Posts from — June 2011

Rose Revolution In Bahrain
Bahrain’s security forces are increasingly targeting women in their campaign against prodemocracy protesters despite Wednesday’s lifting martial law in the island kingdom.

Ayat al-Gormezi , 20, a poet and student arrested two months ago after reading out a poem at a prodemocracy rally, is due to go on trial [June 3] before a military tribunal , her mother said.

Original Report Date : 02-04-2011 04:59 مساء
Action Alert: Bahrain – Bahraini mother’s cry for help

Bahraini police tells father: “If you don’t tell us where Ayat is in fifteen minutes, we will kill each of your sons in front of your eyes”

1. Summary

The mother of Ayat Al-Qormezi appeals to all campaigners and human rights activist to ascertain the whereabouts of her daughter and ensure her safe return. Ayat was arrested for reciting a poem which criticised the Bahraini government.

2. Background

Ayat Al-Qormezi, a 20 years old poet and student at the Faculty of Teachers, was arrested on Wednesday, March 30th 2011. The reasoning for her arrest is that she recited a poem which criticised government policy in Pearl Square, on February 23rd, 2011. Al-Qormezi had been receiving has been subjected to harassments, defamation, intimidation and threats of rape and murder.

Her mother has told IHRC that they live in constant fear, since the police raided their house on Tuesday at 1:00 AM. Having not found Ayat, they destroyed the contents of the house and confiscated books and CDs. Before leaving, they told the family that they will continue pressuring the family until they reveal the whereabouts of the 20 year old student.

On Wednesday, riot forces and over 50 jeeps surrounded their house. They raided their house again, gathered four of Ayat’s brothers, and laid them on the floor at gunpoint. They shouted at Ayat’s father “If you do not tell us where Ayat is in fifteen minutes, we will kill each of your sons in front of your eyes – I have orders to do so”, her mother told IHRC.

After this terrifying ordeal, her mother and father had no choice but to ask Ayat to return home. The riot forces and the police, faces covered, told the mother that they would take her to be interrogated and sign documents. They were told that they would then be able to take her home from Al-Howra police station. Her mother states that her daughter has been missing ever since, has been told that her daughter is being treated at a military hospital for wounds incurred during being tortured by her interrogators.

Her mother pleads desperately, saying: “Please find my daughter and bring her back to me before they kill her”.

IHRC urges all campaigners to write letters to the Bahraini authorities and the Foreign Secretaries in their countries, urging them to put pressure on the Bahraini authorities to reveal immediately the whereabouts of Ayat Al-l-Qormezi, and ensure her return. …source

A female poet whose “death” became the focus of an Iranian state propaganda campaign against Bahrain has been brought before a military tribunal in the island kingdom.
By Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent
1:33PM BST 02 Jun 2011

Ayat al-Ghermezi, who is 20, was charged with incitement and insulting members of the Al Khalifa royal family.

Arrested after reading a self-penned poem to anti-government protesters in the Bahraini capital Manama, she has been in custody for two months.

Bahraini human rights activists say that although Miss Ghermezi was not raped, she was badly tortured while in custody. Her purported crime centres on a poem she read to protesters at the Pearl Roundabout in Manama, the epicentre of the street movement until it was destroyed by the authorities.

Its lyrics include the lines: “We are the people who will kill humiliation and assassinate misery/We are the people who will destroy the foundation of injustice/Don’t you hear their cries, don’t you hear their screams?” She said the poem was addressed to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and his hawkish prime minister and relative Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa. …source

Ayat al-Ghermezi (Arabic: آيات القرمزي‎) is a 20-year-old poet and student at the Faculty of Teachers in Bahrain From Sadad, Bahrain. She was arrested on 30 March for reciting a poem critical of the government during the pro-democracy protests in Pearl Square, the main gathering place for demonstrators, in February. She was forced to give herself up after police raided her parents’ house and made four of Ayat’s brothers lie on the floor at gunpoint. She was not there at the time. One policeman shouted at their father to “tell us where Ayat is or we will kill each of your sons in front of your eyes”.[1]

Wiki Note: Masked police and special riot police later took Ayat away telling her mother that her daughter would be interrogated. Her mother was told to pick up her daughter from Al-Howra police station, but has not seen her since her arrest. She did speak to her once on the phone when Ayat told her that she had been forced to sign a false confession. Her mother has been told confidentially that Ayat is in a military hospital as a result of injuries inflicted when she was tortured.

