Bahrain: Martyrdom of a citizen and marches demanding the dismantlement of the regime.
Monday 11 July 2011 18:41

Bahrain (Islam Times) – This morning one Bahraini citizen, inhabitant of Al-Markh area “Adnan Al-Sayyid Ahmed Al-Sayyid Hassan” aged 44, was martyred due to an injury after inhalation of poison gas and tear gas launched by the Bahraini security forces in a religious event, in which the martyr was participating, in the Al-Darraz area. He was admitted to the hospital for medical treatment but his condition extremely worsened until he died, and his pure clean body was buried this morning. The coalition of the youth revolution of February 14 held “The regime and Saudi Arabian occupation responsible for this heinous crime.” The coalition called upon the “masses of the people of Bahrain to the broad participation in the Prayer ceremony for the martyr in Al-Markh area and to rally in the mourning march of the martyr Adnan Al-Sayyid Ahmed Al-Sayyid Hassan.”

Islam Times

The Bahraini youth did not care about the continued acts of repression by the Bahraini and Gulf forces of Bahrain, so they went out the today morning, noon and night, throughout most of the villages of Bahrain in condemnation of the military sentences in the right of national symbols and detainees in the regime and Peninsula Defense Forces prisons. There were several recorded encounters where the security forces used fission and rubber bullets, tear gas and sound grenades, and remain doing so to this hour, especially in the areas of Al-Nuwaidirat, Al-Sanabis, Sitra(External and Wadiyan), Al-Dayr, Al-Bilad Al-Qadeem, Barbar, Dar Klib, Demistan, and Almoqashaa where some demonstrators deliberately closed some streets to protect the marches.

It should be noted that after the martyrdom of this Bahraini citizen the number of martyrs in Bahrain increased to 38 since the protests began on the fourteenth of February. …source

Egypt
A “Papyrus” from Egyptian Human Rights NGOs: The protection of fundamental rights within the new constitution | 09/07/2011

Press statement

In light of the ongoing debate on the “January 25th” Constitutional process and its core provisions, the Cairo Institute for Human Right Studies (CIHRS) and several Egyptian human rights organizations have submitted a set of basic principles which they believe will guarantee an Egyptian constitution based on the values of the January 25th Revolution and its most prominent slogan, “Freedom, dignity, social justice” These principles, formulated in six detailed articles and signed by more than 25 Egyptian rights organizations, are based on the sovereignty of the people as the source of all governmental authority.

The document containing these principles has been termed a “Papyrus”, in appreciation of ancient Egyptian civilization and the great heritage of cultural, social, ethnic, and religious diversity that has shaped Egyptians’ character and identity. The productive interplay of Pharaonic, Nubian, Coptic, Arabic, and Islamic civilizations constitutes a source of pride and respect for all Egyptians, the origin of Egyptian particularity, and the backbone of their national union.

Article 2 of the Papyrus defends this diversity, emphasizing the need to strengthen and protect the values of pluralism as a fundamental part of humanity and its value, such that no majority should be permitted to suppress and repress any minority by whatever means. Article 1 of the Papyrus stresses the need for the constitution to guarantee cultural rights to every Egyptian, in order to preserve the national heritage and the cultures of various ethnic, religious, and geographic groups throughout Egypt’s history.

Recognizing such diversity and pluralism the Papyrus advocates for the Constitution to take into account numerous sources of legislation as a supra-constitutional principle that reflects Egyptians’ religious, confessional, ethnic, and cultural diversity. Egyptian identity cannot be reduced to one dimension or group without destroying national unity. The Papyrus further upholds the independence of religious institutions and commits them to refrain from engaging in any political partisan activity.

The Papyrus refrains from elaborating in detail the rights to be enshrined in the constitution and legislation, choosing instead to emphasize that international human rights conventions should constitute the fundamental reference point for the elaboration of these rights. The Papyrus proposes to protect the fundamental rights of all Egyptian citizens against any efforts to undermine or weaken these rights within the constitutional formation process. To do so it proposes the formation of a Constitutional Council composed of the heads of the high courts and chaired by the president of the Supreme Judicial Council to oversee the drafting of the Constitution in order to ensure the basic rights of all Egyptians are respected throughout. Additionally, the Papyrus does not propose a particular system of governance (parliamentary, presidential, or mixed), but rather leaves this to the constitution. Instead, it advances a set of fundamental constitutional provisions that must be respected in any democratic system regardless of the specific mode of governance adopted by the constitution.

The Papyrus upholds the independence of the judiciary and limits the jurisdiction of the military judiciary to military crimes committed by military personnel. It also establishes the police as a civilian body, and makes the Interior Ministry and Defense Ministry subject to parliamentary oversight.

Prompted by a belief in the value of dialogue as a basic foundation for democracy, CIHRS has set up an independent email address to receive all comments, suggestions, and questions regarding the Papyrus. Several meetings and discussions will also be organized with various political parties, public figures, youth, and rights advocates in order to further develop this document. …source

Attached the Papyrus.Please direct all comments and inquiries about the document to: albardeya@cihrs.org

Egyptian Human Rights NGOs Papyrus

بردية منظمات حقوق الإنسان المصرية

Football stars tortured for joining protest, say families
Hugh Tomlinson Dubai – July 8 2011 12:01AM

Bahraini footballers, including stars of the national team, were tortured while in custody during a crackdown on anti-government protesters this year, The Times has learnt.

