Lana Asfour is a senior journalist at al-Araby al-Jadeed English. She has written for the BBC, New Statesman, the Times, Observer, NYRB, Granta, OpenDemocracy, Al Jazeera English, the Daily Star Beirut, the London Magazine and Glamour, among others.
Suad al-Shammari, co-founder of a Saudi rights watchdog with blogger Raif Badawi, was released after three months in jail. She was arrested last October for "insulting Islam".
A report by Human Rights Watch shows that Lebanon's personal status laws, which govern family issues such as divorce, are sexist and actively disadvantage women across all 18 officially recognised religious confessions.
With top Turkish and Israeli leaders accusing each other of being "war criminals" and "anti-Semitic bullies", relations seem to be deteriorating. But trade continues as usual and the damage hasn't yet run deep.
This year, 16 novels from 10 countries have been selected to compete for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction - and the longlist includes a record number of women authors.
This year, 16 novels from 10 countries have been selected to compete for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction - and the longlist includes a record number of women authors.