Bahrain king offers dialogue
Wednesday, Jun 01, 2011
Gulf News Manama

Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa yesterday asked the government and parliament to call for a dialogue on July 1 to “boost a national consensus on the ideal development for the kingdom.”

Addressing local editors and columnists, King Hamad said that the dialogue is a national strategic choice to reach common solutions and should be “serious, comprehensive and without preconditions”.

All parties should take part in the dialogue to discuss the future of the country and offer their views on ways to bolster reforms and development in all areas, contribute to reinforcing positive changes and fulfilling the aspirations of the Bahraini people in achieving peace and justice, King Hamad said. …more absurdity

Understanding Bahrain’s Shia Protesters
By Genieve Abdo and Jasim Husain Ali*

WASHINGTON, Apr 4, 2011 (IPS/Al Jazeera) – Listening to the rhetoric coming out of Tehran, one might assume that Bahrain’s Shia opposition is relying on help from its co-religionists next door. But, in fact, the opposite is true: the Shia opposition wants nothing more than for Tehran to stay out of the sectarian dispute unfolding in the tiny kingdom.

The major demand of the mainstream opposition is to turn the country into a constitutional monarchy, much like those in Europe. Other selected goals include: an elected government; a free press; an unrestricted civil society; and an end to discriminatory practices against religions other than the Sunni minority, such as unequal employment practices, unfair distribution of wealth, and the elimination of all forms of administrative and financial malpractice.

As the world’s attention has focused on Libya, Bahrain’s mainstream opposition has made every attempt to distance itself from Tehran’s rulers.

Sheikh Ali, secretary general of Al-Wefaq, the main Shia opposition group, publicly announced in March that his organisation had no desire to implement Iranian-style Vilayat-e Faqih, the concept of supreme clerical rule.

Yet, even given these facts, the grand promises from Tehran – which now include sending young Iranian boys to Bahrain to protest, if not fight, alongside the opposition – show that Iran continues to manipulate the crisis in its favour by trying to persuade the world that the Shia in Bahrain are one with those in Iran.

In reality, Bahrain stands as one of the most politically- aware states in the region. Demands for reform did not emerge only a few weeks ago when the unrest started, but date back to the years before the kingdom’s independence from Britain in 1971.

In the view of many Shia, the arrival of Saudi troops weeks ago is merely a ploy by Bahrain’s rulers to quell calls by the opposition for a Western-style democracy in favour of the status quo. For the Saudis, a crackdown on the Shia protesters in Bahrain sends a message to their own restive Shia citizens in the eastern part of the country who also demand democratic rule. …more

Bahrain: 7 demonstrators were sentenced after the lifting of the National Safety law ( Emergency law)
June 2nd, 2011

Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) is deeply concerned about sentencing of 7 demonstrators Today in National Safety court ( Military court) .

Today 2 June 2011 , 7 demonstrators sentenced :

1-Abdullah Ahmad Hassan was sentenced to one year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order.

2-Mohamed Ibrahim Ali was sentenced to one year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order.

3-Abdul Amir Mohammed Ali was sentenced to one year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order.

4-Jaafar Mohammad Redha was sentenced to one year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order.

5-Abdul Nabi Hassan Ahmed was sentenced to four year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order and riot.

6-Ali Abdullah Hassan was sentenced to three year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order and Inciting publicly towards the hatred of the governing.

7-Saleh Mahdi Issa was sentenced to five year imprisonment for taking part in illegal protests and disrupting public order.

…source

Security forces attack Bahraini protesters
Bahraini troops attack anti-government protesters in villages near the capital, hours after martial law is lifted.
Last Modified: 02 Jun 2011 00:19

Scores of people have been killed and many more arrested in the crackdown on peaceful protests in Bahrain. Bahraini troops have attacked anti-government protesters in several villages near the capital Manama, witnesses say.

