tunisia – Page 2

After the jump is a press release (in French) by Tunisian rights activist Sihem Bensedrine on the release of comic Hedi Ouled Baballah, who recently spent two months in prison for cannabis possession. It’s widely believed by Tunisian NGOs that the real reason for his imprisonment (and the beatings he received at the hands of police) was a sketch he made at a private event in Tunis imitating President Zine Eddin Ben Ali. The sketch had been taped by mobile phone and widely circulated in Tunisia.

Don’t forget Tunisia — along with Syria and Jordan it is the worst police state in the region, but is completely ignored by much of the Western media because it is a “liberal” country (i.e. it persecutes Islamists and frowns on the veil). In fact it’s one of the most perverse and most corrupt regimes around — it makes Egypt look good in comparison — and sooner or later this small and relatively developed country will pay the price for ignoring political reform. It’s a real shame, because it some respects it is more like a southern European country in terms of education levels, etc.

Continue reading Jailed Tunisian comic freed

Links for January 14th

Automatically posted links for January 14th:

Daily Kos: Bush fawns over the U.A.E. – Great takedown of Bush’s appraisal of UAE as “model society”

Total, Suez, Areva to build two nuclear plants in Abu Dhabi – The Middle East nuclear race that really matters

Bush Nudges Mideast on Democracy – Story number 129747247 on Bush abandoning democracy talk

Official Version of Naval Incident Starts to Unravel – Tiny Iranian boats not aggressive and posed no threat

Pursuing happiness behind the veil – The LAT’s Jeffrey Fleishman: king of the mixed metaphor

Islamists emerge in stifled Tunisia – Returnee mujahideen spell trouble

Kuwait set to invest as Merrill seeks $4bn – Another big Gulfie investment in top Western financial firm

EGYPT HOLDS ARMY OFFICERS FOR ‘PLOTTING ISRAEL ATTACKS’ – Now, if you were an Egyptian Islamist in the army, would it be Israel that’s your target?

EGYPT: Iraqi refugee return driven by lack of money IRIN Middle East | Middle East | Egypt | EGYPT: Iraqi refugee return driven by lack of money | Early Warning Refugees/IDPs | News Item – Iraqis fleeing death find poverty in Egypt

Links for 5-6 December

Automatically posted links for December 5th through December 6th:

CAB Advised To Audit Independent Newspapers – al-Masri al-Youm English story on a decision to have government accounting office audit independent newspaper. Is seen as an attack on freedom of the press, could provide pretexts for newspapers to be shut down or financially pressured
25 Al-Azhar University Students Detained Wednesday Dawn – Latest crackdown on Islamist students at al-Azhar, who in the past few months have staged sit-ins to protest the exclusion of some Islamist from the university and its dorms. MB leaders I’ve spoken to recently said it is becoming more difficult for them t
Le Monde.fr : RSF rÃ©compense le blogueur Ã©gyptien Kareem Amer, emprisonnÃ© pour quatre ans – Reporters Without Borders gives Karim Amer its annual prize
Tunisia’s Ben Ali promises more democracy – METimes.com – And I promise you the moon is made of solid gold
Shatah?An Egyptian Cleric Adored By Muslims And Americans, Unheard Of In Egypt – al-Masri al-Youm profiles up-and-coming Egyptian imam in Amreeka who is Amr Khaled fan
Islamists Today: The Autumn of Arab Islamists – Khalil al-Anani continues to see Islamists on the decline
Changes in Guantanamo Bay SOP manual (2003-2004) – Wikileaks – Comparison in leaked 2003 and 2004 Guantanamo Bay Standard Operating Procedures has evidence of abuses

Links for November 28th

Automatically posted links for November 27-28th:

Critical writer jailed in Tunisia – On Monday, police in Sfax, Tunisia’s second largest city, detained Slim Boukhdhir, a well-known blogger and contributor to the London-based Al-Quds Al Arabi.
‘Aqoul: Hirsi Ali: Ideological Chameleon – Holy CRAP! Hirsi Ali’s rightward shift
tabsir.net Â» Al Qaeda?s generational split – Yemeni tactics for splitting jihadist groups
Talking Points | National Security Network – Website of reality-based security types
Le Monde.fr : Une vidÃ©o-amateur contredit la version de la police sur l’accident de Villiers-le-Bel – Amateur video indicates initial shock of police car against motorbike not very violent, car was damaged with metal bars afterwards and police is lying about it
WHO’S WHO OF PREZ CAMPAIGN SECURITY ADVISERS – New list of security / FP advisors to US presidential candidates, surprisingly does not include the more well-known rabid neocons in Rudy’s list
Hillary Clinton’s advisers too gung-ho on Iraq war, critics say – Is Hillary Clinton the hawk masquerading as the dove?
‘Not very good’ Saddam spy gets 4 years – Yahoo! News – More examples of the terrible threat to the US that Saddam represented. Hmm, let me think, what other Middle Eastern country successfully infiltrated spies in critical national security institutions?
Police say Paris rioters are armed as clashes escalate – Officials in Paris last night warned that rioters in the suburb of Villiers-le-Bel were armed with hunting rifles and air rifles as clashes with police continued to escalate.
Boom fuels new Saudi spending spree | Business | The Guardian – Annual revenues of $165bn are funding six new cities to create jobs – but can it last?
Cairo International Film Festival – Home Page – Schedules, events, etc. (apparently Morocco is focus of festival)
In Annapolis, Conflict by Other Means by Robert Blecher and Mouin Rabbani – “As for the Annapolis meeting itself, it is being greeted with indifference, with few believing it will lead to either meaningful change in their daily lives or substantive progress toward the end of an Israeli occupation now in its fifth decade.”