Saudi Arabia: Amnesty International has strongly condemned a new Saudi Arabian anti-terror law that criminalizes legitimate political oppositions. The organization said in a statement that the draft law considers it a crime to question the integrity of the king or the crown prince and carries a minimum prison sentence of ten years. The draft law also allows for detaining a suspect for one year without a trial and holding suspects for four months in solitary confinement. The rights organization describes the law as posing a dangerous threat to freedom of speech in the name of preventing terrorism.

Yemen: Anti-regime protestors gathered in the capital Sana'a and various other provinces to reaffirm their rejection of Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime. They named today the "Friday of Rejection of Collective Punishment." Meanwhile, supporters of the ruling party rallied in support of Saleh at Sana'a's al-Sabeen Square on what they called the "Friday of Sit-in to Thank God."

Syria: Cities throughout the country witnessed popular protests today, like every Friday since March. Activists on social networking websites called for demonstrations on the "Friday of the Grandsons of Khaled Ibn el-Waleed." The opposition estimated that 1.2 million protestors participated in today's demonstration. Protests were witnessed in the cities of Damascus, Homs, Hama, Daraa in the south, Idlib in the north and Deir az-Zour in the east near the border with Iraq. According to preliminary estimates by human rights activists, five people were killed today.