…from beneath the crooked bough, witness 230 years of brutal tyranny by the al Khalifas come to an end

Venezuela delivers oil to Syria
23 May, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Syrian oil minister Sufian Alao said on Wednesday a Venezuelan oil tanker with 35,000 tonnes of diesel had docked in Syria a day earlier and another was being prepared.

“A Venezuelan tanker carrying 35,000 tonnes of diesel docked in Syria yesterday and Venezuela is preparing another tanker which will come to Syria soon,” state news agency SANA quoted Alao as saying.

Ship tracking data on Reuters shows that the Negra Hipolita, which is managed by state oil firm PDVSA, left Venezuela at the start of May and docked at the Syrian port of Banias this week.

Venezuela angered Washington last year by supplying fuel to Iran, which is also subject to Western sanctions on fuel supplies.

Alao said the Syrian oil industry has lost around $4 billon since European Union governments agreed on Sept 2 to ban imports of Syrian oil. European states used to buy some 90 percent of the country’s oil exports.

Sanctions on President Bashar Assad’s government are in response to the crackdown on an uprising against his rule.

The minister said domestic production of diesel covered around 50 percent of the country’s needs and “there are discussions to secure materials from Iran and Algeria.”

A joint Russia-Syrian committee is also looking at the possibility of “concluding a long-term contract with Russia to supply diesel and cooking gas”, SANA quoted Alao as saying. …more

Long live ‘our’ Gulf bastards
By Pepe Escobar – THE ROVING EYE – Asia Times- 12 May, 2012

Life is a golden gift from Allah if you’re a certified member of the Gulf Counter-Revolution Club (GCC), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council; Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates can torture, kill, repress and demonize their own subjects – in full confidence the “master” will let you get away with it.

Just as the Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty in power in Bahrain is vowing, publicly, to keep arresting, tear-gassing, raiding their homes, confiscating their jobs and forcing pro-democracy protesters to live in non-stop fear, Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa is being hosted in Washington by the Barack Obama administration.

Secretary of State Hillary “We came, we saw, he died” Clinton. Those who “die” are evil dictators of the Muammar Gaddafi variety; “our” bastards get to party in DC after being extended a red carpet welcome.

Is there any Arab Spring-related repression and killing going in Bahrain? According to Clinton, of course not; these are only “internal issues” – in her own words.

What this means in practice is that Clinton subscribes to the official narrative that the sectarianization of everything happening in Bahrain is to be blamed on the protesters – and not the al-Khalifas, who for a year now have been destroying Shi’ite mosques and investing on all-out demonization of all things Shi’ite (blame it on “evil” Iran).

The al-Khalifas have been way wilier than President Bashar al-Assad in Syria; they have killed only an acceptable number of people. But why is Bahrain substantially “different” from Syria? Because “it hosts the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, helping the US military project its might in the Gulf and contain Iran”; and that’s not a neo-conservative talking, but Washington director of Human Rights Watch, Tom Malinowski.

A bunch of cowards
Here is Libya conqueror Clinton:

Bahrain is a valued ally of the United States. We partner on many important issues of mutual concern to each of our nations and to the regional and global concerns as well. I’m looking forward to a chance to talk over with His Royal Highness a number of the issues both internally and externally that Bahrain is dealing with and have some better understanding of the ongoing efforts that the government of Bahrain is undertaking. So again, His Royal Highness, welcome to the United States.

Here’s a Bahraini government spokesman telling it like it is to Reuters only one day before the Clinton-Crown Prince schmooze:

We are looking into the perpetrators and people who use print, broadcast and social media to encourage illegal protest and violence around the country. If applying the law means tougher action, then so be it.

Translation: we will keep going on a rampage because the masters in Washington have our backs covered. …more

Opposition to the grand prix was fuelled by anger towards the excesses of prestige projects and the squandering of resources

Bahrain’s flashy crony capitalism cannot last
Ala’a Shehabi – Guardian UK, 20 May, 2012

In the Gulf Arab states, opulent hotels with gold-plated toilet handles, shopping malls larger than several football pitches, cloud-reaching skyscrapers, artificial islands visible from space and almost racially segregated gated communities have all been hailed as “miracles” in the scorching deserts.

These are the visible signs of unregulated capitalism: political systems that are in many ways still very traditional are chasing each other along the road to urban ultra-modernity.

Sporting events have been a quintessential part of this development too – from the Formula One grand prix in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, the World Cup in Qatar, to the tennis championships in Dubai. But growth without equity, as highlighted in Bahrain, is a recipe for disaster.

The continued uprising in Bahrain and the recent battle over the grand prix may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in changing such an agenda. Domestically, the opposition to the Formula One event was not only about an international sporting body providing succour to a repressive regime. It was also a manifestation of anger towards the excesses of prestige projects and the squandering of resources, as well as despair over human rights violations.

