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

Thousands of Bahrain Arab Spring Protesters Denounce Government
12 January, 2013 – Democracy Chronicles

Bahraini security forces keep watch during clashes with Shiite Muslim protesters in the village of Malikiyah on January 7, 2013. Thousands of Shiites have demonstrated near Manama in a new protest against an appeals court upholding jail terms for 13 activists on charges of plotting to overthrow Bahrain’s monarchy, witnesses said.

Bahraini security forces keep watch during clashes with Shiite Muslim protesters in the village of Malikiyah on January 7, 2013. Thousands of Shiites have demonstrated near Manama in a new protest against an appeals court upholding jail terms for 13 activists on charges of plotting to overthrow Bahrain’s monarchy, witnesses said.

Thousands of Shiites demonstrated near Manama on Saturday in a new protest against an appeals court upholding jail terms for 13 activists on charges of plotting to overthrow Bahrain’s monarchy, witnesses said.

“We will not resign ourselves to it” and “we will not forget the prisoners,” shouted demonstrators during the peaceful protest that was monitored by a heavy security presence. Some carried photos of those convicted.

On Monday, the Court of Cassation upheld sentences ranging from between five years and life in prison against the 13, who took part in 2011 anti-government protests.
…source

From Saudi Arabia to the United States, the Human Rights of Domestic Workers Must Be Recognized
by Marianne Møllmann – 10 January, 2013 – RH Reality Check

Wednesday morning this week, news broke that Saudi Arabia’s authorities had gone ahead with the public beheading of Rizana Nafeek, a young woman accused of killing a baby in her care in 2005 when she was 17 years old. Nafeek insisted the baby had died in a choking accident.

The case had long been the concern of the international community, not only because the death penalty is inherently cruel and inhumane and should be abolished, but also because there are reasons to believe Nafeek had been forced into making a confession—which she later retracted—and that the trial against her was anything but fair. In addition, the young woman was a Sri Lankan migrant domestic worker in Saudi Arabia, had limited access to legal counsel, and is likely to have understood little of the legal proceedings, making the situation even more inhumane.

Rizana Nafeek, was among the approximately 1.5 million women, predominantly from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Philippines, working in private homes in Saudi Arabia. While some are treated well, domestic workers in Saudi Arabia enjoy fewer legal protections than any other type of workers, and human rights groups have documented horrific abuses against them, including physical brutality and deprivation of food, rest, and water.

But ill-treatment of domestic workers happens closer to home too. In the New York metro area there are an estimated 200,000 domestic workers, 99 percent of whom are immigrants. The abuse suffered by these workers was highlighted in a documentary in 2010, which also brought to light the lack of legal protection. Later that year, New York State became the first jurisdiction in the United States to pass a law to protect the rights of domestic workers.

In fact, most everywhere, domestic workers are subject to lesser legal protection than others, sometimes justified by reference to the difficulty in carrying out workplace inspections in private homes or the trite notion that domestic workers are treated as “part of the family.” In mid 2011, the International Labour Organization adopted the first international treaty on the rights of domestic workers, providing hope for scores of women who are, even now, working without legal protection.

This is not a niche issue either. Across the world, an estimated 53 to 100 million persons—most of them women and girls—currently work as domestic workers. Some travel from rural areas to the city, others cross borders with or without permission. Their main motivation is to improve the situation for themselves and their families.

And it is perhaps this, the most human of conditions, that is lost in the back-and-forth over how and why some people “deserve” rights and other don’t: the search for survival and dignity through work.

This week’s execution in Saudi Arabia and the successful fight for legal protections for domestic workers in New York State highlight the central concept of humanity in the struggle for human rights. Abuse is possible where domestic workers remain “other”—a foreigner, poor, a woman—and alone—isolated from their community and trapped in the workplace that doubles as “home.” Change happens when we start seeing each other as humans, deserving of dignity and respect. …more

In Saudi Town, Women Protest Detentions, Leading to Their Own
By CHRISTINE HAUSER – NYT Lede – 10 January, 2013

Last weekend, Saudi security forces encircled and arrested a small group of women who were protesting the long-term detention of relatives without charges on suspicion of terrorism, and the event has touched off nearly a week of unrest in the Saudi town of Buraida.

A video, apparently shot from a rooftop, showed the security forces joining hands to surround the women, who were holding up placards in the street, as reinforcements showed up.

Amnesty International reported in a statement that security forces arrested some 18 women and 10 children who had gathered outside Buraida’s Board of Grievances building to protest the continued detention of relatives in connection with the Saudi Arabian authorities’ counterterrorism efforts.

It said about seven women were released early the next morning after they signed and added their thumbprints to pledges not to protest again. Three of the women were believed to be at Buraida’s General Prison while eight more – all under the age of 30 – were transferred to the Social Welfare Home in the capital, Riyadh, Amnesty said.

