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.