Looking ahead, it could be a sign that other status symbols will become battlegrounds for agitation against other Gulf regimes. Qatar – chosen to host the 2022 football World Cup – seems already aware of this and has announced that it will allow trade unions before then.

Another way of viewing the motorsport battle, and the earlier occupation of Pearl Roundabout in Bahrain, is as a contest over public space – with aggrieved citizens seeking to appropriate it.

The government’s control of public space – which symbolises hegemony by a patriarchal ruling family – has been part of “a fundamental strategy of neoliberalism, for it is in [public] space that the positive image of a place worthy of investment is created,” says Marc Owen Jones, a former resident of Bahrain and a doctoral researcher.

This includes the Pearl Monument, which was annihilated to prevent the space being used to challenge the ruling family’s authority, as well as the grand prix, which the ruling family is using to market the country’s “global urbanism”.

The uprising in Bahrain, which began on 14 February last year, has its historical roots in the frenzied development following the oil boom of the 1970s that has led to nearly 20% of the kingdom’s land being reclaimed from the sea. This land, valued at around $40bn in a 2010 parliamentary investigation, is registered directly to members of the ruling family, who have left only 3% of beaches for the public to use. …more

While pointing finger at Bahrain, Iran uses culture ministry to interrogate journalists
23 May, 2012 – Reporters without Borders

During the Universal Periodic Review of the human rights situation in Bahrain by the UN Human Rights Council two days ago in Geneva, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s delegation called on the Bahraini authorities to “free all political prisoners, put a stop to arbitrary arrests of government opponents and end the impunity reigning in the country.”

For once, Reporters Without Borders agrees with Iranian government officials although it is amazed that they dare to lecture others when hundreds of political prisoners, including 31 journalists and 18 netizens, are languishing in Iran’s own jails.

“Iran is one of the world’s most repressive countries and it would do well to apply its own recommendations,” the press freedom organization said.

According to the information obtained by Reporters Without Borders, journalists are being summoned for interrogation at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, a censorship agency that has been turned into an all-out mechanism of control and repression since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became president.

The summonses are issued by Mohammad Hosseini, the minister, and two of his aides, Mohammad Jafar Mohammad Zadeh, deputy minister for press affairs and information, and Mohammad Javad Aghajari, the head of the foreign press department.

When journalists are summoned to the ministry, they are questioned there by Ministry of Intelligence officials and members of the Revolutionary Guards. Those summoned include journalists who work for foreign media. The interrogations are often violent and journalists are mistreated.

“These interrogations are intolerable,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We urge international cultural bodies to terminate all cooperation with this ministry on the grounds that it authorizes these interrogations and permits the mistreatment of intellectuals on its own premises.” …more

West seeks confidence-building in Iran talks
23 May, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Updated 2:01pm: Global powers will present Iran with a detailed proposal including confidence-building measures when the two sides meet in Baghdad on Wednesday for talks on Tehran’s nuclear program, a senior Western official said on Tuesday.

Officials voiced caution heading into Wednesday’s meeting, but said the Western-led coalition was ready to make an offer on a way forward if Iran showed willingness to curb its nuclear program in a transparent way.

The group, led at the Baghdad talks by European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, “will put forward a detailed proposal that will include confidence-building measures,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters in Amman.

Representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, China, and Russia – plus Germany are due to fly to Baghdad from Amman on Wednesday for the talks, which could last two days.

Officials declined to give specifics of the new proposal, and stressed the group remained committed to ensuring Iran abides by UN Security Council resolutions and meets its international obligations on its atomic work.

Their main goal is expected to be an Iranian agreement to shut down higher-grade uranium enrichment, which has sown fears that Tehran could move swiftly toward a bomb.

Russia said on Wednesday that Iran appears ready to agree specific steps to end the standoff, but warned that additional US.sanctions would undermine efforts to ensure Tehran does not develop atomic weapons. …more

Lamees Dhaif’s Bahrain Perceptions
23 May, 2012 – Lamees Bahrain Perceptions

A speech by the journalist Lamees Dhaif at the United Nations, Bahrain UPR in Geneva 21st May 2012 on testimonies regarding Freedom of Speech.

I stand before you today as a living example of the price paid by anyone practicing freedom of speech in Bahrain.

Before 1 year, 2 months and 4 days I left Bahrain. I know it exactly because I count by the day. When I was packing to leave, everyone (including myself) thought it was temporary: weeks or a few months. Only my mother, because of the sense of motherhood, knew that I will be gone for a long time. That’s why she hugged me tightly and said: You are my eyes; from this day onwards, I would be blind.