Authorities in Saudi Arabia crack down on public demonstrations, and it is difficult to get a full picture of events inside the kingdom through the official or private media. But reports on social media and images uploaded on Twitter and YouTube filter out, helping to construct an idea of some of the political or human rights-motivated grievances there. …more

Sheikhdoms shield Al Khalifa collapse: Mohsen Saleh
11 January, 2013 – PressTV

But the problem is that the Saudis and the Qataris, some of the Persian Gulf what so-called Sheikhdoms, they are intervening inside Bahrain and preventing people from really toppling or making the changes come through and the international community also they are to great extent, especially the administrations in the United States and the EU, they are silent.”

A political analyst tells Press TV that the protests in Bahrain are achieving many things in terms of making the majority of the people feel that they should go on in order to achieve their demands.

The comments came after Bahraini protesters once again held demonstrations to condemn prison sentences handed down to a group of prominent activists.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Mohsen Saleh, professor at the Lebanese University, to further discuss the issue. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Mr. Saleh, how much do you agree with that statement that Bahrain’s image has been tarnished since this crackdown on the protests began?

Saleh: Well I guess it has been two years for this revolution and whatever this corrupt authority is doing, is trying to put down these people who are really protesting and trying to say one word, that we want justice.

And the figures were jailed, were sentenced unjustly and now we see from the international community that they are condemning these sentences and these trials and they consider it as something of course unjust and the government, what so-called government, because this is a tribal authority, it is not a government in the political sense of government to govern the people with justice and freedom.

That is why I guess these sentences and these political behaviors in terms of the authority are really not only unjust but pre-meditated and pre-thought in order to put down these people but when we see these protesters going everywhere in this quarter and this village and this town, I guess the government is really trying to put down something they can’t do it.

Press TV: Well Mr. Saleh, a lot of people may be asking right now that as you say there it is nearly two years now that we are seeing these protests take place, they have been ongoing, they have been happening on a regular basis but what is stopping these protests from getting anywhere when it comes of course to the revolutionary demands to some kind fruition of course like we saw in Egypt or we saw in Tunisia? What is stopping these protests from getting anywhere?

Saleh: Well of course I guess they are getting somewhere. They are achieving many things in terms of making the majority of the people that feel that this authority is not a just authority and you should go on in order to achieve our demands.

That is why I guess the Bahraini people are more revolutionary and more adjust to their demands and their needs more than probably Tunisia and Egypt.

But the problem is that the Saudis and the Qataris, some of the Persian Gulf what so-called Sheikhdoms, they are intervening inside Bahrain and preventing people from really toppling or making the changes come through and the international community also they are to great extent, especially the administrations in the United States and the EU, they are silent.

We see some notices and some condemnation against the authority but it has not reached to a point where people can really achieve or take their rights truly.

And now we will see the government is really moving. We will see the change; people will do the change in Bahrain. Whatever happens, the people will achieve what they want finally and really soon enough because the changes in the [Persian] Gulf and in the Arab world is going for the sake of the people not for the sake of these corrupt tribes in Bahrain or Qatar or Saudi Arabia.
…more

Bahrain: Rights activist Maryam Alkhawaja risks arrest
By Bill Law – BBC – 11 January, 2012

A leading Bahraini human rights activist has returned to Bahrain to see her jailed father.

Maryam al-Khawaja, the daughter of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, flew into the capital Manama on Friday night.

She risks arrest under the country’s strict laws governing criticism of the king on social media sites.

Her father was convicted last year in military court of plotting to overthrow the government and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Ms al-Khawaja, who has a Danish passport, has campaigned tirelessly outside the country on behalf of her father and against the government of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah.

The gulf island kingdom has been wracked by more nearly two years of anti-government protests that have left more than 60 people dead.

International human rights organisations have protested vigorously over Abdulhadi al-Khawaja’s conviction and that of 19 others who were sentenced to varying terms up to life imprisonment.

They were convicted of the attempt to forcefully overthrow the government, violations of the constitution and legal code, and ties to foreign terrorist organisations.

But lawyers acting for the convicted men told the BBC that confessions were obtained under torture, a charge that was confirmed in November 2011 by an independent tribunal appointed by the king.

On arrival at the airport, Ms al-Khawaja was given a two-week visa. She left with members of her family.

She has said she wants to visit her father who last year staged a 110-day hunger strike in protest at his detention.

However a Bahraini human rights activist who asked not to be named told the BBC he was fearful that she would find herself serving a lengthy jail term.

“She could be charged over her tweets against the king and serve five years under a new law that was passed in December,” he said.

Ms al-Khawaja’s sister Zainab, who lives in Bahrain, has been detained repeatedly by authorities in the last year and has another court appearance later in the month for participating in illegal demonstrations.

Bahraini protesters rally in support of jailed activists
11 January, 2013 – Shia Post

Bahraini protesters have staged demonstrations to show solidarity with over a dozen prominent activists sentenced to jail terms earlier this week.

The rallies were held on Thursday in the towns of Bilad al-Qadim and Sitra despite the Bahraini regime’s continuous crackdown.

Bahraini forces tried to disperse the crowd by using tear gas and shot guns. Several people were reportedly injured in the violence.

On Monday, Bahrain’s top court handed 13 opposition figures jail terms ranging from five years to life in prison.

