Posts from — June 2011

Veracruz journalist shot dead in home with wife and son
Published on Tuesday 21 June 2011.

Reporters Without Borders is shocked to learn that Miguel Ángel López Velasco, an editor and columnist with the local online daily Notiver, was shot dead along with his wife and his son in their home in the east coast city of Veracruz early yesterday, just seven days after a reporter was found murdered in the northwestern state of Sonora.

“The violence against journalists in Mexico never ends,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We call on the authorities to ensure that López’s work as a journalist is treated as the most likely motive for his murder and that those responsible are identified and brought to justice as quickly as possible.”

López’s colleagues told Reporters Without Borders that the 55-year-old journalist, his wife and his 21-year-old son were asleep in their home in the northern Veracruz suburb of López Arias when unidentified armed intruders burst in and shot all three.

Also known by the pen-name of “Milo Vera,” López had been working for Notiver for about 20 years, first as a crime reporter and then as a columnist and deputy editor of the crime and local news section. In his column “Va de Nuez,” he wrote about crime, kidnappings, corruption and abuse of authority in the Veracruz area. He had also written about the case of Evaristo Ortega Zarate, a journalist missing since April 2010.

López had been threatened. In 2007, drug traffickers left a human head outside the Notiver office with this message (in which López’s pen-name was misspelled): “We are leaving you a present here (…) Heads are going to roll. Milovela knows it and many others know it too. These heads are for my dad. Yours truly, A son of Mario Sánchez and the New People.” …more

Bahrain: Four protesters sentenced to death by firing squad
Human rights activists claim men convicted of killing two policemen did not receive a fair trial
Protesters in Bahrain in March 2011

Four anti-government protesters in Bahrain were sentenced to death on Thursday by a military court over the killing of two policemen when violence erupted in the capital last month.

The ruling means the four men could be the first to face a firing squad in Bahrain since 2007. It has dismayed human rights activists who claim the men did not receive a fair trial, and the British Foreign Office urged Bahrain “to ensure that due process is carefully and transparently followed in all cases, particularly where severe penalties are proposed”.

The defendants’ lawyer, Mohammed al-Tajer, was arrested in the runup to the hearing, and Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, said his replacement may not have had enough time to prepare for such a serious case. He added the decision to try the civilians in a military court which is ultimately controlled by Bahrain’s ruling family breached norms of international human rights.

The condemned men were named as Ali Abdullah Hassan al-Singees, Qasim Hasan Matar Ahmad, Saeed Abduljalil Saeed, and Abdulaziz Abdulridha Ibrahim Husain. Three other men, Isa Abdullah Kadhem Ali, Sayyed Sadiq Ali Mahdi and Husain Jaafar Abdulkareem, were sentenced to life in prison over the deaths of the two policemen.

Rajab said the men were well-known anti-government protesters from villages in Bahrain, and he believed they were targeted because of that. They all pleaded not guilty on charges of premeditated murder of government employees.

Sending New Inmates to Guantánamo a Step in the Wrong Direction
For Immediate Release: June 14, 2011

Washington, D.C.—Today, Senator Mitch McConnell (KY), the top-ranking republican in the U.S. Senate, argued that two Iraqis facing terrorism-related charges in Kentucky should be transferred to the prison at Guantánamo Bay. Senator McConnell stated that Kentucky residents do not want 30-year-old Waad Ramadan Alwan and 23-year-old Mohanad Shareef Hammadi treated like “common criminals in their own backyards.”

“Sending new terrorism suspects to Guantánamo to languish in a failed system would be a step in the wrong direction. Criminals can and should be prosecuted in civilian courts,” said Human Rights First’s C. Dixon Osburn.

To date, there have been 400 convictions of persons on terror related charges in federal courts versus only six convictions in tribunals. …source

U.S. supports arrest warrant for Gaddafi
English.news.cn 2011-06-28 03:29:50 FeedbackPrintRSS

WASHINGTON, June 27 (Xinhua) — The United States said on Monday that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has spoken about the need for “justice and accountability” by issuing an arrest warrant for Muammar Gaddafi, repeating its demand that the Libyan leader cede power.

“Our view is that the actions of the security forces and the Gaddafi regime that are highlighted in the court’s decision underscore the gravity of what we have been witnessing and what the coalition has been trying to prevent in Libya,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said at a news briefing at the department.

