to collapse in 2010, according to The New York Times. Bank founder Sherkhan Farnood and the former CEO Khalilullah Ferozi were found guilty of theft and each sentenced to five years in jail as reported by the BBC...Exclusive Investigation Reveals Pentagon Directly Involved in Iraqi Torture Centers
Livia Bergmeijer | 10 Mar 2013
This week the Guardian and BBC Arabic published an exclusive report detailing the findings of a fifteen-month long investigation of Pentagon involvement in Iraqi torture centers. The investigation followed the publication by WikiLeaks of hundreds of secret military files, which revealed US complicity in torturing Iraqi prisoners. In 2004, Donald Rumsfeld, then...Nostalgia and Naivete – Watching Argo as an Iranian-American
Holly Dagres* | 8 Mar 2013
Tate Donovan, Rory Cochrane, Clea DuVall, Scoot McNairy, Joe Stafford, Christopher Denham and Kerry Bishé in Argo (Photo credit: Claire Folger/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.) My reaction to last year’s blockbuster hit, and now multiple Oscar-winner, Argo was probably different than most people. Among many things, it made me nostalgic. Watching those Americans...Saudi Arabia: On Losing Control in Qatif and Qassim
Bayan Perazzo* | 7 Mar 2013
Saudi police surround protestors in Buraida, February 2013. (Shared by @e3teqal on twitter) Until recently, the Eastern province city of Qatif was the only Saudi Arabian city to experience regular protests since the Arab Spring erupted over two years ago. Beginning in February 2011, demonstrations in Qatif called for basic rights of citizenship and the release...The Passing of Iconic Sudanese Singer Mahmoud Abdel Aziz
Zenobia Azeem* | 12 Mar 2013
Mourning Mahmoud Abdel Aziz’s passing A few years ago, while still relatively new to Khartoum, I arrived three hours late to a Mahmoud Abdel Aziz concert. Sudan’s iconic music performer had yet to take...Recent Riots Demand Change in Focus for Muslim Brotherhood
Sarah Jones* | 11 Mar 2013
Protesters chant slogans and hold a picture of a slain young man in Port Said, Egypt, February 1, 2013. Protests were held in cities around the country after a call for rallies by opponents of Islamist President...A New Translation: Sonallah Ibrahim’s “That Smell”
Thalia Beaty | 9 Mar 2013
Sonallah Ibrahim, the author of “That Smell,” at a protest in 2005 (Photo credit: Joshua Stacher). This week the New York Public Library hosted a discussion with Robyn Creswell, the author of a new...Iraq: Memories Ignored & Lessons Unlearned
Nima Shirazi | 8 Mar 2013
(Photo credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images). We are tempted to comment, in these last days before the war, on the U.N., and the French, and the Democrats. But the war itself will clarify who was right and who was...Assessing Reforms in Morocco, Two Years On
Caroline Abadeer | 7 Mar 2013
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI flanked by his son Moulay El Hassan, left, and his Brother Prince Moulay Rachid, right, listen to the national anthem after he delivered his March 9, 2011 speech (Photo credit:...