The activists, including prominent human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and opposition leader Hassan Mushaima, were arrested on charges of involvement in anti-regime demonstrations in 2012.

Amnesty International has condemned the move as outrageous and urged the Bahraini regime to overturn the sentences.

The Bahraini uprising against the Al Khalifa rule in the Persian Gulf island nation began in February 2011. The regime promptly launched a brutal crackdown on peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring states.

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 crackdown and blamed Manama for torturing political activists, politicians, and protesters.

In the face of mounting pressure to end their popular revolt, Bahraini protesters vow to continue holding anti-regime demonstrations until their demand for a democratically elected government is met. …source

Israel grave threat to global peace: Chomsky
10 January, 2013 – Noam Chomsky – PressTV

(PressTV) – Renowned American academician Noam Chomsky has slammed the West’s allegations against Iran’s nuclear energy program while it turns a blind eye to Israel’s ‘grave threat to the global peace.’

“The ‘Iranian threat’ is overwhelmingly a Western obsession, shared by Arab dictators, though not Arab populations,” Chomsky wrote in a Friday article at AlterNet.

The prominent analyst alluded to numerous polls which confirm that citizens of Arab countries perceive Israel and the US as a serious threat and sometimes considerable majorities regard Iran’s nuclear capabilities as “a counter to these threats.”

“The Non-Aligned Movement has vigorously supported Iran’s right to enrich uranium, most recently at its summit meeting in Tehran last August,” Chomsky added.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran argues that as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

The analyst made reference to the 1998 remarks by former head of the US Strategic Command Gen. Lee Butler who said “It is dangerous in the extreme that in the cauldron of animosities that we call the Middle East,” only Israel should have a powerful nuclear weapons arsenal which “inspires other nations to do so.”

Chomsky described Israel as “the only nuclear power” in the Middle East and argued, “The United States will not allow measures to place Israel’s nuclear facilities under international inspection. Nor will the U.S. release information on ‘the nature and scope of Israeli nuclear facilities and activities.’”

The analyst pointed out that establishment of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East requires the cooperation of the nuclear powers, including “the United States, and Israel, which refuse.”

“The United States will not allow measures to place Israel’s nuclear facilities under international inspection. Nor will the U.S. release information on the nature and scope of Israeli nuclear facilities and activities,” he added

The prominent academician also pointed to the December remarks by Dennis Ross, Elliott Abrams, the former top advisers to Barack Obama and George W. Bush, at The Times of Israel who assured that if the standoff over the Iranian nuclear energy program is not resolved diplomatically in the coming year, it will be resolved militarily by the end of 2013.

Chomsky pointed to the failure of diplomatic channels aimed at establishing a nuclear-weapon-free Middle East and argued that the sole reason behind such failure is that “virtually nothing is reported in the United States about the fate of the most obvious way to address ‘the gravest threat.’” …source

Bahrain: Extended Detention for HRD Said Yousif Al-Muhafdha for Exposing Human Rights Violations During a Protest Via Twitter
9 January, 2013 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

Said Yousif Al-Muhafdhah, human rights defender and the Acting Vice President and Head of Documentation Unit of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), was arrested while monitoring a protest in Manama on 17 Dec 2012 and tweeting about the attacks on protesters and violations to their rights. On 18 Dec 2012 he was sent to the public prosecution where he was interrogated on the charge of “disseminating false news over twitter”. He received a detention order of 7 days pending investigation. On the end of his 7-day detention, the public prosecution extended his detention for another 14 days. Today (9th of January, 2013) Al-Muhafdha stood in front of the Lower Criminal Court on, on the same charges, which is the same process that the President of the BCHR Nabeel Rajab went through before he was first sentenced to 3 years in prison. The Lower Criminal Court adjourned for another session on 17th Jan 2013 with continued imprisonment.

Said Yousif Al-Muhafdhah is being kept in Hoora police station , according to his family members. The BCHR believes that his detention is an attempt to prevent his work as a human rights defender where he has exposed many of the systematic human rights violations ongoing in the country.

The charges against Al-Muhafdhah’s of “disseminating false news over Twitter” claim that he published a photo of an injured protester, which was allegedly altered. The photo seen in a report mentioned by the BCHR http://bahrainrights.hopto.org/en/node/5582 was confirmed by members of the BCHR to have happened and was documented. The injured protester was being reviewed by several medical staff volunteers away from government hospitals fearing arrest.

In the lead-up to his arrest, Said Yousif Al-Muhafdhah wrote through his Twitter account @SAIDYOUSIF about statements and accusations made by high officials in the Bahraini regime, as well as prominent members of society, that were found by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), international human rights organizations, or local independent investigations to be not true, and consequently caused enormous damage to the society in Bahrain.

Some of the authority figures and government agencies that Said Yousif mentioned in his postings, and were found by the (BICI) or other independent investigations to be disseminating false news, are:

• The Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs: Khalid Bin Ali Al-Khalifa
• The Minister of Social Affairs: Fatima Al-Balloshi
• The Ministry of Interior official twitter account
• The Bahrain Information Affairs Authority official twitter account

The false news published by these officials were in the form of: official statements, personal statements, press conferences, photos and video publications.

