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

Syria facilitating UN observer mission, Mouallem says
7 May, 2012 – Lebanon NOW

Syria’s foreign minister said on Monday that his government was “facilitating” the work of UN observers deployed to monitor a ceasefire, which both sides have been accused of violating, state media reported.

“We continue to facilitate the work of the UN team,” Walid Mouallem told UN observer chief Major General Robert Mood, according to state news agency SANA.

There are currently around 50 observers based in various cities touched by the violence, with their number due to reach its full complement of around 300 in the coming weeks.

Mouallem emphasised the need for the observers to continue to “demonstrate impartiality and professionalism.”

The veteran Norwegian peacekeeper, for his part, thanked Mouallem for “the cooperation of Damascus in promoting the work of the observers and ensuring their freedom of movement,” SANA said.

The deadly unrest in Syria has persisted despite a tenuous UN-backed ceasefire that went into effect on April 12, and which the hard-won UN military observer mission is tasked with monitoring.

Syrians were voting on Monday in the first “multiparty” parliamentary elections in five decades, against the backdrop of violence that has swept the country since an anti-regime uprising broke out in March last year

The opposition has dismissed Monday’s vote as a sham and a ploy by the government to buy time and to dupe the international community into believing the regime is serious about reforms.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 11,100 people have died in the 14 months of violence, most of them civilians.
…source

Bahraini activist Rajab held on incitement charges
7 May, 2012 – BBC

A prominent human rights activist, Nabeel Rajab, has been arrested in Bahrain on charges of inciting protests by using social networking websites.

He was reportedly detained on arrival at Manama’s airport on Saturday after returning from a conference in Beirut.

On Sunday, a court ordered that the head of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) be remanded in custody for seven days pending investigation.

Mr Rajab has helped organise many protests against the government.

He is one of the most well-known activists in the Arab world, frequently speaking to the world’s media and having more than 140,000 followers on Twitter.
‘Defamatory’ depictions

A fellow activist told the BBC Mr Rajab had been arrested on Saturday evening at Bahrain International Airport shortly after stepping off a flight from Lebanon, where he attended a conference on human rights.

On Sunday evening, the interior ministry announced Mr Rajab had appeared before the Lower Criminal Court to face charges of “inciting illegal rallies and marches online by using social networking websites”.
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It appears that these judicial harassments aim to place blocks against human rights activities”

International Federation for Human Rights

“A police investigation also revealed that the defendant’s cyber incitement proved detrimental to public security as it fuelled rioting, road-blocking, arson, acts of sabotage targeting public and private properties, and the use of petrol bombs and incendiary devices,” a statement said.

“Evidence has been compiled on the defendant’s role in instigating online acts such as targeting policemen while on duty that has resulted in serious injuries.” …more

Political analyst Saeed Shahabi talks about the features of the Bahrain revolution

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – The prominent political analyst and leading figure of Bahrain Freedom Movement, Dr. Saeed Shahabi (bibliography at the end of the article) talked about different aspects and features of Bahrain’s revolution. He Stated:

As the world continues its silence, Bahrain’s Revolution has frequently shattered the sound barriers imposed by the forces of counter-revolution. It is now clear that what is now known as the “forgotten revolution” is here to stay and that its activists are unlikely to give up the struggle to achieve their main goal’ the right to determine their own destiny and chose a political system of their own. The recent upsurge in activity linked to the Formula1 car race in April is indicative of the fact that the Revolution has been both determined and resilient. With the world-renowned human rights activist, Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja completing his third month on hunger strike the world has been awoken by the cries and pleas of the victims of the joint assault by Alkhalifa, Alsaud, British and American unholy alliance. This has made the Revolution of the people of Bahrain unique in several aspects.

1- Without exaggeration it is the longest running un-interrupted political strife in the Middle East. Ninety years ago the first anti-Alkhalifa uprising erupted to demand an end to servitude adopted against the native Shia Muslims, commonly known as the “Baharna”. It happened after one of them broke free from his Alkhalifa “master” who had enslaved him. The Bahrani man was forced to hold up an umbrella over the head of the Akhalifa enslaver for the whole journey from the capital, Manama to Rifaa, ten kilometers away. The uprising aimed at ending this practice and achieve a degree of freedom for the native Shia Muslims. Since then uprisings continued at every decade. The last major one erupted in December 1994 and continued for five years. No decade had passed without public strife, arrests and serious abuse of human rights. For ninety years the Bahraini political strife has enabled the people to identify with Revolution as a necessary process of change that cannot be abandoned before cleansing the country of the Alkhalifa hereditary dictatorship.

