http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/headlines.cgi?q=3&s=26 en http://www.cyberdissidents.org/images/logo.jpg http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/headlines.cgi?q=3&s=26 http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1253&q=3&s=26 Thu, 09 May 2013 08:51:05 +0500 Cyberdissidents.org Blogger Board Member Maikel Nabil writes "If you?re an atheist, then you?re lucky you aren?t in Bangladesh this week. Last Sunday, violence exploded in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, leaving at least 30 people dead. The violence was organized by a coalition of Islamic groups calling themselves ?Hefazat-e Islam,? which means in Arabic ?Protectors of Islam.? Islamists took the streets chanting ?Hang Atheists,? aiming to abolish the...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1251&q=3&s=26 Mon, 29 Apr 2013 07:57:55 +0500 Cyberdissidents.org co-founder Nir Boms wrote for the Wall Street Journal on the continuing conflict in Syria: "They come in every day now, the body counts from Syria, consistent and painful: 141, 201, 152, 81 (a lucky day, that was). This past Sunday, 566 bodies were found, 483 of them in Damascus and its suburbs alone, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of opposition activist groups. Twenty-three bodies were found in Aleppo, 21 in Idlib, 15 in Homs, 12 in...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1250&q=3&s=26 Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:11:47 +0500   Last week, CyberDissidents.org?s Arabic Program Manager, Ahed Al Hendi, presented at the 2013 Milton Wolff Conference in Vienna, Austria.  He highlighted the Syrian liberal movements and the failure of major news outlets to cover it objectively.    Al Hendi said that there have been four competing narratives in Syria since 1970. He divided the narratives into two categories: Islamic and secular. According to Al Hendi, pro-Assad Islamic voices included clerics and scholars who...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1244&q=3&s=26 Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:21:36 +0500 CyberDissidents.org Blogger Board Member Kacem El Ghazzali was featured in article on Spiegel International for his role as a blogger, Atheist and dissident in Morocco. The article says "At a  At a time when many young people go to college, he saw no choice but to apply for political asylum in Switzerland, where he has spent the past two years." It continues: Ghazzali's problems began soon after he started an anonymous blog where he wrote about his...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1228&q=3&s=26 Mon, 04 Feb 2013 09:52:41 +0500 Throngs of anti-government protesters and riot police were locked in a bitter skirmish, Friday, in Bahrain’s capital, Manama, after authorities denied a request for an opposition rally. Friday’s protests was the most recent flare-up in a two-year long conflict between the Sunni-led government and the country’s majority Shiites that are seeking more of a political voice. Nearly 55 people have died as a cause of this ongoing clash. The Shiite-led opposition group called on the...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1227&q=3&s=26 Mon, 04 Feb 2013 09:46:38 +0500 January 25, two years after the uprising that overthrew the thirty year reign of  Egypt?s President Hosni Mubarak, thousands of demonstrators have gathered again in Tahrir Square, as well as all over the country, with a similar list of demands that call for ?bread, dignity, and social justice.? On this momentous #Jan25 anniversary, millions still chant ?the people demand the overthrow of the regime,? and ?down with the rule of the ?Morshid,?? (Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood,...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1226&q=3&s=26 Mon, 04 Feb 2013 09:19:03 +0500   Imprisoned Iranian lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, who herself frequently represented imprisoned Iranian opposition activists and politicians, was granted a furlough for three days after spending the past 867 days in prison. For the first time in over two years, Sotoudeh was able to hug her young children. Her furlough meant a great deal to the Iranian social media community, which celebrated her three days of relative ?freedom? with messages of support. As previously mentioned on...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1223&q=3&s=26 Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:23:10 +0500   Known as a ?cyber-advocacy specialist? and perhaps coined the first Lebanese blogger, Imad Bazzi?s outspoken criticisms of his country?s government has been curtailed, as his right to travel has been revoked by the Lebanese General Security. Bazzi?s famous blog ?Trella.org? has been quite vocal on issues such as freedom of expression, and human rights violations, since 1998. For the third time, Bazzi has endured passport troubles"this time, when...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1222&q=3&s=26 Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:34:24 +0500 Hundreds of Kuwaiti activists are gathering in protest, contesting the legitimacy of a newly elected parliament convened by the Kuwaiti Emir Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah while the assembly was out of session. The demonstrations took place at the Palace of Justice in downtown Kuwait City, during parliament?s first session after the election. The Kuwaiti government has responded in kind, with a crackdown on the protesters, and has even arrested a few prominent activists, Anwar al Fikr, Khaled Al Deen,...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1221&q=3&s=26 Thu, 13 Dec 2012 10:11:50 +0500 A Cairo court convicted and sentenced the Egyptian Christian blogger Alber Saber to three years in prison for speaking his mind on social networking sites. He is accused of blasphemy and contempt of religion.  Alber Saber is one of several activists that has fallen prey to a campaign led by Egypt's Islamists to curb free expression. Many of those targeted in the campaign are Christians, who make up approximately 10 percent of Egypt's population of 85 million. Saber was arrested in...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1210&q=3&s=26 Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:58:50 +0500 On Tuesday, November 6, the Interior Ministry of Bahrain issued an order that stripped 31 Shiite Bahraini activists of their citizenship.  Activists have spoken out against this order via twitter: Mohamad Al Jaafri tweeted:         "To take the citizenship from 31 Bahrainis, before that taking it from a UAE citizen?! Are we living in a state that issues citizenship according to our adoration of the ruler, and not our loyalty to the...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1205&q=3&s=26 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:31:51 +0500 Eight Iranian female political prisoners halted their hunger strike after a week protesting sudden violent searches by prison guards. The prisoners started the strike after female guards at Evin prison in northern Tehran carried out unannounced inspections that included body searches, beatings and verbal insults. Cyber activists have been reacting to this news by creating slideshows like the one shown below to highlight the activists and their various backgrounds:                    ...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1200&q=3&s=26 Fri, 19 Oct 2012 08:54:48 +0500 The following article first appeared on ForeignPolicy.com; to access it click here. On October 7, 2012, the office of the Egyptian General Prosecutor decided to start an official investigation accusing me of "blasphemy" -- or, as they call it, "insulting Islam." My crime was expressing my atheist beliefs on my Twitter account. The Egyptian authorities also arrested my friend Alber Saber on similar charges. He remains in jail to this day. Egypt has signed...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1199&q=3&s=26 Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:59:38 +0500 Bazaaries, the Farsi name for Iran?s traditional merchants, are typically a conservative, wealthy bunch reluctant to involve themselves in politics. But their displeasure with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who they believe is responsible for bungling the economy, has changed that. On Oct. 2, in a unique confrontation between the Bazaaries and the government, the merchants closed the Bazaar and protested against Ahmadinejad, the government, and, more specifically, the sharp decline of Iran?s...