The situation of freedoms in Syria has become disastrous. This dictator is using all kinds of repressive tools, killing protesters and activists on daily basis. Activists, media professionals

Such a commitment is particularly welcome ahead of mass demonstrations called for 8 July in solidarity with families of victims of the uprising, and for greater social justice.

It is an architectural absurdity. Just south of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the Muslim world’s holiest site, a kitsch rendition of London’s Big Ben is nearing completion.

Mohammed named Christians, as he did Jews, as respected "people of the book,"
Islamic scholars need to speak out against extremists behind persecutions

A relatively minor incident has become the catalyst for a wave of protests that may end the presidency of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

Egyptian youths represent two-thirds of the country’s population and share a sense of detachment from, and lack of trust in, Egypt’s political life. They dream of a decent and stable job, affordable housing and good health services. Unfortunately for many of them, these dreams will never become reality.

The United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) works with Turkey to provide homes and assistance to Iranians who fled to Turkey. There were 1,198 Turkey-bound refugees in 2009, according to the Iranian Refugees' Alliance. The individuals are spread throughout the country, predominantly in the backwaters and dusty transit points.

Christians in countries such as Egypt, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan continue to be persecuted for their beliefs

Banning the celebrated director from making films is the latest step in the regime's attempt to murder the nation's creative soul

The plan seems sensible but it will hurt the poor and Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards, which could prove disastrous

Two years on, the victims of Operation Cast Lead are still denied justice in Israel's biased judicial system

Beyond the political uncertainty that increased with recent parliamentary elections, Egypt faces many economic, social and institutional challenges undermining its future.

Social constraints, especially in the provinces, have been getting tighter

the practice of democracy across the Arab world appears to produce much the same result: perpetuation of rule by well-entrenched strongmen, the demoralisation and sometimes radicalisation of the forces opposed to them, and the degradation of the word democracy, to the point where there is often little discernible difference between those Arab countries that make a show of practising it and those, like Saudi Arabia, that do not even pretend.

A spate of recent religious opinions and court rulings ranging from the bizarre to endorsement of mutilation issued by prominent Saudi sheikhs and judges highlight the difficulty King Abdullah faces in clamping down on fatwas and codifying the kingdom's largely unwritten Islamic legal regulations

Addressing the position of women in Saudi society is a top priority for the country's king; and now his former education minister has written a book calling for equality between men and women

An appetite for state secrets led to bans on western newspapers and hacked news websites across the Middle East

As King Abdullah al-Saud recovers from his recent surgery in the U.S., his subjects in Saudi Arabia may be wondering what their future holds.

Each week, Mahmoud Habbash, the Palestinian Authority's minister of religious affairs, sends an e-mail to mosques across the West Bank. It contains what amounts to a script for the Friday sermon that every imam is required to deliver.

Many of the asylum seekers who perished had spent months crossing Asia in trucks before risking their lives on the open sea

Concerns about the nuclear programme should not lead us to overlook the regime's appalling human rights violations

African migrants in Israel are worried after the government announced plans for a large new detention centre in the southern Negev desert and started work on a barrier to seal off the border with Egypt.

Cartoons poke fun at politics, outrage officials

It's 62 years since the UN passed a resolution on the rights of Palestinian refugees – rights Israel must recognise for peace

The public needs to know the truth about wars. So why have journalists colluded with governments to hoodwink us?

Divorce is skyrocketing in Iran. Over a decade, the number each year has roughly tripled to a little more than 150,000 in 2010 from around 50,000 in 2000, according to official figures. Nationwide, there is one divorce for every seven marriages; in Tehran, the ratio is 1 divorce for every 3.76 marriages

Telling Jews not to rent houses to Arabs is religious fascism. So far, the state has failed to intervene

Authoritarian governments and tightly controlled media in China and across the Arab Middle East have suppressed virtually all mention of the documents, avoiding the public backlash that could result from such candid portrayals of their leaders' views.

Shahla Jahed was murdered by the Iranian regime early morning on December 1st . She was hung for the murder of Laleh Saharkhizan, the wife of Shahla’s lover, football (soccer) player Nasser Mohammad Khani- even though activists, human rights organizations, Iranian judges, and a former detective on the case refute the evidence that led to her death sentence and eventual execution. It is now known that the case and the processing of it hit numerous snags along the way and many questions were left unanswered.

Topping all these layers of religious and ethnic difference lie harsh political realities.

The deadly attack by Al-Qaeda-linked militants on a Catholic church in Baghdad, followed by an even deadlier spate of coordinated explosions targeting Shi'a neighborhoods and a series of bombings targeting Christian homes, has plunged Iraqis of all stripes into new despair.

The poorest Arab state is the target of criminal people-smuggling

Security is tight and violent crime almost nonexistent. But it is other features that make the emirate attractive — notably its loosely regulated free trade zones, thriving ports, freewheeling property sector and permissive business environment.

Amal Basha runs the Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights, which lobbies for human rights and wider political freedoms. It is a bold role for a woman in the rigid, tribal society, even more so for one who forgoes the veil.