The New Arab Voice

We've been off for a few week, but now we're back!

While we were on holiday, Jordan took the opportunity to implement a new cybercrime law that has set alarm bells ringing among human rights defenders. 

The cybercrime law contains some incredibly vague language, which critics say will allow the government to target free speech, and effect the basic rights of Jordanians. 

It will also limit the ability of Jordanians to call o...

Iraq is known for its high temperatures. 

But with the impacts of climate change becoming ever more pronounced, the summer heat in Iraq has become unbearable for many, and also threatens to make large areas of the country uninhabitable. 

As Iraq inches towards this unbearably hot future, its ability to adapt is decreasing year after year. The Iraqi population has been growing while the water supply is dwindling and in most ...

Riad Salameh spent 30 years at the top of Lebanon’s Central Bank. 

Some called him a magician. But in recent years, his tricks have been revealed to devastating effects.

In 2019 the Lebanese economy dramatically collapsed and many inside and outside the country pointed the finger of blame at Riad Salameh. 

Despite the economic problems, he stayed on. 

But on the last day of July, Riad Salameh walked out of Lebanon’s Cent...

The release of Patrick Zaki was some rare good human rights news from Egypt. 

After being sentenced to three years in jail, he was then pardoned the next day by President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi, and was able to return to Italy. 

Patrick had been hanging in legal limbo since 2020, when he was first arrested, and subsequently charged with “disseminating false news” and “inciting to protest”.

His release was warmly welco...

The people of northern Syria were recently dealt a terrible blow. 

At the UN Security Council, on 11 July, permanent member Russia vetoed the extension of UN deliveries through the Bab al-Hawa crossing. 

It had served as a vital lifeline for the over 4 million people who live in the north west, and are in desperate need of help. 

Following the Russian veto, the Assad regime stepped in and said that they would grant perm...

The recent violence in the Jenin refugee camp was a shocking and violent development. 

The incursion left 12 dead, over a hundred wounded, and a trail of destruction to infrastructure that will make life in the camp even more difficult. 

As Israeli soldiers made their way through the camp, Palestine activists in London took to the streets to express their anger and opposition to the events in the West Bank, and to the Briti...

When the prison at Guantanamo Bay was opened, it was announced that it would hold terror suspects, picked up by the US in their War on Terror. 

It quickly became a dungeon that tortured its inmates and violated some of the most basic principles of humanity. 

Subsequent presidents, although not all, have said that they will close down the site and release the prisoners. However this task has been fraught with difficulties.&n...

The golfing world was upturned at the start of June, with the news that a deal had been struck between the PGA and the Saudi-funded LIV Golf. 

After months of warring words and a flurry of lawsuits the two sides agreed to come together and put hostiles aside. 

The deal will see a return of some of the biggest names in golf and also see a huge investment into the game by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Like the initial...

In a report by Amnesty International, titled Apartheid Automated, the human rights group laid out how the Israeli government is using technology as a tool of oppression. 

This technological tyranny is perhaps best seen at the many checkpoints that Palestinians are forced to traverse as part of their daily lives. Cameras and algorithms are permanently watching every Palestinian who passes through; monitoring their movements and ...

After two rounds of voting in Turkey, President Erdogan is back as the president. 

Going into the first round of voting there were high hopes that the opposition had a real chance of dislodging the Turkish strongman; however these hopes failed to materialise at the ballot boxes. 

Back in office, Erdogan will have a long list of urgent matters that will need his attention, including a failing economy, foreign policy, growing...

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was returned to the Arab League this month. 

Twelve years after Syria was suspended, in response to their brutal crackdown against civilians protesters, the group of nations, led by Saudi Arabia welcomed back the Assad regime. 

The move signalled a major shift in diplomacy in the region, and simultaneously a continuation of other diplomatic moves in the region, and in particular by Saud...

A year and a day have passed since the killing of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the occupied West Bank. 

Forensic Investigations, as well as investigations from multiple media organisations and the Palestinian Authority, have concluded that the Palestinian-American was shot by an Israeli sniper while covering a raid in Jenin. 

Video evidence, eyewitness testimony, spatial analysis, autopsy reports and o...

Turkish citizen will be voting in a highly anticipated and consequential election on 14 May. 

The two frontrunners for the office of president, are incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the main opposition candidate Kemel Kilicdaroglu.

They have both been holding rallies, attempting to reach as many voters as possible. 

Opposition candidate Kemel Kilicdaroglu did cause a stir at a campaign event, when he questioned th...

The past few weeks in Sudan have been exceptionally violent.

Two feuding generals, in charge of the biggest armed groups in the country, have launched their own personal war in Sudan. Nearly 500 people have died, and thousands have been forced to flee.

The culprits are Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of Sudan’s armed forces, and Mohamad Hamdan Dagalo - popularly known as Hemedti - who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support For...

During his most recent campaign to become Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu promised that he would overhaul the judiciary. 

When the elections came around, the fourth in five years, his Likud Party, with the help of some far-right allies, were able to command a majority in the Israeli Knesset. 

Netanyahu quickly started his plans to reform the judiciary, and almost as quickly Israelis took to the street t...

With the start of Spring we also saw the start of new diplomatic relationships being born. 

After years of intense rivalry, and to the surprise of many, Iran and Saudi Arabia announced that they had normalised relations. 

The two countries hadn't been on speaking turns since the Saudis executed a Shia cleric in 2016, and Iranian protesters had responded by burning down the embassy. 

With the restorations of relations, a...

Three years into President Kais Saied’s rule and Tunisia is on the brink of an economic meltdown and widespread social collapse. 

Hundreds of thousands of Tunisians are barely surviving as standards of living plummet. 

Amid this climate of hopelessness, Saied has taken aim at opposition figures and other scapegoats, such as black African migrants. 

Arrests and attacks are becoming commonplace in the north African c...

The settler attacks in the Palestinian town of Huwara were as shocking as they were brutal.

Homes and businesses were set a blaze in a series of attacks that were described as a pogrom, and were the latest in a long list of Israeli violations of human rights and international law. 

The attacks in Huwara drew intense condemnation for government around the world, including in the US. 

The US is a long standing and traditional partner of...

This week on The New Arab Voice we're joined by journalist Ali Abbas Ahmadi to examine the deadly floods that hit Pakistan six months ago. 

The rains started to fall in June and would not stop until August, during which time, the might Indus River would flood, spreading devastation ; particularly in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan.

The floods killed 1,700 people and left tens of millions of Pakistanis homeless. The flood ...