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1198&q=3&s=26 Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:44:22 +0500 They came for me on December 14, 2006. Plainclothes police carrying automatic weapons stormed into an Internet café in Damascus and grabbed me and a friend. They brought us in a car to the headquarters of the Syrian secret police. Around midnight they dragged me from my holding cell to the man I would come to know only as "Captain Wissam." He was a tall, dark-skinned officer. He looked at me and smiled. "We will release you in just a few minutes," he said. "You should...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1197&q=3&s=26 Fri, 12 Oct 2012 11:51:37 +0500 Yosra Mohamad, a Kuwaiti feminist news anchor on a program called Al Samim (In Depth), is being harassed by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Media for airing a recent episode that investigates the prostitution of minors.  This episode, which the Ministry of Media considered to be ?indecent,? prompted them to sue Yosra for ?assaulting public sentiment.? The episode focused on an investigative report which provided factual examples of the exploitation of young girls by grown men in Kuwait. Despite...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1196&q=3&s=26 Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:12:44 +0500 On October 9, Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi released a statement pardoning all those who were arrested since the beginning of the Egyptian revolution in February 2011.  As a former political prisoner who spent four years in jail under Hosni Mubarak, I had two contradicting feelings.  First, I was thrilled that civilians who spent months in prison following military trials that lacked justice and legitimacy would finally be freed.  But I also was extremely worried.   My...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1195&q=3&s=26 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 07:20:41 +0500 The day I created my e-blog on the net, I didn?t know I would sink in a borderless sea, a sea with no shores, no ports to be found? only waves, treasures and deeply sunk secrets. I didn?t realize then I would enter a true war, using totally different weapons, not less dangerous than the ones used by soldiers in -deadly and all covered by blood- battle fields, neither knew I that because of my writings, I?ll be persecuted, threatened to death, expelled from school, and charged in court, then...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1194&q=3&s=26 Fri, 05 Oct 2012 07:34:27 +0500 The following article first appeared on The Wall Street Journal. To access, click HERE. On Sunday, the Hirschhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., will open the first major American exhibition of art by Ai Weiwei, one of China's most famous dissidents. Among its works: an approximately 3-by-6-foot magnetic-resonance image of his brain bleeding from a police beating in 2009. Washington diplomats, journalists and art lovers will attend the exhibit before it moves to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1193&q=3&s=26 Thu, 04 Oct 2012 11:53:38 +0500 The North African country has locked up musicians deemed to be critical of the state. Now one jailed rapper?s entourage is fighting against time to get his message out and rally the country?s floundering democracy movement.? On Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death, the forthcoming album from dissident Moroccan rapper El Haqed "whose name means ?the Enraged? "one track stands out amongst the ambient tones and deceptively lighthearted chimes. Called ?El Habs,? or ?Prison,? the song features...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1192&q=3&s=26 Mon, 01 Oct 2012 11:52:38 +0500 Iranian authorities have restored access to Gmail a week after blocking Google's popular email service. The Islamic Republic blocked Gmail last week in response to video clips posted on YouTube of an anti-Islam film that set off deadly protests across the Muslim world -- a ban that sparked a slew of complaints from Internet users and officials in Iran. Iran has an estimated 32 million Internet users out of a total population of around 75 million. On Monday, Mohammad Reza Aghamiri, a member of...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1191&q=3&s=26 Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:53:06 +0500 Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is in New York for the annual UN General Assembly; however, this visit will be his last.   This is the final year of his two term presidency, but he has shocked many by suggesting otherwise. Recently, an Iranian national TV reporter pointed out that, ?This is your last year in office;? to which Ahmadinejad responded: ?Says who? People chose me and I?ll be in office as long as they want me to be.? As scary a thought as this may be, as it stands, this...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1188&q=3&s=26 Mon, 24 Sep 2012 07:37:34 +0500 As Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives in New York for his last official visit to the United Nations, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has released a short video demonstrating and highlighting systematic cover-ups accompanying the marked rise in human rights violations over the eight years of his presidency. ?Every time Mahmoud Ahmadinejad comes to New York, the human rights community hopes that the international community will hold him accountable for the human...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1203&q=3&s=26 Fri, 21 Sep 2012 11:24:11 +0500 The following excerpt was originally published on September 21, 2012 by the Toronto Sun under the title, "Liberal MP asks UN to ban Iranian prez." To access the full article, please click here. OTTAWA - Well-regarded international human rights lawyer and Liberal MP Irwin Cotler says enough is enough when it comes to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Fed up that the United Nations has, year after year, given the Iranian president a prestigious forum at its General Assembly in New...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1184&q=3&s=26 Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:04:52 +0500 The following article was taken from the Daily Beast, to view the original, click here. ?Dear Arabs, if you had dared to protest against Bashar in the same way of your protest against the American embassies, Bashar would not have been able to kill 200 Syrians a day.? So read a banner in Syria satirizing the absurd and exaggerated outrage against the Web trailer for Innocence of Muslims. Another read: ?We have an Assad-esque movie that offends the messenger [Muhammad] and the god of the...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1182&q=3&s=26 Fri, 14 Sep 2012 14:16:53 +0500 Canada has closed its embassy in Iran and expelled the remaining Iranian diplomats in Canada, according to a statement released by Foreign Minister John Baird. The announcement was met with shock among both Iranian and Canadian citizens. Barbara Slavin, the Washington Correspondent for Al-Monitor, a Middle East-focused reporting service, tweeted: ?explain how making it more difficult for Iranians to travel to Canada and for Canadian-Iranians to go to Iran helps solve the nuke issue?? Iranian...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1177&q=3&s=26 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 08:12:35 +0500 CyberDissidents.org would like to encourage our audience interested in Iran and the Middle East to participate in CUNY BA?s Conference on October 17th, 2012. CUNY Baccalaureate is organizing a conference on the Political Future of Iran. We invited faculty, commentators, journalists and students with first-hand experience on Iran. Our guests will share their expertise to further the understanding of current events in the country. We will attempt to cover a broad range of issues concerning modern...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1176&q=3&s=26 Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:01:39 +0500 The following excerpt was taken from MECN.org. For many months, a young Syrian Christian woman, just 20 years of age, has been speaking candidly about the situation in her country and her personal experience opposing the government of Syria as a democracy activist. As early as March 2011, when anti-government activity was hardly measurable and could hardly be called a protest movement let alone a popular revolution, a student named Hadeel Kouky (also written Kouki; Arabic: ???? ????) was...