Author: Fatema

Canadian Shia Imam is beaten up and arrested by Saudi officers while performing Hajj. While officials never confirmed charges or his detention, Atar had given a speech protesting the violence in Bahrain in which he said: “When my children ask me about what I did when I saw people getting killed and oppressed, I do not want…

Expectations that the Obama administration will ask “Congress to find a way both to continue to funding UNESCO, and give the US government flexibility if Palestine is recognized as a member by other, more important UN organizations” raises the question of whether the US will reconsider its anti-Palestinian laws or withdraw from UNESCO the way…

Plans for a coalition between Islamists and secularists are on the table in Tunisia. “With a clear majority and a diverse range of views, a coalition [between al Nehda, Congres pour le Republique and Ettekatol] could bring considerable legitimacy to the two chief tasks of Tunisia’s post-revolution government: drafting a new constitution and nominating a…

“To gain international financial assistance, the new government needs to prove its commitment to basic human rights. Lingering concerns about extrajudicial killings will set back that effort” … A ‘New Libya’  Must Probe Gadhafi Killing (CNN) … but his inglorious burial is an unpromising start; “Throw him in a hole, in the sea, in garbage. No…

When Gilad Schalit sat down minutes after crossing into Israel for his first conversation with an IDF psychologist, he smiled and said to the doctor: “I knew you would be surprised by my condition” … Schalit’s Captivity: No Sunlight but Given Radio, TV (Jerusalem Post) … but Nael Barghouti, released after 33 years of imprisonment…