· January, 2010

Stories about West Asia & North Africa from January, 2010

Iran: Two Bloggers in Danger of Death

Two Iranian bloggers, who are also human rights defendants, are behind bars under serious charges. Mehrdad Rahimi and Kouhyar Goudarzi have been accused of wanting to wage “a war against God,” and charged as being “Mohareb” (enemies of God). Their charges are similar to those against the two men who were executed this week in Tehran.

31 January 2010

Tunisia: Language Choices

In this post entitled Arabic, French or English: for “whom” the bell tolls? the Third Ijtihad talks about the use of languages in speaking with others.

30 January 2010

Iran: Green Tune to Support Protest Movement

A ring tone for a song which motivated young Iranians to go to the front and fight during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s is making the rounds again in solidarity with the opposition. Hamid Tehrani reviews the reactions of bloggers to the 'Ey Iran' song.

29 January 2010

Syria: A Short Story

Medad blog published a sarcastic short story [ar] depicting a Muslim cleric and a Christian cleric passionately discussing virtue and interfaith understanding as each of them tries to claim a...

29 January 2010

Morocco: A Charter for the Environment

The Moroccan government launched an ambitious project on environment involving a series of regional meetings, workshops and conferences that sparked a national debate that aims at establishing a Charter for the environment. Bloggers have been commenting on the development.

28 January 2010

MENA: Breaking the veils

AltMuslimah reviews the exhibition Breaking the veils: Women artists from the Islamic World, which contains art and literature from women in over 20 countries, including Palestine, Yemen and Morocco. The...

28 January 2010

Egypt: The Right to Speak Up

Egyptian bloggers and activists held a conference on January 22 in defense of their right to speak up after more than 20 Egyptian bloggers were arrested when their train arrived in the village of Naga Hammady where the Coptic massacre took place. Marwa Rakha sums up their reactions to their detention in this post.

28 January 2010

Korea: Translating The Tweets Of Novelist Lee Oisoo

Lee Oisoo is a Korean novelist and artist who has been described as "an eccentric, a genius and a lunatic". When he set up a Twitter account last year he quickly amassed thousands of followers. Now his tweets are being translated into English in order to reach a wider audience. But how did a Bahraini blogger get involved?

28 January 2010

Palestine: The Commodification Of Gaza

Exiled is a blogger who recently left Gaza - and he is in no hurry to return. In this translation of a recent post of his, we hear his opinions about political propaganda and self-interest, the tunnels to Egypt and the planned steel fence, and the nature of the outside world's concern for the Gaza Strip.

27 January 2010

Jordan: Tweeps Celebrate their Country

In an initiative that was adopted by tweeps from other Arab countries, Jordanian users of micro-blogging site Twitter created and maintained a hashtag that celebrates the top 50 things they love about their country. Ebtihal Mahadeen takes a closer look at #Top50Jo.

26 January 2010

Syria: Netizens Discuss SourceForge Ban

A day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for a free and open Internet, Syrian users noticed they could no longer access open-source software community SourceForge. Bloggers react to the block.

26 January 2010

Iran: Iranians commemorate Neda's birthday

Iranians inside and outside the country remembered Neda Soltan's birthday. Neda was shot dead by Basij militia on June 20, 2009, during a protest against the presidential election results that declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad president. Her death was captured on video and uploaded to the Internet. She died with her eyes wide open, and her last moments transcended citizen media to mainstream media, reaching millions of people.

25 January 2010

Saudi Arabia: AIDS treatment takes step backward

Saudi Arabia has announced its plans to shut down a volunteer clinic in Jeddah’s King Saud Hospital that is known for providing medical services, counseling and privacy to AIDS victims. Bloggers lash out against the move saying it is a step backward.

24 January 2010

Egypt: Engulfed by Floods!

Over the past few days, several Egyptian governorates and cities have been engulfed by a severe wave of flash floods and heavy rains. Bloggers react to the calamity.

24 January 2010

About our West Asia & North Africa coverage

Walid El Houri
Walid El Houri is the West Asia and North Africa Editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.