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1173&q=3&s=26 Fri, 31 Aug 2012 13:09:44 +0500 The following excerpt was taken from the Washington Post.  To view the original, click here. A Hunted Syrian Activist Begins his Work Anew in Washington By Tara Bahrampour, Published: August 28   Last Thursday, Rami Nakhla met some friends after work at a Starbucks on Dupont Circle. They sat outside, and the sun glinted off a glass building and lighted their faces. For months, Nakhla and his friends, Syrian dissidents who in the past year fled the regime of Bashar al-Assad, had lived...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1165&q=3&s=26 Wed, 22 Aug 2012 09:00:49 +0500 Just before 5PM local time on August 11, 2012, two large earthquakes with respective magnitudes of 6.4 and 6.3 hit the northeastern region of Iran within eleven minutes, causing a continuous string of aftershocks and over 300 deaths. In response to the poor coverage of the tragedy by Iranian State-sponsored television, citizens and lawmakers swiftly organized search-and-rescue groups via Facebook. The speed of this cyber campaign fostered an effective citizen-based recovery effort, mobilizing...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1163&q=3&s=26 Mon, 20 Aug 2012 09:42:19 +0500 The following article first appeared on The New York Times. To access, click HERE.   Thirty-six universities in Iran have banned women from 77 fields of study.   The ban, which was first reported Aug. 6 by Iran?s semiofficial Mehr News Agency, came as the results of university entrance exams for the coming academic year were being announced. The restrictions were not noted in previously distributed university leaflets but will affect students for the coming year. Subjects now open only to...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1161&q=3&s=26 Fri, 17 Aug 2012 11:36:05 +0500 On August 16, 2012, David Keyes, executive director of Advancing Human Rights, was interviewed on Al Jazeera about the launching of the first interactive Syrian defection mapping.  This initiative was a joint project of Google, Al Jazeera and Movements.org, a division of Advancing Human Rights.  Keyes spoke about his recent trip to the Syrian-Turkish border where he met with leading opposition activists and discussed the ongoing psychological war between the opposition and the Syrian...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1156&q=3&s=26 Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:46:25 +0500 The following article first appeared on Huffington Post. To access, click HERE. During the women's Olympic gymnastic competition on July 29, Lynn and Rickey Raisman were proud to watch their daughter Aly compete in the arena. Their nervousness and joy in their daughter's achievements was a familiar scene for many parents, but it is only a dream for others around the world -- particularly in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Although the Iranian government has permitted some women's teams to...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1202&q=3&s=26 Sun, 05 Aug 2012 09:17:55 +0500 This article originally appeared on "Your Middle East under the title Tunisian blogger arrested for drinking in Ramadan" on August 5, 2012. To view the original, please click here. AFP Last updated: August 5, 2012 Tunisian blogger Sofiane Shurabi, a scathing critic of deposed president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was arrested on Sunday for drinking alcohol in public during Ramadan with two friends, police and a lawyer said. Lawyer Anis Ezzine told AFP that Shurabi and a journalist friend...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1151&q=3&s=26 Fri, 03 Aug 2012 08:39:50 +0500 The following speech was given by Kareem Amer at Google's Illicit Networks summit conference on July 19, 2012:   "I was set free from fear at a very early stage in my life. Most of you would be surprised to hear how I became free of fear. I was raised in an extremist family with a Salafist background. I know this sounds strange, but it helped set me free from fear. I had bad experiences in this background, so anything bad that happens to me now is nothing. It?s much less than what I...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1150&q=3&s=26 Wed, 01 Aug 2012 12:00:00 +0500 This visualisation tracks senior military officials, members of parliament and diplomats who quit Assad?s regime. When the Syrian uprising against President Bashar al-Assad?s regime began in March 2011, many analysts believed the regime would remain intact, given the strict loyalty test officials and diplomats have to endure before receiving important positions in the army or government. As the uprising progressed, military generals and soldiers began to defect from the Syrian army to form the...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1148&q=3&s=26 Mon, 30 Jul 2012 08:02:07 +0500 The following article first appeared on The Huffington Post. To access to the original, click HERE. As the 1979 revolution was reaching a climax, for those who were euphoric over its possible triumph, few had imagined worrying about Ayatollah Khomeini's implementation of compulsory hejab. "Bringing down the tyrant!," they chanted. This was the rallying cry from a wide spectrum of Iranian citizens. It is commonly assumed that those involved in the Revolution were a bunch of Islamists...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1146&q=3&s=26 Wed, 25 Jul 2012 13:44:35 +0500 The following article first appeared on CNET. To access, click HERE. Iranian officials are hoping to team up with Facebook in an effort to remove Pages and Groups that feature pornography or are soliciting prostitution. More broadly, the Iranian police force has announced plans to cleanse the Internet of content its country deems inappropriate. The new tidbit comes from the semi-official Iranian news agency ISNA (via the Associated Press), which interviewed Commander Kamal Hadianfar, the head...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1141&q=3&s=26 Thu, 19 Jul 2012 14:10:27 +0500 A deadly attack on Wednesday, July 18, delivered the harshest blow yet to President Bashar al-Assad's regime, bringing the bloodshed into his inner circle. Three top officials were killed and a number of others were wounded in an explosion at a national security building in Damascus, state TV reported. Iranian journalist Borzou Daragahi tweeted:   #Syria: Opposition activist says blast was targeting Bashar, injured Maher, carried out by commissioned officer bit.ly/NZGrlD Borzou Daragahi...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1139&q=3&s=26 Mon, 16 Jul 2012 06:18:20 +0500 The following article first appeared on International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. To access, click HERE. Iranian officials should cease spreading lies and disinformation about the existence of political prisoners as they are simultaneously imprisoning hundreds for exercising their legal rights, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today. The Judiciary should also immediately release all political prisoners and stop imprisoning individuals for expressing their...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1138&q=3&s=26 Thu, 12 Jul 2012 09:04:21 +0500 The following article, first appeared on CNN Ireport. To access, click HERE. Bahman is still in solitary confinement, and my mother says: ?The  weather?s very hot. How can he tolerate that claustrophobic cell in the  basement of Rajai-Shahr prison? A cell without air conditioning or a  cooling system? My mother tells me: ?Write to the officials in  charge of Evin Prison?s Security Justice Office and explain to them that  Bahman is only a journalist and should not be...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1133&q=3&s=26 Mon, 02 Jul 2012 07:44:25 +0500 The following article was published in The Daily Beast on July 1, 2012. To view the original, click here. Saudi Arabia has lifted the ban on its women competing in the Olympics. David Keyes says rather than celebrate, this is the moment to push the oppressive kingdom much further. Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, Saudi women are finally free at last to participate in the Olympics. Before praising the last country in the world that banned women from going to the Games, here are a...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1126&q=3&s=26 Tue, 19 Jun 2012 13:33:48 +0500 The following excerpt is taken from Policymic.com. For more, click here. For several days, radical Islamists lead riots across Tunisia last week which left one man dead, 62 security forces injured, and led to over 160 arrests. The riots began after ultraconservative Islamists known as Salafists attacked an art gallery last Sunday in a Tunis suburb for an exhibition they said insulted Islam. Security forces dispersed them with tear gas, and Islamist gangs attacked police stations around the...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1120&q=3&s=26 Thu, 14 Jun 2012 10:51:41 +0500 The following excerpt was taken from MediaShift, to view the original, click here. PDF12: How Cyber-Dissidents Evade Chinese Censorship  NEW YORK -- The famous Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei once wrote in a blog, "To express yourself needs a reason, but expressing yourself is a reason." In the highly censored world of Chinese media, this sums up the growing consensus within that country -- and around the world -- that the freedom of expression and dissent is...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1119&q=3&s=26 Thu, 14 Jun 2012 06:59:11 +0500 The following article first appeared on The Daily Beast. To access, click HERE.  In his 25 years at Random House, Robert Bernstein published authors from William Faulkner to Dr. Seuss. After traveling to the Soviet Union in 1973, Bernstein began a second long career in the human-rights movement, advocating for Soviet dissidents and fighting to publish writers, like Vaclav Havel, who were censored in their own countries. Now Bernstein?s organization, Advancing Human Rights, is merging...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1117&q=3&s=26 Mon, 11 Jun 2012 06:16:59 +0500 To access to the original article, click HERE.  From Egyptian bloggers to Russian Twitterati, activists around the world have turned the Internet into a tool for political change, even as governments have learned its usefulness for surveillance. Now two small American human rights groups, one co-founded by a 30-year-old State Department official turned Google executive and one by an 89-year-old veteran activist who once championed Soviet dissidents, are joining forces to support online...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1107&q=3&s=26 Thu, 31 May 2012 13:18:40 +0500   The following article was taken from the Huffington Post.  To view the original, click here. This past November, 18 people, including two children, were killed in Syria by regime forces for participating in a nationwide protest under the banner, ?The Day of Expelling Syrian Ambassadors.? The pleas mixed with blood of my people, fell on the international community?s deaf ear. Now, after six additional months of labouring, the West is finally listening. Syrian...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1100&q=3&s=26 Thu, 17 May 2012 12:49:56 +0500 The following article was taken from the National Journal, to view the original, click here. Five years after being jailed, beaten, and tortured by government forces as a student in Damascus, Ahed al-Hendi is a Syrian dissident in the U.S. calling for Washington to arm the opposition fighting President Bashar al-Assad and his forces. ?We want it to be peaceful,? said Hendi, a member of the Syrian American Council, an organization that promotes civil liberties in Syria. ?But all...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1099&q=3&s=26 Tue, 15 May 2012 13:37:30 +0500 The following article first appeared on The New York Times. To access, please click HERE. With lyrics that tread on ultrasensitive topics and an album cover that shows the dome of a mosque in the shape of a woman?s breast, Shahin Najafi is an international rapper who elicits an intense reaction here. But Mr. Najafi?s latest song, ?Naghi,? named after a Shiite saint, has prompted a particular uproar. Opponents of Mr. Najafi are using a recent fatwa by a leading cleric, Ayatollah Lotfollah...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1093&q=3&s=26 Mon, 07 May 2012 13:53:07 +0500 The following article, first appeared on The Daily Beast. To access, please click HERE. The relatively liberal Kuwait has approved the death penalty for citizens mocking any aspect of Muslim religion. David Keyes on the problem that poses a dilemma for its U.S. ally"and whether the law can be overturned. Yesterday, nearly every member of the Kuwaiti Parliament voted for a law that mandates the death penalty for anyone who mocks God, the Koran, Muslim prophets, or Muhammad?s wives. Most of...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1081&q=3&s=26 Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:37:42 +0500 The following excerpt of "No Plan for U.S. Military Intervention in Syria, Officials Say" was originally published in The Washington Times. To view the original article, please click here. Chairman Howard P. ?Buck? McKeon cited a lack of information about the Syrian opposition and Syria?s robust air defenses as reasons for limiting military options. ?I am not recommending U.S. military intervention, particularly in light of our grave budget situation, unless the national security...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1077&q=3&s=26 Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:19:22 +0500 The following article originally appeared on CNN.com. To access the original article, please click here. Two months ago, Emad Ghavidel turned on the television in Tehran and saw graphic footage of an injured Syrian child crying out in pain. The 24-year-old Iranian rapper was horrified by the violence and the government's brutal crackdown on Homs. The more Ghavidel learned about it, the angrier he became. He decided to channel his frustration into his music. He wrote a song, "The Battle of...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1072&q=3&s=26 Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:00:43 +0500 In this animation from Amnesty and The Guardian, Iranian lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei tells of one particular case that stayed with him. Behnoud Shojaee was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 2006, for a crime he committed when he was 17. Watch his story in the film above. Iran continues to sentence juvenile offenders to death, and execute for crimes that were committed when the offender was under 18 - a practice strictly prohibited under international law. At least three juvenile...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1071&q=3&s=26 Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:44:19 +0500 On Friday, April 13, 2012, CyberDissidents.org co-founder David Keyes, Iranian Programs Coordinator Solmaz Sharif, and Arabic Programs Coordinator Ahed Al Hendi will participate in the ?Revolution: People, Poltiics, and Change? conference hosted by the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. IPSA?s 2012 conference will explore the recent events in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, as well as other citizen-led political movements past and present, to better understand the...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1068&q=3&s=26 Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:24:56 +0500 The following article first appeared on Tunisialive. To access, click HERE The Court of First Instance of Mahdia sentenced two men to seven years of prison for charges relating to their posting of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammed on Facebook. The decision is subject to appeal. According to an extract of the decision, which was posted online, Jabeur Mejri and Ghazi Beji were sentenced to five years in prison for ?troubling the public? order and ?transgressing morality? by posting the...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1067&q=3&s=26 Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:00:17 +0500 The following article first appeared in The Washington Post. To access the original, please click here.  