Mona Kareem

Blogging at http://monakareem.blogspot.com
Founder of BedoonRights.org
I am a Stateless (Bidun) of Kuwait born in Dec 1987, published two poetry collections, and doing my graduate studies at SUNY Binghamton Comparative Literature program.

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Latest posts by Mona Kareem

Bahrain: More Tear Gas Than People

With a total population of 1.3 million, Bahrain plans to purchase 1.6m canisters of tear gas. Here's how a group of activists plan to stop the shipment from South Korea.

25 October 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

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

Jailed Kuwait Stateless Activist Tweets Torture Ordeal

Over the past two years, people outside the Gulf, have been exposed to the issue of statelessness in the region as the Bedoon (which translates to without in Arabic) communities protest for their rights to education, health, employment, and most importantly, their right to citizenship.

23 December 2012

Bahrain: Mahazza Village Still Under Siege

For almost a month in Bahrain, the village of Mahazza in Sitra has been under a security siege by the country's Interior Ministry. With the absence of free media in the country, citizen journalism, once again, was the only means of getting reports on what was happening on the ground. Through Facebook and Twitter, Bahrainis have posted their rallies in support of Mahazza and shared information about raids on houses and many arrests.

10 December 2012

Anonymous Twitter Account Leads Major Protests in Kuwait

Tens of thousands showed up in the areas of Mishref and Sabah Al-Salem protesting the Kuwaiti Amir's amendment of the voting law which allows a citizen to vote for one candidate instead of four. What is interesting though is that an anonymous Twitter account is the one deciding dates of marches and meeting points. Mona Kareem shares Twitter reactions to the march, in addition to photographs and videos.

6 November 2012

Kuwait: The Country's Biggest Protest?

Tear gas and stun grenades were used to disperse a protest in Kuwait against changes to the electoral law. The Sunday march attracted about 150,000 out of the country's population of 3 million. Media outlets considered this number to be the biggest in the small Gulf emirate's history.

23 October 2012

Kuwait: Shotgun Used Against Stateless Protesters

On the International Day of Non-Violence, the stateless community of Kuwait decided to demand their right to citizenship. More than 3,000 protesters took part in the protest, which was repressed with rubber bullets, smoke bombs, tear gas, sound bombs, and for the first time shotguns.

4 October 2012

Bahrain: ‘Boycott the Olympics’

Many Bahrainis are calling for the Olympics to be boycotted. First, a royal, who is allegedly personally involved in the torture of athletes, is attending the games. Second, most of the Bahraini squad is made up of African athletes.

30 July 2012

Kuwait: Stateless Community Continues Protesting

The stateless community in Kuwait (Bedoon) has been protesting for their rights to documents and citizenship since February 2011 and netizens are turning to social media to make their voices heard. Friday's protests spilled on to Saturday and Sunday as the call for rights turned into a confrontation with the police.

9 July 2012

Oman: Arrests of Rights Activists Continue

Human Rights activists in Oman are being targeted by authorities amid world silence. Omanis take to their keyboards the keep their struggle alive, writes Mona Kareem, who brings us the latest from Oman.

10 June 2012

Saudi Arabia: Protests to Free Detainees Held Without Trial

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is believed to have thousands of detainees who were not allowed access to trials and many of them do not even know their charges. The families of detainees have been working the past months through social media to spread the word and have finally decided to take their cause to the street. Mona Kareem charts how one protest emerged on Twitter.

9 June 2012

Bahrain: Where is Abdulhadi Alkhawaja?

For some days there has been no news of imprisoned Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, who has been on hunger strike since February 8. It is feared that Alkhawaja is either being force-fed or is in a critical state.

28 April 2012

Kuwait: Bedoon Light Candles for Freedom

As a protest against discriminatory state policies and arbitrary arrests, the stateless community in Kuwait (Bedoon) decided to light candles in their houses and post pictures of them on Twitter.

7 April 2012

Bahrain: Tweeting Against Formula 1

As Bahrain gears up to host the Grand Prix, from April 20 to 22, netizens are rallying for the cancellation of the car race claiming that human rights violations are still continuing against protesters seeking more democratic rights in the Arab country. Mona Kareem sheds light on one Twitter campaign to draw attention to this.

31 March 2012