My mother preferred to live “without her sight” rather than me losing my life or getting arrested and tortured, as what happened with my own sister who was kidnapped at dawn, detained, tortured and forced to confess to fabricated charges. Her only crime was performing her job and treating injured demonstrators.
I am a journalist. I got terminated from four jobs in 2 days. I was black-listed so that I would not be hired anywhere. My house was attacked 3 times with Molotov cocktails. During the first few months after February 14, I used to wake up to letters of threats and sleep on insults because my phone numbers, home address, and ID numbers were published in pro-government websites and a member of the ruling family threatened me on his Twitter account, and I quote, “Cut me in half”. I was also threatened, and I quote again “to be taken to the grave” by an X-colonel . They even started rumors targeting my manners and chastity to avenge and harm me.

My only crime was that I did my job and did not accept to become a false witness, and I did not accept being manipulated to say only what the authorities intended me to say, as what happened with my colleagues who gave up their morals for rewards and high-ranking posts while those who adhered to the rights of people deserved abuse and intimidation. Certainly, I am not the only victim. Every Bahraini citizen who stood against the regime paid a price in the form of detention, torture, job termination, denial of services and scholarships, and some people even lost their lives as a price for opposing the regime.

Recently, the government enacted a law to imprison anyone condemning the King up to 5 years with a fine of around 40 thousand dollars. Lately, the government began a campaign to monitor the activists on social media, who sought cyberspace to express themselves freely, and threatened to sue them for that. The regime already dismissed thousands from their study and work, investigated and arrested lots of youth because of something they wrote or recapped on social media and we do not know what step might be taken further to suppress any opinion that expose the regime.

I do not know what to say. My words stumble before the amount of suffering I see in my country. I know one thing for sure: that the world does not care about what is happening to us and that everyone intentionally turns their back on our daily suffering. In conclusion, please let me ask you: don’t we have the right to live like others, like yourselves, or are we a different type of human beings? We do not demand more than our right for justice and democracy, our right for dignity to live as citizens not as slaves, and our right to say what we witness and think without putting our lives or future at stake. Since you call for democracy, why don’t you help us achieve it?

I call upon your support for our cause. I call upon on an international community to visit Bahrain to investigate the humanitarian status. We look up to you, do not let us down. …source

The cop who said no to ‘kettling’
23 May, 2012 – Toronto – thestar.com

Amid the deluge of stories over the past two years recounting G20 police abuses, the efforts of good officers — those who kept a moral compass firmly pointed under trying circumstances — have largely gone unheralded.

The OIPRD has identified at least one: Staff Sgt. Bradley Thompson of the Ontario Provincial Police.

The 26-year veteran said he was led to believe there would be no kettling at the G20.

But when Thompson — a unit commander during the summit — and his 40-officer team were called to Spadina Ave. and Queen St. W. that notorious Sunday in June 2010, they found hundreds of people boxed inside police lines.

In a witness statement he gave to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), Thompson said that as the rain poured down, he observed people of all states of dress who were pale and shaking, appearing “sad” and “dumfounded.”

An OIPRD investigative report into the kettling incident paraphrases Thompson as saying the people inside “couldn’t believe that the police could be so ‘inhumane’ to hold them in the intersection and not allow them to use a washroom or get shelter or a coat.”

Thompson soon saw people he said were in “bad shape” — among them, two shivering 12-year-old girls. He decided it wasn’t healthy for the girls to stay there, and opted to release them “quietly.”

The report, along with others released by the police complaint’s watchdog last week, offers, for the first time, on-the-ground accounts from frontline officers. The arm’s-length agency, unlike others probing the G20, has the power to compel officers to speak.

Because there are ongoing hearings under the Police Services Act, OPP spokeswoman Cathy Bell said Tuesday that Thompson was not able to comment. …more

Bahrain: Jailed Blogger and Human Rights Activist Taken to Hospital
23 May,2012 – Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) has learnt from family members that both human rights Activist Ms.Zaynab Alkhawaja as well as pro-democracy activist Ms.Masooma Alsayyed were transferred Monday (21 May) to the Bahrain Defense Force Hospital after a drop in their blood sugar. The BYSHR was informed that the activist refused to be treated in the military hospital and were consequently transferred to the Ministry of Interior Clinic for IV.

Ms. Zaynab Alkhawaja was once again transferred to the clinic yesterday (22 May) after another drop in her blood sugar. Alkhawaja is on her third day of hungerstrike protesting the detention of pro-democracy activist Ms. Masooma Alsayyed who is also on hungerstrike demanding freedom. Ms. Alsayyed has at least three cases filed against her for protesting.

In another development Ms. Alkhawaja was fined yesterday in court for allegedly insulting a police officer but remains in detention as she has other cases filed against her, one at least which also includes a detention order. The BYSHR has also been informed that Ms.Alkhawaja has also been given summons for two additional cases other than the one she was acquitted for, one she was fined 200BD for and the two pending sentence. …more

British government considers Iran war options: BBC
23 May, 2012 – The Daily Star

Reuters – LONDON: British government ministers are discussing what role the country could play in a possible military confrontation in the Middle East over Iran’s nuclear programme, the BBC reported Wednesday.