None of the authority figures or government agencies mentioned above or any other figure of authority working for the Bahraini government, or in support of the authorities, has been investigated or held accountable for the damages caused to the Bahraini people and Bahraini society by disseminating false news.

The BCHR believes that Said Yousif Al-Muhafdhah has been targeted in this campaign of judicial harassment mainly due to his human rights activities in reporting and documenting human rights violations and that his arbitrary detention is intended to suspend these legitimate activities, at a time that other leading human rights defenders are also imprisoned including the co-founder of the BCHR and the GCHR Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, and the President of the BCHR and the Director of GCHR Nabeel Rajab.

‘Forsaken by the West’: Obama and the Betrayal of Democracy in Bahrain
By Larry Diamond – 9 January, 2013 – The Atlantic

Of the half dozen Arab states that were shaken by popular demands for democracy when the Arab Spring erupted two years ago, Bahrain is the easiest to forget. In sharp contrast to Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen — where dictators were toppled — (or even Syria, with its ongoing civil war), Bahrain’s authoritarian monarchy has crushed the democratic opposition. Of the six countries gripped by revolutionary fervor, Bahrain is the smallest in size and population, with most of its 1.3 million people (nearly half of them non-citizens) crowded onto an arid, largely barren island about a third the size of Rhode Island. It is not nearly as rich as its small Gulf neighbors, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, and its oil exports now rank a paltry 48th in the world. Among the states of the Arab Middle East, Bahrain may be the most dependent on a powerful neighbor, Saudi Arabia — which intervened militarily in March 2011 to rescue the besieged and deeply unpopular al-Khalifa monarchy.

But along with its mounting problems, Bahrain has a geostrategic trump card: location. Jutting out in the center of the Persian Gulf, less than 100 miles from Iran, it hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, the pillar of naval security in the region and an indispensable counterweight to Iran’s ambitions for regional hegemony.

Thus, Bahrain is a major strategic ally of the United States. And so, the active mobilization into the streets of more than a quarter of Bahrain’s entire citizenry became what Al Jazeera called “the Arab revolution that was abandoned by the Arabs, forsaken by the West, and forgotten by the world.”

The United States has from time to time issued statements of concern about arrests and convictions, but always couched in the politesse of a big power with bigger issues to address.

Since Bahrainis first took to the streets on February 14, 2011 to demand revision of the constitution and a transition to democracy, the United States has faced an acute and painful instance of the classic tension between security interests and moral concerns. Deeply insecure over its minority status as a Sunni Muslim monarchy reigning over a Shia Muslim majority, the Al Khalifa regime responded to the peaceful protests at the Pearl Roundabout in the capital, Manama, with force. On “Bloody Thursday,” February 17, King Hamad’s security forces raided the protestors in the dead of night, killing four and injuring some 300.

Initially, the protestors had demanded “merely” freedom, democracy, and equality (which could have preserved the monarchy on a new constitutional basis, with limited powers). Even many Bahraini Sunnis (from outside the privileged royal elite) rallied to this campaign for accountability and justice. In particular, Bahrain’s Shia majority was tired of living as second-class citizens, utterly marginalized in the distribution of power and wealth. The contrast between their hard-scrabble, high-density housing settlements and the extravagant grounds and palaces of the royal family had already been vividly documented. Five years earlier, Bahraini activists used Google Earth to display dozens of satellite images of royal properties, many of them private islands, replete with palaces, lavish swimming pools, lush gardens, yachts, and even a private golf course, race track, and hunting ground. Nevertheless, a power-sharing deal could probably have been worked out if the regime had responded to the 2011 protests with negotiations rather than repression. After all, King Hamad had assumed the throne in 1999 as something of a political reformer; he and his Crown Prince were said to remain inclined toward flexibility; and the formal architecture of an elected parliament had allowed the moderate Shia political society, Al Wefaq, to win 18 of the 40 seats in the lower house as recently as 2010.

If political reform and a negotiated settlement were an option when the protests broke out in February 2011, they were not so in the mind of the Saudi monarchy — or its hardline Bahraini allies like the prime minister and the chief of the royal court. The Saudi regime is deeply anxious about stability in its own oil-rich Eastern Province, where most of its roughly three and half million Saudi Shia are located, and where the Shia form a population majority. For the House of Saud, the prospect of a Shia-dominated government in Bahrain must have raised the specter of escalating demands for equality and dignity from Saudi Arabia’s own Shia minority.

