Newly released documents reveal the very real need for an Iraq inquiry, says Chris Ames As MPs once again debate calls for a full inquiry into the Iraq war, new evidence shows the extent to which intelligence experts raised concerns about the...
The ‘religion’ section in Egyptian national identity cards may now be left blank, after a court ruling on 16 March. Computerised ID cards were introduced in 1995, and forced people to identify themselves with one of the three main religions: Islam,...
Journalist Abdulkarim Al Khaiwani has been pardoned again by President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Al Khaiwani had already been pardoned last September after being sentenced to six months in prison on a charge of ‘collaboration with the rebellion in the...
Muntazer al Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who sparked headlines worldwide after throwing his shoe at George Bush, has been sentenced to three years in prison. Read more here
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has vetoed the release of minutes of cabinet meetings in the lead-up to the Iraq war. The Information Commissioner had previously ruled that the records should be released. Read more here
On 14 February 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran declared a death sentence on novelist Salman Rushdie after the publication of The Satanic Verses. Twenty years on Lisa Appignanesi, recalls how a ground-breaking, visionary novel was hijacked and...
Early Wednesday morning, blogger and activist Philip Rizk, who was detained after he participated in public demonstrations in support of Gaza last Friday, was released and driven home without having been charged. The Egyptian government has not...
German-Egyptian activist Philip Rizk was detained north of Cairo following a rally in support of Palestinians in Gaza. Eyewitnesses said the author of popular blog Tabula Gaza was bundled into a white van with no licence plates, which then sped...
Iraq began a year of elections with regional council votes in 14 governorates on Saturday. Yet more work has still to be done to guarantee a fair national dialogue on the issues – in the press, through the national media, the public broadcaster and...
The celebrated photographer and Pulitzer prize-winner Kaveh Golestan was one of the great defenders of free speech in Iran. He reflects in this essay, first published in 1994, on the fallout of the revolution My childhood was spent among the...