Yemeni security forces March 25 arrested six suspects in the attack nine days earlier that killed four South Korean tourists. Authorities say the cell is also suspected in a bombing a few days later against a convoy carrying South Korean government inspectors that caused no serious injuries. Security forces are hunting other members of the group, which they say was planning further attacks on tourists and oil installations. (Bloomberg, March 25)

A 75-year-old widow in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 40 lashes and four months in prison for associating with two young men who are not close relatives, her lawyer said March 9. The newspaper al-Watan said the woman, Khamisa Sawadi, met with two men, both aged 24, in April after she asked them to bring some loaves of bread to her home. The two men, her nephew and his business partner, were arrested by the religious police after delivering the bread, the newspaper said. They were also sentenced to lashes and imprisonment. The verdict against Sawadi, a Syrian who was married to a Saudi, also orders her deportation after her sentence is served. Her lawyer said he would appeal. (AP, March 10)

A Turkish court ordered the arrest of Cumhuriyet newspaper journalist Mustafa Balbay March 5 for his alleged involvement in a plot to overthrow the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Balbay was arrested along with Internet publisher Neriman Aydin as part of the probe into secular group Ergenekon. The Ergenekon probe has been criticized as an attempt by the AKP to silence opposition and further their imposition of Islamic principles in violation of Turkey's secular constitution.

A judge in Lebanon Feb. 25 granted bail to three men suspected of involvement in the February 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The judge did not explain why he released them within days of the planned start-up date for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (SLT). Of the three men, who have been detained for three years, Mahmoud and Ahmed Abdel-Aal are Lebanese brothers whose phone records allegedly link them to the bombings, and are members of a pro-Syrian Sunni Muslim group. Ibrahim Jarjoura is a Syrian who was arrested for allegedly misleading the investigation. Four more suspects, who are high ranking Lebanese generals, are still being held. The SLT is expected to request their transfer to The Hague within two months.

A prominent Kurdish lawmaker gave a speech in his native Kurdish in Turkey's Parliament Feb. 24—in defiance of the law. Turkey's state TV network cut off the live broadcast of the official, Ahmet Turk, as he spoke to members of his political party, the Democratic Society Party, known by its Turkish acronym DTP.

A bomb tore through a crowded market in Cairo Feb. 22, killing at least four people, including a French tourist. The attack, which was apparently targeted on Westerners, took place beside the 12th century al-Hussein mosque, a notable tourist attraction in the old quarter of Egypt's capital. About 17 were wounded in the explosion, including 11 French visitors and one Austrian. (The Telegraph, Feb. 22)

Ten new immigrants from Yemen arrived in Israel Feb. 19 in a special operation of the Jewish Agency, including Said Ben Yisrael—a leader of the Jewish community in the city of Raida, where local Jews are facing a wave of harassment. Ben Yisrael, who came with his wife and seven children, has suffered death threats, and a grenade was thrown into his courtyard several weeks ago. Approximately 280 Jews are now living in Yemen—230 in Raida and about 50 in the capital of Sana'a. Many Jews fled Sana'a about a year ago due to harassment by a group supposedly connected to al-Qaeda.

An Egyptian political dissident whose imprisonment strained relations between Cairo and Washington for more than three years was unexpectedly freed Feb. 18 in an apparent goodwill gesture toward the new US administration. Ayman Nour, who ran against President Hosni Mubarak in 2005 and was later imprisoned on widely questioned forgery charges, was released for medical reasons, the Egyptian prosecutor's office said. Nour, who has heart and eye ailments, was due to be freed in 2010 after a five-year sentence. His case came to symbolize a campaign by Mubarak's National Democratic Party to silence political opponents. (Newsday, Feb. 19)