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

Bahraini forces arrest 10 including woman, children
16 October, 2012 – Shia Post

Around 10 citizens were arrested on Sunday and 2 were injured in attacks by regime forces. The forces used excessive force subjecting 23 areas to collective punishment, 6 places including houses were raided.

The internationally banned weapon, Birdshot was used heavily, along with disproportionate use of toxic teargas in neighborhoods, causing asphyxiation between citizens even in their homes.

As usual, the forces chose pre-dawn hours to raid citizens’ homes in order terrorize households and perpetrate more violations including beatings, vandalism and robbery. A number of houses were reported to have been raided and children and wanted persons were arrested.

Protests and demonstrations went on in different areas across Bahrain including: Manama, Dair, Sitra, JidAli, Kawara, Tubli, Aali, Buri, Saar, Bani-Jamra, Shakhoura, Dar-Kulaib, Saddad, Shahrakan, Nabih Saleh, Bilad Qadeem, Ma’ameer, Eker, Nuwaidrat, Jablat Habshi, Jufair.

Most protests were violently attacked and suppressed with excessive force punishing citizens for practicing their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

The demonstrations denounced the official summon to al-Wefaq secretary general, Sheikh Ali Salman and the insults to Sheikh Issa Qassim, warning of its consequences. These protests carried messages of warning of the regime’s persistence to the suppressive security solution that has done no good to anyone.

A medical staff working at Salmaniya hospital was arrested on Sunday, at a checkpoint when the forces found ‘Kerosene’ in her car. She had used it in a family trip a few days ago, but the forces did not give her the chance to explain, as everything could be turned into an accusation that could lead to jail, in a police-state ruled and controlled by the military.

The forces also arrested a number of children from bed during illegal dawn house raids in Issa-Town. Their families were neither shown legal warrants nor given any reasons for the raids and arrests. …source

Bahrain: Questioning and detention of human rights defender Mr Mohammed Al-Maskati
16 October, 2012 – Front Line Defenders

On 16 October 2012, prominent human rights defender Mr Mohammed Al-Maskati was summoned to Hoora Police Station for interrogation on accusations of rioting and participating in illegal gathering.

He is currently being detained overnight and he was informed that he will be taken to the office of the Prosecutor General on the morning of 17 October 2012. Mohammed Al-Maskati is the founder and the president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR).

Mohammed Al-Maskati was summoned to Hoora Police Station by phone in the early morning of 16 October 2012. He subsequently went to the police station with his lawyer. However, it is reported that his lawyer was refused access to the police station, while Mohammed Al-Maskati was held for questioning. Later in the day, the human rights defender was informed that he would be held overnight and taken to the office of the Prosecutor General the following morning. As yet it remains unclear to which specific events the charges of rioting and participating in illegal gathering refer.

In September 2012, during his participation in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session on Bahrain in Geneva, he informed the UN Human Rights Council that he was receiving numerous anonymous calls which threatened his and his family’s life, in connection to his participation to the Council’s session.

Front Line Defenders has previously issued a number of urgent appeals on behalf of Mohammed Al-Maskati, the most recent of which is dated 11 March 2011, when the human rights defender was the subject of death threats circulating on several social networking websites identifying him and other Bahraini human rights defenders as “traitors” and urging for them to be killed.

These messages provided many personal details about him, including his full name, home address, telephone number and car model and registration plate, information normally found on a National Identity Card. Following the publication of these messages, Mohammed Al-Maskati received a number of anonymous phone calls with threats or insults. …source

Foreign Office ‘allows some countries to get away with abuses’
By Damien McElroy – Foreign Affairs Correspondent – 17 October, 2012

A Foreign Affairs Committee report found that diplomats allow some countries to get away with abuses that are held against other states.

In particular the Foreign Office has exhibited an inexplicable willingness to maintain normal relations with Bahrain, the Gulf kingdom which has faced down pro-democracy protests from its Shia Muslim majority.

Opposition activists have accused the authorities of using brute force to crush demonstrations, leading to a number of deaths, arbitrary arrests and torture in prison.

The committee continued meetings between government ministers and King Hamid with a principled stand against travel to Ukraine during the European football championships.

“Given the Bahraini authorities’ brutal repression of demonstrators in February and March 2011, we believe that Bahrain should have been designated as a country of concern in the FCO’s 2011 report on human rights and democracy,” the committee said. “The Committee also challenges the Government for being inconsistent in not taking a public stance on the Bahrain Grand Prix but boycotting group stage games at Euro 2012 in Ukraine.”

The report also found fault with the government’s assessment of the risk posed to detainees face with deportation to their home countries. “There are persistent allegations that asylum-seekers who have been returned to Sri Lanka by the UK have suffered torture and ill-treatment. When we tried to explore the issue, the Government was not particularly forthcoming,” it said.

A Foreign Office spokesman rejected the criticisms and said the government was committed to placing human rights concerns at the heart of its policy.

The MPs also recommended that the government place more visa bans on officials responsible for abuses. The findings said that the government had failed to integrate human rights considerations into its arms and trade policies.

