First Arab woman to scale Mount Everest
May 28, 2011

Suzanne al-Houby, a Palestinian who lives in the United Arab Emirates, has become the first Arab woman to scale Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, she said in a statement on Saturday. — PHOTO: AFP

DUBAI – SUZANNE al-Houby, a Palestinian who lives in the United Arab Emirates, has become the first Arab woman to scale Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, she said in a statement on Saturday.

‘Becoming the first Arab woman to reach the top of the world was an enormous thrill and a great privilege,’ Houby said in the statement.

‘I would like to share this triumph with the Palestinian people and all Arabs – especially all the Arab women, young and old, who continue to contribute to the peace and stability of the region we all call home.

‘I will never forget the moment when my dream became reality, when I saw the prayer flags flapping in the thin air, marking the summit of the greatest mountain on earth,’ she said.

Houby, 40, spent 51 days making the climb, which she completed on the morning of May 21, the statement said, adding that she spent two years preparing for her Everest attempt. — AFP …source

MANAMA, March 20, 2011 (Xinhua) — A Bahraini Shiite woman holds the portrait of Issa Abdali Radhi during his funeral in Sitra, southern Manama, Bahrain, March 20, 2011. Issa was killed several days ago during the crackdown by the government military forces on the anti-government protestors.

Bahraini Shiites attend the funeral Mahmud Mekki, 23, who was killed the day before during violent police raid on anti-regime protesters in the village of Sitra

“Mohammad Abdol-Hossein Farhan” the 6 year old Bahraini child who was killed by Al-Khalifa’s solder is the most young martyr of Bahrain. They killed him by tear gas that was poisonous. The doctors stated that he was killed because of Asphyxiation.

There’s a Secret Patriot Act, Senator Says
By Spencer Ackerman – May 25, 2011 4:56 pm

You think you understand how the Patriot Act allows the government to spy on its citizens. Sen. Ron Wyden says it’s worse than you know.

Congress is set to reauthorize three controversial provisions of the surveillance law as early as Thursday. Wyden (D-Oregon) says that powers they grant the government on their face, the government applies a far broader legal interpretation — an interpretation that the government has conveniently classified, so it cannot be publicly assessed or challenged. But one prominent Patriot-watcher asserts that the secret interpretation empowers the government to deploy ”dragnets” for massive amounts of information on private citizens; the government portrays its data-collection efforts much differently.

“We’re getting to a gap between what the public thinks the law says and what the American government secretly thinks the law says,” Wyden told Danger Room in an interview in his Senate office. “When you’ve got that kind of a gap, you’re going to have a problem on your hands.”

What exactly does Wyden mean by that? As a member of the intelligence committee, he laments that he can’t precisely explain without disclosing classified information. But one component of the Patriot Act in particular gives him immense pause: the so-called “business-records provision,” which empowers the FBI to get businesses, medical offices, banks and other organizations to turn over any “tangible things” it deems relevant to a security investigation.

“It is fair to say that the business-records provision is a part of the Patriot Act that I am extremely interested in reforming,” Wyden says. “I know a fair amount about how it’s interpreted, and I am going to keep pushing, as I have, to get more information about how the Patriot Act is being interpreted declassified. I think the public has a right to public debate about it.”

That’s why Wyden and his colleague Sen. Mark Udall offered an amendment on Tuesday to the Patriot Act reauthorization.

The amendment, first reported by Marcy Wheeler, blasts the administration for “secretly reinterpret[ing] public laws and statutes.” It would compel the Attorney General to “publicly disclose the United States Government’s official interpretation of the USA Patriot Act.” .. .more

Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Security forces in Bahrain have reportedly killed a male teenager yesterday March 30, amid continuing crackdown on the popular revolution around the country.

Fifteen-year-old Sayed Ahmed martyred from a faceshot in the village of Saar on Wednesday, Bahrain’s Al Wefaq political party announced.

Speak Out or Get Out
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in Bahrain: Speak Out or Get Out

By Richard Sollom on May 27, 2011 Tweet this

Ireland has a long history of promoting human rights at the international level; the former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, later became the top human rights official at the United Nations. But the country’s leading medical institution, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), has been conspicuously absent in the global call for the Kingdom of Bahrain to stop its relentless and systematic attack on medical workers. Since mid-February, reports of human rights violations in Bahrain have increased significantly as Bahraini authorities have attempted to suppress anti-government protests. Given the close ties of RCSI to the Bahraini government, its lack of response should come as no surprise.

This relationship dates back 20 years: the Royal College has run post-graduate courses and exams in Bahrain, and many Bahraini medical students have studied in Ireland.

Several RCSI members have disappeared during the crackdown in Bahrain and targeting of medical professionals, including Ghassan Dhaif, Baser Dhaif and Ali Al Ekri, who was arrested while performing surgery at Salmaniya Medical Complex. The RCSI sent a fact-finding mission from Ireland which met with Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa. However, the mission did not meet with any of the families of the missing medics. After the trip, the RCSI declined to comment on their findings or release a report despite criticism coming from England’s Royal College of Surgeons. Amnesty International Ireland has since spoken out against RCSI, demanding they use their influence to pressure the Bahraini government to release the medics.

