Photo Essays

Libya celebrates its first national Liberation Day, a year after the country deposed of Moammar Gadhafi's rule. By Gaia Anderson

While Muslims in Western Europe still represent a very recent phenomenon, Muslims have been settling in Eastern Europe for several centuries – in Belarus, Poland, and Lithuania, for example. Here, they are an integral part of the population. At the beginning of the 14th century a group of Tatars settled on territory encompassing the former Arch Duchy of Lithuania who were, in a name derived from the old Crimean Tatar word "Lipka" for Lithuania, called "Lipka Tatars". Today, several thousand descendants of this people live in the region. Photos: Ahmed Krausen, texts: Annett Hellwig

The innumerable symbols and slogans in graffiti, banners and leaflets that served the Arab demonstrators as a means for political protest against their autocratic rulers were at times rich in metaphor, laconic and ironic, and at other times more direct and accusatory.

Afghan soccer fans celebrate the country's first premier league football final. By Waslat Hasrat-Nazimi

Zanzibar has long been a place of religious tolerance and diversity, and this characteristic is reflected in its architecture. The East African archipelago in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanzania enjoys a reputation as a melting pot of religions. In the maze of narrow alleyways that make up the old quarter of Stone Town on the main island Unguja, mosques stand side by side with Hindu temples and churches among houses made of coral by Muslim Arabs some 300 years ago. Impressions and images by Arian Fariborz.

A year after Libya's revolution and the death of leader Moammar Gadhafi the country is still struggling in its transition to a democratic and just society. Remembering cultural traditions may help the process. Impressions by Gaia Anderson and Sabine Hartert

The "Arab Spring" has led to a revision of our picture of the Arab woman: they've been on the streets, playing an active role in the protests, demonstrating their strong commitment to democracy, human rights and rights for women – and that has surprised and impressed many onlookers. But now that the dictators have been overthrown and new political structures are in the process of being created, many fear that women will once more be pushed out of the public space. But their courageous stand in favour of justice has shown: women are by no means the weaker sex. Arab women won't give up, and they plan to carry their revolution into the future.

The city of Reyhanli situated on the southern border of Turkey currently represents a haven for numerous refugees from Syria. Some of them have already started to build a new life there, developing creative business projects. Impressions by Gaia Anderson

50 years ago, in 1963, Iranian women secured the right to vote. Fahimeh Farsaei looks back at five decades of progress and setbacks for the women's movement there.

The January Revolution and the toppling of the Mubarak regime left conspicuous marks on numerous facades in the cities and towns of Egypt. The provocative messages of graffiti artists and activists were almost exclusively political in nature and focused on issues such as repression, violence and arbitrary police conduct.