Utterly ridiculous: German authorities are trying to get courts to back them in preventing a baby being named “Jihad” — even though it is a completely common name in the Arab world. The most famous Arab columnist (for al-Hayat) is called Jihad al-Khazen. He is broadly speaking a secularist, albeit of the loyal to Saudi interest variety (he has a rich history of being close to virtually every prominent political figure in the region over his long career.) Of course the baby’s father appears to be something of an Islamist, but so what? See Kafr al-Hanadwa’s post for the details.
Month: March 2007
Public Service Announcement
This won’t do much to protect those gutsy Egyptian bloggers standing out on a limb to expose torture in Egyptian detention centers, but given that Egypt has for the first time jailed a blogger for the contents of his blog, and given disturbing reports of harassment and intimidation of bloggers by security forces, less courageous bloggers should check out Ethan’s excellent guide to blogging anonymously with TOR and WordPress. RSF’s guide is also worth a look (Arabic here).
If you’re an anonymous blogger, remember: your pseudonym affords you no protection against anyone with even a little bit of determination and know-how.