Bahrain

British 'torture chief' quits 
The Guardian, July 4, 2000

Libya

Could Gaddafi stay in Libya?
Comment Is Free, 4 Jul 2011

The opposition's offer to the Libyan dictator of internal exile may be pragmatic but it raises some tricky issues

Is France right to arm Libyan rebels?
Comment Is Free, 30 Jun 2011

Live discussion: France has been arming Libyans for their 'self-defence'. Debate the rights and wrongs of this

The liberal-left are at odds on Libya   
Comment Is Free, 5 May 2011

Significant voices outspoken in their opposition to war in Iraq are more equivocal on military intervention in Libya

Libya: is negotiation the answer?  
Comment Is Free, 28 Mar 2011

As the fighting continues, Nabila Ramdani and Brian Whitaker debate Nato's next move

The difference with Libya  
Comment Is Free, 23 Mar 2011

Unlike Bahrain or Yemen, the scale and nature of the Gaddafi regime's actions have impelled the UN's 'responsibility to protect'

Saif Gaddafi and the democracy project – audio 
Comment Is Free, 18 Mar 2011

In a 2004 interview, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi says democracy in Libya is a personal project – it doesn't sound like the man urging a fight 'to the last bullet'

Muammar Gaddafi: method in his 'madness' 
Comment Is Free, 23 Feb 2011

Gaddafi has lost touch with his people, but though his actions may seem bizarre, there is a kind of logic to his behaviour

Anger as Libyan retrial hands death sentence to medics  
Guardian, Wednesday December 20 2006

Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of deliberately infecting hundreds of children with HIV were sentenced to death for a second time by a court in Libya yesterday, drawing widespread international condemnation. 

All Libyan pupils to get laptop and web access 
Guardian, Thursday October 12 2006

Libya could become the first country to provide every school-age child with a laptop computer and internet connection under a scheme supported by the UN Development Programme.

Anyone for Mecca?  
Comment Is Free, April 13, 2006

In a rare bout of perspicacity, Colonel Gadafy suggests Jews and Christians - even George Bush - should be permitted to visit the Kaaba.

Disgrace in the desert
The Guardian, February 28, 2006

Libyan rape victims face arranged marriages or staying locked up in 'rehabilitation' centres.

Watchdog hails Libya's human rights progress 
The Guardian, January 26 2006

Libya won praise yesterday for taking "important steps" to improve human rights but was warned it will have to do more to meet international standards.

US tests the air in reformed Libya 
The Guardian, January 26 2004

With the words "United States Navy" emblazoned on its side, a plane touched down in Tripoli yesterday carrying six US congressmen on a goodwill mission: the first such visit since Colonel Muammar Gadafy came to power in 1969.

e-mail
The Guardian, January 26 2004

It was the sort of mini-break they never advertise in the travel supplements: a long weekend in Tripoli courtesy of Saif al-Islam Gadafy, son of the Leader of the Revolution.

New statesman: Gadafy turns reformer
The Guardian, December 22 2003

Receiving an interviewer from al-Jazeera television one day in his desert tent, Colonel Muammar Gadafy talked of world affairs and Libyan politics, then suddenly gestured towards a figure in the distance.

How Gadafy came in from the cold
The Guardian, December 20 2003

About the time that United States and Britain went to war to remove the alleged threat from weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, they secretly embarked on another project to achieve the same goal in Libya, but by a very different route - that of quiet dip...

Gadafy goes bananas for bananas
The Guardian, September 11 2001

Colonel Muammar Gadafy, the unpredictable Libyan leader, has offered to buy all the bananas grown in the Caribbean, according to officials who visited Tripoli recently.

Bush is Mr Nice Guy, says Gadafy
The Guardian, January 06 2001

George W Bush is a nice man. That's the word on the US president-elect from Libya.

Footballing son is latest Gadafy to drop in on London
September 26 2000

Britain has granted an entry visa to the 26-year-old son of Muammar Gadafy, in a move that shows how much relations have thawed with Libya since sanctions were suspended last year. Next week a British trade mission heads there looking for business.

Iran

Endless suffering of chemical gas victims
Brian Whitaker in Tehran
October 31 2002

Mohammed Nejad will always remember the day Iraqi planes dropped their chemical weapons and ruined his life. He was a soldier in the Iranian army during the bitter eight-year war with Iraq.

Inside the 'axis of so-and-so'
The Guardian, October 28 2002

It's not very often, I must confess, that women beg me to change seats on a plane in order to sit next to them.

Tehran sets its terms for US-led action
Brian Whitaker in Tehran
October 25 2002

Iran - the wild card in Washington's Middle East calculations - said yesterday that it would accept US-led military action against Saddam Hussein if efforts to achieve a peaceful solution through the United Nations failed.

Kuwait

Women fail to win seats in Kuwaiti polls  
The Guardian, June 30 2006

Women, participating for the first time in Kuwait's parliamentary elections, have failed to win any seats, according to official results announced on Friday, though pro-reform candidates made some gains.

