· January, 2012

Stories about Middle East & North Africa from January, 2012

Yemen: Saleh Gets Impunity After All

  22 January 2012

Yemen's parliament has endorsed the law granting outgoing Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh total immunity from any crimes committed during his rule, including the killing of protesters since the beginning of the popular uprising against his regime in February. Netizens react to the news.

Iran:”Facebook prisoner” celebrates birthday in prison

  19 January 2012

Hanieh (Sharareh) Farshi Shotorban, an Iranian young woman who was arrested last year, reportedly, for her Facebook activities, celebrates birthday in Evin prison in prison. Hanieh is sentenced [fa] to seven years of imprisonment.

MENA: Amnesty International's Forecast for 2012

  19 January 2012

“Repression and state violence is likely to continue to plague the Middle East and North Africa in 2012,” forecasts Amnesty International in an 80-page report. It documents the extreme violence deployed by MENA regimes when resisting the unprecedented calls for fundamental reform heard in the region in 2011, as well as...

Greece: Cretan Masterpiece “Erotokritos” Translated into Turkish

  19 January 2012

Stella Tsolakidou of the Greek Reporter website writes about the recent publication of the Cretan literature masterpiece “Erotokritos” in Turkish. Erotokritos is a 17th century epic romance, and has been translated by Professor Hakki Bilgehan, a Turkish microbiology professor, and published by the Foundation of Lausanne Treaty Emigrants [Turkish].

Iran: Women activist shot dead in Texas

  18 January 2012

A Texas Medical Center student and Iranian women activist was shot dead on Monday in Houston. Gelareh Bagherzadeh was driving her car when she was shot.  Authorities said it is unknown what prompted the shooting. Iranians users are showing concerns over this murder in Balatarin, an Iranian link-sharing website.

Iran: Iranian site is striking against censorship in U.S.A

  18 January 2012

Amsterdam based Iranian Arseh Sevom site is striking against SOPA and PIPA which seek to deploy online censorship and surveillance in the name of enforcing copyright, employing the same tools used by authoritarian regimes. Arseh Sevom promotes civil society in Iran.

Iran: Golshifteh Farahani posed nude for Le Figaro

  18 January 2012

Madame Le Figaro published a nude photo of Golshifteh Farahani, Iranian actress based in Paris, and there has been a huge interest and reactions to this quite rare photo on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. In a few hours the photo received more than thousands of comments and likes...

Iran: More web activists got arrested

  18 January 2012

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says [fa] Iran has arrested two web activists last week; Mohammad SoleimaniNia, who “hosts and manages websites of many Iranian civil society communities and intellectuals and manager of Persian literature website sokhan.com”, and Simin Nematollahi “Majzooban.org, the website of Iranian Gonabadi dervishes”.

Iran: Second blogger arrested in Tehran

  18 January 2012

Iranian authorities arrested Marzieh Rasouli, journalist and blogger, last night in Tehran. She writes stories and narrations of her daily life in ‘3 Rouz Pish’ [fa]. This is the second arrest of a blogger in a couple of days in Tehran. Parastoo Dokouhaki, blogger and journalist, was arrested on Sunday.

Global Online Community Protests U.S. Anti-Piracy Bills

  18 January 2012

Today, January 18, is an important day for the Internet. Corporate websites, from Google to Twitpic, along with civil society groups and individuals, have all joined together in a common cause: to protest two American bills that could have grave effects for global online free expression.

Iran: Gender based books for schools

  17 January 2012

Iranian authorities announced that school books to be changed and written based on gender. Azar Todnar says gender discrimination becomes institutionalized in Iran.

Iran: Another Blogger in Jail

  17 January 2012

According to confirmed reports from Tehran, Parastoo Dokouhaki, Iranian blogger and journalist, is arrested by authorities. Parastoo is a women activist as well. She writes in her blog  “Zan-Nevesht” and in its English version “The Remains of the Day“.

Lebanon: Her Veil

  16 January 2012

“And when I made up my mind and ran to my mom screaming ”baddi it7ajab” [I want to wear the veil] she looked at me and said if you wear it now will you ever take it off ? I paused and asked her ”Are you ever going to take...

Lebanon: Snow Haiku

  16 January 2012

As snow falls on Lebanon's mountains, Haiku from Lebanon posts its latest: “The tender snow Has wiped away The weeping willow's tears”

Lebanon: Building Collapses in Ashrafieh

  16 January 2012

Najib is reporting about the collapse of a building in the Ashrafieh neighborhood of Beirut. Rescue workers are removing rubble while trying to save about 30 inhabitants who were in the building when it fell.

Iran: Celebrating The 1st Golden Globe For Iran

  16 January 2012

Iranian users in Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed and other social media are celebrating that Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi's drama ‘A Separation‘ won the award for best foreign language film at the 69th Golden Globes. Aysan posted in her Facebook: This is about 3 years that our Facebook profiles have been full...

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Mariam A.
Mariam A. is the editor for the Middle East & North Africa. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.