“We promote human rights painstakingly and consistently. Our starting point for engagement on human rights with all countries is based on what is practical, realistic and achievable, although we are always ready to speak out as a matter of principle.” …more

Bahrain Grand Prix: Government Condemned For Inaction Over Human Rights
The Huffington Post – 17 October, 2012

Motorsports, Bahrain GP, Bahrain Grand Prix, Formula 1, Formula One, f1, Motor Sports, UK NEWS, Wec, World Endurance Championship, UK News

The government has been sharply criticised for refusing to back a boycott of the Bahrain Grand Prix over human rights concerns, despite implementing its own boycott of the Euro 2012 football championships in Ukraine.

The Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said it was difficult to find any “consistency of logic” in ministers’ approach to the issue.

It said Bahrain should have been included by the Foreign Office on its list of “countries of concern” in the wake of the “brutal” suppression of anti-government protests last year.

The committee expressed concern that “political and strategic factors” had coloured the decision not to list the Gulf kingdom alongside other states held responsible for human rights abuses.

The government came under pressure to support calls for a boycott of the Formula One Grand Prix last April amid fears that it could be a catalyst for a renewed crackdown on protesters.

At the time prime minister David Cameron refused, arguing “Bahrain is not Syria” and that a process of reform was under way – although ministers have since acknowledged that progress has been “minimal”.

In contrast, in June the government announced no ministers would attend England’s games played in Ukraine in the group stage of Euro 2012 following the imprisonment of the opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko. It followed similar moves by other European Union member states.

“We find it difficult to discern any consistency of logic behind the Government’s policy in not taking a public stance on the Bahrain Grand Prix but implementing at least a partial boycott of the 2012 Uefa Football Championship matches played in Ukraine,” the committee said.

In a wide-ranging report, the committee also expressed concern about the way asylum seekers were deported to countries such as Sri Lanka, despite fears they could face torture or abuse on their return.

It called on the Foreign Office to take a more “energetic” approach to evaluating reports from the media and non-governmental organisations in assessing the risks of returning people to such countries.

“We find it unsatisfactory that the government has not been more forthcoming to Parliament about its efforts – in general and in specific cases – to assess the level of risk to the safety of those who are removed from the UK,” it said.

The committee said it shared the “unease” over the practice of deporting foreign nationals who are considered a threat to national security to countries where there is a risk of torture, provided an assurance has been received from the government concerned that their human rights will be respected.

It said the practice – used most recently in the attempt to deport the radical preacher Abu Qatada to Jordan – would command greater confidence if the countries concerned had signed up to an international protocol requiring them to open up their places of detention to United Nations representatives. …source

Bahrain: A nurse sentenced to one year imprisonment in link to treatment of injured protesters
17 October, 2012 – ABNA.co

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights express concern regarding the arrest of yet another medical staff, Dental Assistant Halima Abdulaziz Al-Sabag on 15 Oct 2012, after attending her trial of appeal against 1 year imprisonment sentence which she received earlier, an action that affirm continuation of targeting of medical staff by the Bahraini authorities.

Dental Assistant Halima Abdulaziz Al-Sabag was arrested for the first time from her workplace in Salmaniya hospital on January 26, 2012. Allegedly she took first-aid medicines for the treatment of injured protesters, who suffered injuries as a result of the suppression of the authorities. She was detained for approximately 3 weeks pending investigation on an alleged charge of exploitation of her job to seize the money of the state, a charge denied by Al-Sabag. (see previous appeal here: bahrainrights.hopto.org/en/node/5006 ). She was put on trial along with the head nurse and sentenced on 18 Sep 2012 to 1-year imprisonment and a fine of 100 Bahraini dinars whilst the other nurse was acquitted.[1] She was then arrested again while attending her trial of appeal on 15 Oct 2012, to execute the sentence. The trial of appeal was postponed until 18 Nov 2012.

The hospitals in Bahrain have been under military control for over 18 months now, protesters are unable to receive proper treatment in the hospitals as they fear arrest if they seek hospital care for their injuries, as hospitals have been ordered to report any injury related to protest to the police. Instead, they are forced to receive inferior treatment at home, or remain untreated. In May there were documented cases of protesters being interrogated and arrested after arriving to hospitals, and before the completion of their medical treatment.[2]

The criminal courts in Bahrain are still considering the cases of 28 health professionals because of their involvement in the treatment of wounded demonstrators. Verdicts are expected to be passed on them on January 2013 . [3] On the 14th of June 2012, an appeals court upheld the convictions of nine doctors, who were sentenced to between one month to five years in prison for their involvement in the treatment of injured protesters during the Feb 2011 uprising, and subsequently 6 of them were arrested[4] . At the same time, some other members of the medical staff are still in prison, including Nurse Hassan Maatoq, sentenced by a military court to three years in prison [5] . All this is happening, although reports by international human rights organizations and Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), confirmed the exposure of medics to mistreatment and torture in order to extract confessions that have been later used in cases against them. …more

Maryam al-Khawaja awarded human rights prize
Peter Stanners – 16 October, 2012 – The Copenhagen Post

Maryam al-Khawaja – daughter of the jailed Danish-Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja – will be awarded the Stieg Larsson Prize on November 8 in recognition of her work to promote democracy and human rights.

25-year-old Maryam al-Khawaja played a vital role in reporting the crackdown on pro-democracy and civil society groups before and during the Arab Spring uprisings.

