I was on “In the Arena” with Elliot Spitzer to talk about why Pres. Obama didn’t release pictures of a dead Osama Bin Laden. On CBC Connect I discussed reasons behind the frat-boy scenes of celebrations we’ve seen at Ground Zero.

I was on Russia Today’s “Crosstalk” to discuss bans on face veils with Myriam Francois-Cerrah, of the Oxford Islamic Society, and Sihem Habchi, president of Ni Putes Ni Soumises. Another Muslim woman (who works with the French businessman who has offered to set up a fund to pay fines incurred by women who wear niqab) [...]

I was on Tuesday’s edition of the Dave Ross Show talking about France and the ban on face veils and on BBC Radio 4′s Moral Maze to discuss the same issue with the panel.

By Mona Eltahawy Jerusalem Report, May 24, 2010 Oslo – Listening to men and women women testify at the Oslo Freedom Forum in April, I thought how apropos it was that the night before I flew to Oslo I had attended a performance in London of “Macbeth,” Shakespeare’s depiction of a “bloody-sceptered” tyrant, which could’ve [...]

In an online poll, Barbie fans voted what her new career should be. They chose: News Anchor – a wonderful coincidence because as you’ll see from my latest Time.com video essay, that’s exactly the kind of job I’ve had in mind for Barbie ever since an Italian designer added a burka to her wardrobe.

I recorded my iMuslims essay for Time.com

By Mona Eltahawy The Jerusalem Report Feb. 1, 2020 edition You’ve seen their mugshots: a Nigerian charged with trying to blow up a plane on Christmas Day; five young American Muslims detained in Pakistan, apparently desperately seeking jihad. You’ve heard they used the video-sharing site YouTube in search of Muslim militant groups fighting U.S. troops [...]

By Mona Eltahawy Huffington Post NEW YORK — When President Barack Obama said he wanted to address women’s rights during his speech to Muslims last week, I said a prayer to the God of the Torah, the Bible and the Quran: please don’t let him fall into the trap of headscarves and hymens. The conversation [...]

By Mona Eltahawy June 5, 2009 Patheos.com Do you remember the bit in Barack Obama’s 2004 Democratic National Convention when he said “If there’s an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process that threatens my civil liberties.”? Of course you do. Well, that was the start of what [...]

I was on KCRW’s To the Point talking about Obama’s speech and Muslim women’s rights. I start at 21:02 mins. Other guests were: * Alyse Nelson: President and CEO, Vital Voices Global Partnership * Haseeb Humayoon: co-author of a New York Times editorial * Nisha Varia: Deputy Director of the Women’s Rights Division, Human Rights [...]

By Mona Eltahawy Metro George Bush could never have pulled it off. Give a speech that comfortably hopscotched between hot potato subjects, deftly shift from self-criticism to demanding the same of his audience and get at least 30 applause breaks from a mostly Muslim audience in Cairo, Egypt? Not in a million years. How ironic [...]

By Mona Eltahawy <a href=”http://www.metronews.ca/Toronto/comment/article/217463–naivete-and-international-hypocrisy”>Metro Canada</a> If pirates were holding Nathalie Moran and her three children hostage would the Canadian government rescue her? Moran, 24, is the Canadian woman who claims her Saudi husband Samir Said Ramthi Al-Bishi – whom she met in Canada – is holding her against her will in the kingdom, infamous [...]

By Mona Eltahawy April 17, 2009 Metro When Taliban gunmen shot dead prominent women’s rights activist Sitara Achakzai in Kandahar on Sunday, they had nothing to hide. It was broad daylight after all. To further underline that bloody message of hatred for women, a Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the murder. Clearly, misogyny has married [...]

Associated Press – Afghan president orders review of marital law By JASON STRAZIUSO – 1 hour ago KABUL (AP) — The Afghan president said Saturday he had ordered a review of a new law that critics say makes it legal for men to rape their wives, responding to criticism from around the world that included [...]

By Mona Eltahawy I thought I was used to seeing politicians bargain with each other.  A few concessions here and there to influential voting blocs are part of the elections game. But Afghan President Hamid Karzai — the “liberal” darling of the international community — surely wins that game by throwing women’s rights like bargaining [...]

By Mona Eltahawy NEW YORK — As an Egyptian whose country’s military dictators are either taken by God or an assassin’s bullet, I envy the Pakistani people their ability to now use the term “former president.” As former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf contemplates how his friends in the U.S. administration dropped him quicker than you [...]

by Mona Eltahawy NEW YORK — If I weren’t a Muslim and didn’t know better, I’d think Muslims really do come with a grenade at the end of their turbans — as portrayed in the infamous 2005 Danish cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed. Danish police arrested three Muslims earlier this year for allegedly plotting to [...]

The Question: The producers of the movie “The Kite Runner” had to evacuate three boy actors from Afghanistan because they were involved in a scene portraying homosexual rape. Who’s at fault here: the movie producers who exposed the boys to danger, or the Afghan culture that threatens them? It’s easy to say, “A plague on [...]