Middle East

World News

Middle East Expert On Assassination Of One Of Iran's Top Nuclear Officials

3:48pm November 27, 2020

An Iranian scientist, who U.S. intelligence says is one of Iran's top nuclear officials, has been assassinated. NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Iran Middle East expert Ariane Tabatabai about the news.

World News

Iran's Top Nuclear Scientist Assassinated Outside Of Capital City

3:48pm November 27, 2020

by Peter Kenyon

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, one of Iran's top nuclear officials, has been assassinated. He was killed on Friday in a shooting outside Tehran. Iran's foreign minister has accused Israel of playing a role.

World News

Iranian Nuclear Scientist Assassinated, State Media Says

12:24pm November 27, 2020

by Peter Kenyon

The man who apparently heads Iran's nuclear program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, has been assassinated in an attack of some kind, just outside the capital Tehran. Iran's Defense Minister confirmed his death.

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Kylie Moore-Gilbert, returned home to Australia Nov. 27, after serving more than two years in Iranian prison over claims she was a spy.

World News

Australian Professor Returns Home Following 2-Year Imprisonment In Iran

5:19am November 27, 2020

by Jaclyn Diaz

Kylie Moore Gilbert, an Australian professor, was arrested in Iran in 2018 and later received a 10-year prison sentence for espionage, charges which she vehemently denies.

This Nov. 30, 2014 image made from video released by Loujain al-Hathloul shows her driving toward the United Arab Emirates-Saudi Arabia border before her arrest on Dec. 1, 2014, in Saudi Arabia. Al-Hathloul has been imprisoned for over two years and will

World News

Loujain Al-Hathloul: Saudi Arabia Transfers Activist's Trial To Terrorism Court

4:41pm November 26, 2020

by Jackie Northam

The activist's sister tells NPR her parents "saw a very weak, tired, exhausted Loujain" at her court appearance: "They said that her body was shaking, that she could barely hold the papers."

From Syria To America: A Teen Seeks A 'Safe Place' In The Universe

1:59pm November 25, 2020

by Gregory Warner

He was only 10 when the soldiers took away his father. Eventually the family fled to Jordan. But where would they go next? Their saga inspired a Pulitzer-winning graphic series in The New York Times.

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Kamo Zandinan says goodbye in the Mosul orphanage to a 10-year-old girl she believes is her daughter Sonya, taken from her by ISIS six years ago. The girl was rescued by police in March from an Arab family to whom she was not related. Zandinan is waiting

World News

A Yazidi Woman Searches For Her Lost Daughter, Kidnapped By ISIS 6 Years Ago

4:08pm November 24, 2020

by Jane Arraf

ISIS fighters tore Kamo Zandinan's 4-year-old daughter Sonya from her arms in 2014. Zandinan, now a refugee in Canada, recently returned to Iraq to meet the 10-year-old girl she believes is Sonya.

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Leila Khaled, an activist and prominent member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, speaks during an event in February 2018.

World News

'Welcome To The Party, Zoom': Video App's Rules Lead To Accusations Of Censorship

5:56pm November 23, 2020

by Bobby Allyn

The videoconferencing app banned a Palestinian activist who is a member of a U.S.-designated terrorist group. Now, the company's policies are being questioned.

Gasser Abdel Razek, executive director of Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, in a photo from the organization's website. Abdel Razek was arrested with two other officials of the civil rights organization after the met with European ambassadors.

World News

Egypt Defiant As International Criticism Grows Over Arrest Of Human Rights Activists

3:06pm November 23, 2020

by Jane Arraf

Three prominent figures in the country's embattled human rights movement were arrested after meeting with European ambassadors. The Egyptian government is accusing them of being terrorists.

The eldest sister of Shamima Begum holds her sister's photo in 2015. Begum, who left London to join the Islamic State organization as a teenager, is now trying to return to the U.K. to argue that her British citizenship should not have been revoked.

Court Considers Whether Woman Who Joined ISIS As A Teen Is Allowed To Return To U.K.

3:03pm November 23, 2020

by Laurel Wamsley

Shamima Begum, now 21, left London with two other schoolgirls in 2015 to join the terrorist organization and is now in a detention camp in Syria. The U.K. revoked her citizenship last year.