Al Jazeera World

This is the story of a much-loved Palestinian singer-songwriter whose life encompasses creativity, artistic success, political activism and personal tragedy. Rim Banna was born into a creative family in Nazareth in 1966. Her mother was the Palestinian poet Zouhaira Sabbagh and she was raised listening to famous artists like Fairuz. At 16, she was deeply affected by the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres, something that would later heavily influence her music. She studied at a conservatory in Moscow and her own compositions often put Palestinian poems, including her mother’s, to music. Banna began her career recording Palestinian children’s songs, but her powerful and emotional music ultimately reached an international audience. In 2003, she sang on the Lullabies from the Axis of Evil album, through which female singers from the Middle East, Norway, North Korea, Cuba and Afghanistan sent an anti-war message to a world embroiled in the Iraq War. Banna’s music is poetic and emotional; her political message unco

The Swedish city of Malmo, positioned at the eastern end of the Oresund Bridge with Denmark, and the Austrian town of Nickelsdorf, located near the borders of Hungary and Slovakia, have been on the route for refugees fleeing conflict and hardship for years. In this film, we follow the stories of people who have left their native countries, each for different reasons, to build a new life in Western Europe. Imad Tamimi teaches Swedish as a foreign language at an institute in Malmo. He left Nablus for Sweden nearly 10 years ago, and although his application for asylum was initially denied, he was determined to settle there. His big break came in 2018 when he covered for an absent language teacher and was hired full-time, enabling him to get Swedish residency. By contrast, Moataz Kanaan, a Palestinian raised in Libya, is now homeless in Malmo. He fled Libya's revolution in a small raft from Benghazi, was rescued and sent to Sardinia, and then headed north to Scandinavia, only to have his asylum application rej

No two journeys of migration are the same. In this film, we follow four people who left their native countries, each for different reasons, to build new lives in Spain. Mae Azango is a journalist who fled Liberia in 2006 but eventually returned home six years later. A teenager in the Liberian Civil War of the 1990s, she was eight months pregnant when her father was beaten to death. Since returning, she has written in vehement opposition to female genital mutilation. While editors initially ignored her work, her persistence has now attracted several international awards. In 2016, journalist Milthon Robles fled his native Honduras where dozens of reporters have been killed covering the widespread gang violence. “They kidnapped me and tried to kill me several times,” he says, “specifically for my work as an investigative journalist.” He and his wife sought refuge in Spain, where he has received support from a global network that helps writers-in-exile. David Laurent is an actor from Cameroon who has lived in

There are many heroes and heroines of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, but among the celebrated names of Mandela, Sisulu, Tutu and Biko is one less familiar - Abdullah Haron. This Muslim leader from Cape Town led a quiet but significant defiance against racist government policies in the 1960s. He was especially politicised by the infamous massacre of 69 Black African protesters at Sharpeville in 1960. His anti-apartheid activities took him around the world and he established close ties with renowned anti-apartheid figure Canon John Collins, the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London. His work in defiance of apartheid also put him in great danger. He was detained without charge and tortured when he returned to Cape Town. He died while in police custody in 1969 under still-unexplained circumstances; claims by police that he "fell down stairs" - a stock explanation at the time for deaths of political prisoners in police detention - are today countered with overwhelming evidence of his death at t

In recent years, hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled conflict, poverty and human rights abuses at home, arriving on the shores of the Mediterranean and Western Europe. Despite the difficulties they face, many have built successful new lives. Now in Italy, Olumide Bobola fled Nigeria over fears for his safety in 2016. He crossed the Sahara, surviving for three days on nothing but glucose drops, and after a perilous Mediterranean Sea crossing, arrived in Sicily. Today he is a singer in Rome, performing a repertoire of Italian songs. He was "adopted" by established traditional Italian musician, Stefano Saletti, and the two now share musical influences and the same creative musical journey. "I call Italy my house," says Bobola, "but Nigeria is my home." Nosakhare Ekhator, also from Nigeria, fell into the hands of people traffickers in Libya where he was held in a room with 120 others. One in five of those detainees perished. Now also in Rome, the young clothing designer has learned Italian and staged h

What do you do if your bank account suddenly gets closed and you and your business can no longer function - and you have no idea why? You discover it is because you are on a database that you did not even know existed, saying that you have links with "terrorism" and therefore few banks will deal with you. This happened to two organisations in London which were listed on a database used by the banking system to combat money laundering and other financial crimes. They both resorted to legal action, their cases were settled out of court and they were paid damages - but they still suffered disruption and reputational damage. This film examines these databases - how they gather information, how it is used and what human impact they can have.

What do you do if your bank account suddenly gets closed and you and your business can no longer function - and you have no idea why? You discover it is because you are on a database that you did not even know existed, saying that you have links with "terrorism" and therefore few banks will deal with you. This happened to two organisations in London which were listed on a database used by the banking system to combat money laundering and other financial crimes. They both resorted to legal action, their cases were settled out of court and they were paid damages - but they still suffered disruption and reputational damage. This film examines these databases - how they gather information, how it is used and what human impact they can have.

In one of the most audacious individual espionage operations ever, Eli Cohen, an Egyptian-born Jewish accounting clerk, was recruited by Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, trained intensively as a field agent for six months and given a new identity as an Arab businessman in South America. In 1962, he was deployed as a spy to Damascus where he successfully ingratiated himself in the higher echelons of Syrian society. He fed intelligence to Mossad for three years and is credited by some for enabling the Israeli military to take the Golan Heights in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Cohen was eventually found out, however, and publicly executed in 1965. In this documentary, a Syrian politician and writer discusses the events that led to the arrest, trial and death sentence of Mossad Agent 88.

