The disqualification of candidates for Iran’s presidential election confirms that the country’s leaders are trying to consolidate their regime rather than giving citizens a meaningful choice of candidates, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said today. “Even a soccer match …

The secret of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political survival and success is not only its hierarchical structure and Leninist-like discipline, but most importantly its religious cover, “which is enough to cause people to turn a blind eye to any wrongdoing …

Nicaragua’s Sandinista government has denied entry to a delegation from the International Democrat Union.

The group of four Latin American and European parliamentarians headed by Venezuelan former governor Henrique Fernando Salas (right) and opposition congressmen Carlos Berrizbeitia …

Religious freedom continued to decline in China this year, according to the State Department’s 2012 Religious Freedom Report. The government “respect for religious freedom declined during the year, particularly in Tibetan areas and the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Republic,” said …

New restrictions on the sale and advertising of alcohol in Turkey are “prompting outcry from citizens concerned about the creeping Islamization of the country,” reports suggest.

Opposition lawmakers accused Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (above) and his ruling AK party …

A Moscow court today rejected two appeals by one of Russia’s oldest human rights groups over prosecutors’ raids on its offices during a widespread Kremlin crackdown on civil society groups in March.

“Memorial, which has fought to preserve the …

New technologies are allowing Cuba’s independent voices “to narrate and to try to change our reality,” says a leading dissident.

“Here in Stockholm it has felt rather like Cuba, though certainly not because of the weather,” Yoani Sanchez writes from …

Egypt’s ruling Muslim Brotherhood is trying to stifle civil society while pursuing reconciliation with bastions of the previous authoritarian regime.

“Almost three years after an uprising fuelled by the old regime’s venality, Egypt’s cash-strapped Islamist government is making amends with …

Supporting democratic transitions in volatile regions like the Middle East will remain a key element of U. S. counter-terrorism strategy, President Barack Obama said today.

The peaceful realization of individual aspirations for freedom and dignity in countries like Libya, …

On June 14, the Iranian people will participate in an election to elect the Islamic Republic’s next President. While most observers do not expect the election to be free and fair, Iran’s political scene remains lively and competitive, within rigid …

A Syrian opposition leader today urged President Bashar al-Assad to cede power and go into exile, without immunity from prosecution. But the divided opposition is itself under international pressure to resolve internal differences and decide whether to participate in Geneva-based …

In confronting Tunisia’s radical Islamists, the Nahda-led government is being forced to address a problem of its own making, says a leading analyst. Since they took over the reins of government early last year, Nahda leaders have focused on …

Burma’s transition process has been “a top-down affair,” The Economist notes.

“This, more than anything, distinguishes it from other recent upheavals such as the ‘people power’ revolutions of the Arab spring, the fall of communism in Europe and the …

The Arab spring came as a golden moment for Islamists to establish political influence in the post-revolutionary political orders of Egypt and Tunisia. Two years later, however, the impact of non-Islamist currents on the political scene of both countries …

Tunisia is making progress in its efforts to dismantle “terrorist” cells, Prime Minister Ali Larayedh said today. But he declined to apply the “terrorist” label to the radical Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia (right) that has been linked with Al-Qaeda and …