A university lecturer and single mother of two, Ismat Abdul Khaleq, was arrested in the West Bank last week for criticizing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Facebook. Perhaps this is what Abbas meant when he said during a recent interview with al-Jazeera that his party, Fatah, was a political and ideological copy of the terrorist group Hamas. His words: "In all honesty,...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1063&q=3&s=26 Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:52:03 +0500 The following article first appeared on Salon.com. To access, click HERE. Rights activists say a Palestinian university lecturer has been detained on accusations that her Facebook page insulted President Mahmoud Abbas. Hadeel Hneiti of the al-Haq rights group said Monday that Palestinian security forces arrested Ismat Abdul-Khaleq after they found writing on her Facebook page accusing Abbas of being a traitor and demanding he resign. Hneiti said the 37-year-old Abdul-Khaleq was taken into...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1059&q=3&s=26 Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:53:53 +0500 The following article appeared in Arabic Sky News on March 16, 2012. To view the original interview in Arabic, click here: In the last week of January 2011, the U.S. Secretary of State declared that the Egyptian government seemed stable. This pronouncement aroused the anger of human rights activist David Keyes. When asked his opinion by a journalist, he answered ?Tell the Secretary of State she should stop talking about the Egyptian government´s ?stability.??  A few days For over a year,...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1052&q=3&s=26 Thu, 22 Mar 2012 10:45:33 +0500 (from left- Roya Hakakian, Anne Barnard, Chris Devito of Iran180, Arash Abadpour, Solmaz Sharif) On Thursday, March 8, 2012, CyberDissidents.org?s Iranian Programs Coordinator, Solmaz Sharif, spoke at Iran180?s event marking International Women?s Day. Mediated by New York Times contributor Anne Barnard, Sharif was joined by prominent Iranian blogger, Arash Abadpour, as well as poet and founding member of Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, Roya Hakakian. The discussion focused on the...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1051&q=3&s=26 Wed, 21 Mar 2012 08:02:12 +0500 The Following article first appeared on The Wall Street Journal. To access, click HERE   Last November, three months into my 130-day hunger strike in Egyptian prison, I was called into the office of a senior general in the military court. I was led there in handcuffs and my coarse blue prison uniform. As I sat, the general leaned back in his big chair, stared directly into my eyes and smiled. "Last week, I met with some American generals in the Pentagon," he said. His message was...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1047&q=3&s=26 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:27:36 +0500 Advancing Human Rights executive director and CyberDissidents.org co-founder, David Keyes, talks about human rights in Syria and what the West can do to help.   <br />]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1044&q=3&s=26 Wed, 07 Mar 2012 09:32:58 +0500 There is growing concern over the fate of jailed blogger Mehdi Khazali, who has reportedly been on hunger strike over his detention for some 60 days. His defiance has turned him into a hero of Iran's opposition movement, and Khazali vowed to continue his strike until he is released. The opposition "Kalame" website reports that Khazali has now escalated his protest by going on a "dry hunger strike," meaning that he is also refusing to drink liquids, on which he had been...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1043&q=3&s=26 Wed, 07 Mar 2012 09:15:03 +0500 The following appeared on Women'sEnews. To view the original, click HERE. Turkish journalist Rabia Kazan's life and perspective of Islam changed profoundly after an eye-opening trip to Iran in 2007. Kazan, born in 1976, began her career at Flash TV, the first Turkish private TV Channel, when she was 20. She was considered to be a radical Muslim woman in 2007 when she traveled to Iran, hoping to find a haven for Muslim women. Iran had been an Islamic Republic since 1978. But the things that she...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1038&q=3&s=26 Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:55:21 +0500 On March 1, 2012, CNN.com's In America Blog asked CyberDissident.org's Ahed Al Hendi how he defines America and how he defines himself as an American. To access the original, please click here. (CNN) - I am a 27-year-old Syrian-American Christian who came to the United States as a refugee. In January 2009, I stood at the John F. Kennedy international airport in New York staring at a giant American flag. As I examined each stripe, I thought of the long path I had traveled over the past two years...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1039&q=3&s=26 Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:36:12 +0500 This article originally appeared in The Daily Beast. To access the original, please click here. Israeli authorities? announcement that they would grant an early release to Khader Adnan, widely believed to have been a spokesman for the Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad, sparked international attention, particularly in light of Adnan?s 66-day hunger strike. The mechanism used to arrest Adnan, administrative detention, is the holding of a person by the state without a trial and is...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1036&q=3&s=26 Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:30:23 +0500 The following article first appeared in The Huffington Post. To access the original, please click here. Twenty year-old Syrian activist, Hadeel Kouki, was beaten at her apartment yesterday by three men shortly after she received a piece of paper signed by Bashad Assad's thugs in Cairo. According to the medical report, signed by the doctor who examined her, she had bruises and wounds on her legs, arms, back, and face. The police did not manage to find the aggressors yet, but according to Hadeel,...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1031&q=3&s=26 Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:09:17 +0500   CyberDissidents.org's Ahed Al Hendi attended an event by CNN Dialogues called "The Arab 'Spring': A Path to Democracy?" The following article was published by Emory University, who hosted the event. For the entire article click here. To view CNN Dialogue's Facbook page, click here.   CNN Dialogues, a colloquium devoted to addressing major domestic and international issues, held its fourth event at Glenn Memorial Auditorium on Feb. 9 titled "The 'Arab Spring': A Path to...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1030&q=3&s=26 Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:42:30 +0500 This letter was first published in the TC Palm. To access the original, please click here.   Letter: D.C. elites sadly ignore religious intolerance of Saudi masters I recently read of our $30 billion sale of advanced fighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia on most favorable terms. I also read in The Wall Street Journal about David Keyes, director of Advancing Human Rights, challenging the Saudi ambassador's U.S. public relations Christmas card invoking the names of Mary and Jesus. This being the same...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1028&q=3&s=26 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:49:58 +0500 In this interview with German Newspaper Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich, Kacem discusses his recent move to Switzerland as a political exile seeking a world free of religious-based law. Kacem is a member of CyberDissidents.org's Blogger Board. To read the article, please click here. Click to visit Kacem's blogs in Arabic or English.]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1027&q=3&s=26 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:49:21 +0500 This article first appeared in The South Yorkshire Times. To access the original, please click here.   FORMER FCO Minister, Denis MacShane MP, is pleading for intervention over the planned execution of a Saudi tweeter. The Rotherham MP has asked the Foreign and Home Secretaries, and the Commonwealth Secretary General to appeal to the Saudi authorities not to chop off the head of tweeter Hamza Kashgari. In February 2011, Kashgari, a blogger and provincial journalist, tweeted that he was not sure...