“And in the face of these crimes of this kind of magnitude and this gravity, the need for justice and accountability is absolutely clear,” she added.

The Hague-based ICC issued arrest warrants on Monday for Gaddafi as well as his son Saif al-Islam and his brother-in-law Abdullah al-Senussi, Libya’s head of intelligence, on charges of crimes against humanity. ICC prosecutors allege that they were involved in the killing of protesters when anti-government protests broke out in the North African state in February against Gaddafi’s 41-year rule.

“The U.S. believes that the decision to refer the case to the ICC was the right decision, that the ICC has spoken now about the need for justice and accountability,” Nuland said.

“With regard to whether this hurts or helps, it doesn’t change the fact that Gaddafi’s got to take the message that it’s time to go,” she added. …more

Bahrain leftists head to talks, but fear crisis
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
By ERIKA SOLOMON
Reuters Manama Bahrain

A leader of Bahrain’s second largest opposition group said the party would join a national dialogue next week but a sectarian crisis was inevitable unless talks led to genuine political reform.

Four months after Bahrain’s Sunni Muslim rulers quashed pro-democracy protests led by the Shiite majority, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa has set July 1 as the start of a national dialogue to discuss economic, political and social reforms.

The opposition has said only deep political reform, not mere dialogue, can permanently end popular unrest.

“The government needs to develop progressive solutions. This crisis is political,” Radhi al-Mousawi told Reuters in an interview. “Without a permanent solution to reforming the constitutional monarchy, the crisis will return in a few years.”

Mainstream opposition groups such as Waad seek a more representative parliament with legislative powers that are not weakened by an upper Shura council appointed by the king.

The government has said all types of political, economic and social reform can be discussed but the opposition is suspicious that the wide variety of issues will diminish the chances of agreeing on real democratization.

Participants in the dialogue will send their proposals for approval to Bahrain’s ruling family at the end of the talks.

Waad, a secular leftist party run by Sunnis and Shiites alike, was the worst-hit during unrest this year. Both of its offices were repeatedly set ablaze and the government banned its operations, a decision it reversed just last week.

Waad members believe their non-sectarian voice made them a target by hardliners in support of the government, who they accuse of stoking sectarian tensions in the Gulf island kingdom.

“The government cannot gain victory over people by sewing sectarian divisions. Sectarianism could destroy us. The wars in Lebanon and Iraq have shown us that,” Mr. Mousawi said as he examined the charred walls of Waad’s offices in Manama. …more

UK Parliamentarians express concern for Bahrain activists

23rd June, 2011

Politicians in the UK have been speaking out against the showtrials of opposition leaders in Bahrain. Lord Avebury, a long-time human rights activist who has been supporting the pro-democracy movement in Bahrain since the mid-1990s, wrote to Foreign Secretary William Hague, saying:

“We should have realised long ago that you can’t hold a dialogue with a man whose foot is on your neck, and I suggest that we ask the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Bahrain and report to the world on the human rights situation, and particularly on the state of health of the people convicted, most if not all of whom have apparently been tortured. May I also ask you to protest to the authorities about the trial and life sentence passed on the British citizen Saeed Al-Shehabi, who wasn’t notified of the charges against him, let alone represented by a lawyer of his choice. This was a grossly irregular process, and one that I hope you will publicly condemn.”

Foreign Office minister for the Middle East, Alistair Burt also reiterated that the government is ‘concerned’ about the situation in Bahrain[1]. However, the UK government has been expressing concern for some time now, and even the addition of Bahrain to the US list of human rights abusers[2] has not proved embarrassing enough for the authorities to change their hard-line stance. Lord Avebury told BCHR that ‘action needs to be taken at the level of the Secretary of State [William Hague]’, and that the UK needs to do more than just continually express ‘concern’ about the situation. http://www.bahrainrights.org/en/node/4306

“Bahrain: The Systematic Use of Sexual Abuse”
Posted on June 17, 2011 by arabunity2011

“Ahmed talked about the oppression of the Khalifa family in the old days . If any of Baharnis were known to have a decent house, donkey or daughter they were robbed of it by the Shaikh” Belgrave Diaries