Despite the lifting of martial law on Wednesday, regime forces fired tear gas on protesters who had poured into the streets to stage protest rallies in villages around Manama, including Diraz, Bani Jamrah and Karzakan, according to witnesses. “Protests are to be in main streets and squares … the movement must return to important places ahead of the imminent return, God willing, to Martyr’s Square”. One activist reported a heavy security presence in Bani Jamrah and said about 30 women had gathered in front of his house, but security forces used batons and tear gas to disperse them.

“With the end of the emergency situation, the security would not be here but they still are,” said Ali Zirazdi, a 30 year-old man, who said police had fired tear gas after a few hundred people gathered in the predominantly Shia village of Diraz.

“The security presence is even stronger and their approach now is as soon as they hear of any protest in advance, they come down to stop it from happening,” Zirazdi added.

Opposition activists in Bahrain called for a “fresh wave” of anti-government protest rallies across the country on Wednesday, as a state of emergency imposed during a March crackdown on protesters has ended.

“Protests are to be in main streets and squares … the movement must return to important places ahead of the imminent return, God willing, to Martyr’s Square,” said a post on “February 14 Revolution Youth Coalition” Facebook page, referring to the site of the demolished Pearl Square, which was the focal point of anti-government demonstrations from February until being destroyed during the government crackdown in March.

Bahraini activists say their protest campaign will continue until the nation’s demands are met.

Amnesty International, the human rights group, had called on Manama to allow the planned protest rallies to go ahead and stop using violence against peaceful protesters.

Law lifting ‘insincere’

The unrest comes despite the lifting of an emergency law, a step the authorities hope will help to restore normalcy in the kingdom rocked by political upheaval following anti-government protests.

Nabeel Rajab, the vice president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, told Al Jazeera the government was not sincere in its lifting of the emergency law.

Click here for more of Al Jazeera’s special coverage

“I think we are going to see more protests in the coming days. The lifting [of the] state [of] emergency it was more to attract the Formula One … which was going to act as an indicator if Bahrain has come to normal or not,” he said.

“The Bahraini government is desperately trying to send out the message that everything is back to normal, but it is not. Today Bahrainis are gathered again, protesting on the streets of all the villages, more than 40 different protests all around Bahrain … all of them were attacked from the moment they started and many people were injured by live ammunition, rubber bullets or tear gas.”

Bahrain imposed emergency rule in mid-March, giving the military powers to suppress demonstrations led by the country’s Shia majority against the minority Sunni rulers. The protesters were inspired to rise up by other revolutions sweeping Arab nations around the Middle East and North Africa.

With the end of martial law, tanks and soldiers withdrew from the centre of Manama, the capital, but numerous police checkpoints remained around the city.

The move came a day after King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa offered a national dialogue with opposition figures on reforms. …more

Damon Hill urges Bernie Ecclestone not to reschedule Bahrain Grand Prix

Damon Hill, the 1996 F1 world champion, along his son Joshua and wife Georgie arrive at the UK premier of the movie Senna. Photograph: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images

Damon Hill has asked Formula One to take a moral stance on the eve of the World Motor Sport council meeting’s decision on the fate of the Bahrain Grand Prix, which was cancelled in March because of civil unrest.

Following comments from the sport’s commercial-rights holder, Bernie Ecclestone, who in a recent CNN interview said the problem in the world today was “too many over-educated people”, Hill said: “We cannot duck this issue.”

Hill, the 1996 F1 world champion and the president of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, which will host next month’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, added: “Formula One cannot put its head in the sand concerning the Bahrain Grand Prix because it is a very volatile situation out there and F1 is involved.

“I am not a spokesman for Formula One. But I am surprised and disappointed that there is a lack of intelligent comment coming from the sport at a time when we should be trying to promote it in a positive way, a way which recognises human values.”