Ministers are considering whether any involvement from Britain would be legal if talks with Iran break down and Israel bombs Iran’s nuclear facilities. Such a move risks starting a wider war in the region and a closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil-shipping sea lane, the report said.

Britain is examining a number of options, from diplomatic support for Israel to the involvement of Britain’s Royal Navy in the region, according to the BBC.

Britain’s Foreign Office was not immediately available for comment.

Global powers are meeting in Baghdad on Wednesday for talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme and officials said the Western-led coalition was ready to make an offer on a way forward if Iran showed willingness to curb its nuclear programme in a transparent way.

The U.N. nuclear agency director said on Tuesday he expected to sign a deal soon to unblock an investigation into suspected Iranian nuclear work following a trip to Tehran. . (Reporting by Clare Kane; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
…source

Israel’s growing demographic problem is not because of Palestinians, but of Israeli Arabs, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday.

Netanyahu: Israel’s Arabs are the real demographic threat
By Gideon Alon and Aluf Benn 18 December, 2003 – HAARETZ

Israel’s growing demographic problem is not because of Palestinians, but of Israeli Arabs, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday.

Speaking at the Herzliya Conference on security, Netanyahu said Israel had already freed itself from control of almost all Palestinian Arabs. He said he could not foresee a future in which “any sane Israeli” could try to make Palestinians either Israeli citizens or “enslaved subjects.” The Palestinians would under all circumstances rule themselves and administer their own affairs, he said.

“If there is a demographic problem, and there is, it is with the Israeli Arabs who will remain Israeli citizens,” he said. The Declaration of Independence said Israel should be a Jewish and democratic state, but to ensure the Jewish character was not engulfed by demography, it was necessary to ensure a Jewish majority, he said.

If Israel’s Arabs become well integrated and reach 35-40 percent of the population, there will no longer be a Jewish state but a bi-national one, he said. If Arabs remain at 20 percent but relations are tense and violent, this will also harm the state’s democratic fabric. “Therefore a policy is needed that will balance the two.”

The economy is the single most important factor that will lead to Jews immigrating to Israel, he said. “I go mad when I see that because of low taxation in Moscow, there is now a capital flow there. If we want Jews to come here, we need a flourishing and dynamic economy. If we want Israeli Arabs to integrate, we need a flourishing and dynamic economy.”

He said it was necessary to improve education standards, especially for Arab citizens. Netanyahu said that the “separation fence” would also help to prevent a “demographic spillover” of Palestinians from the territories.

Reactions to the speech were not slow in coming from Arab Knesset members and others. “Netnayahu’s demographic time bomb is a stink bomb and a racist one,” said Ahmed Tibi (Hadash). “The day is not far off when Netnayahu and his followers will set up roadblocks at the entrance to Arab villages to tie Arab women’s tubes and spray them with anti-spermicide.”

Azmi Bishara, of Balad (National Democratic Alliance) said: “Describing the original residents of this land as a demographic problem would be considered racism in any normal, or even abnormal, country.”

Makhoul Issam Makhoul (Hadash) said: “A leader who considers 20 percent of the population of Israel to be a demographic threat and treats them as an existential problem, is himself a racist threat to democracy, sanity, and the rule of law – and he should be disposed of immediately for the good of both peoples.”

Talab a-Sana (United Arab List) said: “How would Netanyahu react if someone in the West or the U.S. said that the reproduction rate of Haredi Jews was a demographic problem? Netnayahu has double standards.”

Labor whip Dalia Itzik described Netanyahu as “a serial pyromaniac.” She said: “He has already lit the flames between rich and poor, and now he is trying to do the same between Jews and Arabs.” …more

Austrian daily: King Hamad’s relatives torture Bahraini revolutionaries
ABNA – 22 May, 2012

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – An Austrian daily quoted Bahraini revolutionary poetess Ayat Al-Ghermezi in its Monday edition as saying relatives of Bahraini King Hamad were among the torturers of arrested protesters in her country.

Ms. Ghermezi who is in Vienna, in an interview with Courier daily seriously criticized the inhumane behavior observed against Bahraini revolutionaries in prisons of Ale-Khalifa clan.

The daily wrote: This twenty-year old Arab poetess has been among the renowned political activists during her country’s more than a year long revolution. She has therefore been tortured and kept in solitary cell.

The Courier reporter has asked Ayat, “You have been reciting your poems for the Bahraini demonstrators for more than a year. What experience do you have respectively?”

The young revolutionary Bahraini lady replied, “After reciting my poems for the demonstrators and getting home my family members suggested that I had better move to a relative’s home and begin living in hiding. On March 20th, 2011 a large number of police forces invaded our home, beat up my brother black and blue, and threatened my entire family members that they would kill everyone, beginning with my four brothers. They also warned that they would come back to find Ayat, but next time they would not be as nice as this time! My father finally gave up and summoned me home where they were.”