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1029&q=3&s=26 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:11:14 +0500 This article, called "Crippling US Sanctions on Iran Bring Year of Economic Jihad", originally appeared in Policymic. To access the original, please click here.   ?This is the Year of Economic Jihad? declared Iran?s Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei last spring at the beginning of the Persian year. The New Year?s announcement was meant to encourage the Iranian people to increase their efforts and jumpstart an economic boom, but with the year not yet over, Iran?s economy is ?booming?...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1022&q=3&s=26 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:39:10 +0500 The following article appeared in the Washington Post on February 9th.  To view the original click here.   Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari was detained in Malaysia on Wednesday night and is likely to be extradited soon to Saudi Arabia, where he will be tried for blaspheming religion. Kashgari, 23, had fled the kingdom Monday after he received thousands of death threats. He? He posted on Twitter a series of mock conversations between himself and the Islamic prophet Muhammad. ?On your...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1021&q=3&s=26 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:38:01 +0500 On November 22, 2011, authorities from the Hamas-run Internal Security Apparatus in Gaza arrested Ziad Awad, a journalist from independent Palestinian news agency, Aswar Press Agency - allegedly for reporting on Palestinian factions who oppose Hamas. Despite repeated appeals for Ziad?s release, the Ismail Haniyeh government showed no sign of releasing him from jail as of January 2012. Ziad is well known for his work as an independent journalist in Gaza. In addition to Ziad?s contributions to...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1024&q=3&s=26 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:11:16 +0500 CyberDissidnents.org's Ahed Al Hendi speaks out against Syria's current regime and calls for an international response on CNN on February 9, 2012. To see the video, click here.]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1023&q=3&s=26 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:38:24 +0500 David speaks with Ahed Al-Hendi, a Syrian activist and blogger. In 2006, as a student of Damascus University, Al-Hendi started a student group aimed at promoting peace and change in the country. Al-Hendi was jailed and spent over a month in solitary confinement without access to any legal representation. After his release, Al-Hendi fled Syria eventually landing in the United States with refugee status. To hear the conversation, click here.]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1025&q=3&s=26 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:21:35 +0500 CyberDissidnents.org's Ahed Al Hendi discusses his past imprisonment by the Syrian regime and the current situation in Syria, calling for an international response on CNN Newsroom - February 8, 2012. To watch the video, click here.  ]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=1026&q=3&s=26 Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:12:58 +0500 This article was originally posted in The New Republic. To access the original, please click here. On December 29, the White House announced that it was sending nearly $30 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, part of a $60 billion package - the largest arms deal in history. President Obama has come a long way since his 2008 declaration that ?nothing is more important than us no longer borrowing $700 billion or more from China and sending it to Saudi Arabia.? Apparently it was the...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=985&q=3&s=26 Fri, 06 Jan 2012 08:38:51 +0500 To view the original article, click here.   Irwin Cotler and Maikel Nabil Sanad have never met. They are two very different men in two very different situations. Cotler is an international legal scholar, distinguished member of Canada's parliament, and once served as Minister of Justice. Sanad is a young Egyptian blogger who at this very moment is waging a four-month-long hunger strike in the depths of the Elmarg prison in Cairo....]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=982&q=3&s=26 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:51:43 +0500 The following article first appeared in The Investigative Fund. To access it, please click HERE. In its December 8 report, the Committee to Protect Journalists announced that Iran was the worst place in the world for journalists in 2011. According to this report, 179 writers, editors, and photojournalists have been imprisoned around the world this year, an increase of 34 from 2010. Iran is at the top of the list with 42 journalists behind bars; last year it shared the worst offender status with...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=981&q=3&s=26 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:58:02 +0500 The following appeared on Al Jazeera, to view the original, click here.   Is the Arab League Mission Doomed to Fail?     Almost a week has passed since the Arab League observers arrived in Syria. But despite their presence on the ground the bloodshed continues. While opposition activists have been deeply skeptical of the observer mission, the outpouring of demonstrators across Syria on Friday underscored their wish to make their case to the foreign monitors and to take advantage of the...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=978&q=3&s=26 Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:28:33 +0500 The following article first appeared in The Wall Street Journal. To access it, please click HERE. If you want a good laugh, read the holiday card sent out by Saudi Ambassador to the United States and public relations genius Adel al-Jubeir. Citing a Quranic verse, he writes "Behold, the angels said: 'O Mary, God giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honour in this world and hereafter and of (the company of) those nearest to...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=973&q=3&s=26 Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:49:03 +0500 To view the original, click here. This week I engaged in a public dialogue with former celebrated Soviet dissident and human rights advocate Natan Sharansky, whom I had the privilege of representing during his nine-year imprisonment in the Soviet Union on trumped-up charges of sedition and "anti-Soviet slander and agitation." Sharansky had just come from New York where he received the distinguished Scholar-Statesman Award -- together with former Egyptian political prisoner Saad Eddin...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=970&q=3&s=26 Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:42:34 +0500 The following first appeared in Bikyamasr. To access the original, click HERE. The small group of supporters waited impatiently in front of the military court in Cairo, hoping for good news for jailed Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad. They were disappointed, however, as a military court only reduced his three-year sentence from earlier this year, to two-years. After weeks of postponements and jockeying by the court, Nabil?s hunger strike and refusal to be tried in a military court were to no...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=966&q=3&s=26 Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:11:31 +0500 The following was taken from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe?s website, to view the original, click here. CyberDissidents.org submits human rights recommendations at OSCE conference Civil Society Recommends OSCE?s Greater Engagement with Mediterranean Partner                Sherif Abdel Azim from the Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement presents the final recommendations of the OSCE-Mediterranean Partner Countries? Conference for...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=961&q=3&s=26 Mon, 12 Dec 2011 09:03:10 +0500 To view the original, click here. Today is International Human Rights Day. You probably didn't know that. Don't worry; you're in good company. For better or worse the contemporary calendar is littered with an untold number of days of celebration, commemoration and recognition ranging from National Beer Day to National Hugging Day. But while the vast majority of Americans might not have marked their calendars for International Human Rights Day, I've staked my professional credibility on the...