For decades, Jordan has struggled to introduce reforms and prevent honor crimes — one of the uglier vestiges of colonialism. A Jordanian woman shows the name of her sister in a list of honor crime victims published by a human rights group in Amman, Jordan, 20 May 2000...
For decades, militant religious schools in Pakistan called madrassas taught students to kill non-believers. Now, Islamabad is taking them on. Zaman and Viqar Shah head to a madrassa in Islamabad, Pakistan, 22 May 2003. (EPA-PHOTO/EPA/Shabbir Hussain Iman) For 30...
Jordan ranks among the world’s worst countries for women’s economic participation. A former cabinet minister speaks out on what must change. Jordanian plumber Maryam Mutlaq at a school in Zarqa, northeast of Amman, 21 March 2016 (AP Photo/Muhammed...
Many Westerners hold misconceptions about Middle Eastern women. They are not powerless, and Islam is compatible with women’s rights. Candidates wave during a rally ahead of parliamentary elections in Jordan, 2 September 2016. (EPA/Jamal Nasrallah) This is the...
A Jordanian youth reflects on the tangible and intangible objects, the memories and values that he carries with him each day. A pupil’s backpack. (EPA/Pablo Gianinazzi) I carry my black Hawaii Y5 phone. It’s not the newest technology, but it satisfies me. I...
Jordan has long been a peaceful center in a tumultuous region. But the Syrian crisis has forced it to revisit a thorny social problem: child marriages. This article is the first of a six-part series on women’s rights in the Middle East. Winner of first prize in our...
A female face in a sea of mustaches and beards: We went looking to document women’s rights and found a street vendor selling bread in Amman. (All photos were taken in Amman, Jordan on February 14, 2019.) When we chose the topic of women’s rights for our photo...
The kingdom is spending billions on its entertainment industry, hosting the likes of Mariah Carey, Cristiano Ronaldo and golf pros. What’s in it for Saudis? An aerial view of a Saudi development (Photo courtesy of Bernd Debusmann Jr) I was sitting on a lush...
Revolutions lead in uncertain directions. Today, the effects of Iran’s revolution are still being felt on geopolitics, women’s rights and global conflict. An Iranian soldier during a demonstration in Isfahan, Iran, December 1979 (AP Photo/Michel Lipchitz)...
John Rogers, one of News-Decoder’s correspondents, was a young reporter for Reuters in 1979 when events in Iran changed the face of that country, the Middle East and the world. Rogers witnessed the collapse of the Shah’s royal regime, which crumbled when...