South Sudan Is Not Arab

When I look at Salva Kiir Mayardit (the first president of South Sudan), read his name, or hear him speak, I’m thinking “definitely Arab.” Don’t you?

KABOBhero: Lubna al-Hussein

This Sudanese media worker was charged by the government with ‘indecency’ for wearing trousers, which carries the medieval penalty of forty lashes from a whip.

After this story gained wide media coverage, the Sudanese officials looked for a way out. Al-Hussein was an employee of the UN and was therefore immune, they said in an attempt to save face and salvage the law. She responded by quitting her job and demanding a trial in the hopes of getting it thrown off the books. Her defense was that the law was both in contravention of Islam and the government’s constitution.

The Illegitimate Child of International Justice

The arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court against the president of Sudan serves to delegitimize the legal body in the eyes of those who need it most. Omar Hassan Al-Bashir defiantly travels to neighboring countries, Arab leaders host him with pronounced contempt for the International Criminal Court and charges it brought against him, and [...]

Sorry Syrians, no networking for you!

Popular business-themed social networking site LinkedIn has officially decided to rid itself of Syrians (and Iranians, and North Koreans, and Sudanese, and Cubans) once and for all. Claiming sanctions, LinkedIn has suspended the accounts of people from the aforementioned countries. Upon logging in, such users will see a message that reads: Access to this account [...]

Rome, Jerusalem, Khartoum

On March 4, 2009, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the President of Sudan for war crimes and crimes against humanity. As a Sudanese-American, I was struck by my own reaction to the ruling, which was a simultaneous surge of relief tempered by unease. I felt relief because, in truth, the Sudanese government [...]

Arab League Not Interested in Arresting Sudan’s Head

The Arab League respectfully declined the International Criminal Court’s request the pan-Arab organ arrest Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir. The ICC has charged the leader for war crimes — crimes against humanity and genocide — committed in Darfur, and issued an arrest warrant. The Arab League only has three members who are fully party to the [...]

Tayyeb Saleh Passes Away, Migrating to the North (Arabic)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0M_c5zmPtk] Tayyeb Saleh, the Sudanese novelist and writer passed away yesterday in London. He was nearly 80 years old. He left behind a rich literary collection that has a number of novels, the most famous of which is Season of Migration to the North, which gained fame for being one of the first novels to [...]