The families of the missing have speculated that the reason for the RCSI’ refusal to criticize the government is financial. RCSI Bahrain represents an important starting point for expansion into the Middle East, and the RCSI has invested millions of Euro to bolster their relationship with the Bahraini government.

Medical professionals and the facilities in which they operate provide essential services and receive heightened protections under international law. Amidst violence, medical professionals and institutions must remain firmly dedicated to their duty to provide medical care to those in need regardless of nationality, ethnicity, political affiliation, or other social division. This concept of “medical neutrality” is firmly grounded in international humanitarian law, professional codes and ethics, and international human rights law.

Physicians for Human Rights documented gross violations of medical neutrality and human rights in its recent report Do No Harm: A Call for Bahrain to End Systematic Attacks on Doctors and Patients.

PHR joined the American College of Physicians, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the American Medical Association, Doctors for Human Rights-UK, the International Federation of Health and Human Rights Organizations, and the National Arab American Medical Association in petitioning the Crown Prince of Bahrain to cease attacks on hospitals, patients, and medical professionals.

The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland has an ethical responsibility to call for an end to the egregious and systematic attacks on doctors – some of whom are their own alumni — who face trumped up charges of medical malpractice and treason. The Royal College must speak out, if not — get out of Bahrain. …source

Bahrain: Ongoing trials against demonstrators and more than 30 have been sentenced
May 25th, 2011

Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) is deeply concerned about sentencing of 4 demonstrators yesterday in National Safety court ( Military court) .

On 25 May 2011 , 4 demonstrators sentenced :

1- Rashid Adnan Alawi Al Sayad was sentenced to one year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order.

2-Sayad Ahmed Mustafa Mohammed was sentenced to one year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order. ( Activist and Had interviews with the media – attached his photo with Al-Jazeera English).

3-Hassan Jaafar Ali Mhanna will be jailed for one year after being convicted of participating in illegal protests for criminal ends. He got another three-month prison sentence over driving a vehicle the registration plate of another one. However, the court found him not guilty of inciting the overthrow of the ruling system.

4-Hassan Isa Mohammed who was found guilty of holding pamphlets calling for the overthrow of the kingdom’s ruling system and social fabric. one-year prison sentence.

Cases on-going:

1- fifteen people are charged with murdering a Pakistani national called Abdulla Malik Abdulla, attacking other people, taking part in illegal assemblies for criminal ends and disrupting public security, the court decided to adjourn the hearing to next Sunday, May 29 in order to enable the suspects to meet their relatives and appoint lawyers.

2-Ali Yussef Abdulwahab Al Taweel and Ali Atiya Mahdi Al Shamloul are accused of killing policeman Ahmed Al Mrissi while on duty in Sitra village.The case has been adjourned till 29 May, 2011.

3- Raed Jassim Mohammed, Qassim Hameed Khatim, Mohammed Hassan Ali, Mohammed Ibrahim Jassim and Hassan Mohammed Abd Al Khadhr Al Asfoor, as well as Salman Ahmed Mohammed who was tried in absentia, faced charges of attempting to murder a civil inspection group for terrorist ends, possessing unlicensed weapon and taking part in illegal protests at the GCC Roundabout “Pearl” in order to disrupt public security.The case has been adjourned till 30 May, 2011.

4-Ali Yussef Yaqoob is accused of attempting to security officer on March 15, 2011, the court heard three witnesses, including the victim, who asserted that the suspect used a GMC to run over the policeman who was, along with his colleagues, trying to disperse protestors who were throwing pebbles at security officers and blocking roads. The case has been adjourned till 30 May, 2011. …source

Hamza al-Khateeb aged 13 years old tortured and killed in Syria

May 28, 2011 by sks

This is the story of a 13-year-old healthy boy named Hamza AlKhateeb. Hamza’s cousin was killed on the hands on the Syrian regime a few days before he had decided to go out in a peaceful demonstration with other people in his area. He was arrested on April 29, 2011 by the Syrian regime forces. A month had passedby with his family not knowing where he is, or if or when will he be released. On May 27, 2011, he was released to his family as a dead body. Upon examining his body, the signs of torture are very clear.

His skin was peeling off his hands and feet, and his neck was broken. There were a few bullets in his body that were used as a way of torture rather than to kill him with. Clear signs of severe physical abuse appeared on the body such as marks done with hands, sticks, and shoes. Hamza’s penis was also cut off. That is sadder than this story is the fact that it is not the only one. In fact, it is one of many. There are many men, women, elderly, and children that have been arrested and not back. The death toll has surpassed 1200 people since the beginning of this revolution. Group graves have been discovered in the city of Daraa and the Syrian regime is still trying to cover the facts and deny the evil acts that were committed towards the Syrian people.

We, the Syrian people, request the United Nations to take a firm stand against the Syrian Government. We also request the United Nations and Human Rights Organizations to do a full investigation of cases such as Hamza’s and many others. We, the people of Syria, deserve the right to live a free dignified life, and we are calling upon every free soul to help us achieve that. …source

…”we have to stand in the face of 5 monarchies, 4 monarchies which sent troops to help violate our freedom”