Imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi—winner of the EU's Sakharov Prize—has suffered fainting spells and deteriorating health owing to his lengthy hunger strike.
A growing split between secular and Islamist elements of the FSA is unfortunately mirrored by a breach between Kurds and Ankara-backed Arab and Turkmen forces.
A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh to death for apostasy and abandoning his Muslim faith after he protested the kingdom's religious police.
The new Kurdish-Arab alliance in northern Syria continues to advance into ISIS-held territory—in spite of efforts by virtually all the regional powers to sabotage it.
Egyptian authorities arrested prominent human rights activist Hossam Bahgat after military officials questioned him concerning a report he wrote on the use of secret trials.
Saudi Arabia's high court upheld the death sentence of Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, found guilty of sedition over Arab Spring protests.
Missiles and mortar rounds were fired into a crowd of anti-Islamist demonstrators in central Benghazi, killing six and injuring many more.
Bahrain's Court of Appeals convicted rights activist Zainab al-Khawaja on charges related to her ripping up a photo of the country's king during a court hearing in 2014.
Abdel-Karim al-Khadar, a rights advocate and opponent of Islamist extremism, was senteced to 10 years by a Saudi "anti-terrorist" court for criticizing the regime.
A new coalition of 13 armed organizations announced the formation of the Democratic Forces of Syria, which is now planning a major offensive against ISIS.
The same day the Tunisia Quartet civil activist group was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, a parliamentarian from the center-left ruling coalition survived an assassination attempt.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi approved a counter-terrorism law assailed by rights groups as making permanent powers usually reserved for a state of emergency.