The Democracy ReportBahrain’s Bloody Thursday cleared the Pearl Roundabout but only inflamed popular anger. Five days later, over 100,000 Bahrainis (nearly 15 percent of the indigenous population) took part in a march to honor the protestors who had been killed. As the protests escalated in size and intensity, King Hamad offered modest concessions, but too modest and too late. By then, Bahrain’s aroused majority would settle for nothing less than a purely constitutional monarchy, and militants were calling for an end to the monarchy altogether. As protests escalated further in March 2011, the monarchy called upon the Saudi-dominated Gulf Cooperation Council for assistance. In the early morning of March 17, 5,000 troops, backed up by tanks and helicopters, routed the demonstrators who had returned to the Pearl Roundabout. More than a thousand were arrested, including several leaders of the Haq Movement, which had split off from Wefaq in protest against the 2002 constitution and the latter’s decision to participate in elections. Among the arrested Haq leaders were its head, Hassan Mushaima, and a mild-mannered engineering professor and human rights activist, Abduljalil al-Singace. …more

Saudi Arabia, Egypt Call for Peaceful Handover in Syria
By Maher Chmaytelli, Carter Dougherty – 5 January, 2013 – Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia and Egypt yesterday called for a “peaceful handover” of power in Syria, signaling closer cooperation as violence mounts with more than 60,000 people reported killed since the protests against President Bashar al-Assad began nearly two years ago.

“A peaceful exit is an Arab and international demand,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal told reporters yesterday in Riyadh after talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Mohamed Kamel Amr. “It is up to the Syrian people to decide the conditions of the exit from power” of Assad.

Amr called for “stepping up the efforts to achieve a peaceful handover of power.” Assad will address his nation today to discuss developments in the region, according to Syrian state television.

Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy, and Egypt, the most populous Arab state, for the first time made a joint call for Assad to step down, signaling closer cooperation on the Syrian situation, Khalid al-Dakhil, a professor of political studies at King Saud University in Riyadh, said.

“They see how important the fall of the Syrian regime is on an Arab and regional level,” he said in a telephone interview.

Saudi Arabia stayed away from a foreign ministers’ meeting on Syria held in September in Cairo at the invitation of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, with the participation of Shiite Iran, which supports Assad, a member of the Alawite sect affliated with Shiite Islam, and Turkey, which supports the rebellion. Participants failed to agree on a compromise.
Region’s Future

With the future of the Assad regime in doubt, analysts have begun contemplating how his fall might affect a region upended by the two years of uprisings — some democratic and peaceful, others violent — referred to as the Arab Spring.

Anne-Marie Slaughter, a professor at Princeton University and former U.S. State Department official, predicted that Syria would “split into multiple regions” and that, even if Assad falls, there won’t be a government to replace him by the end of this year.

“You’re going to have a Kurdish autonomous zone in Syria that is going to create major trouble for Turkey,” Slaughter said in taped remarks on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” program scheduled for broadcast today. Turkey has a substantial population that is ethnically Kurdish.

The refugee flow from the Syrian civil war is “already starting to destabilize Jordan just in terms of inability to cope,” Slaughter said. Lebanon faces Syrian-inspired conflict between Assad’s Alawites and Sunni Muslims, she said. …more

Saudi Arabia witnessed 52 protests in 2012: Activists
5 January, 2013 – PressTV

Saudi protesters have staged over 50 anti-regime demonstrations across the kingdom in 2012 to demand the immediate release of political prisoners, activists say.

Calling 2012 the year of protests, political activists said in a report that the kingdom witnessed 52 protest rallies last year without taking into account demonstrations held in Eastern Province.

They say protest had a big impact on the Al Saud regime as it was forced to release some political prisoners.

Saudi activists say there are more than 30,000 political prisoners, mostly prisoners of conscience, in jails across the Kingdom.

According to the activists, most of the political prisoners are being held by the government without trial or legitimate charges and they were arrested for merely looking suspicious.

Some of the detainees are reported to be held without trial for more than 16 years. Attempting to incite the public against the government and allegiance to foreign entities are usually the ready-made charges brought against political dissidents.

Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia, mainly in Qatif and Awamiyah in Eastern Province, primarily calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, as well as an end to widespread discrimination.

However, the demonstrations turned into protests against the repressive Al Saud regime, especially after November 2011, when Saudi security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the province. …source

President Assad propose a Syrian and a sovereign plan… to those who want to listen
7 January, 2013 – By Pierre Khalaf – Voltaire.net

The timing chosen by President Bashar al-Assad to propose a plan to end the crisis is not trivial. It coincided, first, with successive defeats for the armed groups, which destroyed the illusions of the United States and its European and Arab auxiliaries, distorting all their calculations, and then with information about a Russian-American meeting, mid-January, to discuss the results of the last visit to Syria of the international envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi. Mr Brahimi has already heard from President Assad the headlines of the principles that he has developed Sunday at the House of Culture and Arts, in a speech, in presence of hundreds of enthusiastic supporters. These inalienable principles include the following: the sovereignty and political independence of Syria are not negotiable, therefore, Damascus will not accept any condition imposed from outside; any solution must reflects the will of the Syrians.

In his first speech since June 3, 2012, Mr. Assad was inflexible, ensuring that the conflict was not between the government and the opposition, but between “the Nation and its enemies” who want the partition of the country. Claiming not to have found so far a “partner” for this and refusing to negotiate with “gangs who take their orders from abroad”, he proposed a three-stage plan. But before any dialogue, countries funding terrorists should “commit to stop”, and armed men to put an end to their terrorist operations, he said, denouncing “a state of war in all sense of the word”. Once these commitments achieved, the army will immediately cease its operations, “while retaining the right to respond,” he added.

