Arabisc: Arrested Blogger Released and the Civilisation of Terrorism

Egyptian blogger Ramy Siyam – aka Ayoub – is out of jail, after spending an eventful 108 hours being moved from one detention centre to the other. According to fellow blogger Alaa Abdelfattah: “He was arrested in a sweep in downtown while securing the area for the President's visit to...

Egypt: English-language news

Commenting on the new attempt at local English-language news reporting in Palestine (Palestine Times), Matthew Carrington says: “If, as the editor claims, the Palestine Times isn't going to be beholden to any particular political or commercial interest, then this could a good thing. Palestine, as much as Egypt, needs a...

Egypt: The Right to Love

“What causes sons to hate their mothers, fathers to target their daughters and husbands to persecute their wives? Have Adam and Eve not co-existed long enough for love and mutual respect to take hold? In this respect, we cannot say that such an attitude is particular to the Middle East,...

Egypt: Bad Class!

What happens when your students are rude, uncouth, and highly uncivilized to their teacher and each other? “The world may be full of bad people, but it's good to know that there will always be good people walking in their midst that have the potential to make it all better,”...

Egypt: Books Collection Application – Open Source

After looking for a simple clean application to hold his books collection and coming up empty, Ahmed El Zein decided to write his won application. It is written in Ruby on Rails (ROR) and is Open Source. Find some snapshots here!

Egypt: Stop American News From MBC TV!

Omar put a petition which asks MBC 4 Channel (a Saudi Sponsored TV Network) to stop constantly and repeatedly broadcasting the Western view point (constant broadcast of American produced news). “We do not accept the flimsy disclaimer that MBC 4, for example, has chosen to hide behind stating that American...

Egypt: Shias Love and Hate Al Jazeera

The Big Pharoah, from Egypt, says that Qatari-backed Al Jazeera channel is loved by the Shia of Lebanon and hated by the Shia of Iraq. In return, he claims that the Sunnis of Iraq love Al Jazeera while the Sunnis of Lebanon hate it.

Egyptian blogger released

Rantings of a Sandmonkey reports the release of Egyptian blogger Rami Siam, who was in jail for four days “for no crime and without justifiable cause.” Meanwhile, blogger Abdul Karim Nabeel is still in jail for articles he posted on his blog.

Arabisc: Plagiarism, Arrests, Bans and Democracy!

The Arabs are as usual busy this week debating anything and everything, from plagiarism to the arrest of bloggers, and from banning public meetings to embarrising George Bush Senior at a conference held in the UAE. Ahmed from Egypt had always wanted to become a journalist. But because not all...

Egypt: Cairo's women speak out against violence

In the run-up to the annual global campaign for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, Egypt's First Lady, Suzanne Mubarak, addressing a meeting of the Arab Women's Organisation, issued a heartfelt plea: What shall we do to face challenges of discrimination, extremism and religious fanaticism? It's a vexing question...

Freedom for Egyptians reports that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak rejected a request to ban the Niqab (full face cover for women) in his country.

Arabisc: One Blogger Arrested..1000s More to Go!

There doesn't seem to be a week passing by without Egyptians and its bloggers rocking the boat and taking the virtual limelight in our part of the world. This week the huge ripples in the Nile are being caused by no other than Egyptian Culture Minister Farooq Hosni, who has...

Egypt's Culture Minister Farooq Hosni is being investigated, following comments he has made on the Hijab or head scarf, reports The Big Pharoah. The Big Pharoah himself is however unruffled and goes on a rampage, berating the religious symbol and saying the religion was “in dire need of reform.”

Arabisc: Culprits, Democracy and the Rule of Law

Choosing links from 22 different Arab countries for translation is no easy feat..for however much you try and be selective, you cannot be doing the region and its bloggers any justice. Today I have selected the following links, each highlighting a different woe Arab bloggers have to deal with. Our...

Arabisc: Best Blog Awards Winners and Recurring Nightmares

Arabic blogs are making their mark on the international blogging scene, with more writers and commentators taking to their keyboards and enjoying the thrill of the instant publication of their ideas away from government censorship, newspaper censorship and self-censorship! The BOBS – Best of the Blogs Awards 2006 highlighted a...

The DW Best of Blogs Awards

Had I not read Hoder's blog today I would have definitely missed the Deutsche Welle Best of the Blogs awards 2006 ceremony held in the Museum for Communication Berlin a few hours ago. I knew about the awards but I was unaware of the time and place and whether it...

Arabisc: Egyptian Blogger Arrested While Arab Bloggers Debate Unity Issues

With most Arab countries waging a war on the Internet, Egypt decided to score brownie points with its bloggers by arresting yet another online writer. Egyptian blogger Alaa Abd El Fattah, who has himself enjoyed a stint behind bars, reports to us his colleague's ordeal. أمرت نيابة محرم بك بالإسكندرية...

Arabisc: Sexual Harrassment Saga Continues in Egypt

Citizen journalism (blogging) took a new turn in Egypt this week, with online journals going where traditional media dared not go. It was only after bloggers brought a two-day orgy of sexual harrassment in downtown Cairo to the forefront that newspapers and television channels started dealing with the issue. Discussions...