“With the internet and social media as a tool, and through untiring activism and the power of the word, she turns the spotlight on injustices in her home country. In spite of threats and harassment against herself and her family she continues to work for a tolerant and more democratic state of Bahrain,” a press release from the Stieg Larsson Foundation stated. “Her achievements are entirely in the spirit of Stieg Larsson.”

Her father, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, was granted political asylum in Denmark in 1991 and he and his family eventually became Danish citizens. He returned to Bahrain in 1999 and established the pro-democracy organisation Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) in 2002. He was arrested for his work in April 2011 and jailed since June of that year. He protested against his sentence with a high-profile 110-day hunger strike that he called off in May. His life sentence was upheld this September.

Maryam al-Khawaja started working at the BCHR at a young age. At the age of 21, she testified before the US Congressional Human Rights Commission about the suppression of the Shia majority in Bahrain.

After returning from studying in the US, she became BCHR’s international liaison and deputy head. Her base of operations is in Denmark as she risks arrest if she were to remain in Bahrain.

The Stieg Larsson Foundation was established after the author’s death in 2004. Larsson was most famous for the Millennium Trilogy, a set of thrillers following the protagonists Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander as they attempted to unravel a dark conspiracy.

The foundation’s website states that Larsson was as much an activist as he was a writer, who fought “for freedom of expression, against racism and against the oppression of women”. …source

White House mulls how to strike over Libya attack
16 October, 2012 – By Kimberly Dozier – Associated Press

WASHINGTON: The White House has put special operations strike forces on standby and moved drones into the skies above Africa, ready to strike militant targets from Libya to Mali – if investigators can find the Al-Qaida-linked group responsible for the death of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya.

But officials say the administration, with weeks until the presidential election, is weighing whether the short-term payoff of exacting retribution on al-Qaida is worth the risk that such strikes could elevate the group’s profile in the region, alienate governments the U.S. needs to fight it in the future and do little to slow the growing terror threat in North Africa.

Details on the administration’s position and on its search for a possible target were provided by three current and one former administration official, as well as an analyst who was approached by the White House for help. All four spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the high-level debates publicly.

The dilemma shows the tension of the White House’s need to demonstrate it is responding forcefully to al-Qaida, balanced against its long-term plans to develop relationships and trust with local governments and build a permanent U.S. counterterrorist network in the region.

Vice President Joe Biden pledged in his debate last week with Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan to find those responsible for the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others.

“We will find and bring to justice the men who did this,” Biden said in response to a question about whether intelligence failures led to lax security around Stevens and the consulate. Referring back to the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last year, Biden said American counterterror policy should be, “if you do harm to America, we will track you to the gates of hell if need be.”

The White House declined to comment on the debate over how best to respond to the Benghazi attack.

The attack has become an issue in the U.S. election season, with Republicans accusing the Obama administration of being slow to label the assault an act of terrorism early on, and slow to strike back at those responsible.

“They are aiming for a small pop, a flash in the pan, so as to be able to say, ‘Hey, we’re doing something about it,'” said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rudy Attalah, the former Africa counterterrorism director for the Department of Defense under President George W. Bush.

Attalah noted that in 1998, after the embassy bombing in Nairobi, the Clinton administration fired cruise missiles to take out a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan that may have been producing chemical weapons for al-Qaida.

…more

Open letter to president-elect of a country with 100 dead or missing journalists
16 October, 2012 – Reporters without Borders

Dear President-Elect Peña Nieto,

You are ending a European tour with a visit to Paris before being sworn in as your country’s next president on 1 December. Tomorrow you will meet with French President François Hollande and the next day you will address the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on “Changes in Mexico and their role in the panorama of global change.”

Will the changes your refer to include the tragic toll of a decade of extreme violence in your country? Are they the proposals you plan to submit to you embattled country during your six years in office”

Culminating with outgoing President Felipe Calderón’s federal offensive, the Mexican tragedy has had a toll of more than 60,000 of your fellow citizens killed in the cross-fire between the drug cartels and security forces that are often infiltrated by organized crime.

The victims include more than 100 journalists killed or missing in the past decade. The latest are Ramón Abel López Aguilar, 53, photographer and editor of the Tijuana Informativo website, murdered yesterday in Tijuana, and “Ruy Salgado” also know as “El 5anto,” a Mexico City-based blogger who disappeared mysteriously on 8 September amid a controversy about last July’s federal elections.

The country you will lead from 1 December onwards is also scarred by the terrible repression in San Salvador Atenco in May 2006, when you were Mexico state’s governor. What justice will be rendered? What sustainable judicial system will allow the rule of law to be restored?

And which constitutional guarantees will at last be applied so that journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders, civil society representatives and now also electoral transparency activists are able to exercise their freedom to obtain and impart information and question the authorities without fear of being harassed or killed?

The way the investigation into López Aguilar’s murder in Tijuana is already developing reminds us of all the other police and judicial investigations that were either rushed or became bogged down in endless bureaucracy and just sustained the prevailing impunity. …more

U.S. official in Ankara for Syria talks
16 October, 2012 – Agence France Presse

ANKARA: A senior US official will hold talks in Ankara on Tuesday on a range of issues including the Syrian crisis amid heightened tensions between Ankara and Damascus, an embassy spokesman said.

