Middle East
Ulema-state alliance hinders democracy and development in the Muslim world
In September 2021, Turkey House was inaugurated in New York with a high-level state ceremony that included the presence of President Tayyip Erdogan. The ceremony began with a prayer recited by Turkey’s top Islamic cleric: the chairman of the Directorate…
“Sindyanna of Galilee”: Extending the olive branch between Arabs and Israelis
Sales of award-winning olive oil worldwide helped empower 300 Arab women By Coco Cresswell In 1996 Hadas Lahav, a Jewish Israeli social activist, had a vision: a future of Arab-Israeli coexistence. That same year, through co-founding Sindyanna of Galilee, a female-led social…
Why blasphemy is a capital offense in some Muslim countries
By Ahmet T. Kuru Junaid Hafeez, a university lecturer in Pakistan, had been imprisoned for six years when he was sentenced to death in December 2019. The charge: blasphemy, specifically insulting Prophet Muhammad on Facebook. Pakistan has the world’s second strictest blasphemy…
The Ladder: A Conversation with the Incarcerated Poet İlhan Sami Çomak, Part III
When I started writing this interview with Ilhan Sami Çomak, I imagined a way to escape from prison. If I were in Ilhan’s position, I think I would think about it all the time. Lacking any handyman skills, I wouldn’t…
Syria organised marathon to promote reading among young people
The 2021 Reading Marathon competitions concluded today at the National Library in Damascus with the awarding of the three winners in each of the Basic, Secondary and University stages. Some 100 young people participated in this national competition, which was…
Iranian people are constantly rising up to overthrow the illegitimate regime
by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury The existential enemy of the Iranian regime are the Iranian people. The regime is deadly afraid of them. It tries to prop up terrorist proxies across the region to project power. But it is severely…
For its survival, Iranian mullah regime resorts to human rights violations
by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury While a section of experts on Iran say, in 2020, Iranian people have witnessed the “most violations” of their rights by the cruel Iranian regime. In my opinion, following Ebrahim Raisi, the mass murderer and…
The Ladder: A Conversation with the Incarcerated Poet İlhan Sami Çomak, Part 1
In 2014, After sixteen years in exile, I was able to return to my native Colombia. My mother was dead already, so the last time I saw her was the day in 1998 when I boarded the plane with the…
Around the Afghan chaos induced by the war
There are many things we don’t know about Afghanistan, many more than we do. So, we enter a realm of assumptions, based on sources more or less interested in telling us their truth. I don’t think it escapes anyone’s notice…
Open Letter to the States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty on the Need to Impose a Comprehensive Two-Way Arms Embargo on Israel
We, the undersigned global coalition of leaders –from civil society to academia, art, media, business, politics, indigenous and faith communities, and people of conscience around the world– call upon the States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to act…
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