Justice in Iran
Iran has begun handing down death sentences for robbery – a crime that previously carried much less severe punishments. In socially and politically uncertain times, the regime is increasingly resorting to Draconian measures in the hope that these will serve as a deterrent, reports Stefan Buchen More »
Turkish Businesswomen
Turkey's largest companies are increasingly assigning women to key positions and corporate boards. Of the top executives in these companies, 26 percent are women - well above the EU average. Ayhan Simsek and Selcuk Oktay report More »
Interview with Pinar Selek
The sociologist and author Pinar Selek spoke with Hülya Köylü Schenk on her sentence of life imprisonment in Turkey and on the solidarity she has been receiving from many levels of society More »
The Uprising of Women in the Arab World
The group "The uprising of women in the Arab world" is taking a courageous stand for gender equality. However, the activists face significant resistance: from old ways of thinking, patriarchal chauvinism – and even from Facebook. Laura Overmeyer reports More »
Interview with Father Paolo Dall'Oglio on Syria
Paolo Dall'Oglio has lived in Syria for over 30 years. Founder of the Deir Mar Musa monastic community north of Damascus, he has always been committed to interreligious dialogue with the Muslim world. Last June, he was banished by the regime. Father Paolo Dall'Oglio talks to Antonella Vicini More »
10th Anniversary of the Death of Annemarie Schimmel
As one of the most eminent western scholars of Islam, Annemarie Schimmel is still held in high esteem in the Islamic world. But despite being a kind of a mystic herself, the German got entangled in the fraught relations between East and West. Ten years after her death, Stefan Wild takes stock of her life and work More »
Interview with Doug Saunders
In his book "The Myth of the Muslim Tide", Doug Saunders puts theories from critics of immigration under the microscope. He talked to Aygül Cizmecioglu about extremism, xenophobia and successful integration More »
Right-wing Extremism and Islamophobia in Germany
In this essay, Aiman Mazyek, chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, warns against the trivialisation of anti-Islamic tendencies and right-wing extremist violence, both of which are increasingly posing a threat to social peace in Germany More »
John R. Bowden's ''Blaming Islam''
John R. Bowen, anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis, is fed up with the myths, misinformation and cheap populism surrounding the issue of Islam and Muslims in the West. In his book, he debunks the falsehoods that have crept into the everyday political discourse about the religion and its adherents. A review by Paul Hockenos More »
Camps for Syrian Refugees in Zaatari and Atma
Refugee camps are other-worlds where a tent becomes a home, a field of mud is a playground and where thousands of displaced Syrians are trying to adapt to a new, grim reality. Karen Leigh went to see for herself More »
