Rare photos from Homs, Syria

A damaged armoured vehicle belonging to the Syrian army is seen in a street in Homs January 23, 2012.

REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

From IRIN:

One of the key moments in the build-up to the 25 January uprising and the overthrow of Egypt’s former President Mubarak was the alleged beating to death of a young man, Khaled Said, by police in Alexandria - an event which galvanized Egyptians around the issue of police brutality.

Amid allegations of ongoing police brutality, security sector reform, which is vital for the country’s economic and social stability, is becoming an increasingly vociferous demand of protesters and civil society representatives.
 
Former policeman Ihab Youssef, now campaigning for better relations between the police and public but who is often met with distrust and scepticism on the street, told IRIN: “The gap between policemen and ordinary citizens continues to grow day after day and if this gap is not bridged, Egypt will be in danger… Concerted efforts must be made for the relationship between police and citizens to get back on track.”

(via IRIN • humanitarian news and analysis from Africa, Asia and the Middle East)

Rare photos from Homs, Syria

A damaged armored vehicle belonging to the Syrian army is seen in a street in Homs January 23, 2012.
 

REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

Rare photos from Homs, Syria

Syrians walk past damaged buildings in Homs January 23, 2012. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

Rare photos from Homs, Syria

A Syrian boy stands in front of a damaged armoured vehicle belonging to the Syrian army in a street in Homs January 23, 2012.

REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

thepoliticalnotebook:

A solidarity poster en français supporting the Moroccan reform/revolutionary movement: “Long live the fight of the Moroccan people! Freedom for the revolutionary prisoners! Down with the reactionary Moroccan regime and with French imperialism! 

[via]

An anti-government protester films with her iPad during an al-Wefaq rally in Sanabis, west of Manama January 12, 2012. Thousands of anti-government protesters participated in the rally shouting anti-government slogans demanding the downfall of the ruling family. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

David Kirkpatrick writes in today’s New York Times:

At first Samira Ibrahim was afraid to tell her father that Egyptian soldiers had detained her in Tahrir Square in Cairo, stripped off her clothes, and watched as she was forcibly subjected to a “virginity test.”

But when her father, a religious conservative, saw electric prod marks on her body, they revived memories of his own detention and torture under President Hosni Mubarak’s government. “History is repeating itself,” he told her, and together they vowed to file a court case against the military rulers, to claim “my rights,” as Ms. Ibrahim later recalled.

Read the rest here!

David Kirkpatrick writes in today’s New York Times:

At first Samira Ibrahim was afraid to tell her father that Egyptian soldiers had detained her in Tahrir Square in Cairo, stripped off her clothes, and watched as she was forcibly subjected to a “virginity test.”

But when her father, a religious conservative, saw electric prod marks on her body, they revived memories of his own detention and torture under President Hosni Mubarak’s government. “History is repeating itself,” he told her, and together they vowed to file a court case against the military rulers, to claim “my rights,” as Ms. Ibrahim later recalled.

Sudarsan Raghavan of the Washington Post writes:

“Yemen’s populist uprising and the political crisis that followed have pushed the country to the brink of a humanitarian emergency, according to the United Nations and aid agencies. And children have been hit especially hard.

Malnutrition rates are rising. Children are, more than ever, vulnerable to life-threatening illnesses and diseases. They are being deployed as soldiers by all warring sides, and scores have been killed in the crossfire. Many schools have been shut down.”

(via The toll of Yemen’s crisis on children - The Washington Post)