She added, “They arrested me and their harsh behavior began right inside the vehicle in which I was being carried to prison. I was imprisoned in Manama. Getting beaten up was in my daily schedule. I was never even permitted to sit down, or to lie down on the floor. At nights I had to lean against a wall when I was dead tired. I was forced to swallow my food portion which was extremely polluted and I was beaten up more severely if I refused to eat, and their argument was: if you want to die you had better die outside this prison.”

The Bahraini revolutionary added, “I was kept in a solitary cell all alone. I was there without ever being taken to a court, and therefore I knew I must be there temporarily. Although no one had ever asked me a single question the prison keepers were always swearing at me, using very indecent words. They said that I was a blot against the reputation of my country, because I was a Shi’a. They forced me to belittle myself and my other family members along with them using very shameful literature. On the eighth day they took me to a room as they had blindfolded me. The piece of cloth with which they had shut my eyes slipped down for a few seconds and I saw the woman who was beating me. She was one of the close relatives of King Hamad. Her name is Noor al-Khalifa. She is a close relative of the king’s wife. In that room she tortured me for a long period using electric shock till I lost conscience.”

Ayat Al-Ghermezi added, “In the prison they threatened that they would severe my tongue. They hit me severely on the head using a long and wide wooden object and many of them used to spit in my mouth.”

She said, “In June, 2011 I was finally taken to a court and sentenced to a year behind the bars, but a month later due to the pressure of the world public opinion and the insistence of the Bahraini protesters I was freed and put under house arrest. I was told to forget all I had seen and heard and threatened that otherwise they would come back and take me to the same hell! …more

Iran’s Majlis discusses possible restoration of Iranian sovereignty over Bahrain
22 May, 2012 – Iran Daily Brief

Due to the increasingly serious statements made regarding the Bahrain-Saudi union by the ruling minority in that country, Iranian efforts in official bodies have begun to work to rescind the 1970 decision to separate Bahrain from Iran (following a referendum conducted in Bahrain after the end of British rule). The Majlis Committee on Foreign Affairs discussed this issue. Member of the Majlis Committee of National Security and Foreign Policy Mohammad Karim Abadi reported a proposal to conduct a referendum to rejoin Bahrain to Iran. According to Abadi, Bahrain currently has independence but if a referendum were to be conducted on this matter and Bahrain joins Saudi Arabia, the Bahraini people would prefer rejoining its primary homeland, Iran, and no where else.
…source

Secret Clinics Tend to Bahrain’s Wounded
By KAREEM FAHIM – 21 May, 2012

MANAMA, Bahrain — Three young men were slumped on a living room mat, groaning with pain from nuggets of birdshot lodged in a cheek, a forehead and under the lid of an eye.

Dr. Ghassan Dhaif, 46, and his wife, Dr. Zahra al-Samar, were jailed last year for treating protesters. “They’ve destroyed the health services in the whole country,” Dr. Dhaif said.

Bahrain’s nightly protests had exacted their reliable toll.

Friends dragged the men away from the clashes and the riot police, to a safe house nearby. Soon, it was time to go, but not to a hospital: the police were there, too. “No one goes to the hospital,” one protester said.

Instead, the men traveled to one of dozens of houses that are scattered throughout this island nation, where a secret and growing network of caregivers — doctors, first-aid medics or people with no medical experience at all — wait daily for the casualties from the protests. The houses are not really field hospitals, but rather sitting rooms, often equipped with nothing more than bandages and gauze.

For the injured protesters, the houses have replaced the country’s largest public hospital, the Salmaniya Medical Complex, which has been a crucial site in the conflict between Bahrain’s ruling monarchy and its opponents since the beginning of a popular uprising in February 2011. Activists say that because of a heavy security presence at the hospital, protesters — or people fearful of being associated with Bahrain’s opposition — have been afraid to venture there for more than a year. That reluctance, officials and activists say, may be responsible for several deaths.

Last spring, the hospital became a symbol of the state’s repression, as the government arrested — and in some cases tortured — protesters, doctors and nurses for their involvement with the uprising. As its problems persist, Salmaniya has come to represent Bahrain’s dangerous impasse, marked by a growing rift between the country’s Shiite majority, which has long complained of official discrimination, and the Sunni political elite.

The authorities continue to prosecute Shiite doctors who worked at the hospital on charges including plotting to overthrow the government. Some of the doctors say their arrests represented a purge of Shiites, allowing the government to replace them with Sunni loyalists.

A report released Monday by Physicians for Human Rights says some of the current problems at Salmaniya stem from the conduct of security forces in the hospital and at its gates. People interviewed by the group said guards stopped arriving cars and questioned the passengers. They asked what village they were from, a way of telling whether someone was Shiite or Sunni.