Bahrain’s security apparatus and secret police were established by the British, and were headed by Ian Henderson, “The Butcher of Bahrain” for 30 years. The rationale is that the people of Bahrain are basically the subjects of their (the British’s) subjects (the Khalifas). Add to that, the mentality of the ruling “conquering” family who believe Bahrain is their private property (owning 30% of its land) and its people are their slaves. With naturalization of foreigners to work in the security forces, things became messier for Bahrainis. The people were not only subjected to a colonial power, and a non-compromising ruling family; but also subjected to an uneducated and ruthless foreign mercenary force. Since Shiites are generally not allowed into security forces, the animosity they are faced with has an ugly anti-Shia and sectarian nature. The police and security forces feel no shame destroying their mosques, wrecking their cars, stealing their possessions, verbally abusing them and their beliefs, humiliating them, and even sexually molesting and abusing their children, men, and women. The systematic nature of such behavior means that it’s not just an anti-Shia sentiment that drives them, but a well-designed policy dictated from the high chair of the decision maker down the ladder to the recently shipped Pakistani mercenary.

Sexual Abuse is used and has been used systematically in Bahrain. The same methods used in the 80s, were used in the 90s, and are being used now. The main aims are to extract confessions and to crush the prisoner’s will and dignity. Of course, with time, it becomes just a normal perverted behavior of a sadistic security force. In a conservative society like that of Bahrain, a rape victim can face a multitude of psychological and social problems and in many instances refrain from speaking out. In recent events, the government is accusing protesters with all kinds of bogus charges, and most of the time these charges are baseless. Following an old protocol, interrogators force detainees to sign confessions after severely torturing them and sexually assaulting them, or threatening them with rape. …more

Bahrain:The first football players’ agent and general supervisor of the national team before the court
June 25th, 2011 – BYSHR

Mr. Abdul Razzaq Mohammed-43 years old, former general supervisor of the national team “football”, was arrested on Wednesday, April 13th 2011.

For 7 years he was general supervisor of the Bahraini team and resigned in January 2011.

“Mr. Mohammed was present at the trial for first hearing without lawyer” Mr.Abdul Razzaq’s family informed the BYSHR.

Charges: taking part at illegal gatherings and Broadcasting false news and information.

The case has been adjourned till 29th June, 2011.

Mr.Mahmood Hassan Abu-Idrees- 39 years old, the first football players’ agent in Bahrain, was arrested on Saturday, April 9th 2011.

Received a license from the FIFA in order to be an agent for players. Ref : read here
The first hearing will be on July 11th, 2011.

Photo: Mr.Mohammad in the Pearl Roundabout

On the 23th of June 2011, Mr.Mohammed Hubail, Bahrain national team player, court decided to sentence him to two year imprisonment because of taking part at illegal gatherings.

Attached: List of sport players, Referee and Clubs targeted Because of their involvement in the protests. …more

Home
The Systematic torture in Bahrain continues with full impunity on torturers
26th June, 2011

The prohibition on torture has been considered a peremptory norm of jus cogens (Latin for ‘compelling law’) international law since this body of law was first conceived over a century ago.

“A peremptory norm of general international law is a norm accepted and recognised by the international community of states as a whole as a norm from which no derogation is permitted.”[1]

Bahrain ratified the 1984 Convention Against Torture (CAT) in 1998. Article 2 of the Convention requires states “to take effective measures to prevent [torture] in any territory under its jurisdiction”. The effect of peremptory norms in that states will never admit that they violate such basic moral principles. Which state would admit to piracy, genocide, slavery, racial discrimination or torture, even if it did in fact commit such acts?

Dr Saqer Al-Khalifa, a member of the royal family, wrote a blogpost in which he plays down acts of torture as rare and not officially sanctioned.[2] He tacitly admits that acts of torture occurred in prison, saying that “We hear a lot of cases of over-reactions on the street and some times in prisons. Seeing someone detained in jail who ordered or literally killed a friend dear to you requires an enormous amount of self-control not to throw a punch at least. It was a mistake to keep close friends of the deceased policemen near those responsible for their murder.” This refers to the case of Ali Saqer, the only death in custody which has been officially investigated, and does not explain the prevalence of such claims.

Because torture is a peremptory norm of international law, Al-Khalifa frames his admission of torture in a way which makes it seem rare, justified and an exception to the rule. This denial of a state policy to torture political opponents can be seen in official government statements also.[3] Whether or not torture is state sanctioned, states signatory to the CAT are required to prevent torture occurring within their borders.

