Horror at Prince Hamza Hospital and the power of the blogosphere

As are the majority of bloggers in the Jordanian blogosphere, I was shocked and dismayed by the treatment of the father of a fellow blogger at Prince Hamza Hospital. It really beggars belief. However, this is not the main reason for this post. I’m blogging about this to highlight the effect of the blogosphere in a country that has been used to government-dominated media outlets for the last few decades. You see, word spread about this inhumane treatment through the blogosphere and it has already found its way into traditional media. Addustour daily published the story and it was picked up on a news website called Rum. Hopefully, this will bring still more attention and prompt concerned officials to act.

When I was growing up in Jordan, I never had such an outlet. We heard of similar heart-wrenching stories occurring to friends and family but we felt completely helpless. There were instances when we could not do anything to highlight the predicaments caused by an inefficient public system or institution. Things are no longer the same. There is now a way to spread the word even if traditional media outlets shy away from reporting what they may regard as "daring" stories or incidents that might air the country’s dirty laundry.

I’m glad that I’m witnessing this first-hand. The effect of the blogging phenomenon should never be underestimated. After all, bloggers are getting international recognition. Just last week, outspoken Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas was named as one of the recipients of the prestigious Knight International Journalism Award. Yes the blogs are here to stay, despite what others might think.

Update: Blogger Who Sane reports that he has been contacted by officials from the Health Ministry following his post and the reactions that followed.

Upon republishing the story in Addustour Daily, (Batir, I owe you my life), senior officials at the Ministry of Health contacted me yesterday and confirmed that the newly appointed Minister of Health, Dr. Salah Al Mawajdeh, sends his regards and is personally very concerned about this issue and has given direct orders to start an investigation lead by the Head of Internal Auditing Department at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Azmi Al Hadidi, who called me and visited my dad at the hospital yesterday (September 5th, 2007) and assured us that the investigation will prosecute those who have caused this ordeal.

Rana’s Husseini’s upcoming book

Rana Husseini I was very pleased to stumble upon the website of my former colleague Rana Husseini, who is currently working on a book on honor crimes. I really can’t wait to put my hands on this intensive piece of work. According to her site, the book:

… will provide people with a credible source based on real-life experience tackling a sensitive issue which is often susceptible to misconception. The book is entitled Murder in the name of honour and is expected to be published in the next few months.

It should be good. I can’t wait!

Reactions to alleged involvement of Jordanian doctor in UK plot

Mohammad Asha before The Jordanian blogosphere is filled with reactions to the alleged involvement of Jordanian doctor Mohammad Asha in the UK terror plot. Blogger and journalist Batir Wardam is hoping that Asha is innocent, saying:

I am deeply in hope that Dr. Mohammad Asha (27) who is a Jordanian will turn out to be innocent from the suspicions of an alleged role in the planning of terror attacks in London and [Glasgow]. Not only because he is Jordanian but I feel very alarmed that the profile of Dr Asha is very far away from the typical terrorist, in fact he can be a replica of thousands of Arabs and Muslims trying to seek a career of excellence in Europe.

The story of Asha is all over the news here in the US. The Today program is showing a picture of him with Queen Noor. Nothing has been confirmed so far and he may turn out to be innocent as his family claims. But I think harm has already been done. Jordan’s name is now linked to this terror plot. What a shame! I do disagree with Batir on the issue of Asha’s profile. I’m of the opinion that the current "profile of a terrorist" is not that of the disenchanted and the unemployed. On the contrary, many of those involved in terrorism are highly educated. Here is an excerpt from today’s Washington Post:

Ayman al-Zawahiri, deputy leader of the network, is an Egyptian-trained physician. Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged chief planner of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacking plot, earned a degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina A&T University. The lead hijacker, Mohamed Atta, studied architecture. Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was educated as a civil engineer.

Meanwhile, blogger Firas is not surprised by the possible radicalization of Asha. Firas showed a more recent picture than above of Asha with him fully-bearded, something that could be interpreted by some as a shift towards extremism. He says:

Mohammad Asha afterIf he is truly involved, there might be some explanation, and I’ve personally witnessed this: What happens is that Arab students go to study abroad in countries where political and religious freedoms are granted for all, say countries like: US,UK,Canada and Australia. Now these students get to know other Muslim students usually Pakistanis who got some extremists among them, and that’s when they are fed with all this crap. And this is out of personal experience (a close friend would stop talking to you, because you are a Christian,the guy was transformed in 5 months). As in Pakistan extremist groups and parties are deeply rooted in that country, and for an Arab student who finds him/herself in an alien culture and lately a hostile culture to Islam (think of post 9/11,the Danish cartoons,the Pope’s lecture,etc) these guys would have some affect.

Regardless of whether Asha is innocent or not, it is a shame to see Jordan’s name dragged into this. As if the effect of Zaraqwi on Jordan’s reputation was not enough!

UPDATE: The International Herald Tribune is running a story that highlights comments from Asha’s colleagues who are saying that he was "absorbed in his studies and had no ties to terrorism." The story quotes a Jordanian government source saying that British authorities described Asha as a "possible subject" not charged with any crime. The same source called connections to the physician "very sketchy."

Azmi Mahafzah, Mohammed Asha’s instructor at the University of Jordan medical school, said he knew Mohammed Asha during his studies and training from 1998 to 2004 and did not have the impression that he was religious. "He interacted with others, both boys and girls. He has no prejudices. He is not a fanatic type of person," he said. "I wouldn’t believe that he would risk a very, very bright future in medicine for going into such things. He’s very smart," Mahafzah said. He said Mohammed Asha graduated with top honors from his medical class.