People with physical injuries, including those possibly related to the impact of tear-gas canisters, are brought inside for additional interrogation. The report said that the hospital’s chief executive, Dr. Waleed Khalifa al-Manea, had urged the Interior Ministry, which oversees security at Salmaniya, to stop the practice. …more

Bahrain passes new law on freedom of speech
22 May, 2012 – Trade Arabia

Bahrain’s Shura Council has approved an amendment to the Penal Code that will allow people to exercise freedom of expression and speech in line with the Constitution and the National Action Charter, without any repercussions.

It means that members of the public will be free to voice an opinion, as long as it does not directly threaten or insult others.

The Shura Council last week postponed a vote on the amendment, based on complaints that it was unclear.

It approved the legislation yesterday after Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa said it was in line with international freedom of expression conventions.

Shaikh Khalid explained that freedom of expression did not give people the right to commit criminal acts or harm others.

He also stressed that social context and Bahraini culture must be taken into account when deciding if someone had overstepped the mark.

‘If someone is holding a banner demanding something, we can’t punish him,’ he explained.

‘But if he is naked then that’s not freedom of expression. The judge will have to also assess related circumstances to decide whether to punish someone or free them.’

Shura Council public utilities and environment affairs committee vice-chairman Faoud Al Haji said the new legislation struck the right balance. …more

Deal with Iran reached on probe: U.N. nuclear chief
22 May, 2012 – By George Jahn – Associated Press

VIENNA: Despite some remaining differences, a deal has been reached with Iran that will allow the U.N. nuclear agency to restart a long-stalled probe into suspicions that Tehran has secretly worked on developing nuclear arms, the U.N. nuclear chief said Tuesday.

The news from International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano, who returned from Tehran on Tuesday, comes just a day before Iran and six world powers meet in Baghdad for negotiations and could present a significant turning point in the heated dispute over Iran’s nuclear intentions. The six nations hope the talks will result in an agreement by the Islamic Republic to stop enriching uranium to a higher level that could be turned quickly into the fissile core of nuclear arms.

Iran denies it seeks nuclear arms and says its reactors are only for power and medical applications.

By compromising on the IAEA probe, Iranian negotiators in Baghdad could argue that the onus was now on the other side to show some flexibility and temper its demands. Although Amano’s trip and the talks in Baghdad are formally separate, Iran hopes progress with the IAEA can boost its chances Wednesday in pressing the U.S. and Europe to roll back sanctions that have hit Iran’s critical oil exports and blacklisted the country from international banking networks.

It was unclear, though, how far the results achieved by Amano would serve that purpose, with him returning without the two sides signing the deal, despite his upbeat comments.

After talks in Tehran between Amano and chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, “the decision was made… to reach agreement” on the mechanics of giving the IAEA access to sites, scientists and documents it seeks to restart its probe,” Amano told reporters at Vienna airport after his one-day trip to Tehran.

Amano said differences existed on “some details,” without elaborating but added that Jalili had assured him that these “will not be an obstacle to reach agreement.” He spoke of “an almost clean text” that will be signed soon, although he could not say when.

Western diplomats are skeptical of Iran’s willingness to open past and present activities to full perusal, believing it would only reveal what they suspect and Tehran denies – that the Islamic Republic has researched and developed components of a nuclear weapons program. They say that Tehran’s readiness to honor any agreement it has signed is the true test of its willingness to cooperate
…more

Bahrain hunger striker attends retrial in wheelchair
May 22, 2012 – The Daily Star – Reuters

DUBAI: Jailed Bahraini activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, on hunger strike for more than three months, was brought to court in a wheelchair on Tuesday when the retrial resumed of 13 men imprisoned over protests that rocked the island last year, activists said.

A military court convicted the men last year of using violence in protests led by majority Shi’ite Muslims in an effort to topple the Sunni monarchy.

Bahrain’s highest appeals court ordered a retrial last month for 21 protest leaders, ruling that they should be retried in a civilian court. Seven of them were convicted in absentia and are abroad or in hiding, and one, Horr al-Sumaikh, was released by the appeals court.

The court did not order the release of the remaining 13 or cancel their convictions, despite calls by international rights groups for their unconditional release. Eight of them were serving life sentences.

“He (Khawaja) showed up in court in a wheelchair today. He and the other men were expected to speak about torture so it (the session) may take time,” Mohammed al-Maskati of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights told Reuters by phone from Manama.

The trial began on May 8 but was adjourned because Khawaja and another defendant were too ill to attend.

The 13 men on trial are believed to be among hundreds cited in a report prepared by an international rights investigation in November as having suffered torture in detention, often to extract confessions.

Khadija Almousawi, Khawaja’s wife, wrote on her Twitter account “Hadi has just entered the court room in a wheelchair … I hear now my Hadi is talking about his torture and arrest and what he went through.”

Western governments and the United Nations secretary-general have called for a quick resolution of the case of Khawaja, who also holds Danish nationality.

