Middle East and North Africa
By: Vesta Monitor, Payvand Iran News, September 3, 2012
There is no doubt that the Iranian leaders are feeling the heat on all fronts: nuclear, Syrian, economic, internal affairs. Western sanctions have been very damaging. They seem to have worked more effectively than were expected due to significant economic mismanagement by the government. On the internal affairs front the increasing differences between the Supreme Leader camp and the Ahmadinejad camp have prevented the regime to adopt a unified stance against the ongoing international pressures.
By: Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerd, Al-Monitor, September 4, 2012
In an overview of Iranian media coverage of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran, Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi writes that The Reformist daily newspaper Etemaad covered in some detail the story of how Mohammed Morsi's criticisms of Syria have been marginalized in official depictions of the Egyptian president's NAM speech, and in stark contrast to other domestic media, also reported the Syrian prime minister's walking out of the conference hall in protest of Morsi's criticism of the Assad regime.
By: Josh Shahryar, Enduring America, September 4, 2012
The Bahraini appeals court has spoken: the 13 men who chose to remain in Bahrain will stay behind bars, seven of them facing life sentences. In the short run, today's verdicts will sadden many inside and outside Bahrain who hoped that the suffering of these activists would come to an end. But in the long run, Bahrain's rulers are left with a country brimming with discontent, slowly gathering behind ideas that will alter the course of their nation.
By: Andrew Hammond, Reuters, September 4, 2012
A Bahraini civilian court on Tuesday upheld sentences of up to life in prison against leaders of last year's pro-democracy uprising, a decision that could dim prospects for defusing unrest in the small Gulf Arab state. Amnesty International described the ruling as outrageous. The verdicts, include eight life sentences, with some of the men accused of being in "intelligence contact" with Iran and Hezbollah. The 20 men are viewed by some Bahrainis as popular heroes whose release could reinvigorate the protest movement, which demands parliamentary powers to legislate and form governments.
By: Scott Lucas, Enduring America, September 4, 2012
Many Jordanians were surprised at the government's announcement that it would be amending the country's notorious Press and Publications law to include articles that would seek to restrict Internet freedoms. The draft legislation includes articles that would hold online media accountable for any comments left by their readers, and would prohibit them from publishing any comments deemed irrelevant to the published article. Moreover, online media organizations would also be required to archive all comments left on their sites for at least six months.
By: Larbi Sadiki, Al Jazeera, September 4, 2012
Attacks on mosques in Libya test not only the country's promising democratic debut, but also the nation's value of tolerance. For a police force to stand idle when public property and a space of worship is under attack undermines above all else not just an act of religious faith stressed in Islam, but also the principle of plurality within unity in Libya and all emerging democratic transitions in the Arab Middle East. This is one reason why democratic transition calls for a new policing philosophy in Libya, as in Egypt and Tunisia.
By: Al Arabiya, September 3, 2012
The trial of two leading human rights activists in Saudi Arabia will reportedly resume late this week following its start September 1, as the pair face charges that could send them to jail for several years. Saudi nationals Mohammed Fahad al-Qahtani and Abdullah al-Hamid face a series of charges, including founding an unlicensed civil rights organization and breaking allegiance to the country's rulers. The opening hearing in Riyadh's specialized criminal court was heavily attended by activists and friends of Qahtani and Hamid, who are both members of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association.
By: David D. Kirkpatrick, NY Times, September 4, 2012
More than 100,000 Syrians fled their country last month, a sudden acceleration of the exodus prompted by 18 months of conflict, the United Nations said August 28. The surge coincided with a sharp increase in the carnage in Syria, as the government of President Bashar al-Assad began using its air force against towns and neighborhoods across the country where opponents of his rule have found support. The resulting flood of displaced people, mainly in the last two weeks of August, accounted for more than 40 percent of the 234,000 refugees who have registered for United Nations support since the fighting began.
By: Steven Lee Myers, NY Times, September 3, 2012
Nearly 16 months after first pledging to help Egypt's failing economy, the Obama administration is nearing an agreement with the country's new government to relieve $1 billion of its debt as part of an American and international assistance package intended to bolster its transition to democracy, administration officials said. The administration's efforts, delayed by Egypt's political turmoil and by wariness in Washington about new leaders emerging from its first free elections, gained new urgency in recent weeks, even as the United States risks losing influence and investment opportunities to countries like China.
By: Noah Browning, Reuters, September 3, 2012
"Skunk", a foul, but non-lethal liquid, is a tool in Israel's arsenal of weapons for crowd control. While the army calls skunk an attempt to minimize casualties, rights groups dismiss it as a fig-leaf for the use of deadlier force against protesters in the occupied West Bank. For although recent years have been among the quietest of the 45-year-old occupation, Israel has been unable to stop an epidemic of local grassroots demonstrations that often turn into clashes.