This is a story of a financial scandal, of fortunes won and lost and political collusion in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that goes right to the heart of Emirati business and politics. At the centre of it is a self-made Indian billionaire - Dr BR Shetty. As founder of New Medical Centre Health (NMC), Shetty built relationships with the UAE's all-powerful sheikhs that appeared to open doors. Business was booming and, in 2012, NMC was the first Abu Dhabi company to be listed on the London Stock Exchange. The Initial Public Offering (IPO) raised $186m and raised NMC's market value to more than $8bn. The first rumblings of financial trouble, however, came in December 2019 when an American investment firm published a damning report on NMC's finances. NMC's shares plummeted by 48 percent, wiping $1.5bn off the Shetty family fortune. In April 2020, NMC Health went into administration in the United Kingdom for insolvency. Later that month, the UAE Central Bank ordered the seizure of all of Shetty and his family'

From Cairo's narrow downtown streets and alleys to the affluent residential areas in the outer reaches of the city, nothing escapes the attention of the ever-vigilant doormen. Sitting at the entrances of apartment blocks in Cairo and Alexandria - and often mindful of the chance to make a quick buck - the "bawabs" have been an integral part of the social fabric of Egypt's big cities for decades. This Al Jazeera World documentary celebrates the men, their history, their job and their influence. Of course, the bawabs are often much more than doormen. They are the all-seeing eyes and ears of the buildings they live and work in, observers of residents' "moral practices", as well as plumbers, electricians, security guards and keepers of personal secrets. But today's doormen are disappearing. As a new wave of construction takes place in Cairo, Egyptian society is undergoing profound change. Many of today's doormen have become security guards, with smart blue uniforms replacing traditional galabeyas in what many

In July 1995, an estimated 8,000 Muslim men and boys - sons, husbands and brothers - were dragged away never to be seen again. The Srebrenica massacre marks a particularly inhumane and brutal act within the tragedy and bloodshed of the 1992 to 1995 Bosnian War. This film follows four survivors of the massacre as they look to the future despite the pain of their loss and the angst of trying to make sense of the past. *This film, first broadcast in 2012, was updated in July 2020, 25 years after the Srebrenica genocide.

Stretching from Mozambique in south-east Africa to Syria in the Middle East, the Great Rift Valley is home to the world's lowest city, Jericho, which was established over 10,000 years ago. Farmers and shepherds have tended flocks and lived off the land in the Jordan Valley for thousands of years. But Israel's continued occupation of the region since 1967 is threatening people's traditional way of life, restricting Palestinian development on the land - and Bedouin homes in the area have repeatedly been razed. Some 56,000 Palestinians live in the part of the valley that lies in the West Bank, many of who are Bedouin living in temporary communities, always moving with the herds. Their determination to remain on the land is becoming ever more difficult in the face of constant attempts by the Israeli military and settlers to drive them off their land. With water resources and agricultural potential, the valley would be the breadbasket and water source of any future Palestinian state. The Jordan Valley has som

After Yugoslavia fell apart in the early 1990s and descended into a bitter regional conflict, Alija Izetbegovic fought for the survival of his country and people. The first president of the independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Izetbegovic was no stranger to controversy and had served five years of a 14-year prison sentence in the 1980s. This two-part documentary series uses interviews with members of his family and major regional figures as well as archive footage and reconstruction to tell the chequered history of this part of the Balkans through Izetbegovic's eyes.

After Yugoslavia fell apart in the early 1990s and descended into a bitter regional conflict, Alija Izetbegovic fought for the survival of his country and people. The first president of the independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Izetbegovic was no stranger to controversy and had served five years of a 14-year prison sentence in the 1980s. This two-part documentary series uses interviews with members of his family and major regional figures as well as archive footage and reconstruction to tell the chequered history of this part of the Balkans through Izetbegovic's eyes.

Just how free are women in Saudi Arabia today? The Saudi government has said it supports the empowerment of women and young people. While there have been reforms, including lifting the ban on women driving in June 2018, the arrest and detention of women speaking out against the government appear to have continued. Al Jazeera World looks at the individual cases of five Saudi women currently in detention, or who have fled the country following apparent harassment for their political views. It asks whether Saudi Arabia is publicly championing the rights of women while privately punishing those who challenge the status quo. In this film, the family of one detainee makes serious allegations of torture during her imprisonment, while others give testimonies about random arrests and arbitrary detention at Dhahban prison near Jeddah. According to Human Rights Watch, and following international pressure, the Saudi Human Rights Commission carried out an investigation into conditions at Dhahban and found no evidence of

Asked to pick a country where people are passionate about Indian cinema, few might choose the North African Kingdom of Morocco. Bollywood came to the country in the 1950s, where it was embraced for its glamour, dance, romance and pure escapism. There is no obvious explanation for the connection, although it may have started when Ibrahim al-Sayeh began dubbing films - including Indian cinema - into the local Arabic dialect, Darija. Now, the most devoted fans have decorated their homes with Bollywood paraphernalia and perform Hindi songs at themed events - and there is sometimes an Indian section at the annual Marrakech International Film Festival attended by well-known actors and directors. Others have gone even further, like Imane Karouach who left Morocco for India when she was 16. She has worked hard to become a jobbing Bollywood actress and, although not a mega-star, she has had several high-profile roles; she also runs a pizzeria in Mumbai. This quirky documentary, filled with a wide variety of chara