2- Bahrain’s Revolution has been overwhelming with popular percentage participation far exceeding any other revolution in the Middle East. More than half the native Shia Muslim population had participated in one way or another in the struggle to achieve freedom, democracy and the right of self-determination. Starting at the Pearl Roundabout the two days after the first demonstrations had erupted on 14th February 2011, the people had conducted an orderly public protests that had exposed the ruling Alkhalifa lacking popular legitimacy. With the abrogation by the current rule of the 1973 Constitution, the regime had shot itself in the foot. That Constitution is the only document that offered the Alkhalifa public acceptance of their rule in return for poli5idql participation by the people. Without that document the Alkhlaifa have shown total lack of political brickmanship needed for modern day political leadership. In 2002 the present dictator imposed his tailor-made constitution that failed to gain the endorsement by the people. It was the end of the short-lived honeymoon that had followed the uprising of the mid-nineties. Now is the time for the rest of the opposition to put a line in its links with the Alkhalifa clique after the meaningless “constitutional reforms”. That will present a stronger front to the dictatorship and lead to its eventual downfall. …more

BCHR President Nabeel Rajab Arrested
5 May, 2012 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) continue to express grave concern in regards to the targeting of human rights defenders in Bahrain by the authorities. The authorities in Bahrain have used many methods in attempting to prevent and/or limit human rights defenders in Bahrain from carrying out their work of documenting and reporting on human rights violations in the country.

Nabeel Rajab, director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, and president of the Bahrain Center for Human, was arrested upon arrival at the Bahrain airport on the 5th of May 2012. Prior to his arrest he stated: “Given that Bahrain in essence lacks a judiciary system that is independent and/or fair, and is far from being in line with international standards of a fair trial, I have decided to boycott the trial against myself. The judiciary system in Bahrain, today, is a tool used against human rights defenders and people calling for democracy and justice.”

Rajab’s trial is due to begin its first hearing tomorrow, Sunday 6th May, 2012. The charges leveled against him are: “participating in illegal assembly and calling others to join”. In addition, it seems that Rajab could face more charges as he was summoned for interrogation on charges of “insulting the statutory bodies” on the 26th April 2012.
…more

Empty Stomach Warriors: A Show of Solidarity
Al AKhbar – 3 May, 2012

A crowd of over 200 gathered outside of Israel’s Ramleh Prison Hospital on Thursday, in solidarity with the over 2,000 Palestinian prisoners currently on hunger strike. The joint strike, which began on 17 April 2012, was initiated in conjunction with Palestinian Prisoners’ Day in protest at Israel’s exploitive use of administrative detention and the inhuman treatment of Palestinian prisoners.

Eight long-term Palestinian hunger strikers are currently being held in Israel’s Ramleh prison hospital, including: Bilal Diab (67 days), Thaer Halahleh (67 days), Hassan Safadi (62 days), Omar Abu Shanan (61 days), Jafar Ezzedine (44 days).

“These men are all being denied access to independent doctors and lawyers, despite their rapidly deteriorating health conditions, as Israeli authorities continue to violate their human rights, in particular their right to health,” the
Addameer Association for Prisoner Support and Human Rights said in a statement yesterday.

Thursday’s protest were relatively quiet for two hours with only a few Ramleh police and prison guards standing on the outskirts of the demonstrations.

However things changed drastically when activists attempted to leave the confined area in which Israeli Authorities had given them a permit to demonstrate. Within five minutes, over 75 Israeli border and riot police encircled the demonstration.

Eight demonstrators were arrested while the rest of the protest was pushed back into a small corner, where they were held for over an hour.

