· June, 2012

Stories about West Asia & North Africa from June, 2012

Egypt: Assault on Women in Tahrir Square

Journalist Natasha Smith narrates her ordeal of suffering mass sexual assault while heading to Tahrir Square to join the celebrations in a post titled “Please God. Please make it stop,” triggering more than 1000 comments.

28 June 2012

Yemen: Electricity Woes in Yemen

Electricity, food and water are basic human rights and have been the main demands of the majority of Yemenis long before the revolution started and still continue to be so. Nothing seems to have changed with the overthrow of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and living conditions only seem to get worse under the new National Consensus Government.

28 June 2012

Saudi Arabia: Will Arwa Baghdadi Have Her Baby in Prison?

Pregnant Saudi prisoner Arwa Baghdadi is about to give birth behind bars. Arwa's brother was killed in violent clashes with Saudi security forces in 2011. Following his death, Arwa was arrested. During her detainment, she has been on hunger strike and has accused Saudi guards of sexually harassing her.

27 June 2012

Saudi Arabia: Tweeps to Remember Detained Protester

Following the overthrow of Tunisian and Egyptian presidents, an anonymous call for a "Day of Rage" in Saudi Arabia on March 11, 2011, was spread. In response, the government deployed heavy police forces in all major cities to ensure that any protest remains virtual. One man, Khaled Al-Johani, turned out to protest and was arrested on that same day. Netizens rally to draw attention to his plight.

27 June 2012

Arab World: People With Disabilities Raise Their Voices!

An online campaign was launched to shed light on the struggle of people with disabilities and their neglected rights. Campaign founder Abdallah AlShalaqi, an activist from Saudi Arabia said it aims at raising community’s awareness of the rights of people with disabilities; breaking media silence about it; and giving a message to government officials to take action towards this issue.

27 June 2012

Jordan: Women's Basic Rights for Dignity and Social Cohesion

Over 200 people created a human chain in the streets of Amman on the afternoon of Monday June 25th, holding signs demonstrating a stand against crimes in the name of honor, harassment, nationality discrimination against children of Jordanian women, and rapists allowed to marry their victims to avoid prosecution.

27 June 2012

Africa: Celebrating Humanity through Photos and Videos

An article highlighting 21 pictures that will restore your humanity recently went viral. Unfortunately, Africans and Africa were absent from all of them. Yet, there is no shortage of great testimonies of human spirit from the African continent. Here are a few photos and videos that show, 'Africa's got Heart' too.

26 June 2012

Egypt: Introducing the MorsiMeter

After 32 years of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt has a new president and a new application to monitor the performance of its newly elected president Mohamed Morsi and the progress in the achievement of the 64 main promises he made during his election campaign.

25 June 2012

UAE: Dress Code Campaign Urges Extra Inches of Clothing

Two female Emirati nationals have launched a Twitter campaign to urge expatriates and tourists to respect the cultural sensibilities of the Emirates regarding dress. Their campaign has pushed the Federal National Council to propose a law regarding dress code.

24 June 2012

Lebanon: Protesting Shalala's Honorary Degree

Rami reported and posted a video of demonstrators who disrupted the Master’s graduation ceremony at the American University of Beirut to protest against awarding an honorary degree to Donna Shalala. The...

24 June 2012

Bahrain: After Twitter

Bahraini blogger Ahmed Habib tweets [ar]: “They have completed the stage where we have become birds who tweet on Twitter. They are now in the next stage and that is...

24 June 2012

Yemen: Attacks on Southern Yemen Jeopardize National Dialogue

While a National Dialogue is under way to discuss many of Yemen's issues, central security forces attacked Mansoura's square, where separatist activists staged sit-in protests for over a year, destroying their tents and using live ammunition to disperse them, killing and injuring some.

24 June 2012

Israel: Violent Protests Across Tel Aviv #J14

Thousands rushed to the streets of Tel Aviv Saturday evening, June 23rd, after violent clashes erupted between protesters and cops the previous day. On Friday, June 22nd, social justice (#J14) protesters attempted to re-occupy Tel Aviv's Rothshield boulevard with tents and were met with heavy violence from police.

24 June 2012

Egypt: The Beer and the State

Egyptian blogger Amr Gharbeia tweets:”#Egypt invented beer & the state. Either the state came first so we made beer to forget, or beer was so good we didn't see the...

23 June 2012

Sudan: Netizens Verify Internet Blackout Rumours

Netizens are watching Sudan closely, following rumours that the Sudanese authorities intend to cut off the Internet - a chilling reminder of Egypt's attempt to silence activists and contain the January 25 revolution when it pulled the plug off the www on January 27.

22 June 2012

Egypt: The Old Man of Tahrir

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia shares a snippet on the old man of Tahrir. Check out his story here. “I know that in time of Shafik as a president , that old...

22 June 2012

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.