AMMAN — For Osama Hasoun, 23, protesting has become a weekly affair. Nearly every Friday afternoon, he prays at Amman’s popular Grand Husseini Mosque. Afterward, he carefully folds his prayer mat, puts on his black shoes and blends into the crowd. Re
AMMAN — As scenes of Arab street protests fill his television set, Abu Saqer, a petty domestic tyrant, panics at the thought of losing control of his household. His daughter wants to wear a brighter shade of lipstick. His son wants to join the protes
MAFRAQ, JORDAN — In this northern Jordanian town, just a few minutes from the Syrian border, tall water tanks can be seen from a distance and an empty lot is encircled with barbed wire. The refugee camp, still in the process of being prepared, has no
RAMTHA, JORDAN — This impoverished Jordanian city across the border from Dara’a, Syria, has become a temporary haven for Syrians who continue to flee the violence that has swept their country… Read more
AMMAN — A year ago, a video surfaced of a 6-year-old boy, Ahmad al-Saket, standing in front of a large classroom chalkboard crying, shaking and pleading for mercy. A teacher carrying a wooden stick in her hand is scolding him in front of other studen
AMMAN — For eight years, Nima Habashna has been garnering online support for the rights of Jordanian women to pass on their citizenship to their non-Jordanian spouses and children.When the Jordanian government — in response to the Arab Spring — scrap
AMMAN — Alaa Khalil, 42, has been selling T-shirts and sweaters on a busy pavement in central Amman for 30 years. Al Husseini mosque is just a five-minute walk from his wooden tables and untidy mannequins. The mosque has been a focus point of nearly
AMMAN — A few days after police attacked journalists covering a pro-reform demonstration here in July, injuring more than a dozen and breaking cameras, the Jordan Press Association held a protest sit-in to denounce the attacks. King Abdullah II issue
AMMAN — When Iraqi militias threatened Ghasswan Al Taee, 36, in 2006, he fled to Jordan. Five years later and with three children born here, his state of limbo has become a constant. Since 2003 an estimated four million Iraqis have fled their homes,
AMMAN — Ahmad Sami, 28, watched as cars passed by his makeshift tent, which he set up to sell watermelons. Mr. Sami’s business opens early and closes late and so, he said, he did not hear about the recommendations announced Saturday on reforming poli
AMMAN — With unrest continuing in Syria, violence between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and repression elsewhere in the region, Jordan is trying to walk a narrow path of managed reform. The balancing act is not easy.In the past week, a g
AMMAN — Jordan’s political reform movement has gone quiet in recent weeks after demonstrations in Amman and elsewhere that ended in violence. A protest March 25 in Amman left scores injured, opening fractures between groups opposing the government an
AMMAN — Some pleasant memories of Essam Ali’s Iraqi homeland still seep into his mind. He remembers the summer of 1985, for instance, when, surrounded by forests and friends, he trained in mime and pantomime in Mosul, Iraq, from dusk until dawn. Thro
AMMAN — Two weeks ago, Manal, 27, dressed in a black robe, walked slowly in a crowd of several hundred demonstrators — mostly men — carrying children, waving Jordanian flags or holding up homemade protest signs near the prime minister’s office. This
