Middle East

It is not only our documentary film maker
Sabiha Sumar who was lucky to attend a Dinner with her President, Pakistan's leader General Musharraf:

Some journalists had the opportunity to have supper alongside Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in New York last week. Among them was Richard Stengel reporting for Time magazine about his Dinner with Ahmadinejad:

In Egypt (site of the Why Democracy? film Egypt: We Are Watching You), where 11 journalists were sentenced to prison terms last month, Ibrahim Issa, editor of Al-Dustour and a high-profile critic of President Hosni Mubarak, is now headed to trial.

Press freedom exists to about the same extent in Egypt as democracy, i.e., both flourish only in the propaganda of the government. Elsewhere, blogger and journalist Hossam al-Hamalawy reports that a cleric is backing a judge's attempt to have the government ban 51 blogs and websites (including al-Hamalawy's). And Nora Younis writes of another blogger, just released from prison, who has revealed the name of the security officer who he says tortured him.

Al-Hamalawy's blog gives a great inside view of Egypt's political turmoil and the struggle against the Mubarak regime. In other posts he details the ongoing government crackdown on student groups, the massive coordinated strikes now taking place and international solidarity movements.

The former President of Iran, Hashemi Rafsanjani, was elected as the head of a powerful clerical body, which approves Iran's supreme leader. Rafsanjani is said to be more moderate, than the current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This election shows clear tendencies for a moderate movement in the Islamic establishment of Iran, experts say.

Read more about it on BBC News online and in the International Herald Tribune. Join the debate in our forums: Is democracy good for everyone?

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The race to Lebanon's presidency started yesterday with the opening of the electional campaigns for head of state. The new president is elected by lawmakers on September the 25th. Since the Lebanon is political divided the Middle East republic faces severe disputes and a struggle for power.

Read more about the situation on International Herald Tribune. Join the debate in our forums: What is wrong with democracy?