Hill, the son of the two-time F1 world champion Graham, has always been concerned about the image of the sport and he added: “Formula One, its teams, its drivers and its sponsors, has to stand for values which are positive and aspirational. …more

Women the latest target of Bahrain’s crackdown
by News Source on June 2, 2011
Kelly McEvers reports:

The woman who spoke to NPR says she was taken by bus to a police station, blindfolded, and made to stand for five hours in a room. She was accused of working to bring down the Bahraini regime.

“They tried to force me to confess that I told people at my work to be against the regime,” she says.

Authorities showed the woman a picture of someone protesting at Pearl Roundabout. At the time, Bahrain’s crown prince said it was legal to protest. Now, authorities say it’s a crime.

“They tried to force me to confess that a picture in a protest — that it is my picture. And it was really not my picture,” the woman says.

She was taunted about one of her relatives, who has been jailed without charge for many weeks. “They said very bad things about him,” she says. “And they told me that, ‘Do you think he will come out of the jail? He will die in jail.’”

But perhaps the worst part of the ordeal was that the woman was detained at all. In an Arab culture, particularly in the Gulf, detaining a woman is the ultimate humiliation, going back to the days when the way one tribe defeated another was to capture and rape its women.

“They told me if I didn’t confess they will let men come and — continue with me,” the woman says. “They told me that.” …source

Bahrain wary of protests before Formula One ruling
By Andrew Hammond

MANAMA | Thu Jun 2, 2011 6:13pm EDT

MANAMA (Reuters) – Bahrain, eager for Formula One organizers to reinstate a motor race postponed after popular protests erupted in February, acted to prevent any unrest on Thursday after lifting martial law earlier in the week.

Police patrolled the streets of Manama and villages around the capital to snuff out any pro-democracy protests before the world motor racing body meets Friday to decide whether Bahrain can stage its prestigious Grand Prix race this year.

Bahrain’s Sunni royal family imposed military rule for three months and brought in Saudi and United Arab Emirates troops in mid-March to help quell protests mostly by majority Shi’ites.

The government says the end of emergency law this week is a sign that things have gone back to normal in the island state, on the frontline of the cold war between Shi’ite power Iran and Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab dynasties allied with the United States.

Thursday the Interior Ministry said it had imposed an indefinite ban on fishing and other activities in the country’s northern waters. It gave no reason but the government accuses Iran of fomenting unrest through links to opposition parties.

“Let’s bring Bahrain Formula One back. Together we can,” signposts say in Manama.

Rights activists say emergency law was ended two weeks early in order to win back the Bahrain Grand Prix.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch has said the sport’s governing body should weigh a heavy crackdown on opposition activists during 11 weeks of martial law when it makes its decision.

Military trials of 21 mostly Shi’ite dissidents continue, but King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa has offered new dialogue on reform with all sides, without spelling out its parameters.

Zainab al-Khawaja, the daughter of one of the accused, was questioned by police Thursday over whether she took part in protests, she said on her Twitter account. She held a hunger strike in April after her father was arrested and later charged, like the others, with seeking to overthrow the system.
…more

Special Reports
Violence mars end of Bahrain’s emergency
Published: June 2, 2011 at 1:48 PM
Mass Arrests in Bahrain Government Crackdown
Al Jazeera English

MANAMA, Bahrain, June 2 (UPI) — Security forces were reported on the streets of Bahrain a day after the United Nations said the end of a state of emergency was a sign for hope.

Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa lifted a state of emergency in place since March 15 though unrest continued throughout the country. The minority Sunni monarchy is struggling to quiet an uprising by the Shiite majority.

Government troops descended on anti-government protesters using tear gas near the capital Manama after the king issued his orders, al-Jazeera reports.

Nabeel Rajab, the vice president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, told the Arab broadcaster that king’s orders were an effort to display a sense of normalcy in the country.

“The Bahraini government is desperately trying to send out the message that everything is back to normal but it is not,” he said.

Nevertheless, the international community welcomed the lifting of the state of emergency as a sign the monarchy was embracing reform. …more

RT @angryarabiya: Now I’m home safe & sound, but many of my bahraini sisters & brother r in jail, being interrogated, tortured and humiliated.