Later that night, family members of the eight detainees went to the Ramleh police station to check on the status of their arrests. The family members, along with a lawyer, were reportedly beaten inside the station, with Israeli police arresting eight more people. …more

Bahrain: The Government vs. Media
2 May, 2012 – POMED

King Hamad Bin Aissa Al Khalifa of Bahrain accused foreign media of of exaggerating unrest and inciting violence. ”It is quite clear that Bahrain has been targeted by purposeful, willful campaigns in some foreign media that sought to distort true facts, instigate violence, sabotage, hatred and hostility among citizens in our united nation,” the King said. Though the King affirmed freedom of the press in this speech, Reporters Without Borders labeled him as a “predator” of the media, and blamed him for the violence and abuse of journalists and bloggers. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Khalid Al Khalifa urged regime loyalists to vote against the Al Jazeera documentary “Bahrain: Shouting in the Dark” in the Radio Times poll.

Frank Gardner wrote his report about his interview with Abdulhadi al-Khawaja. Brian Dooley called upon the government to release al-Khawaja instead of force feeding him, and added, “All of the 502 people convicted by the military court last year should have their convictions overturned, be freed immediately and have charges dropped against them.”

In related news, Naser al-Raas, a Canadien citizen, is now back in Canada and told reporters of his year-long ordeal in which he was tortured for 31 days. ”The first time that I felt safe was yesterday,” said al-Raas, who said he was electrocuted and subject to three mock executions — where his jailors fired rifles above his head — during his incarceration. Jess Hill asks: “will this quest for democracy result in Bahrain being taken over by its neighbour, Saudi Arabia?” …more

Demonstrations as Bahrain opposition says reform “not enough”
4 May, 2012 – AFP – Lebanon Now

Thousands of Bahrainis took to the streets on Friday in a demonstration called by the opposition to protest against constitutional reforms that they say are not enough.

The demonstration was called by the Shia-led opposition under the slogan “Sacrifices for freedom.”

Protesters marched from the village of Shakhurah to the village of Sar just outside Manama, according to the social networking website Facebook page of Al-Wefaq opposition group.

Images posted on the page showed symbolic coffins being paraded carrying pictures of people killed during protests that erupted in February last year.

Amnesty International says nearly 60 people have been killed since the protests began in February 2011.

“I am Bahraini and dictatorship does not represent me,” said one banner in a picture posted on the social network page.

The protest was staged to denounce constitutional reforms ratified on Thursday by King Hamad.

The amendments are aimed at defusing tension as the strategic Gulf kingdom has failed to return to normality after authorities quelled pro-democracy protests in March last year.

According to the amendments, the king now has to consult the heads of the elected parliament and the appointed Consultative Council before dissolving the legislature.

The elected chamber alone now has the right to vote to withhold cooperation from the prime minister and refer its decision to the king, who then has the final choice on whether to dismiss the premier or keep him in the post.

But the amendments fall far short of the demands of the opposition, which has been pushing for an elected government, not one named by the monarch, and the scrapping of the appointed upper house.

Interview with Wafi Kamel Al-Majed, husband of imprisoned human rights activist, Zainab al-Khawaja
by Witness Bahrain – 1 May, 2012

In the hall of Wafi’s father’s house, where Wafi is staying with his 2-year-old daughter Jude, there were two big photos decorating the wall, one of Zainab, and one of Wafi on their graduation day. They both wore huge smiles, looking like any other new, young graduates with bright and promising futures ahead of them…

I asked Wafi about his wife’s current condition and the visit he had to the prison where Zainab is being held. It was just the day before, on Sunday 29 April at 12:30, that he had been allowed his first visit since Zainab’s arrest a week before. He and little Jude, two of Zainab’s sisters, and Zainab’s mother, Khadija, had gone together. A prison guard brought Zainab into the little visiting room and stayed in the room for the duration of the half-hour visit. Zainab told her family how she had been beaten by the police during her arrest. Riot police surrounded her as she kneeled on the ground, and proceeded to kick her with their boots and jab her with their police batons. Although the police filmed her arrest, the camera focused on her face and upper body, while police aimed their attacks at her lower body. Other protesters had also told Wafi that the police filmed the arrest, but not from the ground when Zainab was being abused. Zainab shouted at them, “why are you treating us like dogs” to which a police woman responded by putting her baton to Zainab’s neck and choking her. …more

Lakota, Navajo and Supai deliver powerful testimony to the UN Rapporteur in Arizona and South Dakota

Lakota, Navajo and Supai to UN Rapporteur: Halt genocide and eco-cide
By Brenda Norrell – Censored News – 3 May, 2012

Native Americans in Arizona and South Dakota delivered powerful testimony on the destruction of their homelands by uranium mining, coal fired power plants and oil and gas drilling, during sessions with UN Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples James Anaya.
Debra White Plume, Lakota, delivering testimony at Sinte Gleska University, on Sicangu Lakota Nation, Rosebud, South Dakota, May 1 — 2, said it is time to halt the eco-cide of Mother Earth.

