Justice in Libya
Establishing a democratic constitutional state in Libya is proving to be a painstakingly slow process. This is partly because a reform of the legal system is long overdue, and also as a result of the vigilante justice administered by armed brigades. Beat Stauffer reports More »
Kurdish Rebels Retreating from Turkey
After three decades of war, Turkey and the Kurdish separatist PKK outfit are close to implementing a ceasefire. The first PKK fighters have already begun leaving Turkey for safe havens in Iraq. Birgit Svensson reports More »
Freedom of the Press in Turkey
According to information from "Reporters without Borders", there are more journalists imprisoned in Turkey today than there ever have been since the end of the military regime in 1983. The freedom of the Turkish press is kept within very narrow limits. Yet, is this really such a new phenomenon? Fatih Cicek offers some answers More »
German Wehrmacht Document on Islam
If it were not for the fact that the author of a code of conduct for Wehrmacht officers in Muslim countries – the army doctor Ernst Rodenwaldt – was a proven Nazi sympathiser, those in today's anti-Islamic milieu would most certainly hold him for a Muslim sympathizer. Stefan Weidner on an unusual historical manuscript More »
Dilwar Hussein on Reform Islam
In order to retain the values of the Koran, one must go beyond the literal meaning of the text, says British Islam scholar Dilwar Hussein. Instead, Muslims should try to interpret the dynamic of change of early Islam and apply that to modern times and conditions. An interview by Jan Kuhlmann More »
Jews in Tunisia
Jews lived in North Africa before the arrival of Christianity or Islam. On the eve of Tunisia's independence from France, there were more than 100,000 of them in the country. Half a century later, as few as 1,500 remain. Naomi Scherbel-Ball reports from Tunis More »
Interview with Syrian Writer Nihad Sirees
Syrian author Nihad Sirees has written seven novels and several plays and TV dramas. After increasing pressure from the Syrian government, Sirees left Aleppo in early 2012. Marcia Lynx Qualey met him at the Abu Dhabi Book Fair, just as he was leaving his exile in the US and moving to Egypt More »
Film on the Case of Muraz Kurnaz
"Five Years" examines the fate of the German Guantanamo prisoner Murat Kurnaz. Director Stefan Schaller's film exposes viewers to the horrific abuse of human rights endured by camp detainees. Jochen Kürten reports More »
