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

Britain and US urged to act after Bahrain arrests eight political activists

Britain and America were under renewed pressure last night to act against their close ally Bahrain after its courts handed out life sentences to eight political activists, including a wheelchair-bound dissident who was arrested after speaking to the House of Lords.

By Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent

5:52PM BST 22 Jun 2011

The eight politicians and human rights activists were among 21 people, most but not all Shia, accused of plotting against the monarchy and having contacts with foreign terrorist groups.

All 21 received jail terms, seven in absentia, with nine receiving 15 years and four shorter terms. Protesters set up barricades in Shia villages across the island last night, amid anger from human rights groups.

Among those jailed for life was Abduljalil Abdullah Al-Singace, head of the human rights section of Al-Haq, a radical Shia party, who was arrested in August on his return to Bahrain from London after addressing a House of Lords committee.

The leader of Al-Haq, Hassan Ali Mushaima, received the same sentence. He returned from self-imposed exile in London earlier this year.

The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, raised Mr al-Singace’s case with his opposite number in Bahrain, Sheikh Khaled al-Khalifa, but Britain has been noticeably less outspoken about the Gulf state’s crackdown on dissents than with other countries facing “Arab Spring” uprisings.

On Wednesday night Baroness Falkner, chairman of the Liberal Democrats’ international affairs committee, claimed that Bahrain had been a “blind spot” for the Foreign Office, and called on the government to take action.

“If people who speak to us are arrested by our own allies without recourse, how are parliamentarians elsewhere going to trust us?” she said.

The Bahraini authorities fear that opposition, particularly from radical parties such as Al-Haq, is backed by Iran, and is intended to overthrow Sunni minority rule to create a Shia puppet state.

But western diplomats say they have seen little evidence for claims of Iranian interference. The United States last week added Bahrain to its list of countries it deems to be serious human rights abusers in the wake of the suppression of protests in February and March in which 31 people were killed. …more

Protesters Shame Congress On Guantanamo
by Peregrin Wood on June 24th, 2011 at 7:45 am
Posted In: Activism, Democrats, Legislation, Liberty

The record of the prisons of Guantanamo Bay is clear and shameful. The prisoners there have been deprived of habeas corpus rights, have been subjected to torture and coercive interrogations, and have been deprived of the right to a fair trial for the crimes they have been accused of committing. Actually, many of the Guantanamo prisoners haven’t been accused of any crimes at all. Large numbers of them were found to have no connection to terrorists at all.

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to preserve this arrangement, approving H. Res. 320, a military appropriations bill that forbids the spending of any money to transfer prisoners from Guantanamo to the United States to be put on trial.

The consideration of this legislation was interrupted by a group of 15 protesters from the group Witness Against Torture, who, from the chamber gallery of the House of Representatives, issued the following demands:
# Close the prison at Guantanamo Bay
# Free all prisoners who have been cleared for release, ensuring their safe resettlement and providing asylum in the U.S. for those unable to go elsewhere
# Produce charges against all other prisoners and prosecute them in U.S. courts
# Open all detention centers to outside scrutiny
# Conduct a comprehensive criminal inquiry against all those who designed and carried out torture policies under the Bush administration

The 15 protesters were arrested. The House went on to pass H.R. 320. …more

IHRC: Bahrain – Head of University Department Imprisoned
19 April 2011

The crackdown on academics and free thought continues as Dr Masaud Jahromi is inexplicably imprisoned.

Dr Masaud Jahromi, Chairman of the engineering department at Ahlia University in Bahrain, was arrested at 2:30AM on 14th April 2011; having been beaten and dragged from his bed in front of his family. His family, students, friends and colleagues are unaware of his whereabouts and health.

Dr Jahromi is a widely respected academic and engineer. He was awarded his PhD from the University of Kent, UK; having already earned his MSc and BSc from the University of Manchester, UK, and the University of Bahrain respectively.

Professor Hamed al-Raweshidy, who supervised Masaud at the University of Kent, is shocked that a former student is being mistreated like this. “Masaud was one of the hardest working, cooperative, and mild mannered individuals I have ever come across. He was not only my top student, but also a wonderful professional. There is no doubt in my mind that the Bahraini authorities have got this completely wrong”. …more