Stories about Middle East & North Africa from February, 2012
Iran: Enviromental blogs under fire
Sepher Salimi, a leading environmentalist blogger writes about filtering of several green and environmenal blogs in recent years.
Syria: Citizen Journalist Rami Al Sayed Killed in Homs
Citizen journalist Rami Al Sayed, whose videos and live-streaming of the bombardment of Homs showed the world the daily carnage in Syria, was killed yesterday, reports Ahmed Al Omran, on the NPR news blog.
Syria: Shock and Disbelief Over Murder of Journalists
Netizens covering the daily carnage in Syria on social media had to take a step back today to grieve the murder of journalists who risked their lives to travel to Syria and tell the world about the suffering of Syrians.
Lebanon: Distortions to the Domestic Violence Draft Law
Lebanese blogger and Nasawiya activist Nadine posts a translation of Farfahinne's post[Ar] about how the law to protect women from family violence is facing horrible distortions.
Lebanon: How Facebook Makes us Miserable
Lebanese blogger Adon (at Ninar) starts a series of posts on his blog entitled “Living as a Photo: How Facebook Makes us Misrable“[Ar]. He has published four posts so far: “Can you Survive without Facebook for 30 Days?“[Ar], “Why I Quit Facebook“[Ar] and “Does Facebook really helps us to Communicate?[Part...
Lebanon: Why is Horsh Beirut Closed?
Lebanese blogger Rami(at +961) shares his opinion about the state of Beirut's public park Horsh Beirut, which has been closed for decades for unknown reasons in his latest post.
Kuwait: Struggle of the Bedoon Takes Root Online
Since the beginning of the so-called Arab Spring, that has brought to the forefront the atrocities Arabs face at the hands of their ruling clans, Kuwait's stateless population, which numbers more than 120,000, has been struggling to make its voice heard. Stateless blogger Mona Kareem has taken the struggle online.
Morocco: “Stop French Made TGV Rail Project”
StopTGV.com is a web campaign launched by a number of Moroccan NGOs. It calls for the cancellation of the controversial French-made Tangier-Casablanca TGV rail link due to start operating by December 2015 and which is worth an estimated 20 billion dirhams (US$2.4 billion). The campaign calls on the authorities to...
Egypt: One year after the revolution, 10% of its Social Media Documentation is already gone
One year after the Egyptian revolution, 10% of its Social Media Documentation is already gone. An article on US magazine The Atlantic explains how this is happening, quoting a study conducted by a phD student in computer science and Web preservation at Old Dominion University. “Twitter gives us a new...
Yemen: All Set for the One Man Presidential Election
Just one more day to go to Yemen's uncontested and unprecedented “one man” election”, which will start tomorrow, February 21. It will end 33 years of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule and cost the country more than US$48 million.
Egypt: Among Bulaq's Ruins in an Unfinished Revolution
Bulaq Abu el-Ela is one of Cairo’s main informal neighbourhoods, threatened with demolition and its inhabitants resettled into apartment blocks in the middle of the desert. Italian film-makers Davide Morandini and Fabio Lucchini, made a documentary entitled "Bulaq: Among the ruins of an unfinished revolution" about Bulaq, its inhabitants, their issues and suffering from forced evictions.
The “Brazilebanese”, or Brazilians from Lebanon
The return of Lebanese immigrants and their Brazilian families to Lebanon has resulted in the creation of an important community of "Brazilebanese". This community has been making efforts to keep ties with Brazil through the Portuguese language, which has more speakers than Arabic in some villages.
Egypt: Architecture without Architects
In this short video, Omnia Khalil reflects on the massive change society underwent on social and political aspects during the last three decades in architecture, urban developments and art. Full research is available online at Waly Center Journal issue 2. (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Tunisia: A Year After the Revolution, Limitations on Freedom of Expression Continue
A year after the ouster of the Tunisian ex-president, pressure on freedom of press continues in Tunisia. This week, three newsmen from Tunisian printed newspaper "Ettounisia" were arrested for publishing a controverted picture of Tunisian and Real Madrid soccer player Sami Kedira and model Lena Gercke's naked photograph.
Iran: Security forces kidnapped Khazali from hospital
Several bloggers reported that security forces kidnapped Mehdi Khazali from hospital.Iranian imprisoned blogger Mehdi Khazali has suffered a heart attack after six weeks of hunger strike.His wife and daughter were released on bail.
Iran: Iranian rappers sing for people of Homs in Syria
Here is an Iranian rappers's song for people in Homs in Syria.
Iran: Internet not just spying tool but spy itself
Iran's intelligence Ministry says Internet not just spying tool but spy itself.
Iran: Blogger suffered heart attack
Iranian imprisoned blogger Mehdi Khazali has suffered a heart attack after six weeks of hunger strike, due to opposition sources [fa]. His family has shown serious concerns on Mr. Khazali's health conditions, saying [fa] that authorities do not allow any doctor to visit him.
Iran: Execution waits for web developer
The Iranian-Canadian web developer, Saeed Malekpour, is going to be executed ‘at any moment’, a blog updates by his family and supporters reports. Mr. Malekpour is accused of running pornography websites by Iranian judiciary and convicted to death. Now his verdict has been confirmed and going to be carried out....
Jordan: Corporate Twitter Accounts are Stupid
Corporate Twitter accounts are stupid, says Jordanian blogger Roba Al Assi. Click here to learn why.
Morocco: Historic Telecom Operator Blocks Skype
“What a dreadful news today!” laments the blog Moroccan Geeks [fr], which reports that the Moroccan historic operator Maroc Telecom is now officially blocking all VoIP services, including Skype. The news sparked a heated debate on social media. Many netizens speculate the move is meant to bolster Maroc Telecom‘s paying...
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