Only under these conditions a “national dialogue conference” will be opened, he said. This conference will prepare a “National Charter” to be submitted to referendum and a new parliament and a new government will emerge from the polls. Any transition must “be done according to the terms of the constitution,” he said, referring to elections.

Mr. Assad plan therefore provides three stages, which should soon be officially presented by the government to be included in a “National Charter” to be drafted by all parties before being submitted to a referendum:

Step 1: Countries arming terrorists undertake to stop the funding; cessation of terrorists operations, will help the return of refugees, and then, the Syrian army will immediately put an end to its operations, while retaining the right to respond to threats against national security; setting up a mechanism to monitor stakeholder engagement, including with regard to border control.

Step 2: Held under the auspices of the government, a conference of national dialogue involving all forces, will draft a National Charter defending the sovereignty of Syria, unity and territorial integrity, and rejecting interference, terrorism and violence. This charter must then be submitted to a referendum; parliamentary elections followed by the formation of a government extended to all segments of society, in accordance with the Constitution, in charge of enforcing the National Charter.

Step 3: Formation of a government under the Constitution; a conference of national reconciliation and general amnesty for all persons detained as a result of events; infrastructures rebuilding.

As President Assad expected, the so-called opposition represented by the Syrian National Coalition immediately rejected the plan, saying that the President wants to choose its partners and seek to stay in power. The Coalition spokesman, Walid al-Bunni, told AFP in Beirut that the opposition wanted “a political solution, but the goal is for the Syrians to overthrow (Mr. Assad)”.

President Assad said that anyway, this plan was not directed to “those who will reject it immediately, but to the true patriots who have Syria’s interests in mind”. “It is useless to argue with those who take their orders from abroad, it is best to speak directly with the master rather than the slave”, he said on Sunday.

The Assad initiative comes as the United States seem to have resigned to the failure of all the pressures, sanctions and military offensives for the departure of the Syrian President. On December 29, Russia said Assad intended to remain in power until the end of his term and it was impossible to dissuade him.

During his visit to Damascus late December, Lakhdar Brahimi spoke of a plan “based on the Geneva Declaration,” providing for a cease-fire, the formation of a government with full powers and elections. The Geneva Declaration dated June 2012 provided for a transitional government but did not refer to the departure of Mr. Assad. Mr. Brahimi found this plan likely to be accepted by the international community. Damascus responded by saying welcome any initiative through dialogue.

After several meetings between Moscow and Washington, and several rounds of Mr. Brahimi, the diplomatic ballet intensifies in the region. Riyadh and Cairo have called for a “peaceful settlement” defined by the Syrians themselves. The head of the Iranian diplomacy goes for its part January 9 to Cairo, to meet the Egyptians and Mr. Brahimi. …more

Obama Should Reconsider US Approach to Bahrain
Toby C. Jones – LobeLog – 8 January, 2013

Justice is a fiction in much of the Persian Gulf. Nowhere is this truer than in Bahrain, a place where torture and state terror have become the norm. The country’s political elites talk frequently about freedom and the need for legal and political order. The reality, however, is that Bahrain’s judicial system is little more than theater. The courts are sites in which freedoms are not assured, but where they are subordinated to the whims of centralized tyranny. Over the last two years, Bahrain has blithely ignored almost all of its domestic and international commitments to refrain from torture, to protect free speech and to honor due process, all conventions that the country has ostensibly built into its “constitutional” order.

In the most recent instance, the country’s highest court upheld lengthy prison sentences for 13 prominent human rights and political activists, including life imprisonment in some of the world’s most brutal dungeons. Having already been subjected to late night abductions, military tribunals, torture, and false accusation, it is hardly surprising that the imprisoned were unable to find relief in Bahrain’s sham appeals process.

More remarkable is the unwillingness of Bahrain’s most important Western patron, the United States, to openly acknowledge that its partner and host to the 5th Fleet is not merely managing its way through a crisis, but building a regime of fear and violence all while claiming the opposite. In her comments yesterday at the State Department’s daily briefing, spokesperson Victoria Nuland offered what has become a familiar refrain — a mild rebuke dressed up in principle, but one that makes clear that the US is unwilling to say or do more.

The US position on Bahrain’s excesses, in ways that are eerily similar to the island country’s own theatrical posturing, is more histrionic than substantive. Clearly, in spite of their claims otherwise, American leaders are mostly content with the status quo. Nuland expressed “regret” and “concern” about Bahrain’s high court’s decision to uphold the convictions of key opposition figures yesterday. She added “that this decision further restricts freedom of expression and compromises the atmosphere within Bahrain for reconciliation.”

The reality is that there is nothing further to restrict. The only clear willingness for reconciliation has come from the country’s opposition, not the government. In also calling for further investigations into torture and accountability, Ms. Nuland asks her listeners to suspend disbelief and to consider seriously that Bahrain has any real interest in the pursuit of a meaningful resolution. It has been clear for two years that Bahrain’s leaders desire victory and vengeance, the total destruction of the democratic opposition.