The testimony given to The Times directly contradicts assurances given to Fifa, football’s governing body, by the Bahrain Football Association that no players had been suspended or mistreated.

In fact, friends and relatives said that a number of players were subjected to beatings in prison after they were arrested for taking part in a demonstration against the ruling Al-Khalifa family in March. Other sportsmen have told of long interrogations and ritual humiliation in jail.

The victims included Aala Hubail, a striker, his brother Mohammed and the goalkeeper Ali Saeed, all members of the Bahraini football squad.

Sitting in a community centre in the Shia village of Sitra, near the capital, Manama, they were too afraid to speak about their treatment and would say only that they did not know if they would be allowed to play football again. The Hubail brothers had had their heads shaved. Mohammed had bruises on his feet.

Friends and relatives said that the men had been threatened with further abuse if they spoke out, but gave details of what they knew of the men’s treatment in jail. “The first two weeks after they were arrested were the worst. They were beaten all the time. They still have marks on their bodies,” said one close relative, who did not want to be named.

Bahrainis are obsessed with football and their players are idolised alongside the international stars of the game. Aala Hubail played a vital role in Bahrain’s best showing at an international tournament, when the team came fourth in the 2004 Asian Cup. He was the tournament’s joint top scorer with five goals. …more

Special Report – Bahrain financial woes worsened by Libya
Published: July 11, 2011 at 6:21 PM

MANAMA, Bahrain, July 11 (UPI) — Bahrain’s financial problems from political unrest are being made worse by investment links to embattled Libya, a widely known issue in the financial industry that came to the fore as Moody’s downgraded Arab Banking Corp., the kingdom’s banking giant.

Earlier this year Bahrain suffered downgrades of its sovereign debt ratings by in response to the government’s violent crackdown on political activists.

The ABC downgrades could be more far-reaching, however, because of very large Libyan stake in the bank, analysts said.

Moody’s said it downgraded ABC to speculative grade because of the bank’s continued reliance on Libyan deposits and the potential constraints on its franchise given that its 59 percent majority shareholder, the Central Bank of Libya, remains subject to sanctions imposed by United Nations, the United States and the European Union against the Libyan regime.

European authorities froze unspecified Libyan state funds, believed to be tens of billions of dollars, in response to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s war on dissidents and then armed rebel groups, now grouped together in an interim Transitional National Council and poised to wrest power from Gadhafi.

The Moody’s downgrade had the dual impact of hitting an already nervous Bahraini banking sector harder and raising new questions about the status of Libyan assets abroad. …more

HM King Hamad Hails Bahrain-US Military Cooperation

Manama, July 11. (BNA) – His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the Supreme Commander, today lauded the on-going joint military cooperation betwen the two friendly countries and allies – the kingdom of Bahrain and the USA.

This came as HM King Hamad received at Al Safriya Palace today the Commander-in-Chief of the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) Field Marshal Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, in the presence of HM’s Personal Representative Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

During the meeting, HM King Hamad was briefed on the efforts made by the BDF Military Works Directorate and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to consolidate BDF’s infrastructure, in line with the BDF General Command’s keenness to continuously upgrade BDF’s potentials and competence.

HM the King hailed the on-going cooperation reflecting the solid historical relations bonding the two friendly countries at all levels.

Royal Court Minister, miniters and the Acting US Ambassador to Bahrain were also present. …source

Let them eat doughnuts: the US response to Bahrain’s oppression
by: Mehdi Hasan – guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 July 2011 20.25 BST

While the west averts its eyes, Bahrain’s people are subjected to brutal suppression

Pity the poor people of Bahrain. They have been shot, beaten, tear-gassed – and patronised. On 7 March, at the height of the pro-democracy protests in the tiny Gulf island kingdom, a crowd gathered outside the US embassy in Manama, the capital, carrying signs that read “Stop supporting dictators” and “Give me liberty or give me death”. A US embassy official emerged from the building with a box of doughnuts for the protesters, prompting a cleric in the crowd to remark: “These sweets are a good gesture, but we hope it is translated into practical actions.”

It hasn’t been. Syria was subjected to sanctions and Libya to air strikes; Bahrain, however, was rewarded with visits from the Pentagon’s two most senior officials – the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Mike Mullen, and the then defence secretary, Robert Gates. Disgracefully, at the same time as peaceful protesters were being rounded up and imprisoned, both men offered full-throated endorsements of King Hamad Bin Isa al-Khalifa’s brutal regime.

The Sunni Khalifas have ruled Shia-majority Bahrain – officially a constitutional monarchy – since 1783. Bahrain’s prime minister since 1971, Prince Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa – the king’s uncle – has the dubious distinction of being the longest-serving unelected prime minister in the world. Unemployment stands at 15% – the highest in the Gulf – and Shias have long complained of discrimination and disenfranchisement.