Social Media: Air Force ordered software to manage army of Fake Virtual People
by Stephen C. Webster
Global Research, May 30, 2011

These days, with Facebook and Twitter and social media galore, it can be increasingly hard to tell who your “friends” are. But after this, Internet users would be well advised to ask another question entirely: Are my “friends” even real people?

In the continuing saga of data security firm HBGary, a new caveat has come to light: not only did they plot to help destroy secrets outlet WikiLeaks and discredit progressive bloggers, they also crafted detailed proposals for software that manages online “personas,” allowing a single human to assume the identities of as many fake people as they’d like.

The revelation was among those contained in the company’s emails, which were dumped onto bittorrent networks after hackers with cyber protest group “Anonymous” broke into their systems.

In another document unearthed by “Anonymous,” one of HBGary’s employees also mentioned gaming geolocation services to make it appear as though selected fake persons were at actual events.

“There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas,” it said.

Government involvement

Eerie as that may be, more perplexing, however, is a federal contract (PDF) from the 6th Contracting Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, located south of Tampa, Florida, that solicits providers of “persona management software.”

Update: The contract has since been taken off FBO.gov. The link above has been updated.

While there are certainly legitimate applications for such software, such as managing multiple “official” social media accounts from a single input, the more nefarious potential is clear.

Unfortunately, the Air Force’s contract description doesn’t help dispel suspicions. As the text explains, the software would require licenses for 50 users with 10 personas each, for a total of 500. These personas would have to be “replete with background , history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally and geographacilly consistent.” …more

Arms sales to Arabs states under fire
by Staff Writers
Beirut, Lebanon (UPI) May 31, 2011

The disclosure that the United Kingdom trained Saudi Arabian forces used to crush protests in Bahrain and has sold to 15 Middle Eastern states military equipment that could be used against civilians is raising questions about the morality of providing arms to repressive regimes.

Since pro-democracy uprisings erupted across the Middle East and North Africa in January, several thousand people have been killed, mainly by the security forces of regimes under attack.

The British government has withdrawn 160 export licenses — mainly involving Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia and Libya — since January, according to a report by a parliamentary panel drawn from four House of Commons committees on defense, business, foreign affairs and international development.

It described London’s action as “vigorous back-pedaling” and declared the withdrawals reflected the extent “of policy misjudgment that has occurred.”

The report, issued in April, “will be uncomfortable reading for the (British) government, which put trade at the heart of its diplomatic mission,” the Financial Times observed. …more

Saudi Royal Family Organizes Fight against Arab Democracy
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
by Noel Brinkerhoff

Under the guise of combating instability in the Middle East and countering Iranian influence, the royal family of Saudi Arabia has taken military and diplomatic steps to reduce the likelihood of more democratic revolutions gaining power in the region.

Having observed the fall of dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, and threats to others in Libya, Bahrain, Syria and Yemen, Saudi leaders are determined to limit the outbreak of more anti-monarchy revolutions in the region, for fear such developments might embolden political opponents at home to rise up.

To help secure the kingdoms of Jordan and Morocco, Saudi Arabia has invited these rulers to join the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a union of Persian Gulf monarchies. By doing so, Saudi leaders can send troops into Jordan or Morocco if those governments become threatened by democratic uprisings. Saudi Arabia did just that earlier this year when GCC member Bahrain faced heated internal protests, resulting in elite Saudi military units crossing the border in March to quell the trouble.

Saudi Arabia is receiving military assistance from the United Kingdom to help put down protests in the Gulf. The support has included British advisers training Saudi Arabia’s national guard, the same soldiers who were sent into Bahrain, on the use of sniper rifles.

The Saudis also have reached out to the ruling military council of Egypt, providing $4 billion in aid in an attempt blunt the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose view of Islamic law does not support absolute monarchies like the one operated by the Saudi royal family. …source

Bahrain Ends Martial Law but Renews Crackdown on Protests
By KATHERINE ZOEPF
Published: June 1, 2011

Hours after Bahrain officially ended 11 weeks of martial law on Wednesday, security forces attacked peaceful protesters in more than 20 villages with rubber bullets, stun grenades, shotguns and tear gas, according to human rights observers in Bahrain. Protesters in Bahrain on Wednesday marched in a village north of the capital, Manama. Martial law ended on Tuesday, but security forces were still active.

