Remember in May 2011 when U.S. President Barack Obama told the government of Bahrain “you can’t have a real dialogue when parts of the peaceful opposition are in jail?” The people of Bahrain do, but many doubted a real dialogue would be possible. Since President Obama’s call for talks, there has been no real political More »

A decade ago, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) shone a spotlight on the sorry state of education in the Arab world with its inaugural Arab Human Development Report in 2002, and its 2003 follow-on report, “Building a Knowledge Society.” The reports’ statistics still shock: in one year, Spain translates the same number of More »

The Arab Spring introduced us to the strength and determination of the many Arab women who took to the streets and the Internet to call for change in their governments and societies. Gone were the stereotypes of oppression and passivity. In their place were voices and faces of hope, courage and indomitable spirit, calling More »

The past week marked the second anniversary of the resignation of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, an event that in many ways turned unrest in Tunisia from a purely national affair to what the media dubbed the Arab Spring. That Arab Spring was seen as a broad rising of the Arab masses against aging More »

Washington’s relations with Bahrain are under strain after royal comments at a regional strategy conference in the island’s capital. The incident, described by the Associated Press as a “diplomatic flap” and a “public slap against Washington,” reopens the debate about the progress of reforms as street violence continues between Shi’ite protesters and security forces More »

Outside of Bahrain government supporters, it’s hard to find anyone who thinks the country’s reform process is going okay. To mark last week’s anniversary of the publication of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), the report ordered by the King of Bahrain into human rights violations in early 2011, the regime evaluated its own More »

It is a curb on freedom of expression to temporarily refuse to grant licenses for public demonstrations. However, freedom of expression in an absolute sense is also curbed when a magazine refuses to publish cartoons highly offensive to millions of Muslims; or when a prominent Holocaust-denier and anti-Semite who incites hatred is banned from More »

With President Barack Obama’s re-election, many people across the Middle East are contemplating what this region might expect from his second term. Over the next four years, Obama will likely continue the policy directions set in his first term: by completing the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, for example, and reaching out to global players like More »

The week began with the collapse of the cease-fire in Syria and many more reported deaths. The U.S. calls for stronger leadership in the Syrian opposition. With the docking of Iranian military ships in Sudan, analysts scrutinize their relationship. Despite new laws banning demonstrations, protestors take to the streets of Bahrain.  A series of More »

Tension has increased again in the Persian Gulf island kingdom of Bahrain, the home of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, after one policeman was killed and a second seriously injured by a homemade bomb during a clash with Shi’ite demonstrators in a village outside the capital, Manama. These latest casualties in Bahrain, in the troubles that More »

On October 1st, 2012, women organizers launched a Facebook page, “The Uprising of Women in the Arab World,” to highlight the discrimination against them which they don’t feel comfortable – or safe – enough to protest in the streets.  In just ten days, the page has generated nearly 35,000 “likes” and conversation among more More »

Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers in Bahrain face exploitation and abuse despite government reforms designed to protect them, according to a new Human Rights Watch report. Mani Mostofi, author of the study, says HRW interviewed over 60 migrant workers, worker advocates, government officials and social workers about the migrant workers situation in the nation. More »

On September 19, 2012, the twenty-first session of the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva is expected to adopt the Final Report on the Kingdom of Bahrain’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR). A relatively new mechanism of the U.N., the UPR constitutes a review of the human rights ‘performances’ of all U.N.-member states. Obviously, More »

This week in the Middle East, a film trailer lambasting the prophet Mohammed contributed to anti-American protests in Cairo, Sanaa and Benghazi, resulting in the death of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Embassy staff members. Also, new attacks broke out in Syria, UNHCR visited refugee camps, and  protests against poor living More »

This week in Bahrain, human rights activist Nabeel Rajab was sentenced to three years in prison in what observers call a ‘shocking’ decision. In Iran, earthquakes killed hundreds and injured over 4,500. Relief workers tried desperately to free trapped citizens from the rubble and Tehran, after initially rejecting help, called for international aid. In Syria, fierce More »

The Obama administration says it is “deeply troubled” by Thursday’s sentencing of Bahraini human rights advocate Nabeel Rajab and believes the judgment against him should be vacated. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland says it is critical for all governments, including Bahrain, to respect freedoms of expression and assembly, saying Washington believes the “illegal gathering” case More »

-A court in Bahrain has sentenced Nabeel Rajab, a prominent rights activist, to three years in prison for his role in unauthorized protests. We talk to Brian Dooley, director of the Human Rights Defenders Program at Human Rights First, about the case. -Fears are growing that Lebanon could be drawn further into Syria’s conflict, as More »

A court in Bahrain has sentenced prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab to three years in prison for his role in unauthorized protests. Supporters of Rajab, who heads the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, say the punishment does not fit the crime. The defense is planning to appeal the ruling. Protests broke out in Bahrain last More »

On June 14, 2012, a court verdict was issued in the trial of Bahrain medical personnel on charges related to the February and March 2011 unrest in the kingdom.[1] In brief, nine medics were found innocent, five were released for time served and four were convicted with the right for appeal. World reaction was varied, More »