Lebanese singer Zeid Hamdan of the band Zeid and the Wings was briefly jailed on charges of defaming President Michel Suleiman in his single “General Suleiman.” He was released following a Facebook campaign.
Tens of thousands of Syrians returned to the streets in towns and cities across the country for the first Friday protests of Ramadan, declaring their support for residents of Hama, where some 200 have been killed in a military crackdown over the past week.
US drones struck for the first time in 19 days in Pakistan’s tribal agencies, killing four “militants” in an attack on a compound in South Waziristan. That same day, US drones killed 15 presumed al-Qaeda militants in south Yemen.
As promised, Egypt’s self-declared “Salafists” marched en masse on Tahrir Square, where secular opposition groups were holding a thousands-strong rally. No violence was reported, but the Salafists were clearly vying with the secularists for control of the square.
Egypt’s Gama’a Islamia has re-emerged with a threat to clear Cario’s Tahrir Square of “liberals and traitors” ahead of tomorrow’s planned Friday protest mobilization. The threat comes on the heels of violent clashes between protesters and regime elements.
Was Dennis Kucinich misquoted when he said Bashir al-Assad “is highly loved and appreciated by the Syrians”? And is the dictator’s uncle Rifaat al-Assad being groomed by the West as Syria’s new boss?
The Syrian government approved a law to allow formation of opposition political parties—but protestors seek an end to Article 8 of the Syrian constitution, which declares the Baath Party leader of the state and society.
An independent commission is investigating human rights violations related to the ongoing pro-democracy protests in Bahrain, following pressure from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Libyan and Syrian opposition leaders met with NATO and EU diplomats in Istanbul, winning support for their efforts to oust their respective dictators—while Yemeni protest leaders elected a transitional council under siege in violence-torn Sanaa.
Egypt’s ruling military council announced a purge of police officers accused of killing protesters in the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February, as Cairo’s Tahrir Square is again occupied by thousands of protesters.
An attack on a Sinai gas pipeline pumping Egyptian natural gas to Israel and Jordan interrupted supply for the fourth time this year. No group has claimed responsibility for of the attacks, but authorities suspect Sinai-based Bedouins.
The US and French ambassadors visited the army-besieged city of Hama during Friday protests to express their “solidarity” with the demonstrators—allowing the Assad regime to portray the protesters as pawns of Western imperialism.