A day earlier, the king, Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, called for a national dialogue aimed at reconciliation, while also making it clear he would not tolerate any public protests. As the government withdrew troops from the capital of Manama early Wednesday, it promptly dispatched large numbers of police officers, who began massing at dawn in the areas where activists had called for protests, said Mohammed al-Maskati, the leader of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights.

“In some villages the protesters only gathered for a few minutes before the security forces attacked,” said Mr. Maskati, who said the plan was for coordinated protests to begin at 5 p.m. in mostly Shiite villages around the tiny island kingdom.

Bahrain’s Shiite majority, inspired by the example of the Egyptian pro-democracy demonstrators who brought down their authoritarian president, Hosni Mubarak, started a protest movement in early February. They pressed for greater rights and freedoms from the Sunni monarchy, which they said had long discriminated against Shiites in housing, education and employment.

As the popular uprising gained momentum, bringing tens of thousands into the street, the monarchy began an aggressive crackdown, including attacks on medical personnel and the injured seeking treatment, arbitrary detentions, torture and the killing of more than 30 demonstrators, human rights researchers said. In mid-March, the king declared martial law and invited troops from the Gulf Cooperation Council, including 1,200 from Saudi Arabia and 800 from the United Arab Emirates, into the country to help stop the unrest. …more

Bahrain lifts emergency law, military trials press on
MANAMA | Wed Jun 1, 2011 7:10pm EDT

MANAMA (Reuters) – Bahrain lifted martial law on Wednesday in what the government hopes will be a sign to tourists and business of a return to normal, but the opposition fears repression will continue in the Gulf island kingdom.

Bahrain is especially keen to get back the Formula One race. The March Grand Prix opener was canceled because of unrest that erupted in February when pro-democracy protesters, inspired by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, clashed with police.

A meeting of the sport’s governing body Friday could reinstate the race for later this year, but U.S.-based Human Rights Watch has said a heavy crackdown on opposition activists during 11 weeks of martial law should count in the decision.

The dusty streets of the capital, Manama, were calm on Wednesday, but in outlying Shi’ite villages there was a heavy anti-riot police presence, according to online activists. Police were checking cars around the capital and villages.

“With the end of the emergency situation, the security should not be here but they still are,” said Ali Zirazdi, a 30 year-old unemployed man, who said police had fired tear gas after a few hundred people gathered in the Shi’ite village of Diraz. ..more

Bahrain lifts emergency law, military trials press on
02 June 2011, Thursday / REUTERS, MANAMA

Bahrain lifted martial law on Wednesday in what the government hopes will be a sign to tourists and business of a return to normal, but the opposition fears repression will continue in the Gulf island kingdom. Bahrain is especially keen to get back the Formula One race. The March Grand Prix opener was cancelled because of unrest that erupted in February when pro-democracy protesters, inspired by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, clashed with police.

A meeting of the sport’s governing body on Friday could reinstate the race for later this year, but U.S.-based Human Rights Watch has said a heavy crackdown on opposition activists during 11 weeks of martial law should count in the decision. The dusty streets of the capital, Manama, were calm on Wednesday, but in outlying Shi’ite villages there was heavy anti-riot police presence, according to online activists. Police were checking cars around the capital and villages.

“With the end of the emergency situation, the security would not be here but they still are,” said Ali Zirazdi, a 30 year-old unemployed man, who said police had fired tear gas after a few hundred people gathered in the Shi’ite village of Diraz.

King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, whose Sunni Muslim family rules over a majority Shi’ite population, offered a dialogue on reform in a speech on Tuesday.

“I hope the opposition joins the dialogue,” said writer Taher Mohammed, 26. “I’m totally against any call for protests. It would affect all Bahrainis and it could get out of control and lead to direct clashes.”

Al Jazeera television later quoted witnesses as saying police opened fire and used tear gas to disperse protesters, arresting several. It said dozens were hurt.

