A Palestinian court sentenced an American-Palestinian on Monday to life imprisonment for violating a ban on selling land to Israelis, judiciary officials said. The U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, called in November for dual national Issam Akel to be released, saying his suspected crime was “selling land to a Jew” and his incarceration violatedRead more

Iran deployed scores of policemen to disperse a brief protest in downtown Tehran over a bus crash last week that killed 10 people, including eight students. Monday’s rally — which saw about 200 protesters gather — was the third consecutive day of demonstrations over the accident. Earlier protests took place inside the Azad University campus in northernRead more

Young women looking to play the world’s most-popular sport have a place all their own in Libya. An all-girls soccer academy in the capital looks to break societal norms in the Muslim majority country that frown upon women wearing shorts or competing on the same fields as men. But it is not without criticism thatRead more

A court in Bahrain upheld Monday a five-year prison sentence against prominent activist Nabeel Rajab over tweets alleging torture at one of the country’s prisons and criticism of the Saudi-led war in Yemen.   Rajab’s son Adam Rajab and four human rights groups confirmed the ruling. Rights groups criticized it as a miscarriage of justice.Read more

Iran says a delegation of the Taliban has discussed efforts to bring peace and end Afghanistan’s 17-year war during a rare visit to Tehran. Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi says the Taliban delegation arrived on Sunday and met with Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi. Ghasemi says they discussed “security issues aimed at driving theRead more