By: Common Dreams, September 3, 2012
The father of 18-year-old Mohamed Abu Nada, who died on Sunday in the Gaza strip following severe injuries suffered after he set himself on fire late last week, said the young man did so to protest the deplorable conditions he and his family experienced living under economic and military blockade as Palestinians. According to the Guardian, the family live in al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, explaining that those in the camp "are generally among the poorest in Gaza."
By: Ranya Kadri and Isabel Kershner, NY Times, September 3, 2012
King Abdullah II of Jordan moved quickly to block a recent increase in fuel prices after angry protesters took to the streets over the weekend, raising the specter of renewed social and political unrest in the cash-poor kingdom. By Saturday night, about 600 people, led by the Muslim Brotherhood, were demonstrating in the capital, while about 3,000 staged demonstrations in Irbid, a large city north of Amman, and protests took place to the south in the cities of Maan and Karak, with some demonstrators displaying strong antigovernment slogans.
By: Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Reuters, September 3, 2012
Syrian army bulldozers razed houses in western Damascus on Monday, pursuing what activists called the first campaign of collective punishment targeting people's property in areas of the capital hostile to President Bashar al-Assad. The latest wave of demolitions follows the destruction of dozens of buildings in an area next to Tawahin in Damascus on Sunday and in the Sunni district of Qaboun last month. "This is an unprovoked act of collective punishment. The rebels had left, there are no longer even demonstrations in the area," said Mouaz al-Shami, a campaigner collecting video documentation of the demolitions.
By: David D. Kirkpatrick, NY Times, September 3, 2012
Syria's top government spokesman declared Monday that the refugees fleeing its borders were welcome back "at any time," mocked the leaders of Egypt and Turkey for their condemnations and called the armed opposition unfit for negotiations. The spokesman - Omran al-Zoubi, the minister of information - held an unusual televised news conference that appeared intended to rebut international criticism of Syria, including from the two leaders, over the swelling refugee crisis on its borders and the mounting death toll at home. He spoke after the end of the deadliest week and the deadliest month in the 18-month uprising.
By: Andrew Hammond and Yeganeh Torbati, Reuters, September 2, 2012
Bahrain has criticized Iranian officials over a mistranslation of a speech by Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, which replaced the word "Syria" with "Bahrain" when he listed Arab states that had experienced revolts since last year. The reference was diplomatically sensitive because Iran, a Shi'ite Muslim power and an ally of the Syrian government, has expressed sympathy with a Shi'ite-led democratic protest movement in Bahrain against the ruling Al Khalifa family.
By: Scott Sayare, NY Times, September 2, 2012
In what was called a first for Egyptian state television, a woman wearing a head scarf presented headlines in a newscast on Sunday, breaking with a code of secular dress that for decades effectively barred the wearing of Islamic head coverings. The anchor, Fatma Nabil, wearing a dark suit coat and an off-white hijab that covered her hair and neck, presented headlines at noon on Channel 1, one of several television stations operated by the state. Her appearance provoked an online debate over whether Ms. Nabil's appearance might be one step in an effort by President Mohamed Morsi, a former leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, to encourage a more Islamic sensibility on Egyptian newscasts and in society.
By: Jack Shenker, The Guardian, September 2, 2012
Britain has allowed key members of Egypt's toppled dictatorship to retain millions of pounds of suspected property and business assets in the UK, potentially violating a globally-agreed set of sanctions. The situation has led to accusations that ministers are more interested in preserving the City of London's cozy relationship with the Arab financial sector than in securing justice.
By: Middle East Post, September 2, 2012
Zahed Sultan announces the release of his new song & music video entitled "Like This (ha-ka-tha)." The song pays tribute to the social frustrations that have plagued the Middle East and North Africa region prior to the Arab Spring. In classical spoken-word Arabic, Zahed calls upon the Arab people to stand in unity, against tyranny, with a sense of civic pride.
By: Robert Fisk, The Independent, September 2, 2012
Given the unprecedented nature of our access to the high-security Syrian prison, our meetings with the inmates were a chilling, sobering experience. In one of Syria's most feared military prisons, they told their extraordinary story of helping the armed opponents of Bashar al-Assad's regime.
By: Peter Popham, The Independent, September 1, 2012
Tehran spared neither money nor effort to make the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, which concluded yesterday, a smashing success. But it all went badly wrong. Mohamed Morsi angered Iran by identifying the civil war in Iran's close ally Syria as the latest in the line of just struggles that started in Tunis and went on to Cairo. It was a grave humiliation for Mr. Morsi's hosts, and provoked the Syrian delegation, led by the Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, to walk out.