“We continue to consult with our partners in the region including Turkey on a variety of issues related to Syria,” U.S. embassy spokesman in Ankara T.J. Grubisha told AFP.

U.S. Acting Under Secretary for arms control and international security Rose Gottemoeller will meet Turkish officials in Ankara to discuss bilateral and regional cooperation on arms control, non-proliferation, disarmament and other international security issues.

The US official’s visit comes after Turkey forced a Damascus-bound Syrian airliner from Moscow to land in Ankara last week, inflaming tensions with Syria and Russia.

Turkey grounded the passenger plane upon intelligence that it was carrying military cargo. Turkish officials declined to reveal by whom or which country the intelligence had been provided.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the cargo contained military equipment for the Syrian defence ministry, but Russia said it was dual-purpose radar equipment which was not banned by international conventions.

Turkey and Syria closed their airspace to each other’s civilian flights at the weekend.

Ankara has taken an increasingly strident line towards its southern neighbour since a shell fired from the Syrian side of the border killed five Turks on October 3.

On Monday, Ankara ordered an Armenian humanitarian aid plane headed for Syria’s city of Aleppo to land for routine security checks. The plane resumed its journey through Turkish airspace later Monday after it got Ankara’s clearance.

…more

Iraqi Shiite militants fight for Syria’s Assad
16 October, 2012 – Reuters – The Daily Star

BAGHDAD: Scores of Iraqi Shiite militants are fighting in Syria, often alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s troops, and pledging loyalty to Iran’s supreme Shiite religious leader, according to militia fighters and politicians in Iraq.

Iraqi Shiite militia involvement in Syria’s conflict exposes how rapidly the crisis has spiralled into a proxy war between Assad’s main ally Shiite Iran and the Sunni Arab Gulf states supporting mostly Sunni rebels fighting the president.

The conflict has already drawn in a stream of Sunni Islamist fighters from across the region attracted to the rebel cause, while on the other side Syrian rebels accuse Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah of supporting Assad’s troops on the ground.

For Iraqi Shiites who follow Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the uprising in Syria threatens Shiite influence and Iraqis fighting there say they see a duty to help Assad because of their loyalty to the Islamic Republic’s highest authority.

Among them are defectors and former fighters from anti-U.S Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army, the Iran-backed Badr group and Asaib al-Haq and Kata’ib Hezbollah, militias who once waged a bloody war on American troops, Shiite militants and Iraqi politicians say.

Shiite politicians say militants fighting in Syria have no official sanction from their militia leadership or from Iraq’s Shiite-led government which is caught in a delicate balancing act between its ally Tehran, and Western and Arab powers calling for Assad to go.

Some of the Iraqi militants are former Mehdi Army fighters who took refugee in Syria after 2007 when their group was crushed by Iraqi forces. Others, loyal to Khamenei as a religious authority, crossed over recently, fighters and Iraqi politicians say.
…more

At least five arrested as thousands rally in Kuwait
16 October, 2012 – Reuters

KUWAIT (Reuters) – At least five protesters were arrested and several injured in Kuwait as police tried to break up an opposition protest late on Monday, witnesses said.

Authorities had asked opposition lawmakers to call off the demonstration over political reforms, but at least 5,000 people gathered in a square near parliament that has been the site of several anti-government protests since last year.

Although major oil producer Kuwait has not experienced the mass Arab Spring protests seen elsewhere across the region, tensions have escalated between an elected parliament and a cabinet chosen by the prime minister, who is appointed by the emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah.

Monday’s protesters, who included opposition politicians and political activists, called on the emir to set a date for upcoming parliamentary elections. They have voiced concern that Kuwait may change its electoral law in a way that would favor pro-government candidates.

Witnesses at the protest, where riot police were deployed, said they saw five protestors arrested. Several people, including police, were injured when demonstrators clashed with police as they tried to spread into a barricaded street.

Security is tighter than usual in Kuwait as the country hosts Asian leaders for a summit. The palace appealed to opposition lawmakers earlier this week to call off the protest.

Although U.S. ally Kuwait has the most open political system in a region ruled by autocratic families that tolerate little dissent, the ruling al-Sabah family dominates politics. …more

The Truth About the 2007 Invasion of Iran and the Woman Who Stopped It
by Gordon Duff – Veterans Today – 28 August, 2102

Five years ago, an American woman serving in Bahrain single handedly stopped the United States government from a criminal attack on Iran and a series of “false flag” terror attacks on American troops and ships in the region.

American Neocons and Israeli lobby decided this was their last chance to start a war, one that would saddle the next president with a disaster of unprecedented proportions, fighting 3 wars during America’s Bush driven economic collapse.

The plans were in motion, plans that would have eventually collapsed the United States, plans also aimed at the destruction of Iran and the enslavement of her people. One person, known to few, played a key role in stopping this disaster.

This is Gwyneth Todd, former member of President Clinton’s National Security Council and top Middle East advisor. Stopping the Bush invasion would end her career and nearly cost her life.

Todd, though a ranking Navy official in 2007, was forced to flee Bahrain for her life, settling in Australia. Those who aided her were murdered, jailed, hunted.

Today she is raising a family, taking care of wildlife and serves as an editor for Veterans Today. This is part of a story few know, a desperate time and the heroic acts of one person, one who made a difference.

