Regions: Africa | Americas | Asia | Europe & C Asia | Mid East & N Africa |United Nations

Firing Line: Iran | Israel | Palestine | Yemen

By Kawkab al-Thaibani in Sanaa
Basam al-Haidari is 26-years-old,. He has little education but dreamed of supporting his big extended family - ten siblings, five of whom are deaf.
stigmatized_children.JPG

Instead of leading his family to security al-Haidari has walked himself into a death sentence.

Last April, al-Haidari was behind the bars of the Specialized Criminal Court of Appeals when he heard the Judge confirm the death sentence, for a crime committed while messing around on the internet.

He was sentenced to death for offering to spy for Israel.


Recently breaking:

Lebanon: As the Officer said to the Poet: "We Lebanese are good at two things. Fighting. And shopping"

Iraq: Kurdish writer tortured and shot in the head for mocking leaders

: Women Without Men - a moving Iranian picture

Morocco: The Sahara's new cargo: drugs and radicalism

Yemen: 'Hafez knew he would be forced to lie face down on the ground inside the prison, and then guards would shoot him through the heart.'

Egypt: Citizen bloggers 'white-anting' the Mubarak regime

Iran: How German sniper scopes secretly sold to Iran, were given to the Taliban and brought down a major Italian arms smuggling ring

Iraq: Leaked video shows cold-blooded killing of Reuters staff by Apache gunship

Morocco: With the Understanding of Gandhi, Aminatou Put Her Life on the Line

Yemen: Between the hammer and the anvil in Yemen

More...


Enas_Muthaffar.jpg
Jerusalem - - First and foremost, Muthaffar explains of the difficulties faced by Palestinian filmmakers in the occupied Palestinian territories, given the lack of Palestinian funding. "Palestinian directors have to be their own producers." Her work is edgy and "lately, I tend to be sarcastic about the whole situation," she says. Much of her work is screened internationally and in the occupied Palestinian territories, mostly in refugee camps across the West Bank.

"Because of everything, it's hard to get Palestinians to view films. I am lucky, I have freedom of movement. I can be there, and it's important."

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]


gagged_universaldeclaration.jpg

More than seven months into the disputed June 12 presidential elections in Iran, the trend of arresting and intimidating the country's journalists continues unabated. Tens of journalists, members of editorial boards, and the head of Iran's Association for the Defense of Press Freedom are in detention; the offices of the country Association of Journalists is sealed off on orders of former hardline prosecutor Mortezavi; and many journalists are out of job. But even these reporters continue to face daily intimidation and are summoned by the ministry of intelligence and Tehran's police, are interrogated and are threatened.

During these turbulent seven months, many journalists have chosen forced exile and await a review of their applications by the UN's high Commissioner for Refugees in neighboring countries. Amongst those who have remained in Iran, many have opted to switch jobs and work as secretaries or drivers: but the threats and intimidation still continue. Journalists who continue to work despite the serial warnings by ministry of Islamic guidance, repeated circulars of the supreme national security council, and the summons, threats etc that bombard them from security officials is the subject of this Rooz interview.

> > > > > > > >