Sometimes , residents of the Middle East have a hard time taking a joke . This , at least , is how the editor of the satirical blog the Pan-Arabia Enquirer sees it . The website , based in Dubai and self-dubbed `` the world 's only 7-star satirical news source , '' gets roughly 400,000 page views per month and is often likened to The Onion . According to its editor , some of the most popular stories are often confused for bona fide fact . `` Judging by the response it gets , I 'd say it 's a 50-50 split between those that think it 's a joke , and those that really do n't , '' says the editor , who prefers to remain anonymous ( `` Our stories generate anger from people who are outraged , and I do n't want to be the focal point of that anger , '' he says ) . A story published last month claiming a new gold-class lane would be introduced on the road from Dubai to Abu Dhabi -- which the site joked would be paved in gold and separated from the other lanes with a velvet rope -- provoked earnest ire . `` This is sick . Faux-elite structures build on the back of internationally-sourced slave labor in lifestyles financed by unearned oil revenues . I am appalled at the news that comes out of this country , '' wrote one commenter . Read more : Arab youth find comic relief in stand-up . An article on the site about Emirates Airlines introducing shisha lounges to their flights actually inspired a few UAE residents to contact the carrier for more information . It was also picked up by a few travel websites , and published as fact . `` Even the terribly photoshopped picture , '' he marvels . As for why his readers seem so gullible , he attributes it to the infancy of satire in the Middle East . `` Satire is n't exactly alien , but it 's not a known concept in the region . People here have a tendency to believe everything that is put in a newspaper , '' he notes . Whether the art form is new or not is subject to debate . Still , many agree that it is ripening in the region . `` We 've always had room for satire , though maybe it was more widespread in Lebanon -- due to their strong TV channels , political system and level of freedom of speech -- though it 's always been around in Jordan in terms of play shows , newspaper columnists and caricatures , '' notes Fadi Zaghmout , the Jordanian blogger behind The Arab Observer , and one of the Pan-Arabia Enquirer 's 4,500 Twitter followers . `` I do see it gaining ground now , '' he adds . Read more : In the Middle East , cartoons can kill . Pan-Arabia 's editor says that while some people do n't get the joke , many seem to find the site a lifeline . `` I definitely think there 's a hunger for it , '' he says . `` We get comments from people who say , 'thank God there 's something like this here , I was going out of my skull , ' and readers are starting to send in their own stories . Some of the biggest stories have been sent in by readers , and not just Western expats taking the piss out of the country they live in -- most come from Arab readers . '' Of course in many ways , the Middle East is not an easy place to be a satirist . Earlier this month , Bassem Youssef , the Egyptian talk show often likened to Jon Stewart , had his show suspended after he started poking fun at the country 's military regime . Other comics in the region have faced similar fates . Sami Fehri , a Tunisian producer of a political puppet show , was imprisoned for a year on corruption charges , and in July , Saudi blogger Raif Badawi was sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes for mocking religious figures . `` This is what has put us down as a community , as a population , for so long . We ca n't really talk back , '' Youssef told CNN in an interview earlier this year . `` People equate being laughed at as being ridiculed , [ saying ] ' I ca n't be ridiculed by this little dot dot dot brat . But if you start to suppress people 's freedom of speech under any excuse you want , it 's not good for the country , '' he added . Pan-Arabia 's editor , who says he admires Youssef 's humor and bravery greatly , finds his suspension from television somewhat ironic . `` There he was , happily mocking [ former president Mohamed ] Morsy , and he got arrested , and everyone went out on the street pushing for free speech and he gets put back on air . Then everything changes , and he goes on air and mocks [ General Abdel Fattah ] el-Sisi , and everyone 's in uproar . In Egypt , satire is fine so long as it 's going in one direction , which is hysterically satirical in itself . ''
The Pan-Arabian Enquirer is the Middle East 's answer to The Onion . The satirical newspaper is often confused for fact . In a recent interview with Al Jazeera, he said that his paper was not meant as an insult but rather a way of expressing frustration at what he sees as the lack of progress in resolving the Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef was taken off the air earlier this month .