A judge in Lebanon Feb. 25 granted bail to three men suspected of involvement in the February 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The judge did not explain why he released them within days of the planned start-up date for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (SLT). Of the three men, who have been detained for three years, Mahmoud and Ahmed Abdel-Aal are Lebanese brothers whose phone records allegedly link them to the bombings, and are members of a pro-Syrian Sunni Muslim group. Ibrahim Jarjoura is a Syrian who was arrested for allegedly misleading the investigation. Four more suspects, who are high ranking Lebanese generals, are still being held. The SLT is expected to request their transfer to The Hague within two months.

A prominent Kurdish lawmaker gave a speech in his native Kurdish in Turkey's Parliament Feb. 24—in defiance of the law. Turkey's state TV network cut off the live broadcast of the official, Ahmet Turk, as he spoke to members of his political party, the Democratic Society Party, known by its Turkish acronym DTP.

A bomb tore through a crowded market in Cairo Feb. 22, killing at least four people, including a French tourist. The attack, which was apparently targeted on Westerners, took place beside the 12th century al-Hussein mosque, a notable tourist attraction in the old quarter of Egypt's capital. About 17 were wounded in the explosion, including 11 French visitors and one Austrian. (The Telegraph, Feb. 22)

Ten new immigrants from Yemen arrived in Israel Feb. 19 in a special operation of the Jewish Agency, including Said Ben Yisrael—a leader of the Jewish community in the city of Raida, where local Jews are facing a wave of harassment. Ben Yisrael, who came with his wife and seven children, has suffered death threats, and a grenade was thrown into his courtyard several weeks ago. Approximately 280 Jews are now living in Yemen—230 in Raida and about 50 in the capital of Sana'a. Many Jews fled Sana'a about a year ago due to harassment by a group supposedly connected to al-Qaeda.

An Egyptian political dissident whose imprisonment strained relations between Cairo and Washington for more than three years was unexpectedly freed Feb. 18 in an apparent goodwill gesture toward the new US administration. Ayman Nour, who ran against President Hosni Mubarak in 2005 and was later imprisoned on widely questioned forgery charges, was released for medical reasons, the Egyptian prosecutor's office said. Nour, who has heart and eye ailments, was due to be freed in 2010 after a five-year sentence. His case came to symbolize a campaign by Mubarak's National Democratic Party to silence political opponents. (Newsday, Feb. 19)

Police clashed with protesters in several Turkish cities as Kurds marched in defiance of a ban to mark the 10th anniversary of the capture of separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence. The biggest protests were in Diyarbakir, where police brought out armored vehicles, tear gas and water cannons to disperse a crowd of 2,500 that gathered outside the headquarters of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), the only legal Kurdish political party. Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir and lawmaker Aysel Tugluk, both DTP members, were present at the protest, but police barred them from addressing the crowd. Protests were also held in towns across the southeast. In Sirnak, protesters threw fire bombs at police, and authorities in Semdinli near the Iraqi border set up roadblocks to prevent marches, witnesses said. There were also clashes in Istanbul. More than 85 were arrested, and several injured.

Yemen's government is denying press reports that it released a large group of al-Qaeda suspects from prison last week. The Yemeni embassy in Washington issued a statement saying the 108 released prisoners are not affiliated with al-Qaeda in any way. Anonymous Yemeni security officials had been quoted saying that authorities were releasing about 170 suspects linked to al-Qaeda after the detainees signed commitments to good behavior. The US has expressed concern about past releases of suspected al-Qaeda militants in Yemen. Al-Qaeda's Yemeni chapter claimed responsibility for an attack on the US embassy in Sanaa last September that killed 13 Yemenis. Six attackers also were killed. (VOA, Feb. 10)

Egyptian blogger and peace activist Philip Rizk was released without charge Feb. 11, four days after he was abducted immediately after he took part in a march in support of Gaza. He reports he was blindfolded, handcuffed and interrogated around the clock by state security agents while in detention. The German government and legions of former and current classmates and professors mobilized an online campaign for the release of Rizk, a dual Egyptian-German citizen who studied at Wheaton College in Illinois and is a graduate student at American University in Cairo.