During testimony in Tucson last week, April 26 — 27, Navajos from Black Mesa described the corporate crimes of Peabody Coal, Arizona senators and non-Indian attorneys that have led to the relocation of Navajos, coal mining on Black Mesa, and the continuance of some of the dirtiest coal fired power plants in the US on Navajoland.

Havasupai demanded a halt to the uranium mining in the Grand Canyon that now threatens future generations in the Southwest with the poisoning of the water.

Damon Watahomigie, Supai, said, “As the first born warriors of the Grand Canyon we refuse to become the next millennium’s world terrorists by allowing mega nuclear industrial complex mining industries to mine in the Grand Canyon.”

In South Dakota, White Plume, Lakota, said, “Mr. Anaya, I ask you to keep this message clear, do not pretty up my testimony. I am saying that America is committing ethnocide against our way of life, eco-cide against our Mother Earth, and genocide in our Lakota Homelands. Our Human Rights are being violated and our Inherent Right to live as Lakota People and Nation is being violated as well. Without access to our lands and waters we cannot live our collective Inherent Rights to be who we are.

“There are uranium, oil, and gas corporations here now, and more want to come. We did not invite them.

“America welcomes Canadian-owned Cameco uranium corporation, TransCanada oil pipeline corporation, and PowerTech uranium corporation to come and obtain permits to mine uranium and slurry oil in our Territory against our wishes, this extraction and pipeline threatens our Oglalla Aquifer, which gives 2 million people drinking water and irrigates the world’s bread basket.
[Read more →]

The Obama Contradiction – Weakling at Home, Imperial President Abroad
By Tom Engelhardt – 29 April, 2012

He has few constraints (except those he’s internalized). No one can stop him or countermand his orders. He has a bevy of lawyers at his beck and call to explain the “legality” of his actions. And if he cares to, he can send a robot assassin to kill you, whoever you are, no matter where you may be on planet Earth.

He sounds like a typical villain from a James Bond novel. You know, the kind who captures Bond, tells him his fiendish plan for dominating the planet, ties him up for some no less fiendish torture, and then leaves him behind to gum up the works.

As it happens, though, he’s the president of the United State, a nice guy with a charismatic wife and two lovely kids.

How could this be?

Crash-and-Burn Dreams and One That Came to Be

Sometimes to understand where you are, you need to ransack the past. In this case, to grasp just how this country’s first African-American-constitutional-law-professor-liberal Oval Office holder became the most imperial of all recent imperial presidents, it’s necessary to look back to the early years of George W. Bush’s presidency. Who today even remembers that time, when it was common to speak of the U.S. as the globe’s “sole superpower” or even “hyperpower,” the only “sheriff” on planet Earth, and the neocons were boasting of an empire-to-come greater than the British and Roman ones rolled together?

In those first high-flying years after 9/11, President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and their top officials held three dreams of power and dominance that they planned to make reality. The first was to loose the U.S. military — a force they fervently believed capable of bringing anybody or any state to heel — on the Greater Middle East. With it in the lead, they aimed to create a generations-long Pax Americana in the region.

The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was to be only the initial “cakewalk” in a series of a shock-and-awe operations in which Washington would unilaterally rearrange the oil heartlands of the planet, toppling or cowing hostile regimes like the Syrians and the Iranians. (A neocon quip caught the spirit of that moment: “Everyone wants to go to Baghdad. Real men want to go to Tehran.”) This, in turn, would position the U.S. to control the planet in a historically unique way, and so prevent the rise of any other great power or bloc of nations resistant to American desires.

Their second dream, linked at the hip to the first, was to create a generations-long Pax Republicana here at home. (“Everyone wants to go to Kansas, but real men want to go to New York and LA.”) In that dream, the Democratic Party, like the Iraqis or the Iranians, would be brought to heel, a new Republican majority funded by corporate America would rule the roost, and above it all would be perched a “unitary executive,” a president freed of domestic constraints and capable — by fiat, the signing statement, or simply expanded powers — of doing just about anything he wanted. …more

You are not forgotten and you will never be forsaken!

