Police clashed with protesters in several Turkish cities as Kurds marched in defiance of a ban to mark the 10th anniversary of the capture of separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence. The biggest protests were in Diyarbakir, where police brought out armored vehicles, tear gas and water cannons to disperse a crowd of 2,500 that gathered outside the headquarters of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), the only legal Kurdish political party. Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir and lawmaker Aysel Tugluk, both DTP members, were present at the protest, but police barred them from addressing the crowd. Protests were also held in towns across the southeast. In Sirnak, protesters threw fire bombs at police, and authorities in Semdinli near the Iraqi border set up roadblocks to prevent marches, witnesses said. There were also clashes in Istanbul. More than 85 were arrested, and several injured.

Yemen's government is denying press reports that it released a large group of al-Qaeda suspects from prison last week. The Yemeni embassy in Washington issued a statement saying the 108 released prisoners are not affiliated with al-Qaeda in any way. Anonymous Yemeni security officials had been quoted saying that authorities were releasing about 170 suspects linked to al-Qaeda after the detainees signed commitments to good behavior. The US has expressed concern about past releases of suspected al-Qaeda militants in Yemen. Al-Qaeda's Yemeni chapter claimed responsibility for an attack on the US embassy in Sanaa last September that killed 13 Yemenis. Six attackers also were killed. (VOA, Feb. 10)

Egyptian blogger and peace activist Philip Rizk was released without charge Feb. 11, four days after he was abducted immediately after he took part in a march in support of Gaza. He reports he was blindfolded, handcuffed and interrogated around the clock by state security agents while in detention. The German government and legions of former and current classmates and professors mobilized an online campaign for the release of Rizk, a dual Egyptian-German citizen who studied at Wheaton College in Illinois and is a graduate student at American University in Cairo.

In reaction to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, a coalition of Egyptian opposition parties are seeking to ban an Israeli delegation of up to 300 pilgrims from visiting a Jewish shrine. The shrine—believed to be the tomb of a Moroccan rabbi, Abu Hatezira, in Dmitoh village west of Alexandria—is visited yearly by Israeli delegations that arrive in tightly secured convoys. A movement called "You Will Not Move Over My Land" was established by members of groups including the leftist al-Tagamu party and the banned Muslim Brotherhood to stop the delegations.

A group of tribesmen in Amran governate of north Yemen assaulted and threatened a reporter from NewsYemen service last week over his coverage of the trial for the murder of a leader of the country's Jewish community, Moshe Yaish Nahari, who was apparently killed by an Islamist militant. The reporter, Mahmoud Taha, said that tribesmen accosted him outside the Amran Criminal Court Dec. 31. In a press release, the chief editor of NewsYemen, Nabil al-Sufi, condemned the harassment of Taha, who he said was carrying out his duty as a journalist with neutrality. He held the security authorities responsible for Taha's life. (NewsYemen, Dec. 31)

The Assyrian International News Agency reports Kurdish village leaders, in league with local bosses of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), are waging a "lawful means" campaign to confiscate the lands of the Assyrian monastery of St. Gabriel, founded in 397 CE, in the eastern Turkish city of Midyat. Timotheos Samuel Aktas, the Metropolitian of Tur Abdin, charges that the Kurdish mayors of Yayvantepe, Eglence and Çandarlı villages "falsely claimed" in a petition to judicial authorities that Mor Gabriel Monastery has illegally encroached upon village woodlands and cut oak trees. The monastery is also accused of illegally conducting missionary activity among local Muslim youth.

Yemeni police in the capital Sana Nov. 27 opened fire on thousands of opposition protesters, wounding 23, three critically, rally organizers said. The Interior Ministry said the troops only fired in the air to disperse the crowd, and warned in a statement that the opposition parties would be held responsible for "the consequences of their illegal acts." The Yemeni journalists union also issued a statement saying troops used batons and weapon butts to beat seven reporters who were covering the rally. Dozens of protesters were arrested, while the Interior Ministry said two police were also injured.

A Syrian court sentenced 12 prominent dissidents to two and a half years each in prison Oct. 29 for calling for democratic reforms and an end to the Baath Party's monopoly on power. The dissidents, 11 men and a woman, were arrested last year after holding a large meeting to revive a movement that called for freedom of expression and a new constitution in Syria. The defendants, who are among Syria's leading intellectuals and opposition figures, have been imprisoned since their arrest. The charges against them include "weakening national morale." (Reuters, Oct. 29)