_________________________
BUSH’S LAST OPPORTUNITY FOR A THIRD SIMULTANEOUS WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST

In 2007, an American armada, troop ships, aircraft carriers, guided missile cruisers and destroyers sailed into the Persian Gulf. Their plan was to land Marines on Iranian soil, a plan hatched by Vice President Dick Cheney and White House officials including Karl Rove, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Clarke.

Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff

Military command of this invasion, to be done without consultation of congress or the United Nations was left to Vice Admiral Kevin J. Cosgriff and Admiral Will J. Fallon, both career opportunists with extremist political views, willing to do anything for promotion and the curry favor from the powerful criminal figures in US government.

Their “cover story” was to sale a frigate up the Shatt al Arab, a disputed waterway between Iraq and Iran, hoping to stimulate a “response” from Iran.

Their real plan was to create the response themselves, as was done by the Navy during the Tonkin Gulf Incident in 1964 when America “invented” an attack by North Vietnam as a prelude to a 10 year war America eventually lost.

Their plans were to create phony radio traffic simulating an Iranian attack in order to push America into authorizing hostilities that they, themselves, had perpetrated in as part of a conspiracy.

The official version of story is in a 5 page article in Washington Post last Sunday titled:

“Why was a Navy advisor stripped of her career?”

What is important here is not just the quality of the story that is told, but the more important story that could never be told. There was a second part of the plan. Admiral Cosgriff informed Todd, on December 13, 2007, while Todd was his chief advisor, that Iran planned on attacking Bahrain and had total control of Shiites in the region.

This is how the Washington Post reports her response to the Admiral:

“The report, which she guessed originated with the local CIA station, said the attacks were to be led by Bahrain’s top Shiite religious figure, Isa Qassim.

Todd thought the report was fishy. Although Bahrain’s Shiites did oppose the U.S.-backed Sunni monarchy, they’re Arabs, eternal enemies of the Persian Iranians. And Qassim himself, it happened, had warned Todd just the previous day that anti-monarchy demonstrators might attack places frequented by U.S. personnel.

The report “looked like a fabrication by someone trying to kill two birds with one stone, by making the Bahraini Shia appear to be anti-U.S. terrorists who also happened to be taking orders from Iran,” Todd said. “I knew, really knew, that the Bahraini Shia were trying to ensure U.S. personnel were nowhere near the possible violence.” She suspected the intelligence report was cooked up by Bush administration hawks.”

Todd was sent to meet with intelligence sources who said the report was bogus. Private sources told a different story.

They indicated that Bahrainian secret police, aided by special operations units answerable to the Joint Special Operations Command under Vice President Cheney, planned to stage an attack on US facilities.

The would be timed to attacks on US naval personnel, terror bombings, staged by Americans but blamed on Isa Qassim, a popular religious figure who was known to oppose the local monarchy.

Through him, false claims of naval attacks would flood in to Washington and Marines would land in Iran.

Hundreds of Americans would be murdered by fellow Americans to serve “political necessity and the greater good,” as the slogan so often used by the “neocons” goes, especially when criminal acts are involved. …more

Bahrain arrests activist in ongoing crackdown
16 October, 2012 – Al Akhbar

A leading Bahraini rights activist, Mohammed al-Maskati, was arrested on Tuesday for taking part in an unauthorized Manama protest, his lawyer and other activists said.

Al-Maskati, president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, will likely be charged with participating in an “illegal gathering.”

“He went to the police station with his lawyer after being summoned and was immediately arrested,” Said Yousif, a fellow activist, told Al-Akhbar. “Tomorrow, he will be taken to the public prosecution office.”

Police Tuesday also summoned activist Nader Abdulemam. Abdulemam, whose face was left severely bruised earlier this year after police fired a projectile directly at him, will go in to the police station the following day, Yousif said.

The two activists are only the latest to be targeted by authorities for organizing or taking part in demonstrations calling on the kingdom’s autocratic rulers to introduce democratic reforms.

“We are facing a crackdown on human rights activists,” Yousif said. “This is the price for protecting human rights inside a country with a repressive regime. We knew this from the beginning, and we are willing to pay that price.”

Bahrain has witnessed ongoing opposition protests since February, 2011. It began with protesters calling for more civic freedoms, but many are now calling for the overthrow of the monarchy after it responded by launching a bloody crackdown.

Saudi troops were ushered into Bahrain in March, 2011 to help crush the movement, but protests against the regime persist.

At least 80 people have been killed since the uprising began, according to activists.

Medics have also been targeted for treating injured protesters.

Last week, Human Rights Watch and a group of US congressmen separately called on the country’s monarch to release nine medics who treated activists injured during the uprising.

The medics were all charged earlier this year and released on bail, but re-arrested after an October 1 court decision upheld their charges. …more

Lawyer: Bahrain court postpones activist’s appeal
16 October, 2012 – CBSNEWS

MANAMA, Bahrain — A defense lawyer in Bahrain says a court has prolonged the appeal of an imprisoned human rights activist by ordering another hearing next month.

Nabeel Rajab is challenging his three-year prison sentence for allegedly encouraging illegal protests and violence in the strife-wracked Gulf nation, which is home to the U.S. Navy 5th Fleet.