Chomsky: U.S. and Europe ‘committing suicide in different ways’
By David Ferguson – 2 May, 2012 – Raw Story

In an interview with GritTV’s Laura Flanders, author and MIT professor Noam Chomsky discussed the potentially bleak future facing both the United States and the European Union. Both, he said, are facing historic crises and are going about trying to resolve them in exactly the wrong ways.

According to Chomsky, we are currently living in a period of “pretty close to global stagnation” but that the world’s great powers are reacting to the lack of growth in exactly the wrong manner. “The United States and Europe are committing suicide in different ways, but both doing it.”

He called European austerity measures “a disaster” and indicated that he expects them to fail, the question being more about how long it will take. The spending cuts and slashing of benefits to workers are ultimately part of a plan designed to dismantle the social contract, he said, although some governmental leaders are more willing than others to call it that.

The U.S., Chomsky believes, has failed in that our electoral system has been “shredded” by the introduction of private money. Our nation has shipped production and manufacturing offshore and concentrated on the “financialization” of our economy. The social safety net has essentially been replaced by the prison system, he said, with the U.S. “getting rid of the superfluous population through incarceration.”

It’s also a mistake, he said, to treat the Republican Party as a genuine political party rather than the “lock-step” policy arm of the superrich. Of course, the wealthy can’t sell the idea of a plutocracy to the population outright, so they mobilize the socially conservative base by stoking the so-called “culture wars.”

Chomsky has a new book, Occupy, about the Occupy Wall Street movement, what it says about society and humanity’s way forward through this time of economic and social stagnation. He calls OWS “the first major public response to 30 years of class war” and believes that the movement’s greatest success has been the introduction of the inequalities of everyday life into the public dialogue. …more

Occupy’s Meme Warrior
Adbusters’ Kalle Lasn on Occupy and a resurgent Left
2 May, 2012 – BY Joel Bleifuss

A power struggle is going on in the movement, between the old vertical type of a Left and a new young Left that isn’t so enamored with the old wolf pack mentality.

Last July, Adbusters sent out this invitation addressed to those “ready for a Tahrir moment”: “On Sept. 17, flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street.” And thus, the Vancouver-based nonprofit magazine published by self-described “culture jammers and creatives working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power and the way meaning is produced in our society” sparked a movement.

Estonian-born documentary filmmaker Kalle Lasn co-founded Adbusters in 1989. Lasn, 70-years-young (“old,” as in “old Left,” is an adjective he eschews), draws his inspiration from the Situationists, avant-garde European revolutionaries who believed corporate capitalism perverted the human spirit. The Situationists reached their zenith in 1968 Paris and disbanded in 1972, but their efforts to affirm what it means to be free live on in Adbusters.

In These Times spoke with Lasn in March to see what “the man behind the curtain” had to say for himself and the movement he helped ignite.

What challenges does the Occupy movement face?

It is a replay of what happened in 1968 when an insurrection in the Latin Quarter of Paris exploded onto campuses and cities around the world. For a few brief moments it looked like the first global revolution. Occupy is round two of 1968. Young people around the world have this sinking feeling that the next 30, 40 or 50 years of their lives will be one big black hole of ecological and political and financial and personal crisis. And if you are facing that sort of prospect you realize that unless you stand up and fight for a different kind of future, you don’t have a future. Unlike 1968, it is going to have legs.

We on the Left have become an ineffective, whiny, complaining, finger-pointing kind of movement that hasn’t had a new out-of-the-box idea for a couple of generations. Everything we’ve tried, including the Battle of Seattle and all sorts of anti-globalization movements, has fizzled out.

A power struggle is going on in the movement, between the old vertical type of a Left and a new young Left that has social media at its finger tips and isn’t so enamored with the old wolf pack mentality but is ready to do things in a much more horizontal way without leaders – sometimes even without demands. The question is: In this tussle between the old Left and the new Left, who will win? And if temporarily the old Left triumphs then we’re in for a hard year this year and possibly even next, but bit by bit this movement does herald a new Left. This movement has made the Left cool again. …more

BAE ‘proud’ to sell arms to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia
3 May, 2012 – Bahrain Freedom Movement

The chairman of arms giant BAE Systems has refused to rule out selling arms to the Saudi government even if the country uses them to put down peaceful protests. Dick Olver said he is “proud” to sell arms to the regimes of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Olver struggled to keep control as he answered questions at BAE’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in central London today (2 May). BAE is a multinational firm that presents itself in the UK as a “British” company. The Saudi government has long been one of its best customers.

