Society

Refugee crisis in the Mediterranean

New networks trafficking Syrians from Egypt to Europe

The UN Security Council is set to vote on the EU's proposal for military action against people smugglers in the Mediterranean. But who are these people smugglers? What form do their networks take? And are they really a security threat? By Lewis Sanders
By Lewis Sanders IV
Yazidis in Turkey

Old homeland, new homeland

Despite the alarming situation in the Kurdish region of neighbouring Iraq, some Yazidis have recently returned from Germany to their native villages in south-eastern Anatolia. The coming years will indicate whether the resettlement is a lasting one. By Ekrem Guzeldere in the Turkish province of Mardin
By Ekrem Eddy Güzeldere
Egyptian football star Mohammed Aboutreika

Bridging a deep divide

Few are able to bridge Egypt's deeply polarising divide between supporters and opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood following the 2013 military coup that toppled President Mohammed Morsi. Mohammed Aboutreika, Egypt's most celebrated and storied soccer player, is proving to be either the exception that proves the rule or an indication of shifting attitudes. By James M. Dorsey
By James M. Dorsey
The Christian minority in Pakistan

Under increased threat of persecution

Weeks after the twin bombings on churches in Lahore, discrimination against the Christian minority in Pakistan seems to have taken a turn for worse. By Roma Rajpal Weiß
By Roma Rajpal Weiss
Freedom of the press in Syria

The truth can cost lives

Four years into Syria's civil war, neither the regime nor the jihadists are interested in free and fair reporting. As Samar Yazbek explains, it takes great courage to stand up and tell the truth under such circumstances
By Samar Yazbek
Media reports on the Yemen conflict

A skewed view of Yemen's plight

In this opinion piece, Charlotte Wiedemann criticises the fact that many media reports about the current Yemen conflict are ill-informed, tendentious and overlook the West's responsibility for the escalation of the conflict
By Charlotte Wiedemann
Book review: Mohamedou Ould Slahi's "Guantanamo diary"

Diary entries from the darkness

Mohamedou Ould Slahi wrote "Guantanamo diary" entirely by hand in his cell in Guantanamo Bay. Although heavily redacted by the censors, the book is still a harrowing and moving account of what one inmate of this notorious detention camp has been suffering for almost 13 years. By Emran Feroz
By Emran Feroz
Interview with Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar University

"What the Islamist armed movements are doing is wrong"

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb is grand imam of al-Azhar University in Cairo, one of the highest religious instances in Sunni Islam. In an interview with Khalid El Kaoutit, he explains how the jihadists of Islamic State (IS) are abusing Islamic doctrine for their own purposes
By Khalid El Kaoutit
The image policy of IS

Terror in the spotlight

In this essay, Felix Koltermann takes a closer look at the image policy of IS and how media and politicians around the world have reacted to it. He argues that in spite of the horror of the images being disseminated by IS, it is important not to fall into the rhetoric of a war of images, because the goal of such a rhetoric is to take pictorial acts as a justification for military action
By Felix Koltermann
Recruitment strategies used by Islamic State

A mutation of religion

The crude promises of salvation and ideological constructs propagated by IS, and the apocalyptic fantasies it is spreading via films and magazines on the Internet make the terrorist militia attractive to radical forces not only in the Arab world but in Europe too. By Michael Kiefer
By Michael Kiefer
The Palestinian village of Susiya

Archaeology of a dispossession

Susiya is a small Palestinian village in the West Bank. In 1986, when the remains of a synagogue were found in the village, the site was declared a national park and the land confiscated. Residents were relocated to nearby agricultural lands. Last March, the Israeli government sought permission from the High Court of Justice to demolish the village and relocate its residents again, claiming the land for further archaeological work. Ylenia Gostoli visited the village to find out more
By Ylenia Gostoli
The headscarf in the colonial period

Remove your veils!

As far back as over 100 years ago, people were already arguing that the headscarf was a symbol of male oppression and therefore incompatible with Western civilisation and its system of values. In the French colonies, authorities actually followed through on these ideas, forcing women to take off their veils. Historical insights from Susanne Kaiser
By Susanne Kaiser