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- Published on 02 April 2012
Funding death squads?
The lead story in the pan-Arab media on Monday is the Iraqi government's demand that Qatar hand over Iraq's former Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, wanted in Iraq on charges of supporting terrorist acts and funding death squads.
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Shahristani told a press conference in Baghdad on Monday that al-Hashemi's welcoming reception to Doha on Sunday is "not acceptable," BBC Arabic reports. The deputy premier called on Doha to "return him to Iraq."
For his part, al-Hashimi says he was making an "official visit" to Doha, though he is no longer an official. Yet the official Qatari News Agency ground out the same non-news template used in official news agencies in pretty much every Arab country, pretty much every day since the 1960s with almost no variation whatsoever: the two men "discussed the fraternal relations between the two countries and the latest developments in the region." Al-Jazeera, the station owned and run by the Qatari government did not directly cover Shahristani's news conference, but rather relied on an AFP wire.
Solitary confinement
Marwan Barghouti – whom Arab news junkies will tell you is in an Israeli prison precisely because he is the one Palestinian leader who could deliver peace with Israel – was moved to solitary confinement Sunday night at Hadarim prison, Palestinian news site PANet reported.
The prison administration reportedly isolated Barghouti after he called for demonstrations on May 1, Earth Day, to draw attention to Israel's policies. Bargouti is also now prevented from purchasing anything from the prison's canteen. His wife, Fadwa, said she was supposed to visit her husband in the coming days, but it is not clear whether the Israeli prison administration will allow it.
The framed heads
One of the top stories in Al Rai, Jordan's leading newspaper, addresses a meeting between Foreign Minister Nasser Joudeh and an Italian official to discuss ways to enhance cooperation in the economic and tourism sectors. Far more interesting than the content, however, is the distracting trio of framed heads above the two men. In recent years, official portraits of the Harry Potter-like Crown Prince Hussein have crept into the ministries and royal courts of Amman, next to his father, King Abdullah, and grandfather, the late King Hussein.
When interviewing Amman officials, this reporter has not yet encountered anyone willing to admit how bizarre it is to have a teenaged kid who has hardly uttered a word publicly as the next ruler of Jordan.
Photo: "Everything's normal here, folks – the emperors look fully dressed to me."