Bahraini activists reported on social media that at least one person was wounded by birdshots during a protest.
…more

Bahrain ‘ready’ for Grand Prix
1Share
01/06/2011 – 07:55:54
Bahrain’s grand prix organisers insist they are ready to host the postponed race this season.

The current season had been scheduled to begin with the Bahrain Grand Prix in March until political unrest led to the event being called off.

The race’s inclusion in the 2011 calendar has been in doubt ever since and the the World Motor Sport Council meet in Barcelona on Friday to decide whether to reschedule it.
Zayed Rashid Al Zayani, chairman of the Bahrain International Circuit, believes the race could be rescheduled around the nearby Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November.
He told the Gulf Daily News: “We feel we are in position to have that event back.

“Things have calmed down tremendously in Bahrain. Life is back to normal. We are happy to have the race anytime, really.”
…source

Today’s demonstrations were quickly scattered by the same means used to douse protests earlier in the year. Security forces moved into Shia neighbourhoods where people had taken to the streets and dispersed them with tear gas and bird shot. Human rights activists said those wounded were too scared to go to hospital and instead treated their injuries at home.

The kingdom had cast today as a watershed after 11 weeks of heavy crackdowns on Shia demonstrators that had drawn condemnation from the US and Europe.

King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa this week made a fresh bid for a national dialogue aimed at bringing the Sunni establishment and the Shia majority population together. However, rights groups say 21 opposition activists arrested under emergency laws remain detained. Numerous Shiite mosques have been destroyed during security sweeps and four people have died while in custody. The violence claimed at least 24 lives, including four security officers.

At issue throughout the 11-week crisis has been the insistence of Shiite demonstrators, who account for roughly 70% of Bahrain’s population, that they are disenfranchised by a regime that is deeply suspicious of their loyalties.

Security forces in the capital, Manama, have accused neighbouring Iran of attempting to export its Shia Islamic revolution through proxies in Bahrain who took to the streets under a pro-democracy banner. The protesters had also campaigned to end decades of discrimination that has seen them banned from most key government positions.

Their demonstrations at first tapped into the anti-government feeling that swept the region after the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. However, demands for reform soon became clouded by ancient Persian-Shia and Arab-Sunni rivalries and the government’s insistence that calls for reform were an Iranian plot.

“The regime played the sectarian card very early,” said one western observer. “And they created a monster that they couldn’t control.” …more

Reports of Peaceful Protestors Attacked in Bahrain
For Immediate Release: June 1, 2011
Human Rights Defenders

Washington, D.C.—Human Rights First is gravely concerned at reports that peaceful protestors in several locations across Bahrain have been attacked today by security forces using teargas, buckshot and rubber bullets. Today marked the official lifting of Bahrain’s State of Safety but the crackdown appears to be continuing.

“We are hearing reports from Bahrain that protesters have been attacked by government forces. The wounded are staying away from hospitals fearing that they will be detained if they seek medical treatment. In another ominous development, human rights defenders are being summoned to report to police stations. The U.S. government must speak out against any attacks on peaceful demonstrations with at least the same urgency and level of concern that it has demonstrated elsewhere in the Middle East when pro-democracy protestors have been attacked,” said Brian Dooley of Human Rights First. …source

Bahrain: Human rights activist missing
01 Jun 2011

Human rights activist, Nabeel Rajab, was summoned to a military court just hours before Bahrain was due to lift its emergency law. He is now missing. Rajab is president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). Bahrain’s state of emergency was lifted today, introduced almost three months ago, the emergency law coincided with the arrival of over 1, 000 Saudi troops who were called to crush largely peaceful Shiite protests. …source

Bahrain sees new clashes as martial law lifted

Demonstrations were quickly scattered by security forces
by Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 June 2011 19.04 BST

Protesters march in Duraz village, north of the capital Manama
A protester waves the Bahraini flag as anti-riot police storm Duraz village, north of the capital Manama, today. Photograph: Mazen Mahdi/EPA

Clashes between demonstrators and security forces have again broken out in Bahrain on the day martial law was lifted by a ruling monarchy battling to restore its image.

