“PEN America learned today that a planned event on the rule of law in Turkey in which one of our staff members was scheduled to participate has been cancelled by Columbia University.

We understand that in recent weeks event participants and organizers began to have serious reservations about the composition of the panel for the event, believing that it reflected an insufficient breadth of Turkish voices. Efforts to add an adequately diverse set of Turkish perspectives to the line-up were apparently not fully successful, and we understand that there were intensifying concerns that important viewpoints would not be represented. We also understand that late last week Columbia was approached by a representative of the Turkish government who expressed objections to the planned event and the views that would be reflected in the discussion. We received word of the cancellation today.

we are concerned that the outreach from the Turkish government may have played any role at all in Columbia’s decision to cancel the panel. While there may have been valid grounds to reconsider the make-up of the event and even to postpone it in order to ensure a more representative group of speakers, the direct intervention of the Turkish government in an effort to influence the event creates at the very least a perception that Columbia may have been influenced by Turkey in its decision to call off the event. The government of Turkey is notorious for its relentless crackdown on dissidents, writers, journalists, and scholars, including many who are university-affiliated. Government intrusions in university decision-making of this nature violate academic freedom and freedom of speech. Universities, scholars, and free speech defenders must be vigilant in resisting such interference and avoiding even the perception that decisions may be shaped by government pressure.”

Turkey's media appears to be as divided as the wider country by the outcome of Sunday's local elections, with pro-government newspapers claiming victory for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan even as opposition commentators said that the electorate had handed him a "yellow card".

the opposition’s “Nation Alliance”, made up of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the nationalist IYI party, proved resilient against the government's candidates and reclaimed key territories that have been under the control of Erdogan-affiliated parties for more than two decades

Sabah, which is owned by an Erdogan supporter and considered to be close to the government, described the election results as “Erdogan’s 15th victory,” referring to the president's string of election victories over the course of three decades in which the AKP has established itself as the dominant force in Turkish politics.

Playing on the NRA's open contempt of Australia's strict firearms laws, he created a group called Gun Rights Australia which claimed it was pushing for a repeal of the legislation. My job was to use this as a front to endear myself to NRA officials and climb as high as I could within the organisation, recording conversations with them on subjects such as how they respond to a massacre, how they pressure members of the US Congress, and how they manipulate the media.

Over three years, I travelled from Australia to the US numerous times to build connections with the pro-gun community. Some encounters were amusing, others utterly bizarre.

Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) has called on Egyptian academics and intellectuals to boycott the BBC until the global broadcaster apologises for “biased coverage” against President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. “The BBC promotes the lies of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group,” claimed the SIS

Officials at the SIS also claimed that the article was biased against the President of the Republic, citing the fact that details of the protests against him took up 16 lines of the article, while statements by his supporters were covered in only six lines.

In March 2018, the Egyptian authorities slammed the BBC for another damning report entitled “The Shadow Over Egypt” which included interviews with families of alleged victims of torture and enforced disappearances. The report highlighted the case of a young woman, Zubeida, whose mother told of her repeated abduction and rape by security forces.

In 2013 Sana Yazigi, a Syrian graphic designer from Damascus, launched the online archive The Creative Memory of the Syrian Revolution, consisting of works created by Syrian artists during the uprising

"From the early days of the revolution," Yazigi says, "I was amazed to witness an incredible outpouring of artworks. I didn’t want them all to disappear, to be forgotten. I wanted to keep a record. There was a sense of urgency, a need to document what was going on."

The website documents paintings, music, graffiti, videos and cartoons among others, constituting an exceptional wartime archive. 

New Media Regulations Enforced Within Days: On March 21, the Supreme Media Regulatory Council issued its first penalty for violating the new bylaws regulating the media that were introduced last week against Al-Mashhad newspaper. According to Al-Mashhad’s Editor in Chief Magdy Shendy, the newspaper was fined 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($2,890) and will be blocked by Egyptian internet providers for six months for “violations of ‘public morals,’ ‘ethics,’ and ‘written traditions’” for a “pornographic picture” and “offensive comments” related to coverage of a female TV presenter. Shendy argues, however, that “the only reason for the decision is our [Al-Mashhad’s] stance on the constitutional amendments,” which would allow President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to stay in power until at least 2034. According to Mada Masr, Al-Mashhad published [Ar] a report documenting police officers bribing Egyptians with Ramadan meals in exchange for votes in the expected referendum on the amendments. The new media regulations enable the Supreme Media Regulatory Council to block and fine websites and social media accounts it believes has published “offending material” including “anything inciting violating the law, public morals, racism, intolerance, violence, discrimination between citizens or hatred.”

