Global Voices Online

What is the second hardest to find in Iraq after the “prime minister”? It is a “Beauty Queen,” Sabbah said. On April 9, Tamar Goregian, a Christian woman, made history as the first Armenian Iraqi to be crowned Miss Iraq. Few days later, Miss Iraq announced her resignation after receiving threats by a group of extremists.

Last night it was left to the fourth-placed contestant, Silva Sahagian, 23, another Christian, to assume the mantle.

Recent Links also in Middle East & North Africa

Adil Najam discusses about a recently released list of 8000 persons including the president of Pakistan and 34 Pakistani politicians who have benefited from the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), promulgated by former president Pervez Musharraf on Oct 5, 2007. This ordinance “grants amnesty to all those against whom politically-motivated cases were registered between Jan 1, 1986, and Oct 12, 1999.”

Maghreb Blog reports that the sentence of Chakib Khayari, a human rights activist and whistleblower, has been upheld in a Casablanca court. Khayari is set to serve three years in prison for accusing high-level civil servants of aiding in drug trafficking.

Moroccan resident Ibn Ibn Battuta shares a list of nonfiction and travel books that keep him busy on the road in Morocco.