He is among the most high-profile prisoners in Bahrain’s crackdowns. The country has been hit by near-daily unrest since February 2011, when its Shiite majority began an uprising demanding a greater political voice in the Sunni-ruled nation.

Attorney Mohammed al-Jishi says the court on Tuesday set Rajab’s next hearing for Nov. 8.

Also Tuesday, authorities detained another rights campaigner, Mohammed al-Maskati, the president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights. …source

11-Month-old Bahraini ‘Huda Sayyed Nima Sayyed Hassan’ was martyred Tuesday by poisonous tear gas used by Saudi-backed Bahraini forces.

16 October, 2012 – Moqawama

According to agencies, Bahraini troops heavily relied on tear gas and stun grenades to disperse peaceful anti-government protesters.

Several Bahraini civilians, mostly senior citizens and kids, have died from asphyxia after regime troops fired tear gas in residential areas and into homes in violation of international standards, that Bahrain is a signatory to.

Bahraini demonstrators hold King Hamad al-Khalifa responsible for the killings during the popular uprising in the country.
Meanwhile, protesters marched in Manama and several other towns near the capital on Monday.
They also expressed solidarity with imprisoned medics who announced earlier that they had begun a hunger strike.

There were reports of clashes between the protesters and the security forces.
More than 90 people have also been killed and many others have been injured in the Saudi-backed crackdown on peaceful protesters in Bahrain. …more

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei : Iran will not give in to “bullying”
16 October, 2012 – Albawaba business

Iran will not give in to “bullying” at the negotiating table with world powers over its disputed nuclear program, despite new economic sanctions, its supreme leader said on Tuesday.

The West “keeps saying pressure against Iran is aimed at forcing the Islamic Republic to return to the negotiating table” about its nuclear program, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in remarks carried on state television.

“But when did we leave the table that now we need to return?” he asked during his visit to the northeastern province of North Khorasan.

“Their real objective is [forcing] the Iranian nation to surrender to their bullying at the negotiating table…[but] you are too weak to bring Iran to its knees,” Khamenei said.

His remarks came a day after the European Union toughened sanctions against Tehran, targeting its dealings with Iran’s banks, shipping and gas imports and banning trade in metals.

Without directly mentioning the sanctions, Khamenei accused the European leaders of seeking to bully Iran.

“European officials are still stuck in the bullying mindset of the colonial 19th century, but they will face many problems in the face of the resistance of the Iranian nation and officials,” he said.

Khamenei has called the Western sanctions “barbaric” and said they amount to “a war against a nation.” But he has said Iran can overcome problems caused by the sanctions.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast also denounced the sanctions on Tuesday, describing them as “illegal, unwise and inhumane,” while vowing not to retreat on the country’s nuclear program.

The West is involved in talks with Tehran on the nuclear impasse, but those negotiations have stalled for years. Efforts to restart them this year failed, despite three rounds of face-to-face talks between representatives of Iran and the five permanent members of the Security Council, plus Germany. …more

Despite sanctions & restriction to the World US export to Iran increases by US$50 Million
16 October, 2012 – Jafria News

JNN 16 Oct 2012 Tehran ; Despite increased sanctions against Iran this year, US exports to the Islamic Republic have increased by about a third, bringing earnings nearly $50 million higher in the first eight months of this year than in all of 2011.

The US Census Bureau found that from January through August, exports to Iran totaled $199.5 million, an increase of about one third from last year’s $150.8 during the same period. Most of the exports came from the sale of wheat and other grains, which were valued at $89.2 million and comprised 45 percent of all US exports to Iran, Reuters reports.

Dairy products and medical equipment have also continued to enter Iran, with sales of milk products more than doubling since last year. The sale of such goods is permitted with a Treasury Department export license.

But had the US stopped exporting wheat to Iran, exports would have declined overall.

American companies have also complained that it is difficult for them to get paid for their sales, since many of Iran’s largest banks have been blacklisted by the US for involvement in terrorism or the country’s nuclear program. Some Americans, especially religiously affiliated or non-profit groups, have argued that banking sanctions could prevent humanitarian trade.

“The administration’s sanctions against Iran have created a de-facto humanitarian banking blockade,” Kate Gould of the Friends Committee on National Legislation told Reuters.

But the news comes at a time when the European Union has just agreed to increase the already-tight sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, two and a half months after US President Barack Obama threatened increased action. …more

Iran Foreign Ministry dismisses Bahraini interference allegations
16 October, 2012 – Voice of Bahrain

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has dismissed Bahraini claims about Tehran interfering in Manama’s internal affairs.

During his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Mehmanparast said the stance of the Islamic Republic toward Bahrain is clear and Tehran has repeatedly announced that paying attention to people’s demands is the only way to ensure stability in any country.

“Suppressing people only complicates the problems,” the Iranian official said.

Bahrain summoned the Iranian Charge d’affaires Mahdi Islami on Monday over claims that Tehran is interfering in Manama’s internal affairs.

Mehmanparast said providing ground for the participation of the Bahrainis in the political affairs of their country would eliminate the need for accusing others of interference.

“Accusing other countries so that popular demands may be ignored and suppressed would bear no fruit,” Mehmanparast said.

Bahrain’s revolution started in mid-February 2011, when demonstrators, inspired by the revolutions of Tunisia and Egypt, started holding massive anti-regime protests.

