Saudi Arabia's Secret Uprising

Secret Uprising: The growing Saudi protest movement that's been hidden from the world.

Reporting Saudi Arabia's Hidden Uprising

BBC: In Saudi Arabia's oil-rich Eastern Province, protesters inspired by the Arab Spring have been venting their anger against the government for the last three years. Saudi journalist Safa Alahmad got unprecedented access to the area.

Even inside Saudi Arabia, the protests in the coastal region of Qatif hardly ever make the news. It's nearly impossible for journalists to operate here.

But I travelled in under the radar. I know the area well, as I was born and raised nearby.

I visited the Eastern Province several times in the past two years without the knowledge of the Saudi authorities.

I wanted to find out why activists from the country's Shia minority were risking their lives to demonstrate against the monarchy.

How had frequent protests rumbled on without being silenced? » | Friday, May 30, 2014

Saudi Arabia ‘failing to address human rights concerns’ »

Arab Revolutions: The Limits of Intervention
THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: The conflict inherent between policy and principle continues to this day

The international community has been compromised by the revolution sweeping the Arab world. In three uncertain weeks, the United States vacillated from urging stability to shore up a strategic ally in Hosni Mubarak to cheering his overthrow. France trod the same path in Tunisia. Happily, the foreign minister Michèle Alliot-Marie, whose first reaction to the uprising was to offer Ben Ali France's superior knowledge in riot control, has finally resigned. But her family's involvement with the ancien regime (her parents had shares in a property company owned by a businessman close to the regime) provided its own morality play.

Few were disinterested observers. When it came to the crunch, such as organising the interrogation under torture of jihadis picked up in Pakistan, the CIA, among others, traded with the darkest elements of Mubarak's regime being denounced with such ardour today. Russia and China, both of whom have much to fear from spontaneous demonstrations by their own people, have fared little better. Continue reading and comment >>> Editorial | Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Egyptian Protests Intensify, as Clashes Spread Across the Middle East
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Egyptian police have been fighting protesters in intensifying clashes, and demonstrations have reported from Yemen and Gabon – a sign that defiance against authoritarian rulers in the Middle East is spreading.

Riot police clash with protesters in Cairo yesterday. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
Security forces shot dead a Bedouin protester in Egypt's Sinai region on Thursday, bringing the death in the three days of protests to five. Police in Suez fired rubber bullets, water cannon and tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators calling for an end to the 30-year-old rule of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president. Protesters chucked rocks and petrol bombs at police lines. In Ismailia, hundreds of protesters clashed with police, who dispersed the crowds with tear gas.

Like in many other countries in the region, protesters in Egypt complain about surging prices, unemployment and the authorities' reliance on heavy-handed security to keep dissenting voices quiet. The protests are inspired by Tunisia, where a democratic movement recently overthrew the government.

Egyptian Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei announced on Thursday he was returning to Egypt to join the protests. "Tomorrow is going to be, I think, a major demonstration all over Egypt and I will be there with them," he said. Mr Baradei, who won the Nobel peace prize for his work as head of the UN's nuclear agency, called on Mr Mubarak to leave office, saying "he has served the country for 30 years and it is about time for him to retire."

His arrival could spur protesters who have no figurehead, although many activists resent his absences in recent months.

"Our government is a dictatorship. A total dictatorship," said Mohamed Fahim, a 29-year-old glass factory worker, as he stood near the charred skeleton of a car.

"It's our right to choose our government ourselves. We have been living 29 years, my whole life, without being able to choose a president." >>> | Thursday, January 27, 2011

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Les répercussions historiques de la «Révolution du Jasmin» : EFFET DOMINO | De l’Egypte à la Jordanie en passant par le Yémen, la "Révolution du jasmin" commence à toucher des régimes arabes qui se maintiennent depuis des décennies grâce au carcan de la peur. Eclairage. >>> AFP | Jeudi 27 Janvier 2011

Iran Election: Faces of the Dead and Detained
If you’d like to help The Guardian put a face to the dead or detained in Iran in the recent uprisings, click here