· January, 2013

Stories about West Asia & North Africa from January, 2013

Free and Open Source Software

We received an email from Richard M. Stallman (RMS), after publishing the article about the Egyptian demonstration calling for the government to adopt Free Software. Tarek Amr digs deeper into open source software and arguments in its favour in this first post of a two-part series

24 January 2013

Kuwait: Stateless Activist Goes on Hunger Strike

On January 16, stateless activist Abdulhakim AlFadhli entered hunger strike in prison right after getting a two-year jail sentence. The court charged the activist with attacking a policeman in a protest last March. The activist stated that this charge, among others, is fabricated against him because of his political activism in demanding the rights of Kuwait's stateless community.

22 January 2013

On Inauguration Day, US Drones Strike Yemen

Barack Obama was sworn in for a second term as President of the United States yesterday [Jan 21, 2013]. Ironically while the crowd was cheering his inauguration line “A decade of war is now ending”, more than three drone strikes hit Yemen. Monday was also Martin Luther King's Day. Many tweeps said that while King had a dream, Obama has a drone.

22 January 2013

Bahrain Police Attack on Woman Stirs Anger

As Bahrain was pretending to be secure enough to hold a regional sports event, its security men were attacking a woman protester in the middle of Manama, the capital. Last July, Zahra Al-Shaikh was released from prison after being detained and tortured. On January 18, as Bahrain was hosting the Gulf Football finale, Zahra was once again arrested for protesting. Photographs and videos of her arrest went viral, stirring anger.

20 January 2013

Gabon to Mali: History of French Military Interventions in Africa

The French military intervention in Mali, known as Operation Serval started on January 11 following the advance of terrorists groups towards Bamako. Lauded by a substantial part of the Malian population and many outside observers, the military intervention diverts, however, from the non-interventionist line professed by French President Hollande in Africa.

18 January 2013

Tehran's Deadly Air Pollution Illustrated

Air pollution has been a public enemy to millions of Iranians for years. Earlier this month, the Ministry of Health declared that last year more than 4,400 people lost their lives because of air pollution in Tehran, Iran's capital.

17 January 2013

Reconciliation Day in Southern Yemen

Thousands of people from all six southern provinces in southern Yemen flocked to the city of Aden over the past few days in order to participate in the carnival of "reconciliation and forgiveness". The carnival commemorates the civil war in former South Yemen which took place in 1986.

14 January 2013

Graffiti War on Syrian Walls

Graffiti is an art that can be labelled under civil disobedience and peaceful expression. Although the Syrian Revolution has intrinsic humanitarian values; it is a revolution with artistic aspects. Painting is one of the most important methods a human being uses to express ideas; it is the fastest way to illustrate an idea or to make people interact with this idea. See how Syrians are using their creativeness on Syria's walls

13 January 2013

Saudi Activists’ Verdict Postponed

The verdict on the two prominent Saudi human rights activists Mohammad Al-Qahtani and Abdullah Al-Hamid, which was supposed to be delivered this Wednesday, January 15th, was postponed indefinitely.

13 January 2013

New Palestinian Village Bab Al Shams Established in East Jerusalem

As part of the popular resistance movement in the Palestine, a group of about 250 Palestinian activists established the new village of Bab Al Shams or “The Gate of the Sun”, on a piece of confiscated land in Eastern Jerusalem, referred by Israeli authorities as “Area E1“. Despite an eviction notice from the Israeli army, the activists plan to spend the night in the tents they have set up there.

12 January 2013

Zonguldak Accident Draws Attention to Turkish Miners’ Plight

Eight miners were killed due to a gas leak on January 7, 2013. Zonguldak, the main mining city of Turkey, hits the headlines once again with this fatal mine accident. Bloggers, across the political spectrum, were united in condemning the accident and the working conditions of miners in the country.

11 January 2013

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.