While American leaders almost certainly would prefer a political resolution to Bahrain’s challenges, they have done little to help advance the cause. Bahrain’s leaders have learned that mild admonishment is a small price to pay while they consolidate a new era of authoritarianism. They understand that the American approach is feeble and feckless, if often justified, because of Bahrain’s strategic significance. Long a reliable partner in the US mission to police and patrol the Persian Gulf and to ensure the “flow of oil,” American unwillingness to come down too hard on Manama is also a sign of deference to Riyadh. Saudi Arabia has little interest in seeing Bahrain’s opposition enjoy political gain.

It is, however, well past time to think seriously about whether US strategy in the Gulf is working or, instead, whether it helps abet the very conditions of instability that threaten the region and prospects for more open and durable regional politics. The reality is that oil’s flow does not need protecting. Bahrain does not deserve a pass because it is home to American military facilities. …more

ITUC Calls on Bahrain to Make Progress on Labour Rights
9 January, 2013 – Press Release: ITUC

INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION

Brussels, 8 January 2013 (ITUC OnLine): The ITUC is urging the US government to follow through on a US Department of Labor report which has found that Bahrain violated labour commitments made under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries. The long delayed report, issued on December 20, made a series of recommendations to be taken up in formal consultations between the two governments, including enacting substantial labour law reforms, ensuring that workers be unconditionally reinstated with back pay, reviewing all criminal cases against trade unionists and dropping charges where appropriate and refraining from any further activities that would undermine trade unions, including the national trade union centre GFBTU.

“The U.S. government now must demonstrate that the consultations comprise a serious effort to address Bahrain’s blatant disregard for the trade agreement’s labor chapter, including punishing people at work for their peaceful participation in democracy marches,” according to the AFL-CIO, which filed the original complaint under the FTA in April 2011.

In February 2011, Bahrainis took to the streets to demand economic and social justice and democratic reforms. Trade unions, including the GFBTU (General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions), played an important role in the protests and at one point called a general strike. The government’s reaction to the protests was swift and harsh, resulting in serious and widespread human rights violations. In light of this crisis, the AFL-CIO filed a complaint under the US-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in April 2011 calling on the United States to withdraw from the pact and, at the very least, to initiate consultations under the labour chapter regarding the sacking of thousands of trade union members and the arrest and prosecution of union leaders.

“In 2012, an ILO-led process produced important but incomplete progress in achieving justice for those who were victims of the labour repression committed by the government in response to the protests. That process has now stalled due to a lack of political will by the government and, indeed, it is again backsliding on its international commitments. This includes the recent sentencing of trade union leaders to lengthy prison sentences for their union activity,” said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow. …more

US Department of State Daily Press Briefing
Victoria Nuland – Spokesperson
Washington, DC – 7 January, 2013

QUESTION: Would you update us on your position to – or your reaction to the latest arrests and apparent heavy-handedness of the Bahraini Government against the opposition?

MS. NULAND: Well, as you know, there was a final ruling today in the Bahraini Court of Cassation on the 13 Bahraini activists. We regret today’s decision by the Bahraini Court of Cassation to uphold the convictions and the sentences of these 13 activists. We’re concerned that this decision further restricts freedom of expression and compromises the atmosphere within Bahrain for reconciliation. We have repeatedly voiced our concern about these cases both publicly and privately and at the highest levels, and urged the Government of Bahrain to abide by its international obligations, and we have also had Embassy observers at the trial. So we call on the Government of Bahrain to investigate all reports of torture, including those made by the defendants in this case, as it has pledged to do, and to hold accountable any who are found responsible.

…source

Bahrain king ‘awarded for democracy’
9 January, 2012 – Hurriyet Daily News

Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa was named Humanitarian Personality of the Year with the absolute majority of votes in a recent poll conducted by the Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Sharq, according to Bahrain news agency.

The participants hailed the king for his role in “consolidating the pillars of democracy and freedom” and “successful tackling of all hostile plots intended to tamper with Bahrain’s independence and security and the freedom of its people,” said the agency.

The government is criticized for putting down an uprising with martial law in March 2011. Thousands were arrested and military trials conducted. Bahrain says it is now instituting a range of reforms. …source

Repression Against Anarchists Intensifies
8 January, 2013

Portland, Oregon – Two recent developments indicate an intensification of the government’s campaign against the anarchist movement in the Pacific Northwest.

In late December, the three grand jury resisters being held at the Sea-Tac Detention Center for their refusal to testify were moved into solitary confinement. No explanation has been given for why they were moved.

In a letter describing the situation, Kteeo wrote:

“Prison is incredibly fucked up even at the best of times, but that doesn’t mean people can’t create community within these circumstances. We do. When I was in my unit I was part of a community. I gave support and received support. I learned from people and I taught. My unit doesn’t have educational opportunities so we created our own. I taught math, reading, and lead a workout group. I was part of something, part of laughter and part of tears; part of a shared experience (not that any of us want to be part of a this). I was a part of growth, part of a community that comes together again and again as our units make up changes. But I am no longer in that unit, no longer in that community.”

