Courts and the law

Ahmed Shihab‑Eldin attend "Palestine 36" red carpet during the Doha Film Festival 2025 on November 24, 2025 in Doha, Qatar.

Kuwait detains American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin: What to know

Kuwaiti authorities have been cracking down on alleged violators of the country's media law during the Iran war.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu review a military honor guard on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Hungary in defiance of the International Criminal Court (ICC)'s arrest warrant against him over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Hungary has long-standing ties with Israel, and they been further bolstered up since the start of the war in Gaza, sparked by the Palestinian militant group Hamas's attack on Oct

With Orban’s defeat in Hungary, Israel loses European shield

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cultivated a strong relationship with outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who even withdrew from the International Criminal Court because it issued an arrest warrant against the Israeli leader.

Israeli soldiers patrol a street in Hebron's Old City in the occupied West Bank on January 23, 2026, deployed as settlers entered the area under army protection. (Photo by Mosab Shawer / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

Four Israeli soldiers arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran: What to know

Since the Oct. 7 attacks, several Israelis have been prosecuted for spying for Iran, but this is the first case involving active-duty soldiers.

MOJAHID NAW/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

'Apartheid': Arab countries including UAE, Jordan decry new Israeli law

A group of foreign ministers struck out at a new Israeli law requiring the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of terrorism in military courts.

Latest News

Meet Mojtaba Khamenei, hard-liner with IRGC ties, likely Iran’s next supreme leader

Rouzbeh Fouladi / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Kuwait amends citizenship law amid revocation spree: What to know

Kuwaiti members of parliament attend a special session for the swearing in ceremony for the prime minister and his cabinet ministers, at the National Assembly in Kuwait City on Jan. 29, 2024.

Turkey backs Libya in legal challenge to Greece-Chevron offshore deal

A general view taken on April 4, 2014, shows oil tanker Morning Glory, during the unloading of oil in the Libyan seaport of Zawiya.

Interview

Treated as 'enemies’: Ahmad Tibi accuses Netanyahu government of indifference to Arab Israeli lives

Arab-Israeli parliament member Ahmad Tibi poses for a picture during an interview with AFP at his office at the Knesset (Israeli parliament) building in Jerusalem on June 25, 2024. The 65-year-old leader of an Arab-majority party told AFP that after October 7, "hundreds of Arab citizens were hunted down, chased by the Israeli police for writing a post or a story empathising with the children of Gaza or saying no to the war." (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP) (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)

Ahmad Tibi

Ahmad Tibi

Knesset member and Ta'al Party leader

A protestor holds a placard of Istanbul's detained Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as they listen to the leader of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Ozgur Ozel during a rally protesting the 100th day of his detention at Sarachane Square in Istanbul on July 1, 2025. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP) (Photo by YASIN AKGUL/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey detains 30 as government crackdown on opposition deepens: What to know

Detainees include officials from Istanbul and Antalya municipalities and their family members as part of an ongoing corruption investigation into the Republican People’s Party (CHP) that critics say is politically motivated.

TOPSHOT - A voter casts her ballot at a polling station in a school in the district of Agouza in the Egyptian capital's twin city of Giza on the first day of the 2025 Egyptian Senate elections on August 4, 2025. Egypt's two-day vote beginning on August 4 will elect 200 of the 300 seats in the upper chamber of parliament, with the remaining third appointed directly by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief who came to power after ousting Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. (Photo by Khal

Egypt holds second Senate vote as pro-Sisi parties dominate: What to know

The Senate elections, dominated by pro-Sisi government parties, feature fewer party list and individual candidates compared to elections held in 2020.

Flags of Jordan and the Muslim Brotherhood are waved with other protest signs denouncing the US-led Middle East economic conference in Bahrain, in the Jordanian capital, Amman, on June 21, 2019.

Jordan summons suspects accused of holding Muslim Brotherhood assets: What to know

The Hashemite Kingdom has taken a number of legal actions against the Islamist organization since banning them in April.

Iranians cross a street by a billboard with a portrait of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Enqelab Square, Tehran, July, 9, 2025.

Iran executions double to 625 as parliament mulls harsher espionage penalties

The United Nations said executions so far this year stand at 625, at the least, more than double the number for the same period last year.

Members of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol the road near the border with Israel in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Naqura on March 19, 2025.

UNIFIL patrol in southern Lebanon comes under attack: What to know

A group of men blocked a UNIFIL patrol in southern Lebanon, citing the absence of a Lebanese army escort, leading to brief clashes in the latest incident involving local residents and the UN peacekeeping mission.

United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Rights Situation in the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese (L).

US sanctions UN official overseeing Palestinian rights

The sanctions come on the heels of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting with President Donald Trump.

Supporters of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood take part in a protest in the village of Sweimeh.

Jordan targets charities for alleged Muslim Brotherhood ties: What to know

Jordan banned the Muslim Brotherhood in April and arrested some senior members of the related Islamic Action Front last month.

RICCARDO MILANI/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images

In first AI crackdown, Turkey blocks access to some Grok content

The access ban marked the first AI content censorship in Turkey, stemming from offensive material targeting the Turkish president, religious values, and the country’s founder.

Turkey protest

Turkey’s Sozcu TV forced off air in latest crackdown on opposition: What to know

As Istanbul's mayor remains jailed, pressure mounts on opposition-aligned media to soften their criticism, analysts say.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends his trial on corruption charges at the District Court in Tel Aviv, on Dec. 16, 2024.

Analysis

Trump’s intervention fuels debate in Israel: Will Netanyahu accept plea deal or pardon?

Many in Israel were stunned when President Donald Trump slammed the trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called it a "witch hunt."

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Fatih Altayli

Turkey jails journalist Fatih Altayli for allegedly threatening Erdogan

Fatih Altayli, one of Turkey’s most popular journalists, was arrested over allegedly threatening Erdogan, sparking outrage from media groups.

Protesters hold Turkish flags and placards reading 'Freedom for Imamoglu' as they take part in a demonstration against the detention of the Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, organized by the country's main opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP), at Beyazid Square, in Istanbul, May 7, 2025.

Turkey jails Imamoglu's lawyer as government crackdown continues

Opposition and legal groups condemn the arrest as an attempt to undermine legal defense rights.