The BDDK watchdog was quoted as saying that it had received complaints that the report hurt the reputation of Turkish banks and caused volatility in financial markets. A judicial process will be carried out regarding JP Morgan, Anadolu said.

Egypt’s top media regulator on Tuesday put into effect tighter restrictions that allow the state to block websites and even social media accounts with over 5,000 followers if they are deemed a threat to national security.The move is the latest step by the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to suppress dissent. In recent years, Egypt has launched an unprecedented crackdown on reporters and the media, imprisoning dozens and occasionally expelling some foreign journalists.The new regulations, published in the official gazette late Monday, allow the Supreme Media Regulatory Council to block websites and accounts for “fake news,” and impose stiff penalties of up to 250,000 Egyptian pounds ($14,400), all without having to obtain a court order.

Mohamed Abdel-Hafiz, a board member of the journalists’ union, said the government is threatening journalists with “vaguely defined national security violations, as well as vaguely defined political, social or religious norms.”

a broad list of prohibited topics, including “anything inciting violating the law, public morals, racism, intolerance, violence, discrimination between citizens or hatred.”

cross-regional protests are again breaking out in 2019 in Algeria, Sudan, Syria, Jordan and Palestine among other, which has prompted many commentators to herald these movements to be yet another Arab Spring.As this label is used each time, and will likely be used ad nauseum to describe popular movements in the Middle East, it’s worth pausing and questioning its utility.

The grievances around which these protests are organized—austerity, corruption, rising cost of basic food and utilities, have been served as a rally cry for movements in the region for the past half-century. Calling each an “Arab Spring” belies the cyclical, repetitive nature of these problems and simplifies the demands of the protesters.

Smaller protests have broken out as well. In March 2019, hundreds marched through Deraa, Syria, the first city that protested against the Syrian regime in 2011, to protest the re-erection of a statue memorializing Hafez al-Assad, the former ruler of the country.A subtler protest too has caused controversy in Egypt: Moataz Matar a popular TV host, accused the state of kidnapping two of his brothers and their families. Dissidents then wrote, “You are not alone Moataz, I swear to god. More than 50 million Egyptians are with you. Don’t be scared,” on Egyptian banknotes.

the people originally prosecuted over the 2013 protests - which began against the redevelopment of central Istanbul’s Gezi Park and grew into nationwide anti-government unrest - were acquitted.

But in November, Yigit Aksakoglu was detained and is now facing trial with 15 other civil society figures, writers and actors. For a while Aksakoglu’s family hoped he would soon be released, but then on March 4, a 657-page indictment was released saying they had masterminded an attempt to overthrow Erdogan’s government.

Supporters of the detainees say the indictment contains no evidence and many bizarre accusations, and marks a new low for a country where 77,000 people already been jailed in a crackdown following a failed military coup in 2016.

On Friday night, American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers performed a concert for more than 10,000 people with the Pyramids of Giza in the background. Some concertgoers have posted on social media their bewilderment after being asked by policemen upon entry whether they have any “flag of gays”. On Twitter, Samer Al-Atrush wrote that the concert had high security. Among the items banned, Al-Atrush tweeted, were rainbow flags often used in support of the LGBTIQ+ community.

Another user, Ahmed Mohieldin, responded that policemen confiscated his friends’ daughter’s crayons in case they were thinking of drawing a rainbow flag.

less than two years after seven people were arrested for raising a rainbow flag during a concert by Mashrou’ Leila in Cairo.

The number of Germans buying holiday packages in Turkey dropped significantly after Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu vowed to detain and deport tourists at airports if they are suspected of links to terrorism

in Berlin, the daily number of holiday purchases has fallen from around 1,000 to between 300 and 500.

