IOL: The Waiting Game

Things are still uncertain at IslamOnline.net (IOL), with two possible outcomes:

1. A severance agreement that results in almost all employees of the site’s Cairo newsroom resigning and the 10-year-old website starting over, or:

2. The issues between Qatar and Cairo are resolved, and the site returns to normal.

According to Al-Masry Al-Youm, Sheikh Youssef el-Qaradawi, who helped found the site, "recently broke a week-long silence on the issue, seemingly siding with the employees. On a Sunday broadcast of his Al Jazeera Channel show Sharia and Life, Qarawai said, the site may be temporarily 'kidnapped,' but ultimately, 'the site must return to its family.'"

An IOL editor whom I occasionally work with says that the mood is still hopeful, and that patience from the site's freelancers is appreciated while the situation is resolved.

More on the crisis at IOL