Arab News Blog

A United Arab Emirates (UAE) appellate court has extended the date of hearing of a case involving 17 Indians on death row for murdering a Pakistani national to June 16.
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Today is April 6, the symbolic protest date of Egypt’s 6 April Movement and the date again for protests, marches on Parliament, etc. Like last year there are reportedly scattered protests but also massive presence of security forces in the streets, and some of the opposition websites, including the 6 April Movement’s own, have been hacked. So far the reports are hard to sift through and the claims hard to evaluate, but as facts emerge I’ll post links, videos, or whztever is available.

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Today, February 1, marks the 31st anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s return to Iran on this date in 1979. Over the ten days between now and February 11, the annuversary of the final triumph of the Iranian Revolution, Iranians will be watching closely to see how the opposition’s efforts to rally on the 11th are coming together. In their attempt to portray themselves as the real inheritors of the Revolution and the present regime as its betrayers, the opposition has sought to awaken some of the spirit of those days. But because it lacks a unified leadership, the message is not always clear.

It is, however, clear that February 11 is the next major date for demonstrations, and that traditionally the countdown to that date began historically with Khomeini’s return on the first.

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Having done my bit for end-of-year posts, the Iron Laws of Journalism (imposed by the Because Everybody Else Does It committee) say I must also do a post-New Year’s looking ahead post or two. So here goes. Elections first.

In 2010 we know for certain we will have elections in, most importantly:

• Jordan. Date not yet set but I believe given the date of dissolution they need to be held by March.

• Iraq. Set for March 7. They were constitutionally due by January but all the hi-jinks about the electoral law caused slippage. Perhaps the most important of the lot.

• Palestinian Authority. God only knows, but June 28 is I gather the current official date awaiting further postponement. Presidential elections on hold. Parliamentary elections on hold. Originally a Palestinian Presidential election was due in 2009 and a Parliamentary election in January 2010. Then things started slipping and currently they’re seemingly aiming for June 28. But Hamas is boycotting and banning a vote in Gaza. Unless I’m out of date. Mahmoud ‘Abbas isn’t running. Probably.

• Egypt. Parliamentary elections required by October. Still some rumors that the 2011 Presidential poll might get moved forward.

• Bahrain, Parliamentary elections, November.

Outliers and periphery: Other elections due this year in our region broadly defined are in Tajikistan (Parliamentary, February 21), Sudan (Parliamentary and Presidential, April 5-12), Somaliland (separatist part of ex-Somalia, Presidential, April), Nagorno-Karabakh (Parliamentary, June), Somaliland again (Parliamentary, September),

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AP – Palestinian officials announced Friday that a new date for parliamentary and presidential elections will be set next month now that President Mahmoud Abbas has agreed to postpone the January vote, though the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers maintain they will boycott the voting.

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They are back, although I am not sure of the date of this picture.

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