Politics
Few conflicts have shaken the Islamic world as deeply as the one surrounding the Rohingya, Myanmar’s Muslim minority. U Kyaw Thien and his wife escaped to Thailand – but had to leave more than their belongings behind.
Once a crowded transit camp, today the shuttered Choucha refugee facility is home to a small hardcore group of emigrés, hoping vainly for legal passage to a new life.
Hassan was 15 when war broke out in Iraq in 2003. Only a few years later, he was running a small business: kidnappings, attacks on military posts and later attacks on Shiites as well. And in post-war Iraq, his story is not unique.
Without a proper appraisal of the past, the violence in Middle East will continue to echo throughout the region and cause ever greater devastation.
A heavyweight of Iranian domestic politics and world affairs, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died 8 January 2017. Amid a country’s grief, various factions and individuals may stand to benefit from a power shift, says Adnan Tabatabai.
As the situation in Aleppo descends deeper into darkness, Sam Alrefaie honours the astonishing bravery of the White Helmets volunteer group – a front-line rescue force amidst the rubble and ruin.
Watchdog al-Bawsala is a rare example of an NGO operating to bring transparency to political processes and engage ordinary citizens in a region wracked by government crackdowns.
A radicalised son and a heart-broken father - Farid Ben Salah Barhoumi’s story is sadly a familiar one - recruited by local terror cells and brainwashed into believing he would wage jihad.