A separate court adjourned a hearing in the case of Khawaja’s daughter, Zainab, arrested a month ago for trying to stage a protest in the capital Manama during the Formula One Grand Prix race in Bahrain.

Sayed Yousif Almuhafda, a member of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), said Zainab’s case was adjourned to May 27, after calling on witnesses to come forward to testify.

Bahrain, led by the Sunni Al Khalifa family, has been in turmoil since mainly Shi’ite pro-democracy protests erupted last year. The protests were crushed in March 2011 with help from fellow Sunni-led Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia.

Violence in Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, has intensified in recent months, and protesters clash daily with riot police.
..source

North Lebanon and the Green Light to Syria
By Sami Kleib – al-Akhbar Lebanese Daily – 19 May, 2012

Every slain who falls in North Lebanon is a loss. The game of nations is bigger than all those inter-fighting on the battlefield. It is even bigger than their masters.

The equation has changed ever since Washington laid open that al-Qaeda had penetrated the Syrian opposition. The US is now in crosshairs to torpedo the organization in Syria and North Lebanon.

Besides, a fresh statement by the Deputy Russian Foreign Minister, Ginadi Gatilov, has just refreshed the memory about the international equation, as he reminded that al-Qaeda, in tandem with [other] terrorist groups, was behind the bombings in Syria.

One might as well stop at what a senior “Israeli” official from the North Brigade has told the Agence France Press. “”Israel” is concerned over al-Qaeda acceding to the Golan Heights,” AFP quoted him as saying. And this is just in public. Yet behind closed doors, security seniors from Damascus and Beirut are quite abreast of how officials from the US and Europe have been flocking into Syria and Lebanon, for the past couple of months, just to closely scrutinize al-Qaeda, while the organization is being fought by the very Americans and British in Yemen.

Indeed, North and South Lebanon were sought to be at loggerheads. A sweeping sectarian tension has been simmered on both local and regional arenas, revolving around the West’s greatest aim: to cordon Iran off and cripple its wings in Syria and South Lebanon.

But the US had to see the table turned on it, very similarly to the time when it saw its relations with Taliban and Osama Bin Laden turning more than sour.

The international equation started to shift. It hasn’t completely changed as yet; it just started to wave its way through change.

Russia’s Valdimir Putin seems to be tougher than expected. Just a terse time after regaining presidency over the federal state, the man struck unflagging words.

Right from the center of the Kremlin, with landmark Tsar poise, Putin avowed he was against any foreign interference in the states’ domestic affairs. He also reiterated stark rejection of the missile shield, echoing previous stances by military officials. He even lampooned the US and the West. The President of Russia will skip both the G8 meeting in Camp David and the NATO Chicago summit.
Russia is lifting high the ceiling of conditions of the international deal, which US President Barack Obama–bracing for a second mandate–seems to be short of sealing.

With many irons in the fire, Putin is armed enough as a “fresh” president, while America’s Obama is under the mercy of numerous “lobbies,” outgoing Nicolas Sarkozy has staggered and fallen, and Germany’s Angela Merkel has drawn a blank in the elections just days ago, at a time when [ill-fated] Europe is heavily saddled with the financial hardship.

Putin is also armed with a substantial international alliance within the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa).
On the regional level, the Russian President reckons on two allies that have proven to be stronger than some have deemed. It is Iran on one hand, where conservatives have hit the spot during the last polls; and it is Syria on the other, given the consistency of the Syrian Army on the side of the regime versus an opposition that continues to disintegrate. One shall not shrug off the results of May 7 legislative elections!

Not much is left for the West to do, except to look for compromises with the Russians. But the Tsar imposes the terms of any deal.
The balance of power is indeed swinging his way. In fact, Putin was the first to speak out about the presence of armed and terrorist groups on the Syrian territories. Al-Qaeda has really emerged in Syria and North Lebanon; and here is Hizbullah hitting the high points in the regional balance of “terror” [deterrance], namely following the last speech of the party’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Besides, the much obfuscated image of the Muslim Brotherhood has just started to fan the fears of the West, particularly after the Salafists appeared behind them and that many returned to term “Israel” as “the enemy,” entailing a reconsideration of the 1978 Camp David Accords. …more

Qatar advises citizens to avoid Lebanon
20 May, 2012 – The Peninsula

DOHA: Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE have urged their nationals to avoid travel to Lebanon for security reasons as fighting erupted in a town bordering Syria.

The advisory from the three states comes a little ahead of the long summer break when many Gulf tourists flock to Lebanon which is a favourite holiday destination of GCC citizens.

The foreign ministries of the three Gulf countries have also urged their citizens in Lebanon to leave the country as early as possible.

“Those who need to stay on (in Lebanon) should contact Qatar’s embassy in Beirut,” Qatar News Agency (QNA) yesterday quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying.