Today’s demonstrations were quickly scattered by the same means used to douse protests earlier in the year. Security forces moved into Shia neighbourhoods where people had taken to the streets and dispersed them with tear gas and bird shot. Human rights activists said those wounded were too scared to go to hospital and instead treated their injuries at home.

The kingdom had cast today as a watershed after 11 weeks of heavy crackdowns on Shia demonstrators that had drawn condemnation from the US and Europe.

King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa this week made a fresh bid for a national dialogue aimed at bringing the Sunni establishment and the Shia majority population together. However, rights groups say 21 opposition activists arrested under emergency laws remain detained. Numerous Shiite mosques have been destroyed during security sweeps and four people have died while in custody. The violence claimed at least 24 lives, including four security officers.

At issue throughout the 11-week crisis has been the insistence of Shiite demonstrators, who account for roughly 70% of Bahrain’s population, that they are disenfranchised by a regime that is deeply suspicious of their loyalties. …more

Bahrain justifies presence of foreign troops on its soil
AFP/ Hamad I Mohammed
16:38 01/06/2011

The presence of foreign troops in Bahrain is justified by existing “external threats” rather than by the need to suppress a wave of anti-government protests in the country, Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al Khalifa said on Wednesday.

Iranian Shiites recently condemned the 1,500-strong Gulf Arab force in Bahrain as an “occupation” by Sunni states against Bahrain’s Shiite majority.

“Bahrain is still facing external threats on the regional level…and in this sense, Peninsula Shield forces cannot be seen as occupational,” al Khalifa said in an interview with Radio Sawa.

The current political unrest in Bahrain started in February with opposition protesters demanding far-reaching democratic reforms in the mainly Shiite country which has been ruled by a Sunni Muslim dynasty for more than 200 years.

Since the arrival of the Saudi-led contingent in the country and the introduction of a three- month curfew, the opposition has faced waves of arrests and deadly crackdowns. …more

[editor note: Abulhadi Alkhawaja daughter, Zainab’s sister Maryam is under previous threat of rape by her Fathers captors and now Zainnab is in a very dangerous situation – summoned to appear before authorities earlier post here and article here]

Bahrain: Show trial of prominent human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja continues before military court against background of torture and intimidation

As the trial of human rights defender Abdulhadi Al Khawaja enters its final stages before a military court Front Line is reiterating its call for the immediate and unconditional release of Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja on the basis that he has been detained because of his legitimate exercise of the rights of freedom of association and freedom of expression. Front Line Executive Director Mary Lawlor attended the hearing.

Full Text of Press Release
01 June 2011 For Immediate Release

Bahrain – Show trial of prominent human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja continues before military court against background of torture and intimidation

As the trial of human rights defender Abdulhadi Al Khawaja enters its final stages before a military court Front Line is reiterating its call for the immediate and unconditional release of Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja on the basis that he has been detained because of his legitimate exercise of the rights of freedom of association and freedom of expression.

Front Line’s Executive Director, Mary Lawlor, attended the trial in Manama today.

“Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja is an innocent man who has been imprisoned and brutally tortured. His “crime” is to call for equal justice and human rights for all the citizens of Bahrain. I was today denied the chance to testify on behalf of Abdulhadi and it is increasingly clear to me that the pretense of legal process in this trial is a sham”.

The Danish, Swedish, French, US and UK embassies observed the hearing as did the National Human Rights Commission and the Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS). The trial was presided over by a judge in military uniform with 2 civilian judges who said nothing.

Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja has been held in detention in Bahrain since 9th April and has reportedly been subjected to torture which resulted in his requiring a 4 hour operation in a military hospital following injuries to his head. At a previous hearing the Judges refused to listen to his complaints of an attempted rape and refused again to order an investigation into the allegations of torture. There are also reports of at least four deaths in custody in the last 2 months amongst those detained by the Bahraini security forces.

Abdulhadi Al-khawaja, who until February 2011 was Regional Protection coordinator for the Middle East with Front Line, is currently on trial as part of a group of 21 individuals facing a variety of charges including ”organising and managing a terrorist organisation” and “attempt to overthrow the government by force and in liaison with a terrorist organisation working for a foreign country”.

No credible evidence has been presented against him. …source