BAE’s board were challenged by opponents of the arms trade who buy single shares to get into the AGM, by regular shareholders angry about executive pay and by workers at BAE’s Brough plant, who are facing redundancy.

Olver’s attempt to set the groups against each other failed when the Brough workers and anti-arms activists began to applaud each other’s questions.

Regular attenders at the AGM said they had never seen Olver so flustered or so little in control of the meeting. On several occasions he was accused of being rude to shareholders and patronising to the workers from Brough.

At one point, Olver shouted at South African former MP Andrew Feinstein, who urged him to give an assurance that he will co-operate fully with corruption investigations in South Africa. Olver shouted, “I’m not going to play words with you!” and refused to give the assurance.

There were jeers when Olver insisted that BAE had “a culture of responsible behaviour”. The same response greeted the company’s chief executive Ian King, who said, “The safety of our people and those using our products is critical”.

Olver was asked if there were any circumstances in which he BAE would not be prepared to sell arms to Saudi Arabia. He refused to state any other than to say he would comply with UK arms licences. The UK system for licensing arms sales has long been regarded as flimsy, due to the influence of arms companies within government.

Pat Gaffney of the Catholic peace group Pax Christi asked Olver if he could guarantee that the Saudi regime would not use BAE’s weapons against their own people. Olver replied simply, “No”.

Challenged by Sarah Waldron of the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), Olver admitted that BAE had joined trade minister Stephen Green on an arms sales trip to Libya within the last few days.

Olver was asked by Symon Hill, associate director of the Ekklesia thinktank, if he was planning to sell more arms to the Bahraini regime. He said he was “proud” to “support” Bahrain with Hawk jets and weapons parts, and refused to comment on the regime’s brutal repression of peaceful protest.

Several questioners suggested that BAE should diversify its work to include renewable energy, thus moving away from arms and keeping jobs in Brough. There was applause from both anti-arms activists and Brough workers. Olver ruled it out, saying he would not “flip-flop” between industries, while at the same time praising his company’s contribution to hybrid buses.

Veteran activist Albert Beale asked the board to state the ratio between the chief executive’s pay – about £2.5 million per year – and the pay of the lowest paid member of staff. Olver said the firm paid good wages but he had “no idea” about the ratio.

Beale pointed out he had asked the same question last year, meaning there had been a year in which the board could have worked it out.

Told that pay ratios were considered a serious issues in the public sector, Olver said, “We don’t live in that world. We live in a competitive world.”

One questioner pointed out that BAE board members are paid £4,000 each every time they attend an international board meeting, in addition to their salary. In response to criticism of the re-appointment of board member Peter Mason, Olver insisted “You are very lucky to have him on the board”.

As the AGM went on, hundreds of workers from Brough demonstrated outside the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, where the meeting was taking place.

Brough shop steward Tim Smith said that BAE’s bosses had “shown us a lot of disrespect”. A worker from who had been employed by BAE for 26 years said his father and grandfather had also worked at the plant, where he now faces redundancy.

He added, “You’re not performing but you’re giving yourself pay rises. We are performing and you’re sacking us.” There was loud applause.

Another Brough worker, about to become redundant after 21 years, struggled to hold back his tears as he stood to ask his question. He said, “I notice you give thanks to the people who are standing down from the board. Will you be giving thanks to me?”

Olver triggered open laughter when he insisted that BAE is “one of the leading companies in the anti-bribery area”. The firm has long been accused of corruption, and was recently fined for “accounting irregularities” after making a plea bargain to avoid bribery charges in relation to Tanzania.

Arms trade researcher Barnaby Pace repeatedly tried to get an answer about a specific aspect of corruption allegations in the US. Olver refused to answer several time. As Pace continued to press the point, Olver told him, “If you want to stay in the room, you’ll have to sit down”.

Ann Feltham of CAAT asked if the chairman would apologise to the people of Tanzania. Olver said, “I don’t think I need to do that”. …source