Another colleague of Asha’s in Amman, Aseel al-Omari, described herself as a "close friend" of the Jordanian doctor. She said she knew him for the past decade since they attended a school for gifted students. The school, founded 14 years ago by Jordan’s Queen Noor to promote religious tolerance, is mixed — a rarity in this conservative Muslim society, which often separates the sexes.

Newsweek’s interview with Ali Farzat

Reader Peter S. drew my attention to this Newsweek interview with Ali Farzat, whose cartoons were banned by the Syrian regime but eventually picked up by the BBC in the form of an animated series.

An Ali Farzat moment Hassan Abdallah: Bashar al-Assad used to come visit you at home before he became president, and he’s responsible for [at first] legalizing the publishing of your drawings. Why this change of heart?

Ali Farzat: Before he became president, he used to attend my exhibits and a friendship developed as a result. But there are those who thought that Al-Doumari had crossed the line in exposing corruption and putting into doubt the reputation of some institutions and individuals. We used to cover important issues dealing with reform and the things holding it back, and we sent an open letter to the president asking him to institute needed reforms.

They viewed that as a threat to their control. They wanted me to follow the official line, they offered all sorts of incentives, and then they threatened. Finally, they shut down the paper. People in Syria remember that Al-Doumari preferred telling the truth, even if that led to its demise, over lying to the people and staying alive. There are Baathists who consider Syria their property and they behave as if they are first-class citizens, better than the rest. Syria has become the property of a group of monopolists.

Source: [Newsweek]

You can read the whole interview here. I really do not know why authoritarian regimes spend all of this time and effort trying to stifle freedom of expression when nothing can be censored anymore in this globalized era. The public is no longer naïve. They can see it all.

Media watch: The work of consultants

For those that care about media issues, here is an article I wrote about the work of The Rendon Group in Afghanistan.

Consultants say they focused on skills, not influencing media

Rendon Group, a public relations firm known for helping the U.S. government make its case for the war in Iraq, denied any direct influence over Afghanistan’s news media at a June 8 event in Washington, D.C. Linda Flohr, a consultant at Rendon, said the group’s work in Afghanistan was only with training that government’s press officers. "We only worked on skills," she told IJNet.

The work of Rendon Group and other public relations contractors hired by the Pentagon was once nearly unknown to the public. But they have faced higher public scrutiny since 2005, when news outlets reported that another firm, The Lincoln Group, paid Iraqi journalists and newspapers to publish stories favorable of the U.S. military’s work in Iraq. Flohr said that any articles connecting Rendon Group with those efforts have since been retracted.

Read more: [IJNet]

MEMRI: Lost in translation?

MEMRI: Lost in translation?

Still from Al-Aqsa TV clipBesides writing and editing, I spend a big chunk of my day as a linguist, translating Arabic to English and vice versa. Although the process itself is tedious and hectic at times, I enjoy it for the most part, particularly when I’m trying to find the exact word match. I look at a challenging text as a riddle that can only be solved by hunting for the most accurate missing pieces. It is an elusive game but I enjoy it and better, I even get paid for it. Any translator dreads the time when they end up choosing words that do not match. It is the ultimate horror when the translator “mistranslates” especially when it comes to the business of news. Misquoting someone’s words and then broadcasting them to the public is the news translator’s ultimate bad dream. Luckily, I have yet to face my interpretation nightmare.

All that said, it should come as no surprise that I was extremely intrigued by Brian Whittaker’s piece in The Guardian that highlighted the mistranslation of the now infamous Al-Aqsa TV clip, which was eaten up by US media outlets. While I found the show and its content extremely off-putting, as children are being cajoled into parroting political ideologies, Whittaker makes a very valid point: The MEMRI translators either mistranslated or intentionally decided to embellish what was said on the tape. What was most intriguing about his piece was the argument that occurred between MEMRI’s founder and one of CNN’S Arabic speakers, Octavia Nasr.

Among those misled by Memri’s “translation” was Glenn Beck of CNN, who had planned to run it on his radio programme, until his producer told him to stop. Beck informed listeners this was because CNN’s Arabic department had found “massive problems” with it. Instead of broadcasting the tape, Beck then invited [MEMRI’s] Carmon on to the programme and gave him a platform to denounce CNN’s Arabic department, and in particular to accuse one of its staff, Octavia Nasr, of being ignorant about the language.

Carmon related a phone conversation he had had with Ms Nasr: She said the sentence where it says [in Memri’s translation] “We are going to … we will annihilate the Jews”, she said: “Well, our translators hear something else. They hear ‘The Jews are shooting at us’.” I said to her: “You know, Octavia, the order of the words as you put it is upside down. You can’t even get the order of the words right. Even someone who doesn’t know Arabic would listen to the tape and would hear the word ‘Jews’ is at the end, and also it means it is something to be done to the Jews, not by the Jews.”

And she insisted, no the word is in the beginning. I said: “Octavia, you just don’t get it. It is at the end” … She didn’t know one from two, I mean.

As a native speaker myself, I heard nothing about annihilating the Jews. What I heard was: بطخونا اليهود which translates into: “The Jews are shooting at us.” So the question becomes: Did MEMRI embellish their translation on purpose or was it simply an innocent translation mistake? I cannot say for certain. What I do know is media organizations should take MEMRI’s translation with a grain of salt, especially after this incident. Here is what Whittaker thinks:

The curious thing about all this is that Memri’s translations are usually accurate (though it is highly selective in what it chooses to translate and often removes things from their original context). When errors do occur, it’s difficult to attribute them to incompetence or accidental lapses. As in the case of the children’s TV programme, there appears to be a political motive. The effect of this is to devalue everything Memri translates — good and bad alike. Responsible news organisations can’t rely on anything it says without going back and checking its translations against the original Arabic.

Hat tip: [Jordan Journals]