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=941&q=3&s=26 Sat, 19 Nov 2011 10:57:50 +0500 To view The Daily Beast, please click here. In the latest affront to women's rights, the U.S. ally has announced that it has the right to cover women's eyes "especially the tempting ones." David Keyes on how they're defending the outrage. ?I love the looks of you, the lure of you The sweet of you, and the pure of you The eyes, the arms, and the mouth of you The east, west, north, and the south of you? - Cole Porter   It?s a safe bet that Sheikh Motlab al Nabet, spokesman of Saudi...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=900&q=3&s=26 Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:21:27 +0500 It did not take much courage in recent months to speak out against Moammar Gadhafi. The madman slaughtered tens of thousands and was making good on his threat to hunt down Libyan opposition ?alley by alley.? Much more important is to look back and ask why it took nearly 42 years for NATO, the U.S. and the Libyan people to unseat the tyrant. Think of all the time and energy wasted on rehabilitating Gadhafi into the international community. Imagine the tens of...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=889&q=3&s=26 Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:17:53 +0500 The following appeared in the New Republic on October 13, 2011. To read the original article, click here. The king of Saudi Arabia is once again making headlines for overturning a court ruling that sentenced a woman to ten lashes for driving a car. For many, this is further proof that King Abdullah is a force for moderation and reform. Fareed Zakaria, for example, has called the Saudi dictator a ?man of wisdom and moderation.? Then again, the king could also have considered stopping the recent...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=887&q=3&s=26 Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:07:51 +0500 The following article appeared in the Daily Beast on October 10, 2011.  Click here view the original. Egypt's Arab Spring has led not to democracy "but to another cruel dictatorship, says Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer. The military is killing minorities and imprisoning dissidents. Egyptians must take to the streets once again. The scene in Egypt looks grim. More than eight months have passed since Jan. 25, when the sparks of revolution finally brought Hosni Mubarak?s 30-year rule to an...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=861&q=3&s=26 Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:37:19 +0500 The following article appeared in The Daily Beast on September 27, 2011:   Tuesday's announcement by Saudi authorities that a woman will be whipped for driving reminds us that the desert kingdom remains a draconian, theocratic, gender-apartheid dictatorship, writes David Keyes.   Only Saudi Arabia could be praised globally for improvements in human rights the same week that it beheads a man for sorcery, announces the whipping of a woman for driving, and detains two other female drivers. That?s...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=860&q=3&s=26 Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:30:27 +0500 On Sunday, September 25th, the Right2Dignity sent the following press release.   Yesterday, on the 24th of September 2011, The Initiative has received unfortunate news about Mrs. Najlaa Al Hariri, who was called upon by the Authority of Prosecutors Committee. Mrs. Al Hariri has recently appeared on MBC TV channel where she was interviewed about the women driving issue in Saudi Arabia, the programme has shown video clips of her driving her car in the streets of Jeddah. We believe this is...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=853&q=3&s=26 Fri, 16 Sep 2011 08:02:45 +0500 The following first appeared in The Daily Beast . To access the original, click HERE. The Saudi Kingdom is openly threatening America and its allies, yet Washington seems to be taking this all lying down. On the morning of Sept. 11, 2011, Americans awoke to an article in The New York Times penned by the one-time head of the Saudi intelligence agency and a former ambassador to the United States, Turki al Faisal. In the run-up to the Palestinian bid for statehood at the U.N., he said, if the U.S....]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=848&q=3&s=26 Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:37:43 +0500 The following first appeared in The Ticker. To access the original, click HERE   The recent waves of protests, riots, and wars that happened around the world have shown us that social media, if used accordingly, possess the power to topple dictators or incite fears and violence, even within a benign society such as England. Operating under the former's auspice, dissidents have long used social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, to rally like-minded people or as a critical source for censored...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=838&q=3&s=26 Fri, 02 Sep 2011 08:39:34 +0500 The following first appeared in the Anatolia Daily. To access the original, please click here. Following a week of riots across England, the Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a warning to its citizens not to visit the UK. The Foreign Ministry advised Iranians to avoid troubled areas andlSardar Naghdi, the head of Basiji units, even offered to send Basiji Brigades to England to help restore order. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who initiated a number of media interviews on the subject, demanded UN...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=827&q=3&s=26 Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:49:49 +0500 The following first appeared in The Daily Beast. To access the original, please click here. Why has it taken the massacre of thousands of Syrians for the world to realize - and admit - the true nature of Bashar al-Assad?s regime? Syrian dissidents, as usual, knew it all along, but their advice was unwelcome. They harbored few illusions about a regime that imprisoned, tortured, and killed bloggers and activists for unsanctioned thoughts. Syrian dissidents...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=786&q=3&s=26 Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:33:35 +0500 The following is a story featuring CyberDissidents.org Blogger Board member Rami Nakhle, which appeared in the Boston Review. To access the original, click here.  One night last January, Rami Nakhle bounced toward the Lebanese border on the back of a motorcycle. A gang of smugglers - the kind who usually transport guns, drugs, fuel, and more mundane commodities - had agreed to take him from Homs, Syria, to Beirut, less than one hundred miles away. To get out of Syria, Rami had promised to...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=965&q=3&s=26 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:01:00 +0500 To view The Daily Beast, please click here. Aug 2, 2010 6:40 PM EDT   Far from calling the Saudi king on his awful record on human rights and women?s issues, the president is pushing a huge arms deal and heaping praise on the monarch. He?s not only continuing Bush?s soft Saudi policy, he?s surpassing it. In the next two months, Congress will be asked to give formal approval to a staggering new arms deal with Saudi Arabia. Valued at $30 billion, the deal includes selling the Saudis...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=779&q=3&s=26 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 08:24:47 +0500 CyberDissidents.org blogger board member Rami Nakhle (better known by his pseudonym Malath Aumran) recently appeared on Al Arabiya TV to discuss Bashar Assad regime's brutal crackdown and the effect it has had on the Syrian people.  "Perhaps only 1% of these images have been uploaded to the Internet, but these things will emerge for the whole world to see," said Nakhle about the gruesome YouTube videos that have emerged. "More importantly, it should be seen within...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=760&q=3&s=26 Thu, 21 Jul 2011 09:41:48 +0500 CyberDissidents.org board member Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim recently appeared on Egyptian TV to warn of a military takeover of the Egyptian uprising.  "If there is a state of chaos, and the various parties are incapable of reaching an agreement, they will tell you that for the sake of the country's security and stability, and in order to defend the national soil and protect the country from danger, the [military] council has resolved to remain in power until the matter is...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=746&q=3&s=26 Wed, 13 Jul 2011 07:46:10 +0500 The following was first reported by AFP. To access the original, click here. Syrian security forces use tanks, bullets and tear gas against anti-regime protesters by day, but by night they are more stealthy, targeting dissent using the opposition's own weapon, the Internet. Demonstrators use social networking sites, notably Facebook and YouTube, to whip up support for protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule, and also to broadcast footage they say is of the authorities' ensuing...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=741&q=3&s=26 Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:55:28 +0500 Between May 31st and June 2nd, more than 68 Syrian opposition groups, including exiled groups and in-country activists, gathered in Antalya, Turkey. These groups held a conference, during which they released a final declaration that called on Assad to resign and argued for a democratic state in Syria. The declaration asserted that the opposition must work for a ?democratic future ... which respects human rights and protects freedom for all Syrians, including the freedom of belief, expression...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=739&q=3&s=26 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:20:46 +0500 Over the past few weeks, Ahed Al Hendi, the Arabic program coordinator for Cyberdissidents.org, appeared on the Russian television program Russia Today twice and spoke with Al Hurra TV three times.   In his first interview with Russia Today, Al Hendi spoke about the situation in Syria and discussed the current state and future of Syrian-Turkish relations. Al Hendi also criticized the Russian government?s support of Assad's regime in Syria. He insisted that because of the uncertainty of the...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=713&q=3&s=26 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 07:30:09 +0500 The following first appeared in The Daily Beast. To access the original, click here. When almost no one showed up to the ?day of rage? in Saudi Arabia three months ago, many in the West assumed that Saudis had little to protest. It turns out that at least half of them just couldn?t get there. Inspired by the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, a growing number of Saudi women are fed up with draconian restrictions that prohibit them from voting, leaving the country without a man?s permission - and...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=711&q=3&s=26 Thu, 16 Jun 2011 08:16:34 +0500 The following first appeared on Reuters. To access the original, please click here.  Twenty years ago, I was a school kid chanting with my peers, ?Our leader forever, the father, Hafez Assad!? Back then, I could not have imagined that one day I would see his statues destroyed all over Syria by the people - a sight now common within the country. Most of those demonstrating in Syria are young people who were taught to love and adore our only president, and later his son, Bashar. As young...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=710&q=3&s=26 Wed, 15 Jun 2011 09:50:09 +0500 The following first appeared in the Wall Street Journal. To access the original, click here.  At last month's Group of Eight meeting in France, world leaders observed that the "Arab Spring" actually began in Iran. They were right: Today's Middle Eastern uprisings began when Neda Agha Soltan was shot to death in the streets of Tehran in the summer of 2009. She died with her eyes open as millions of people poured into the streets demanding change after rigged presidential elections...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=709&q=3&s=26 Wed, 15 Jun 2011 09:49:01 +0500 CyberDissidents.org director David Keyes recently appeared on Russia Today to discuss the political situation in Egypt. Below is the video of his interview.   ]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=699&q=3&s=26 Thu, 09 Jun 2011 12:10:02 +0500 The following first appeared in The Daily Beast. To access the original, click here.  ...A rash of media attention followed recent reports of the arrest of Amina Abdallah Arraf, a Syrian-American blogger in Damascus who?d become popular in the West. It has since become unclear whether Arraf is a real person or a hoax. But in addition to the 1,300 civilians who have been killed since the protests began, rights groups have counted more than 10,000 very real arrests. Some of those...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=693&q=3&s=26 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 11:10:57 +0500 The following first appeared on WAMU 88.5, to access the original, click here. On a screen in a downtown Washington, D.C., hotel ballroom, a man is cradling his dead son. A voiceover explains: ?This guy who wasn't carrying anything harmful in his hands, but he was hit by two shots. I went to help him. I went to help him and they came and attacked me with sticks." He is anonymous, somewhere in Syria, and his message is being heard by a room full of Syrian human rights activists. Individuals...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=685&q=3&s=26 Thu, 02 Jun 2011 11:57:19 +0500 To watch the video, click on the image below.  Alhendi also spoke to Canada's CBC - to listen to the interview (which starts at 12:26), click here. ]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=995&q=3&s=26 Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:13:34 +0500 The following article first appeared in the Los Angeles Times. To access the original, click here. The Syrian government freed 500 detainees Wednesday in an attempt to appease protesters who have shaken the regime with weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations. The releases followed promises made Tuesday by President Bashar Assad to pardon people detained in the waves of arrest since the protests began in March. "The amnesty includes all members of Muslim Brotherhood and other detainees...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=680&q=3&s=26 Wed, 01 Jun 2011 08:20:02 +0500 The following appeared in Now! Lebanon. To access the original, click here. But should Syria?s Christian community, which is around 10 percent of the population, actually be afraid? A number of upper-middle-class Christians are still undecided, Ahed Al Hendi, a Syrian political refugee currently working for CyberDissidents.org in Washington, DC, told NOW Lebanon. Many who have their own businesses fear the instability, said Al Hendi, who describes himself as a non-practicing...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=676&q=3&s=26 Wed, 25 May 2011 12:07:26 +0500 The following article first appeared on Lebanon's The Daily Star. To read the original, click here.  BEIRUT: When he fled his native Syria, where for years he had been an underground activist against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, Shaheen dreamed he would finally fight his cause out in the open. But in neighboring Lebanon, the journalist today finds himself hiding yet again. ?We thought that moving to Lebanon would provide us with more freedom of movement and expression,? said Shaheen, 30,...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=673&q=3&s=26 Mon, 23 May 2011 09:30:38 +0500 Executive Director David Keyes addresses President Barack Obama's Middle East speech and democratic reform in the region.]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org) http://www.cyberdissidents.org/bin/content.cgi?ID=667&q=3&s=26 Tue, 17 May 2011 12:56:20 +0500 The following article first appeared in The Daily Beast. To access the original, please click here. On April 29, as Arabs throughout the Middle East were dying for greater freedom, the Saudi government passed new amendments to a media law banning all criticism of the country?s religious and political leaders.  The amendments to Royal Decree No. 32, originally published in 2000, are ?binding on all responsible persons in publishing? and demand ?objective and constructive...]]> info@cyberdissidents.org (CyberDissidents.org)