Dozens of people have been killed in the regime’s crackdown and the security forces have arrested hundreds, including doctors and nurses accused of treating injured protesters.

A report published by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry in November 2011 found that the Al Khalifa regime had used ‘excessive force’ in the campaign of suppression and accused Manama of torturing political activists, politicians, and protesters. …source

Statement by Leah-Lynn Plante for her Grand Jury appearance October 10th, 2012

On the morning of July 25th, 2012, my life was turned upside down in a matter of hours. FBI agents from around Washington and Oregon and Joint Terrorism Task Force agents from Washington busted down the front door of my house with a battering ram, handcuffed my house mates and me at gunpoint, and held us hostage in our backyard while they read us a search warrant and ransacked our home. They said it was in connection to May Day vandalism that occurred in Seattle, Washington earlier this year.

However, we suspected that this was not really about broken windows. As if they had taken pointers from Orwell’s 1984, they took books, artwork and other various literature as “evidence” as well as many other personal belongings even though they seemed to know that nobody there was even in Seattle on May Day. …more

An Appeal for Support for Leah-Lynne Plante and others
by Doug Brown – 13 October, 2012

As you may have heard by now, Leah-Lynne Plante was taken into custody following a contempt of court hearing on the morning of Wednesday, October 10th. She is the third person in the Pacific Northwest to be put in federal prison for refusing to testify before a grand jury. She may stay in prison until the end of the grand jury investigation which is scheduled to last until March 2014.

There are now 3 grand jury resisters sitting in federal prison. They all still need your support to keep up their strength and determination as they wait until they are released. We are asking for folks to support them in several ways:

1) Write Leah, Matt, and Kteeo in prison or sent them books. Visit and Support for Resisters HERE to find out details on their address and guidelines on writing and sending books.

2) Have a solidarity action in your community. This could be a letter writing night, a film showing, a march, or a fundraiser. If you need some ideas or support to make something happen, email us.

3) Donate. Visit our website: and donate HERE or visit the grand jury resisters’ store: HERE and buy something in support of the resisters.

4) Stay updated and spread the word. Visit CAPR’s website: HERE , The grand jury resisters blogs and personal websites: HERE and HERE . Tell your friends, co-workers, and families about what is happening in the Pacific Northwest and encourage them to support the grand jury resisters.
Thank you for your continued support. It means a lot to Leah, Matt, and Kteeo and to those of us waiting for them to come home.

Parliament vows democracy march
By Mohammed Al A’Ali – 15 October, 2012 – Gulf Daily News

BAHRAIN’S legislative authority has to ensure the country’s democratic progress continues as new constitutional amendments come into effect, said a top official.

National Assembly and Parliament chairman Dr Khalifa Al Dhahrani said increased powers for both MPs and Shura Council members meant they had a major task ahead of them, as they attempt to heal rifts and enhance economic growth following last year’s unrest.

It follows 19 constitutional amendments being signed into law by His Majesty King Hamad in May, which gives more powers to the National Assembly and has been seen as a major step in Bahrain’s reform process.

Dr Al Dhahrani was speaking yesterday at the inaugural ceremony of the assembly’s third legislative term in the presence of King Hamad, His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander, government officials and dignitaries at the Isa Cultural Centre, Juffair.

“We have listened to His Majesty King Hamad’s speech and agree that national unity is the only factor that can make a difference in how the country moves forward,” he said.

“No one can deny that His Majesty’s initiatives, measures and reforms, ever since the unfortunate incidents began (last year), has helped protect the country.

“It has also helped develop the Kingdom’s political and human rights practises and legislations, which has brought it international recognition.”

Dr Al Dhahrani also emphasised that dialogue was the only way forward.

“Our national duty has always been our guide in our work and we pledge that people’s power will continue to be the slogan for true reform,” he added.

“This country is no place for those who don’t believe in its importance – it is only a place for those who feel it is where they belong.”

He said membership in the assembly continues to be an honour.

“Whether appointed or elected, we are proud to serve the people.

“It is an honour that as legislators, we have the opportunity to represent a democracy and fight all agendas or attempts to disharmonise the community,” he said. …source

Bahraini forces clash with protestors over political prisoners and jailed medics
15 October, 2012 – ABNA.co

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Heavy clashes have been reported in Bahrain between Saudi-backed forces and protestors who have taken to the streets to show solidarity with political prisoners and jailed medics.

Earlier yesterday, lawyers said in a statement that the five jailed medics have gone on hunger strike to urge “all international organizations to demand their release”.

“They were harshly tortured by authorities while being detained. Torture caused injuries and disabilities whose traces remain on the bodies of the medics,” the statement said.

The medics have been in prison since early October after Bahrain’s Court of Cassation, the country’s highest court upheld their sentences.

They were among twenty doctors and nurses who worked in Manama during the uprising against the Al Khalifa regime.

Reports say that the medics were given jail terms from up to one month to five years.

The Bahraini authorities charged the medical workers with using hospitals for anti-government activities, possession of weapons, and theft of medical equipment — claims they denied. The medical workers say the government is only punishing them for treating people who took part in demonstrations.

Since mid-February 2011, anti-government protesters have been staging regular demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.

On March 14, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on the peaceful protesters.