Since February 14th, four people have died in Bahraini police custody with obvious signs of torture apparent on their bodies[4] . Human Rights defenders like Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, opposition politicians like Ebrahim Sharif and government critics like Abdulla Isa Al Mahroos[5] have also been suffered abuse in prison[6]. Furthermore, “Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), alleges that security forces… regularly beat hospital patients who had injuries that could have been sustained during the rallies that started in February.”[7] …more

Bahrain begins second trial of doctors and nurses accused in protests
By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, June 27, 1:54 PM

MANAMA, Bahrain — The mass trial of 28 Bahraini health professionals who treated injured anti-government protesters campaigning for greater freedoms in the Gulf kingdom resumed on Monday in a special security court.

The prosecution of 28 doctors and nurses, who were charged with participating in efforts to topple Bahrain’s monarchy, signals that the kingdom’s Sunni rulers do not intend to end their relentless pursuit of the Shiite-led opposition despite appeals for dialogue.

The outreach by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has met a cool reception from Shiite leaders who demand that authorities roll back security measures and halt the trials against activists.

Reports of abuse of Bahrain’s leading human rights activist, who’s been in custody since April, have further eroded the opposition’s appetite for reconciliation talks, set to begin Friday.

The activist, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, was convicted last week by a special security tribunal of supporting anti-government protesters and sentenced to life in prison along with seven opposition leaders.

Nabeel Rajab, an activist, said that al-Khawajah was severely beaten in prison after the court session and was taken to a military hospital for treatment. Authorities denied al-Khawajah has been hospitalized and said in a statement to The Associated Press late Monday that the activist remains in custody and is “in stable health.” …more

Special Reports
Bahrain transfers cases to civilian courts
Published: June 27, 2011 at 1:25 PM

MANAMA, Bahrain, June 27 (UPI) — A decision by Bahrain to refer cases tied to a Shiite uprising to the civilian courts is a sign of a recognition of international rights, an official said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the prison sentences handed down last week to 21 opposition figures in Bahrain. He called on Manama to “allow all defendants” to receive a fair trial and “do everything possible” to create a climate for concrete national dialogue.

Bahrain’s Minister of Social Development and Acting Health Minister Fatima al-Beloushi told Gulf Daily News that life was returning to normal and therefore the civilian courts could handle any cases yet to be tried before tribunals.

“Such a step is a strong indication of Bahrain’s keenness on applying the highest rights and legal standards,” she added.

Meanwhile, the official Bahrain News Agency reported Monday that one unnamed defendant pleaded not guilty though military prosecutors found there was enough evidence from his confessions to indict him. A second trial involving 28 figures accused of spreading “malicious information” was adjourned while the defense reviewed case documents, BNA added.
…more

Bahraini King’s Son Weds Saudi King’s Daughter

The Bahraini news agency BNA reported that Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, the son of Bahrain’s king, married Sahab bint Abdallah bin Abd Al-Aziz, the daughter of the Saudi king, on June 16.

The report added that this marriage strengthens Saudi-Bahraini relations even more, following the Saudi assistance in quelling the unrest in Bahrain in March, 2011.

…unplanned and still unnamed child of Bahrain-Saudi Royal newlyweds.

[cb editor note: I’ve been trying to find a story on par with al Khalifa’s call for “national dialogue” on democratic reform… …enjoy!]

Special Reports – Bahrain accused of abuse inside hospitals
Published: June 20, 2011 at 1:21 PM
Bahraini Medics Accuse Security Forces of Severe Abuses
Al Jazeera English

GENEVA, Switzerland, June 20 (UPI) — Security forces in Bahrain turned one of the country’s main hospitals into a torture chamber, an official with Doctors without Borders said.

Bahrain is facing international criticism for its response to a Shiite uprising against the country’s ruling Sunni minority.

Officials with Doctors without Borders claim security forces in the country routinely beat patients at the Salmaniya Medical Complex who suffered injuries during anti-monarchy rallies.

Jonathan Whittall, head of Doctors without Borders’ mission in Bahrain, was quoted by London newspaper The Independent as saying torture was routine in the country’s hospitals.

“The security forces basically took control of the (Salmaniya) hospital on March 17 when tanks moved outside and set up checkpoints for anyone entering or leaving,” he said. “Inside, many of the wounded with injuries that could have been sustained during the protests were taken to the sixth floor, where they were beaten three times a day.”

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay described the March seizure by security forces of the hospital as “shocking and illegal conduct.”

