Saudi Arabia Feature: The Trial of the Political Dissidents (Hill)

Mohammad al-Qahtani interviewed after his trial this month

---

It was the first day of September, and inside the courtroom it was stiflingly hot.

On the tiled floor sat 65-year-old civil rights activist Abdullah al-Hamid. Waiting for his turn to defend himself, he fanned

himself with the document detailing his alleged crimes against the state.

In front of the judge sat 46-year-old Mohammad al-Qahtani, an American-educated economics professor who, together with al-Hamid, co-founded the Saudi Political and Civil Rights Association (ACPRA) in 2009.

Click to read more ...

US Elections Analysis: Your Guide to the 3 Biggest "Swing States" and the Challenge for Mitt Romney

President Obama in Virginia Beach, Virginia on Thursday

---

After the electoral votes from these near-certainties, the election comes down to seven or eight "swing states". Of these, three --- Florida, Ohio, and Virginia --- are vital because their larger number of votes in the Electoral College. To win the election, Romney needs to triumph in two of the three. That is why more than half the money spent by both campaigns has been devoted to the trio of battlegrounds.

The cold challenge for the Romney campaign is that the polls put Obama ahead in all three. Florida is close, with President Obama enjoying a narrow 4% advantage, but in both Ohio and Virginia his lead is about 8%.

So why, despite these numbers, are Republicans hopeful that Mitt Romney can still win?

Click to read more ...

Bahrain Feature: 17-Year-Old Ali Hussain Neama is Killed by Police Birdshot

UPDATE 1450 GMT: An indication of the size of the crowd mourning Ali Hussein Neama:

UPDATE 1430 GMT: Images from the mourning for the slain teenager Ali Hussain Neama, whose father said, "Ali was actively participating in peaceful prodemocracy protests":

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (29 September): The Economy and the Divisions Within the Regime

See also EA Video Analysis: Iran --- Ahmadinejad in New York "He Came, He Spoke, He Slipped Away"
Iran Feature: Fars News and The Onion Agree --- "Rural American Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama"
The Latest from Iran (28 September): The Next Fall in the Currency

---

1544 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Prominent human rights lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah has been summoned to Evin Prison to begin his nine-year sentence.

Dadkhah, one of the founders of the Center for Defenders of Human Rights, was arrested less than a month after the disputed 2009 Presidential election. He was sentenced in July 2011 on charges including membership of the CDHR and "spreading propaganda against the system through interviews with foreign media".

1531 GMT: Press Watch. Families of 25 martyrs and veterans of the 1980s Iran-Iraq War have expressed support for Hadi Heydari, cartoonist for the reform newspaper Shargh, in an open letter.

Shargh was banned and its managing editor imprisoned this week over a Heydari cartoon which showed men blindfolding each other in bright light. Authorities argued that the image was an insult to veterans on the 32nd anniversary of the start of the war.

Click to read more ...

Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Political Drift in New York, Military Confrontation in Aleppo

The historic Old Market of Aleppo in Syria on fire amid fighting between regime forces and insurgents

See also Syria Opinion: Heady Days of Revolution Give Way to Grim Reality
Bahrain Feature: 17-Year-Old Ali Hussain Neama is Killed by Police Birdshot
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Start of a "Decisive Battle" for Aleppo?

---

1540 GMT: Bahrain. King Hamad has welcomed the election of a Bahraini representative to the Advisory Committee of the United Nations Human Rights Council as confirmation of "the international community’s confidence in Bahrain’s progress in the human rights’ field".

Said Al-Faihani, who was unopposed, was unanimously approved as the Asian group representative on Friday.

Meanwhile, we are updating on the death of 17-year-old Ali Hussein Neama, who became the latest victim of police birdshot on Friday night.

Click to read more ...

Syria Opinion: Heady Days of Revolution Give Way to Grim Reality (Hanano)

Mass protest in Hama, 23 March 2012

---

Now the lows exceed the highs. Now we talk about what has been lost more often than what will be gained. And the losses have been heavy: some of the people we once spoke to daily are no longer in Syria; some have abandoned the revolution; many have died. Peaceful protests have dwindled as the bombs drop onto our cities and villages. Civilians are caught in the crossfire; thousands have become refugees --- outsiders just like us.

And everyone is depressed.

Click to read more ...

EA Video Analysis: Iran --- Ahmadinejad in New York "He Came, He Spoke, He Slipped Away"

"On Wednesday, before Ahmadinejad took the podium at the United Nations General Assembly, we said, 'Sound. Fury. Insignificance'.

"We got it partly right. There was no sound. There was certainly no fury. But there was lots of insignificance.

"Bye bye, Mahmoud. Nice knowing you. Don't let the door hit you on the backside on the way out."

Iran Feature: Fars News and The Onion Agree --- "Rural American Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama"

---

UPDATE 1745 GMT: Looks like Fars English has realised that its scoop might not be real --- the story has been withdrawn from the website.

---

Iran's Fars News Agency has a surprise revelation, "According to the results of a Gallup poll released Monday, the overwhelming majority of rural white Americans said they would rather vote for Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than US President Barack Obama."

Fars has ventured where no US media outlet seems to have gone in breaking this news. Mitt Romney has not trumpeted this as proof of his ascendancy. Fox News has not yet proclaimed the evidence that the Great Liberal Menace has been defeated.

Indeed, Gallup does not seem to have the poll on its website.

So where did Fars' reporters make this discovery?

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (28 September): The Next Fall in the Currency

See also Iran Snapshot: Why Was Top Military Commander Soleimani in Iraqi Kurdistan?
The Latest from Iran (27 September): A Newspaper is Banned, An Editor is Imprisoned

---

Ahmadinejad Returns from New York1705 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Update. Ayatollah Emami Kashani is not ready to let go of the issue of the US-produced film denigrating the Prophet Mohammad, as he accused Western governments of trying to "belittle Islam and violate its sanctities": "The repercussions of their plots and conspiracies will backfire on them and they will be further disgraced, but Islam will also surely cut off their evil hand.”

-

Click to read more ...

Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Start of a "Decisive Battle" for Aleppo?

2225 GMT: Bahrain. We close our coverage tonight with news 17 year old Ali Hussain Neama has been shot and killed by security forces in Sadad tonight. Details are still emerging.

Said Yousif Almuhafda, Head of Monitoring at the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, tweeted the following picture of Ali:

#BahrainDeath of young boy just confirmed by MOI,ppl saying from pellet shotgun.. twitter.com/SAIDYOUSIF/sta…

— S.YousifAlmuhafda (@SAIDYOUSIF) September 28, 2012

He adds:

Riot police attacking women who went to see the 17 yo boy who was just killed #Bahrain”

— S.YousifAlmuhafda (@SAIDYOUSIF) September 28, 2012

The Ministry of Interior has confirmed the death in a tweet, referring to the incident that killed Ali as a "terrorist attack".

2054 GMT: Syria. According to the Local Coordination Committees, at least 160 people have been killed by the Assad regime so far today:

55 martyrs were reported in Aleppo; including 25 who were field executed in Rashedeen, 48 in Damascus and its Subrubs (including 10 martyrs who were field-executed in Barzeh, and 17 in Qudsaya), 20 in Deir Ezzor, 13 in Idlib, 10 in Daraa; including two people who were martyred in Damascus, 7 in Hama, 4 in Homs, 2 in Raqqa, and 1 in Lattakia.

See our note on the casualty figures put out by the LCC.

Click to read more ...