The Committee Against Political Repression is calling for the discontinuation of the use of solitary confinement for any purpose, and for the immediate release of Matt Duran, Kteeo Olejnik, and Maddy Pfeifer.

In an unrelated case, in Portland, a young man accused of firebombing an empty police car was released on bail, under the condition that he have no contact with any anarchist organizations. He was specifically ordered not to have contact with Resist the NW Grand Jury or the prisoner support group Anarchist Black Cross, clearly indicating that prosecutors want to prevent him from receiving legal, political, or personal support that would aid in his defense.

These developments come after a year which has seen, in addition to the grand jury hearings, SWAT raids against activists in Portland and Seattle, a grotesque inflation of charges in a Portland case involving small-scale vandalism, and indictments against five people accused of participating in a Seattle May Day demonstration where government and corporate property was attacked. Similar events have played out simultaneously in the Bay Area, and elsewhere in the country, forming what critics have called a Federal anti-anarchist witch hunt.

CAPR believes that the governments most recent actions confirm what we have said all along: The state is using the legal system to target the anarchist movement, in the process criminalizing a set of political beliefs and associations. We decry the use of inquisitorial tactics such as secret hearings, coerced testimony, guilt-by-association, and torture in the form of solitary confinement.

CAPR is asking its supporters to call Sea-Tac (206-870-5700) and demand an end to the use of solitary confinement, and to call US Attorney Jenny Durkan (800-797-6722) demanding an end to the grand jury investigation.

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Kteeo’s Letter from Solitary

Hey Everybody,

First off, I want to thank all of you so much for all of the incredible support being thrown my way. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

So here I am back in SHU (solitary) and I’m not sure why. It’s been four days and I haven’t been told yet, but I’m sure I’ll know soon enough…. So now, not only have I been taken away from my community, my loved ones on the outs, but now I have been taken away from the community on the inside, my unit….

I want to be very clear: Prison is incredibly fucked up even at the best of times, but that doesn’t mean people can’t create community within these circumstances. We do.

When I was in my unit I was part of a community. I gave support and received support. I learned from people and I taught. My unit doesn’t have educational opportunities so we created our own. I taught math, reading, and lead a workout group. I was part of something, part of laughter and part of tears; part of a shared experience (not that any of us want to be part of a this). I was a part of growth, part of a community that comes together again and again as our units make up changes.

But I am no longer in that unit, no longer in that community.

So here I am back in the SHU.… my rec yard time is now very limited (the yard isn’t actually outside, it’s fresh air and room to roam). I’ll be real, the lack of space and fresh air is hard. The very little freedoms (you know like, choosing when to take a shower…) are gone.

I think that the hardest part of this is that being in solitary (like all parts of prison) doesn’t just affect the person in solitary, this experience doesn’t just affect me. Being in the SHU you get one phone call a month. One. 1. o-n-e. That affects people. Friends, families… I know this is true for my own. It’s a whole lot harder to ask my parents, family, and friends to trust that I am OK when I can only call them once a month. Prior to the SHU, I would call my parents once a day and a good friend or two once a week…. I could let my loved ones know in real time that I was ok.

Its not ok how much this affects others and I truly believe that is an intentional part of punishment. The prison knows that it hurts us to hurt our loved ones.
But it is not all bad. I’m figuring out ways to stay fit in my cell. I’m learning so much about myself and getting really good at enjoying my own company, and I’m getting more study time.

Oh yeah, everything is bright orange, like, everything! So, that’s pretty rad; like the Destiny’s Child video for Say My Name….

Anywho, knowing this isn’t breaking me, knowing that I’m still laughing, still smiling, makes me feel stronger than ever before.

Keep smiling, keep struggling.
In solidarity and gratitude,

Kteeo

P.S. I can totally get letters, but please continue to be patient with me. Return time may be even longer. Postage has got to stretch a bit further these days.

Bahrain forces attack anti-regime rally with teargas canisters, rubber bullets
5 January, 2013 – PressTV

Bahraini security forces have attacked demonstrators protesting the Al Khalifa regime’s ongoing crackdown on peaceful protests, Press TV reports.

The Saudi-backed forces also fired teargas canisters and rubber bullets at rallying crowd in the village of Mugaba near Manama on Friday.

Villagers were out on the streets in solidarity with political prisoners and those prosecuted by the regime. Similar protests were also held in several other villages and towns.

Since a popular revolution began in Bahrain in mid-February 2011, scores have been killed, many of them under torture while in custody, and thousands more detained.

Bahraini authorities have also dismissed hundreds of people from their jobs for taking part in peaceful anti-regime demonstrations.

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 crackdown on protests, criticizing Manama for torturing political activists, politicians, and protesters.

Bahrainis say they will continue to hold anti-regime demonstrations until their demands for the establishment of a democratically-elected government and an end to rights violations are met. …source