According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested in the crackdown in Bahrain.

Physicians for Human Rights say doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, and even disappeared because they have “evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces, and riot police” in the crackdown on anti-government protesters.

A report published by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry in November 2011 found that the Al Khalifa regime had used “excessive force” in the campaign of suppression and accused Manama of torturing political activists, politicians, and protesters. …more

Bahrain: The Political Part of Friday Sermon of Ayatollah Shaikh Isa Ahmed Qassim
14 Octoebr, 2012 – Voice of Bharain

“Two Logics”

The unilateral authorities, which base on neglecting their people, have a logic that considers politics as a tool to enslave the people and to incite hatred among the community components, making them ignorant and then engage them into chaos and bloody fights according to its need.

The logic that the authorities rely on to face the popular freedom aspiration of the people is :

· Firing lethal toxic tear gasses
· Firing rubber bullets
· Firing birdshots
· Torture
· Imprisonment
· Killing
· Bribing
· Being crazily generous to the pro-government agents
· All kinds of exclusion, suppression, repression, terror and threats.

This is the logic of the unilateral authority .

On the contrary, the logic of the peoples who are longing for freedom, and longing to get their right to self-determination. That is the logic of reason , conscience and religion and the logic of all international covenants, it’s the kind of logic that is only rejected by an oppressive ideology.

The peoples are neither violent nor vindictive, and it has been so clear that all Arab-Spring revolutions started as peaceful movements. The authorities’ violence and over-killing pulled some revolutions into violence to face their authority’s abortion of freedom through the people’s bloodshed.

The peaceful popular movement of the people of Bahrain presented a good example of adhering to the peaceful approach, this embarrassed the authorities that are trying recklessly to drag the people into violence in order to escape entitlements of the people’s rights.

In Bahrain, there is a peaceful movement for reform.. the people of Bahrain demand a

· constitution that guarantees the will of the people , and

· fair distribution of electoral constituencies,

· a fairly elected house of representative (parliament)

· elected government

· a non-politicized independent judiciary

· Equality without any kind of discrimination in all state departments

Is there a nation that in this region or the whole world that denies such legitimate demands? Or are the Bahraini people excluded from this world and should not have the right to demand their rights? Don’t they have right to democracy.

The people of Bahrain is one of the peoples that have the same rights of other peoples in the world, the authority is practicing unjustifiable violence against the people of Bahrain, and this has embarrassed it in front of the world.

The authority in Bahrain is practicing unjustifiable violence and terror against peaceful people calling for legitimate demands which cannot be denied by anyone. This oppressive situations is embarrassing the regime in front of the international community and human rights organizations, when the issue of Bahrain is internationally discussed, however the authority is in desperate need of justifications for its violence against the legitimate popular demands.

The regime is trying relentlessly to find an excuse for its violence, that is why we find it

· lying publically in the media

· always trying to link the popular movement to a foreign plot

· creating fake speeches and relating them to religious and political figures, claiming that they call for violence despite their repeated pronounce calls for peaceful movement

However, they make fake sound clips by cutting out a part of a footage and using the sentences or words according to their plot that aims to damage the image of the peaceful movement, and any figure or party that stands by it. This mission aims mainly to falsely relate calls for violence a particular person or party, with no shame or conscience.

The state media has cut out “Crush him” from its context which called for legitimate defense (for women), it has been repeatedly said by state officials and deliberately focused on (alone) to mislead the public inside and outside Bahrain, without shame in such a scandalous obvious lie.

This goes on as the a large number of are victimized and killed by the security forces, yet, the authority approves such behavior justifying it as self-defense! So there is an obliged and permissible self-defense which is initial-killing, while a call to defend women is terror? Here, I am asking any minister, official, cleric, journalist.. what will he do if his family was attacked? Will the minister let anyone come close to attacking females of his family? …more

Police: What did not mean by ‘revolution’?

Bahrain questions Shiite leader over statements made in Egypt
14 October, 2012 – Middle East Online

DUBAI – Bahrain police on Sunday questioned cleric Sheikh Ali Salman, who heads the largest Shiite opposition formation Al-Wefaq, over remarks related to “sectarian and security” matters, the authorities said.

Criminal investigation police questioned him in the presence of two lawyers over statements he made during a visit to Egypt earlier this month, according to a statement carried by the BNA state news agency.

Salman admitted referring to a “revolution in Bahrain” but said he “did not mean toppling the regime, while he meant demanding freedom, democracy, equality and respect for human rights,” BNA said.

The influential cleric also said that Wefaq “rejects violence from all sides, whether from the public or from the government,” and denied harming relations between Bahrain and Egypt.

BNA said Salman’s statement will be referred to the public prosecution service which will decide whether to press charges.

Al-Wefaq slammed the summoning of its leader for questioning, calling it a “trial for political practice and opinion, which falls under the regime’s security approach of confiscating rights and freedoms.”

“This measure aims to tighten already limited freedom of expression,” it said in a statement.

Al-Wefaq dominated elections twice in 2006 and 2010 in Shiite areas of the Sunni-ruled kingdom, and formed the largest single bloc in both parliaments.

But its MPs resigned in protest over violence used by security forces against Shiite-dominated protests that broke out in mid-February 2011 and came under a deadly crackdown a month later. …source