Suffrage and slow motion in Kuwait  
Comment Is Free, June 30, 2006 

Without democratic reforms in the emirate, women's political role will continue to grow only at a glacial pace.

Women take centre stage in Kuwait's handbag election 
The Guardian, June 29 2006

It could be dubbed the handbag election. Kuwaitis are voting for a new parliament today - and not only are women taking part for the first time but some candidates are allegedly trying to buy their votes with designer handbags stuffed with cash. 

Parliament confirms new Kuwaiti emir 
The Guardian, January 30 2006

Kuwait's parliament yesterday unanimously confirmed Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah as emir, ending political turmoil over the royal succession.

Kuwaiti MPs declare emir unfit for office 
The Guardian, January 25 2006

Nine days after being proclaimed head of one of the world's wealthiest countries, Sheikh Sa'ad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, emir of Kuwait, was declared unfit for office yesterday and removed from his post by a unanimous vote in parliament.

Royal hush 
The Guardian, January 23 2006 

Uncertainty over the condition of Kuwait's new emir reflects a tendency to keep rulers' ill-health shrouded in secrecy ...

Kuwaiti paper calls for ruler to step down 
The Guardian, January 21 2006

In an unprecedented move for the Arab press, a leading Kuwaiti newspaper yesterday called for the abdication of the oil-rich country's ruler, less than a week after he inherited the throne.

Kuwait mourns after emir dies 
The Guardian, January 16 2006

Kuwait declared 40 days of mourning yesterday after the death of its ruler, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah.

The Emir of Kuwait 
The Guardian, January 16 2006

The Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who has died aged 77, was, for the last 27 years, ruler of one of the world's richest countries, but it was for those seven terrible months in 1990 ...

More women win vote in Kuwait 
The Guardian, January 06 2006

Kuwait, where traditionalists and Islamists battled for years to keep women out of politics, now has more registered women voters than men, according to the interior ministry.

The black desert
August 16 2000

In the blazing heat of the desert, a lake ought be a welcome sight. But this lake has no palm trees around its edges, no camels watering. The sand here is a dark, sticky brown, turning to black at the lake's fringes.

Saddam casts long shadow on Kuwait
August 02 2000

Today, the trauma helplines in Kuwait will be busy. It happens every year on the anniversary of the invasion, and the government-run telephone counselling service lays on extra staff to cope with calls.

Damage claims spiral into the realm of the futile
August 01 2000

For nine years now 200 people in Switzerland have been totting up what promises to be the world's biggest bill: the compensation Iraq must pay for invading Kuwait. The final tally will not be known for three more years, but it is likely to be hundreds of billions of dollars.

The day Kuwait wants to forget
July 30 2000

When the Iraqis invaded Kuwait on 2 August 1990, Muhammad Ben Naji's first thought was to call the police. He was eating breakfast in a cafe when trouble broke out in the street. Hearing shots, the customers rushed to the window.

Women in Kuwait call for suffrage 
The Guardian, June 27, 2000

Qatar

Qatar is more boring than backward 
Comment Is Free, 3 December 2010

Many myths have done the rounds since Qatar was declared World Cup 2022 host – for a start, alcohol isn't illegal

Tunisia

Tunisia analysis: Old guard, 'new' government 
The Guardian, 17 Jan 2011

Many Tunisians are asking whether ousted president Ben Ali's old guard can be trusted with free and fair elections

How a man setting fire to himself sparked an uprising in Tunisia 
Comment Is Free, 28 Dec 2010

A relatively minor incident has become the catalyst for a wave of protests that may end the presidency of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

Democracy, Tunisian style
Comment Is Free, 9 Sep 2009

Tunisia has been praised as peaceful and competitive, but its next election will have little to do with democracy

United Arab Emirates

In Dubai, they still don't get it 
Comment Is Free, 9 Dec 2009

The emirate likes to see itself as a modern financial centre yet reverts to authoritarianism and censorship in the face of bad press

Sheikhs, lives and videotape  
Comment Is Free, 29 Apr 2009

A member of the UAE royal family is accused of torture – but is there any chance of justice when the country's rulers are the law?

Ousted by a gay sheikh 
Comment Is Free, 16 Feb 2009

An author whose book touched on the sexual hangups of the local establishment has been disinvited from a Dubai literary festival

Dubai's big pink taxis  
Comment Is Free, August 17, 2006

Are women-only taxicabs really the solution to gender discrimination?

High life in Dubai 
Comment Is Free, July 5, 2006

The treatment of a music mogul arrested in Dubai on drugs charges smacks of double standards.

Dubai in mourning after emir, 62, dies in Australian hotel 
The Guardian, January 05 2006

Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and a world-renowned owner and breeder of racehorses, died suddenly in Australia yesterday, aged 62.

Dubai opens ski resort 
The Guardian, December 03 2005

Temperatures never rise above freezing and there is a fresh sprinkling of snow every day, but step outside and you will find a sunbaked desert.

'Gay party' guests face hormone treatment 
The Guardian, November 30 2005

More than two dozen men arrested at an allegedly gay party could face compulsory hormone treatment, officials in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, said yesterday.