‘Reducing Middle East tensions potentially lessens sectarianism and opens doors for women
Two separate developments involving improved relations between Sunni and Shiite Muslims and women’s sporting rights demonstrate major shifts in how rivalry for leadership of the Muslim world and competition to define Islam in the 21st century is playing out in a world in which Middle Eastern states can no longer depend on the United States coming to their defence.’
James M Dorsey
9 October 2021

‘UAE: Arbitrary Targeting of Pakistani Shia Residents
Enforced Disappearances, Incommunicado Detention, Groundless Deportation’
Human Rights Watch, June 22, 2021

‘US-funded media spreads bizarre conspiracy theory about Shi’a Muslims
The charges against the al-Khoe’i Foundation were so wild that the State Department had to step in and disavow the story.’

Responsible Statecraft, June 14, 2021

See also: Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and Pope Francis: A Meeting of the Minds in Najaf?

The Arab Spring in the Gulf countries – 10 years later

For ADHRB Weekly Newsletter #387, click here.

Alarm over ‘invasive’ Gulf contact-tracing apps

Kuwait and Bahrain have rolled out some of the most invasive Covid-19 contact-tracing apps in the world, putting the privacy and security of their users at risk, Amnesty International says. The rights group found the apps were carrying out live or near-live tracking of users’ locations by uploading GPS co-ordinates to a central server.