Germany on Saturday changed its travel advice for visitors to Turkey, warning its citizens that they risked arrest for expressing opinions that would be tolerated at home but may not be by Turkish authorities.

it’s not much of a secret that the Murdoch press constantly attacks Islam and Muslims

almost 3,000 negative stories relating to Islam in one year

almost eight stories a day, every day, for the whole year, somehow relating Muslims to terrorism or violence or whatever.

not necessary for a newspaper to run images of the dead and injured in a manner that seemed blatantly disrespectful and dehumanising

Part of the issue people had with the editorial response was that it seemed to imply that the images were published because the attack in Nairobi was a "special" isolated incident, one that required especially gruesome images to depict "the truth" of what happened. 

Kenyans were neither fooled nor placated. Many others in the Global South agreed, as they, too, had experienced - many times over - how powerful news organisations from the geopolitical West present what happens in their communities and countries in two-dimensional ways, often with little regard for how their words and images would affect those who were depicted

a list of admonitions to females disguised as tips to achieve domestic bliss: “When the man speaks, the women shouldn’t argue back/ She shouldn’t say ‘yes sir’ and forget the next day/ She should understand and appreciate his value if she wants to continue the relationship with him.” And this is only the first verse. Sabry continues his diatribe with suggestions regarding a women’s modesty, private and public behaviour. Perhaps sensing such instructions are abusive, he ends the track by basically telling his prospective lover to keep his indiscretions private. “The woman who keeps her house, and its secrets, she’s perfection/ And the woman who accepts her lot will see a quick correction/ But the woman who causes problems will find nothing but rejection.”

Ever since its release in July, the title track of his album has amassed more than three million views on YouTube. in addition to being a mainstay of Arabic pop stations regionwide.

“Al Ragel provoked some females because of its lyrics,” he said. “But I ask, why don’t they take this song as form of advice for them?”

's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has said he will not seek a fifth term and announced the delay of the country's presidential polls amid mass protests against his reelection bid.

elections would follow a national conference on political and constitutional reform to be carried out by the end of 2019

government reshuffle would also take place soon. According to APS, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia had already resigned

Fifa is facing calls to launch an urgent investigation into a secret $100m TV deal offered by Qatar’s state-run broadcaster al-Jazeera three weeks before it awarded the 2022 World Cup to the country.

documents showing executives from al-Jazeera had signed a TV contract that included an unprecedented success fee of $100m – which would be paid to Fifa only if Qatar won the World Cup ballot in 2010

The allegations are likely to lead to further suspicion as to whether Qatar played fair when it bid to host the World Cup.

Fears are growing for the safety and wellbeing of Malak al-Kashef, a transgender woman seized during a police raid from her home in Giza in the early hours of 6 March and who has not been heard from since, Amnesty International said. Malak al-Kashef was taken by police to an undisclosed location. Her lawyers have not been able to locate her and police stations have denied she is in their custody.

Egyptian authorities have a horrific track record of persecuting people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity

Amnesty International believes that Malak’s arrest relates to her calls for peaceful protests following a major train crash in Cairo’s central train station on 27 February that killed at least 25 people. “Malak al-Kashef appears to have been detained solely for peacefully exercising her rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly

A reporting team who shed light on the civil war in Yemen will receive the 2019 McGill Medal for Journalistic Courage. Associated Press investigative reporter Maggie Michael, along with visual journalists Maad al-Zikry and Nariman el-Mofty, traveled across Yemen to cover the war, resulting in a series of stories that have shaped the world’s image of the war and the role of America’s allies in it. Many of the stories broke new revelations, such as torture in prisons run by U.S.-ally United Arab Emirates and the secret deals struck between the Saudi-led coalition and al-Qaida. Many of these deals have led to hundreds of militants incorporating into coalition forces to fight the rebels. Other stories brought home the personal struggles of Yemenis to survive.

“Journalism’s first loyalty is to citizens. In the face of militias and international powerhouses, these brave journalists were committed to citizens the rest of the world turned a blind eye to”