Bahrain has been able to silence much of the anti-monarchy sentiments. The country called in support from neighboring countries to help respond to demonstrations.

Washington was rapped for its steadfast support for Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. The government last week, however, included the country on a list of human rights abusers. …source

My husband was abducted by Bahrain ‘security’
One woman’s personal ordeal describes how her husband was jailed following a military trial.
[article excerpt]

Using Stalin’s textbook

Joseph Stalin introduced “the show trial” – secretive military tribunals that bypass the judiciary – during the Great Purge of the 1930s. It appears that Bahrain has taken a chapter straight out of Stalin’s textbook, in which verdicts are predetermined and then justified through the use of coerced confessions, obtained through torture and threats against defendents’ families. The only new addition to this chapter is that the government of Bahrain has insisted, since the 1980s, on airing these filmed confessions on state TV – often with the defendant apologising to the king. Ayat al Qurmuzi, a poet sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for reading a poem critical of the king, had one such confession aired, possibly to pave the way for some kind of royal pardon.

Credible reports from now-free detainees who were held with Ayat have said how a toilet brush was forced into her mouth. All those on trial are “traitors to the state”, says the relentless propaganda of hate speech, spewed on state media – a chapter in the Arab Tyrant’s manual that could have been written by Goebbels. The media has described protestors as “termites” and Shia as “the evil group”; they have dehumanised “the other”, who deserve treatment worse than animals.

Since March, hundreds have shared a similar experience to mine. There are several stages to the ordeal that are particularly distressing for all involved. The first stage is the sudden arrest, in a dawn raid or at a checkpoint, or in some cases, at work, and then they are taken away to an unknown location by unknown forces and for long periods of time. In Ghazi’s case, 48 days. …more

[Editors Note: As the al Khalifa regime hands down sentences of life and death against peaceful unarmed protesters seeking democratic freedoms and respect for their human rights, it is clear the real criminals operate the courts and dispense their perverted ideas of justice. As President Obama continues to fail to step in and help defend the people of Bharain from a tyrant it calls “friend”, it condones al Khalifas perversion of justice and disrespect for human rights. ]

Aggrieved Shiites say Bahrain dialogue doomed to fail
June 25, 2011 02:21 AM
By Daily Star Staff

MANAMA: A top Bahraini Shiite cleric said Friday that a national dialogue scheduled to start next week looked set to fail, as the opposition nursed “pain and suffering” from the jailing of protesters.

Bahrain has tried dozens of people by military court in the wake of a fierce March crackdown by its Sunni rulers on mass protests led mostly by the Shiite majority. Hundreds, mostly Shiites, were arrested and many have yet to be charged.

Sheikh Issa Qasim, the most revered Shiite cleric in the Gulf island kingdom, told the audience crammed into his village mosque that conditions for the talks due to start next Friday were not promising.

“This dialogue says for itself it is a failure … It is difficult to reconcile what is happening on the ground with the call to dialogue.”

The criticism came less than a day after Bahrain’s military court said it would move all the protest-linked trials it had not started to a civilian court.

But authorities pressed ahead with plans for the dialogue yesterday.

Crown Prince of Bahrain, Salman Bin Hamad al-Khalifah said in a statement on Al-Wasat newspaper that the dialogue would not serve “one category of people without the other”

“We do not work for one side without another, and our goal is to uplift all the Bahraini people because this is our historic responsibility that we are aiming to achieve and that is the goal the integral and unified concept of which his highness [the king] has observed through his reform program and the launching of the National Reconciliation Dialogue,” the statement read. …more

Bahrain’s Al Khalifa rulers calling for reconciliation & Dialogue while at the same time sentencing Opposition leaders for life

JNN 24 June 2011 : A Bahrain court sentenced eight prominent activists to life in prison on Wednesday for “plotting to overthrow” the kingdom’s Al Khalifa rulers, nearly a week ahead of a national dialogue proposed by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

The National Safety Court of first instance also jailed 13 others for two to 15 years on similar charges, state news agency BNA added.

A member of Bahrain’s largest opposition formation, the Islamic National Accord Association (Al-Wefaq), slammed the sentence as contradicting King Hamad’s calls for dialogue, set to begin on July 1, AFP reported.

“Is this the atmosphere for dialogue?” asked Khalil Marzooq in excerpts of a speech he gave at a press conference in Manama posted on his Facebook page.

