Haitham Al Maleh is preparing himself to be the next Syrian president, but he says he’s also number one on the Syrian regime’s hitlist for assassination.

Al Maleh is a leading figure in Syria’s opposition, known as the country’s father of human rights, who’s spent many years in prison for his work.

Yaara Bou Melhem gets close-up access to him in exile in Cairo, as he works to arm and finance the Free Syrian Army in its fight against the Assad regime and its violent crackdown on opposition.

But at the age of 81 and constantly fearing for his life, will he ever see a free Syria?

See more on the SBS Dateline website.

As the world watched events unfold in Libya, little attention was paid to the plight of migrant workers stranded there.

The ‘Arab Spring’ led hundreds of thousands of Asian migrant workers to flee the region.

Today, some remain stranded, while others are just starting to return.

101 East reports on the migrant workers stranded in the Middle East in Long Way From Home.

See more on 101 East’s program website.

I won this year’s prestige Walkley award for International Journalism for my ‘Struggle for Freedom’ series.

Details from the Walkley Foundation and SBS 

The Jordan Valley was once renowned for its lushness and now one man is returning it to its former glory.

For centuries the Jordan Valley was renowned for being one of the most lush and productive lands in the world. But years of over-grazing and drought have left it arid and with high salinity levels.

To reverse this decline Australian permaculture expert Geoff Lawton has embarked on an ambitious project that he calls ‘Greening the Desert’.

Using agricultural mulch and special irrigation canals, he is desalinating 3,000 square metres of land, restoring the soil’s fertility and turning the Jordanian desert into an oasis. Lawton is also creating a demonstration site where he passes on his wisdom to people from as far afield as Afghanistan, Peru and Ghana.

Watch on: Earthrise, Al Jazeera English

The demands for freedom have been taking many forms in the Middle East this year.

And Beirut-based band Mashrou’ Leila is using music to tackle Lebanon’s conservative attitudes and social taboos.

The lead singer is openly gay and with songs are about sex, civil war and religion, the band is using uncompromising language to get its message across.

Yaara Bou Melhem follows them as they perform in Lebanon and Jordan, and speaks to them about their growing group of followers.

They tell her that their music isn’t welcome everywhere, but once again the internet and social media has become a crucial way of reaching a wider audience.

I’ve just been awarded the Best TV Current Affairs Award by the United Nations Association of Australia for my reporting from the Middle East on the struggle for freedom and the Arab uprisings this year.

The stories are Syria: Freedom’s Call and Bahrain’s Dark Secret.

The Mangrove Action Project is a rehabilitation programme in one of the most scenic and remote corners of Indonesia’s vast archipelago.

It is working to restore some of the 70 per cent of mangrove forests that has been lost to pollution and logging.

See the project in action on the island of Tanakeke in South Sulawesi for EARTHRISE, Al Jazeera English.

Earthrise, Al Jazeera English

When former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri was assassinated by a car bomb in Beirut in 2005, it rocked the whole of the Middle East.

He was seen as a transforming figure after years of civil war, and wasn’t scared to take on the powerful forces seeking to control his country.

But attempts to track down his killers have led investigators on a difficult and deadly journey.

Now, Dateline’s Yaara Bou Melhem has a rare interview with the top Australian policeman brought in to help solve the case.

The Deputy Commissioner of New South Wales Police, Nick Kaldas, lays the blame with Hezbollah, but attempts to try four of its members have so far failed, plunging Kaldas and the UN-backed murder tribunal into an international political controversy.

So what next for such a significant criminal case? And will its outcome destabilise Lebanon once again?

SBS Dateline

Compton is one of the Los Angeles’ roughest neighbourhoods… renowned for gang violence and poverty… but it’s also becoming well known for its cricket.
In the most unlikely of settings, a group of young people have turned their back on crime to formCompton Cricket Club and hit back at the gang culture in South Central LA.

Yaara Bou Melhem catches up with the ‘Homies and the Popz’ in the United States and follows them on tour to Australia, as they travel the world inspiring young people from all walks of life.

SBS Dateline

Report on Australia’s carbon tax for the Al Jazeera English 101 East program.

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Australia has unveiled one of the world’s most ambitious schemes to tackle climate change.

From July 2012, Australia’s biggest polluting companies will pay $25 a tonne for their carbon emissions, increasing 2.5 per cent a year until moving to a market-set price in 2015. The plan will create the largest emissions trading scheme after the European Union’s.

Australia generates more carbon pollution per head than any other developed country. But the government faces a furious backlash over the scheme, which a large proportion of the population opposes.

101 East travels to Australia to ask: What is the cost of pricing pollution?