Asharq Al-Awsat's Columnist Amal Moussa Wins Int’l Catullo Award for Poetry

Tunisia Minister of Family, Women, Children and the Elderly Amal Belhadji Moussa
Tunisia Minister of Family, Women, Children and the Elderly Amal Belhadji Moussa
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Asharq Al-Awsat's Columnist Amal Moussa Wins Int’l Catullo Award for Poetry

Tunisia Minister of Family, Women, Children and the Elderly Amal Belhadji Moussa
Tunisia Minister of Family, Women, Children and the Elderly Amal Belhadji Moussa

The Tunisian poet and writer, Amal Belhadj Moussa, won the Catillo International Prize for Poetry 2022, granted by the World Poetry Academy.

The World Poetry Academy was established in June 2001 in Italy with the support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The jury indicated that it wanted to crown the sentiment and thought described in the poetic experience of the poet.

It also indicated that it chose Moussa from among international candidates to present a certificate of appreciation for the beautiful, thriving contemporary female poetry in the Arab countries and a tribute to the poet.

Amal Moussa is considered a symbolic figure among the few Arab female creators to be published in Italy.

Moussa currently holds the position of Minister of Family, Women, Children, and the Elderly, in Tunisia.

She has six collections of poetry, which have been translated into Italian, French, Turkish, English, and Spanish.

Her collections include Female of Water (1996), Emerald's Bashfulness (1998), Like Me the Stars Sparkle (2010, Rainy Body (2010), Life Has Not Put Its Makeup Yet (2017), In Love, and Don't Look into the River (2021).

The Minister received many awards, namely the first prize for the best Arab production on women's issues from the Arab Women's Organization in 2006, the Zubaida Bashir award for the best Literary Production in 2018, and several honors in many Tunisian poetry festivals, and various Arab countries, Europe, and the US.

Moussa is an academic and a weekly columnist in Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. She has written publications in sociology, political Islam, youth and religiosity, and the sociology of daily life.



Prince Harry Loses Legal Fight with UK Government over Police Protection

Prince Harry says security concerns have hampered his ability to visit the UK. HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP
Prince Harry says security concerns have hampered his ability to visit the UK. HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP
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Prince Harry Loses Legal Fight with UK Government over Police Protection

Prince Harry says security concerns have hampered his ability to visit the UK. HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP
Prince Harry says security concerns have hampered his ability to visit the UK. HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP

Prince Harry on Friday lost his legal challenge to changes to his security arrangements made by the British government following his decision to step down from royal duties with his American wife Meghan.

Harry, King Charles' younger son, had sought to overturn a decision by the Home Office - the ministry responsible for policing - which decided in February 2020 he would not automatically receive personal police security while in Britain.

Last year, the High Court in London ruled the decision was lawful and that decision was upheld by three senior Court of Appeal judges who said that, while Harry understandably felt aggrieved, that did not amount to an error of law in the decision.

Judge Geoffrey Vos said Harry's lawyer had made "powerful and moving arguments" about the impact of the decision about his security.

"It was plain that the Duke of Sussex felt badly treated by the system, but I conclude - having studied the detail of the extensive documentation - I could not say that the Duke's sense of grievance translated into a legal argument for the challenge to RAVEC's decision," he told the court, Reuters reported. 

Harry, 40, who now lives in California with Meghan and their two children, attended two days of hearings in person in April, when his lawyer told the court that he had been singled out for different, unjustified and inferior treatment.

His lawyers said al Qaeda had recently called for him to be murdered, and he and his American wife Meghan had been involved in "a dangerous car pursuit with paparazzi in New York City" in 2023.

"One must not forget the human dimension to this case: there is a person sitting behind me whose safety, whose security and whose life is at stake," his lawyer Shaheed Fatima told the court as Harry watched on.

"His presence here and throughout this appeal is a potent illustration, were one needed, of how much this appeal means to him and his family," she said.

However, the government's legal team said the bespoke arrangement for Harry, the Duke of Sussex, had positive advantages from a security assessment point of view.