“When the one calling for change and reform is sentenced to life in prison, how will others take part” in dialogue, he asked.

“There are political forces, some of whom have received harsh sentences today, which have not been invited for dialogue,” he added. “How will there be a dialogue without those figures?”

The eight activists sentenced to life include Hassan Mashaima, head of the Shia opposition Haq movement, and Abdulwahab Hussein, who leads the Shiite Wafa Islamic Movement, as well as Shia rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who is also a Danish citizen. …more

Saturday, June 25, 2011 – Irish Examiner
Leading medic resigns in Bahrain protest
By Catherine Shanahan

Friday, June 24, 2011

Ireland – A LEADING medic has resigned his fellowship of the country’s largest postgraduate medical institution in protest at its failure to condemn the detention and torture of nurses and doctors in Bahrain.

Professor Eoin O’Brien, former president of the Irish Heart Foundation&, said he believes he is the first fellow to resign “in principle” from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.

The professor of molecular pharmacology at the Conway Institute of Biomolecular & Biomedical Research in University College Dublin mailed his resignation on Wednesday.

Prof O’Brien said he had done so “because there comes a time when you have to stand up for moral issues and we cannot have doctors and nurses tortured in the course of duty”.

He said the situation in Bahrain where doctors and nurses treating pro-democracy supporters are being arrested, detained and tortured was likely to “go badly wrong” and that “the colleges — the RCPI and the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (RCSI) — by keeping silent, will be almost complicit”. …more

Hard-line Sunni voice gains audience in Bahrain

The Associated Press

Friday, June 24, 2011 | 8:36 a.m.

A visit by Bahrain’s king to Sunni supporters this week was also something of a royal blessing for a rising political star: an Islamic scholar who claims the Gulf kingdom is under threat from both foe Iran and ally America.

Once consigned to the fringes, Sunni hard-liners like Abdullatif al-Mahmood are suddenly gaining a receptive audience amid a government crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

It’s another sign of Bahrain’s deeply polarized atmosphere as the kingdom’s Sunni rulers try to open talks with the Shiite opposition after violence that has left 31 people dead since February.

Al-Mahmood’s group appears to be tapping into deep-rooted fears over Shiite giant Iran and growing questions about commitment from Washington, which bases the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain.

“We won’t compromise on the safety of our nation,” al-Mahmood said during the Tuesday visit by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

It was a clear slap at Iran, who Bahrain’s leaders and Gulf Arab allies accuse of stirring the Shiite-led demonstrations in Bahrain. He also rejected calls by some U.S. officials to cut Bahrain’s special trade status following the clampdown on dissent.

“Crises don’t scare us,” said the king as al-Mahmood stood nearby. …more

Published 12:15 20.06.11
Turkey warns Assad: You have less than a week to start implementing reforms
Senior aide to Turkish President Gul says foreign intervention will begin unless Syrian president heeds calls for change.

A senior Turkish official warned Monday that Syrian President Bashar Assad has less than a week to start implementing long-promised political reforms demanded by Syrian protesters before foreign intervention begins.

Turkey, Syria’s biggest neighbor and main trading partner, has been trying to persuade Assad to halt a military crackdown on demonstrations that have killed more than 1,300 civilians and forced thousands to take refuge across the border.

Ersat Hurmuzlu, an advisor to Turkish President Abdullah Gul, told the Dubai-based al-Arabiya channel on Sunday night that Turkey will be watching closely what Assad tells his people in a planned speech on Monday.

“The demands in this field will be for a positive response to these issues within a short period that does not exceed a week,” Hurmuzulu said.

“The opposite of this, it would not be possible to offer any cover for the leadership in Syria because there is the danger …that we had always been afraid of, and that is foreign intervention.” …more

Bahrain extends deadline for national dialogue
By shiapost (online) – June 24, 2011Posted in: Bahrain

Bahrain has extended the deadline for involvement in the kingdom’s national dialogue which aims to tackle political and social issues following the recent unrest.

The deadline to get involved has been extended by three days to June 26, Bahrain’s state news agency reported.

Political groups, NGOs and other groups will have until that date to submit their proposals to be included in the four-pronged agenda, which will spotlight political, economic, social and legal issues.

National Dialogue official spokesman Isa Abdulrahman said that results of the dialogue would be submitted to King Hamad bin Isa A-Khalifa, who will then refer them to competent constitutional institutions, BNA added. …source