A report released by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran featured interviews with 35 prominent Iranians living within Iran including, activists, human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, and members of the political oppositions and addressed the possibility of a military strike against Iran.  The interviewees expressed "grave concern" of the possibility of a military conflict, which would negatively impact the human rights situation and provide a "pretext for the full ...

Robert Worth, writing in the New York Times Magazine, recently authored a captivating and in-depth profile of the opposition in Yemen. His piece focused on non-violent efforts, led by Bushra al- Maqtari, in the city of Taiz. Her non-violent efforts were met with overwhelming violence by forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh in late May. On May 29, scores of soldiers loyal to President Saleh stormed the central square of Taiz, ...

Nasrin Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer and women's activist sentenced to 11 years in prison sent a letter in March 2010 to the head of Iran's judiciary.  The letter was released for the public today: "Your Judge confirmed that Iranian women cannot be ignored under any pretext," Sotoudeh wrote.  Isa Sahahrkhiz, an Iranian journalist and one of the founders of the Society for the Defense of Press Freedom in Iran ...

On Tuesday, The Brookings Institution held a forum on “The European Union Response to the Arab Spring” featuring Catherine Ashton, the high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Police.  The forum was moderated by Martin Indyk, the vice president and director of the foreign policy department at the Brookings Institution.  Ashton spoke on the role of the European Union in supporting the Arab Spring. For full text, ...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday that Turkey must act on concerns for increasing human rights violations and secular traditions.  Clinton said that the detainment of journalists and intellectuals was "inconsistent" with Turkey's economic and political progress.  She added that Turkey "should recommit itself to the course of modernization and embrace the democratic institutions of statehood." However, Clinton said that despite these concerns, Turkey should be a model for ...

On Wednesday the New America Foundation hosted an event entitled “How to Ignite, or Quash a Revolution in 140 Characters or Less.” The event featured eight panels throughout the day, including: Reflecting on the Tunisian Hair Trigger by Sami Ben Gharbia, co-founder of www.nawaat.org, moderated by Steve Coll, President, New America Foundation; Internet Freedom and Human Rights: The Obama Administration's Perspective by Michael H. Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for ...

On Saturday, Osama Heikal, the former editor-in-chief of the Wafd party's newspaper, was appointed as Egypt's new Information Minister by the head of the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. The LA Times stated that many politicians and activists were surprised by the decision as the job slot had remained vacant for five months. AhramOnline suggests that the move "is widely seen as a significant turnabout in the interim administration's ...

CNN's Rima Maktabi and Neil Curry report that Egyptian television channels and radio stations are enjoying a new-found sense of freedom in regards to programming capabilities. During the protests at Tahrir Square, the head of Egypt State TV Nihal Kamal says that the state-owned institution lost credibility for not focusing on the revolutionary events. Independent and state-owned agencies alike are in the process of shifting their focus to political programming and ...

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt expressed concern that censorship will increase in authoritarian regimes, citing the Arab Spring as an example. He predicted that just as dictatorial governments have regulated television, in the future internet regulation will "get worse." And Schmidt also shared his concerns for the safety of Google employees, at risk of arrest and torture in certain unidentified countries. During the revolution in Egypt, Google launched a service for protesters to use ...

Robert Malley, from the International Crisis Group, gave a lengthy interview on NPR's Fresh Air program about the Arab Spring and the situation in Israel/Palestine. Malley believes the Arab Spring movements in the MENA region could be a "game changer" for Israel and the United States.  He discusses the Palestinian movement for U.N. recognition in September, the Fatah/Hamas unity government, and how the Arab Spring has affected the Israeli-Palestinian relationship.  

On Wednesday, the American Islamic Congress and the Middle East Program of the Woodrow Wilson Center hosted a discussion entitled “Revolution and Women’s Rights: The Case of Egypt.”  Haleh Esfandiari, Director of the Middle East Program for the Woodrow Wilson Center, moderated the event.  The panelists included Zainab al-Suwaij, Executive Director, American Islamic Congress; Manar Mohsen, student, journalist, and human rights activist;Amany el-Tunsy, founder of Banat wi Bas (Girls Only) radio station in Egypt, ...

On Wednesday, the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) hosted a panel discussion on the state of the news media in Iraq. The discussion centered on a report commissioned by CIMA and written by journalist Sherry Ricchiardi titled “Iraq’s News Media After Saddam: Liberation, Repression, and Future Prospects,” which was released in March 2011. CIMA senior director Marguerite Sullivan introduced the panel, which ...

Bahrain announced that it is suing The Independent for "orchestrating a defamatory and premeditated media campaign" against both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The accusations single out the newspaper's Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk, who wrote an article yesterday criticizing the Bahraini regime for the "fraudulent trial" of medical professionals and arguing that "the Saudis are now running the country." Writing for Open Democracy, Lars Erslev Andersen argues that the Arab League has supported military ...

Patrick Seale, British journalist, author and Middle East Specialist, interviewed with Syria Today where he stated that, "Without a political solution, the country  risks slipping into something like civil war, with a breakdown of law and order, arbitrary killings and the ever-present danger of sectarian conflict."  Though the Syrian government has expressed interest in pursuing national dialogue, Seale said the government must first take certain measures, including ending violence, releasing ...

On Monday, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted Maziar Bahari, correspondent for Newsweek, to discuss his new book Then They Came for Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival (Random House, 2011).  The event was moderated by Karim Sadjadpour, Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Notes on the event are located below the break, or can be accessed in PDF form here.   On Monday, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace ...

Official Bahraini media outlets have escalated anti-American statements, accusing the Obama administration of plotting with opposition leaders to overthrow the regime. On Monday, the paper Al Wasat published an editorial that argued "American black fingers are aiming to weaken the Gulf" states so that the U.S. can establish its own "Greater Middle East." Media attacks have also targeted individual officials, including U.S. human rights officer Ludovic Hood last week, and now Deputy Chief ...

Qatar's cabinet approved a new media law that is likely to be ratified during a meeting presided by Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Thani. The draft states that journalists will be able write freely, "except on issues concerning national security and friendly countries." The Peninsula then adds, "There would be no censorship on the media." The law does, however, prevent journalists from being detained ...