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Jack Shaheen: “More leadership needed on Park 51 conversation.”
Posted on 01/09/2010 - 17:30
The national conversation on the Park 51 Islamic Community Center has taken a turn for the worst. Opponents claim it's too close to the Ground Zero and is offensive to families who lost loved ones in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Others call it a breeding ground for Al Qaida terrorist networks and have protested at the proposed site. The controversy has brought out the worst in people. Fear, ignorance, prejudice, Islamophobia, xenophobia, and racism have reared their ugly heads and meaningful conversation is no where to be found. Where do people turn to put the Park 51 controversy into context?

Cyber crime law attacks free expression in Jordan
Posted on 25/08/2010 - 11:51
Jordanian authorities are attacking Internet freedom on all fronts. On 3 August they decreed a provisional cyber crime law, setting up a legislative arsenal to regulate the Internet and punish those critical of the state, report the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Regimes worldwide attempt to control information on BlackBerry devices
Posted on 16/08/2010 - 18:05
The decision by the United Arab Emirates to suspend BlackBerry services for email, instant messaging and browsing the web as of 11 October was only the beginning.

Arab Satellite Broadcasting: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Posted on 03/08/2010 - 16:14
The Arabic satellite media scene is chaotic and over-crowded. The latest statistics indicate that there are 620 channels. It is a known fact that a large number of such stations are owned and run by people who don't have a clue how to run a TV station.

Syria: Al-Asad's Decade in Power Marked by Repression
Posted on 16/07/2010 - 12:43
President Bashar al-Asad has not delivered on his promises to increase public freedoms and improve his government's human rights record during a decade in power, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today on the eve of the anniversary of his accession to power.

Journalists on raided Gaza flotilla speak out
Posted on 14/06/2010 - 10:01
In the aftermath of Israel's raid on the flotilla delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza on 31 May, journalists released from custody are providing first-hand accounts of abuse, interrogation and confiscation of equipment by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). One journalist was killed in the deadly attack.

Egypt: Activists take action against emergency law
Posted on 02/06/2010 - 10:53
The Egyptian government's recent two-year renewal of the decades-old emergency law - with only minor changes - has stoked the creation of a "national committee to build a future without emergency," reports the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR).

MOROCCO: New magazine braves risks to give voice to Arab homosexuals
Posted on 03/05/2010 - 21:47
Mithly means "the same as me" in Arabic; it is also a respectful way to refer to homosexuals. It is a word that the people behind Mithly magazine would like to see replace the more common "shazz," meaning pervert or deviant in Arabic, or "zemel," an expletive to describe gays in the Moroccan Berber dialect.

The Bahraini authorities dealing in double standards whilst fighting corruption
Posted on 28/04/2010 - 19:32
Bahrain: Authorities ban publication in the case of the minister accused of corruption due to the possible involvement of an official from the ruling family. Authority panels deliberately gave the case a sectarian scope, and targeted the weakest link to cover-up on major corruption.

Gazans show solidarity with jailed British protesters
Posted on 22/04/2010 - 12:33
In a statement released by the Palestinian Students' Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel and the University Teachers' Association in Palestine, Gazan academics and students have found themselves in the unusual situation of having to express solidarity with protesters in the UK.

"Trust crisis" has changed the way the world’s wealthiest individuals invest
Posted on 16/04/2010 - 16:43
The global financial crisis has caused a trust crisis among the world’s wealthiest individuals, and they have responded by taking more control over their investments, seeking more accountability when they give to charity and holding out for higher quality when it comes to luxury goods, according to a new report by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Israeli journalist charged with espionage for exposing executions of Palestinian militants
Posted on 09/04/2010 - 14:08
An Israeli journalist has been under secret house arrest since December on charges that she leaked highly sensitive, classified military documents that suggest the Israeli military breached a court order on assassinations in the occupied West Bank.

Two Britons facing jail in Dubai for kissing in public
Posted on 04/04/2010 - 15:37
A Dubai appeals court on Sunday upheld a one-month prison sentence for a British couple convicted of kissing in a restaurant.

The struggle of being a woman journalist in Saudi Arabia
Posted on 09/03/2010 - 14:17
JEDDAH: The difficulties women journalists face in reporting an event in Saudi Arabia illustrates the wider difficulties experienced by women in the Kingdom. It starts with the press release. They arrive in abundance announcing outside events, seminars or conferences.

Yemen: President uses military offensives as cover for attacks on dissidents
Posted on 16/02/2010 - 10:48
Yemeni authorities are taking brutal retaliatory actions against human rights defenders, journalists and critics of the regime's policies, according to IFEX members. In response, 25 Arab rights organisations, including the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) and three other IFEX members, have released a joint statement calling on the government to end kidnappings, forced disappearances, torture and arbitrary arrests.

Pioneer of independent press in Morocco silenced
Posted on 08/02/2010 - 12:52
Le Journal Hebdomadaire, the first medium to openly criticize the Moroccan monarchy, was shut down in what its founder, Aboubakr Jamaï, called an act of 'state terrorism' last week.

Missed Opportunities and Bigger Challenges for Human Rights in the Middle East
Posted on 28/01/2010 - 19:43
Middle East governments repressed efforts to promote human rights and backed away from bold reforms despite growing human rights challenges and promises to take action, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing the Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen country studies from its World Report 2010.

Egypt: Bloggers arrested over Naga Hammady Visit
Posted on 18/01/2010 - 17:35
More than 20 Egyptian bloggers were arrested when their train arrived in the village of Naga Hammady in Upper Egypt.

Impunity, war and elections behind journalists killed in 2009
Posted on 11/01/2010 - 11:13
In a worldwide analysis of journalists killed in 2009, IFEX members report that most are murdered in their own country. Local journalists pay the highest price for informing the world about wars, elections, corruption and censorship, or the destruction of the environment. In their year-end reports, IFEX members highlight how journalists are targeted as a result of war, impunity and elections.

“Lebanon’s Madoff” in the media
Posted on 23/12/2009 - 03:53
After Lebanese Shiite financier and businessman Salah Ezzedine declared bankruptcy in late August, hundreds of small investors from Lebanon’s Shia population lost their life savings.

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