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister, Adnan Mansour, has meanwhile urged Qatar and the UAE to review their decision and not press their citizens to leave his country or not travel there, according to the website of Lebanon’s Information Ministry.

“The situation in our country isn’t so serious and doesn’t merit such treatment. Lebanon is the second home to the citizens of Qatar and the UAE,” the Lebanese Minister said.

News agencies reported yesterday that heavy fighting had erupted in Lebanon’s northern port of Tripoli as clashes are taking place between government troops and gunmen in a Sunni Muslim district.

“The fighting has highlighted how violence in neighbouring Syria can spill into Lebanon,” news agencies said.

Lebanon’s English language newspaper, The Daily Star, reported that what triggered the clashes in Tripoli was the arrest of an Islamist, Shadi Mawlawi, whom a court refused to release. …more

Saudi Arabia Prosecutes PR Groups Aiding Terror
by Ronn Torossian – 21 May, 2012 – FrontPage Magazine

In an interesting development, a special Saudi Arabian criminal court recently began a criminal trial where one of the defendants is charged with among other counts, providing PR support to terrorists. Among the criminal charges being faced: “utilizing media to support terrorism, publishing inflammatory statements on a number of electronic sites.” One wonders if Saudi Arabia is charging people in criminal court for providing Public Relations support for terrorists, why are terrorists allowed to continue using American technology and PR Firms to spread their message?

There are many great uses for Public Relations, but a justified cause is not enough to be right these days, either in politics or in business. In any battle, preparation for any war includes a PR battle plan, and the bad guys seemingly get it. Terrorists and their supporters continue to use modern day public relations tools and they are increasingly skilled at doing so.

Hamas, which was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. Department of State in April 1993, tweets regularly at http://twitter.com/hamasinfo. This, despite a 2004 U.S. Department of Justice statement that Hamas threatened the United States through covert cells on American soil. …more

Israeli troops arrest head of Palestinian Prisoner Channel
21 May, 2012 – Reporters without Borders

Reports Without Borders strongly condemns the arrest by Israeli troops on 17 May in the West Bank of Baha Khairi Attalah Mousa, the director of the Palestinian Prisoner Channel, a satellite television station for Palestinian prisoners. The soldiers also seized broadcasting equipment, computers, video cameras and documents.

“Such abuses aimed at stifling the Palestinian media must cease,” the press freedom organization said.

“This is the third time since the start of 2012 that the Israeli authorities have victimized a Palestinian media organization. We call for the immediate release of Baha Mousa and the return of all confiscated equipment, especially since the raid, carried out in territory under Palestinians administration, is illegal under international law.”

Israeli forces raided Mousa’s home in the village of Marka south of Jenin in the early hours of 17 May. Without explanation, they arrested the director and searched his house, seizing his professional equipment. Mousa is reported to be detained in the al-Jalama interrogation centre near Haifa.

The station, launched on 1 April, is devoted to news about Palestinian prisoners and their families and also broadcasts cultural programs. It is privately funded and is not affiliated to any political organization.

On 2 April, Israeli security forces raided a Palestinian radio, television and online media network set up by Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem.

Dozens of Israeli police officers invaded the offices of the media centre in the Al-Khaldyeh district of East Jerusalem. The network was part of the university’s Institute of Modern Media, and comprised the radio station Houna Al-Quds and a news agency with the same name. They were ordered to close and some of their equipment was seized.

On 29 February, Israeli troops raided two Palestinian TV stations, Al-Watan and Al-Quds Educational TV, in the West Bank city of Ramallah which is under Palestinian Authority control. Both stations were forced off the air as a result. …source

Zainab AlKhawaja

1- illegal gathering, assaulting a police officer and inciting hatred against the regime – postponed to 22th May (case since arrest in Dec 2011)

2- illegal gathering and assaulting an officer – postponed to 24th May

3- Obstructing traffic – postponed to 24th May. (no detention order)

4- Verbally insulting a police officer at the military hospital. Judge Ruled: Not guilty. (2 May)

5- Insulting a police officer – Judge Ruled: Fine BHD 200. (21 May)

Zainab refused to attend hearing sessions at the court. Currently on hunger strike in support to another detained activist Masooma AlSayed who was arrested for protesting near the head quarter of the ministry of interior, calling to release HRD Abdulhadi Alkhawaja.

Nabeel Rajab

1- Participation in illegal gathering and calling for a march without prior notification, in Manama three months ago. – next session 22 May 2012

2- Insulting an official authority over twitter: judge agreed to release Nabeel on 300 Bahraini dinar ($800) bail with a travel ban, but he is still held on other cases. postponed to 23 May 2012.

Case centres on four messages posted on the social media site Twitter that suggested the interior ministry had not carried out proper investigations into civilian deaths.

3- Involvement in illegal practices and inciting to gatherings and calling for unauthorized marches through social networking sites – pending investigation.

…more