The Arab spring reached Bahrain on Valentine’s Day; protesters – both Sunni and Shia – arrived in Manama’s Pearl Square on 14 February to demand political freedoms, democratic reforms and greater equality for the Shia majority. They were met with rubber bullets and teargas; three days later security forces switched to live ammunition. Within a few weeks some 2,000 Sunni soldiers from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had arrived in Bahrain, at the invitation of the Khalifas, to impose martial law – and, in doing so, poured oil on the fire of sectarian tensions. …more

Egypt shares plunge on unrest
Egypt’s benchmark stock index dropped almost 3 perecnt Monday, dragged down by concerns of mounting unrest in the Arab world’s most populous nation.
By TAREK EL-TABLAWY – AP Business Writer – 11 July, 2011

CAIRO — Egypt’s benchmark stock index dropped almost 3 perecnt Monday, dragged down by concerns of mounting unrest in the Arab world’s most populous nation.

The decline built on the EGX30 index’s nearly 1.7 percent decline a day earlier and reflected the continuing fears in the country five months after the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak.

Two days after a Friday protest in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square that drew tens of thousands, demonstrators were still camped out there, demanding accountability of former officials and justice for nearly 900 people killed in the mass uprising against Egypt’s leader of nearly 30 years.

Brokers said foreign and institutional investors were dumping their shares in the market, with buyers largely limited to Gulf Arab and some individual investors.

“We haven’t seen events like these since the revolution,” said Khaled Naga, a senior broker at Mega Investments. “These are difficult days.” …more

HR Activists in Mexico Speak of Dangers
July 9, 2011 | Print This Post Print This Post Email to a Friend Email to a Friend

HAVANA TIMES, July 8 (IPS) — Reports of extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, kidnappings and assaults are some of the heavy baggage that U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay is taking home from Mexico.

Pillay, who ended an official visit here Friday, met over the past week with human rights defenders and senior government officials, including conservative President Felipe Calderón, to gather information on the human rights situation in this Latin American country.

“We have no guarantees for carrying out our work,” Gabriela Morales, a lawyer with the Centre for Migrant Human Rights (CDHM), told IPS. “The issue of human rights defenders has to be put on the table.”

In late June, the CDHM closed down its Mexican Northern Border Initiative due to threats and intimidation. The Initiative ran several shelters in border areas, providing assistance to Central American migrants attempting to reach the United States and to Mexicans deported from that country.

What happened to the Initiative, which had shelters in the border cities of Nuevo Laredo, Tijuana, Agua Prieta and Ciudad Juárez, is another illustration of the dangerous nature of the work of human rights defenders, who are threatened and harassed by both organized crime groups and government agents.

Since 2005, 27 activists have been killed, according to the governmental National Human Rights Commission (CNDH). Along with journalists, activists working on behalf of the rights of Central American migrants, who are frequent targets of youth gangs, organized crime groups and corrupt authorities, and the rights of indigenous people, who suffer heavy discrimination and poverty, have been caught up in the spiral of violence in Mexico.

So far this year there have been at least seven cases of assault on migrant rights activists, compared to two cases between October 2009 and October 2010, according to human rights groups.

Since 2000, 73 reporters have been killed, and 12 are still missing, according to the CNDH – making Mexico the most dangerous country in Latin America for journalists. …more

Iran Denies Smuggling Weapons To Iraq, Afghanistan
July 02, 2011

The semi-official Fars news agency quotes Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi as saying “the ridiculous and repeated lies of the Americans are aimed at justifying their own errors.”

“The Wall Street Journal” on July 1 quoted unnamed U.S. officials as saying Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps has supplied allies in Iraq and Afghanistan with rocket-assisted exploding projectiles which have been used to kill American troops.

The newspaper quoted the same officials as saying Iran has also given long-range rockets to the Taliban in Afghanistan, increasing the insurgents’ ability to hit coalition positions from a safer distance. …source

Egypt: Arab Spring Morphs Into Summer Of Conflict
By William Fisher – The Public Record – Jul 9th, 2011

It should have been expected that the various groups who demonstrated in such a strong, unified position in Tahrir Square and elsewhere in Egypt would begin to show their differences after Mubarak resigned.

After all, they won! So what to do now?

Governing is a lot harder than demonstrating. And, besides, they weren’t the government; the army was.

During the Tahrir Square uprisings, the Army became the darlings of the protesters. They didn’t fire on the protesters. In fact, it was the Army who kept pro-Mubarak forces from physically attacking those who wanted him out.

Now the worm has turned once again. Crowds of full-throated critics of the Army are out in Tahrir Square again in large numbers.

They insist that the demonstrators arrested in previous demonstrations be tried in civilian, rather than military courts. They scream when they learn that the cops who are on trial for mishandling demonstrators have been freed on bail. They insist on an apology from the Ministry of Interior for their mismanagement of the security police during the demonstrations. They’re furious at the supreme military council for abusing prisoners taken into custody during the demonstrations and sentenced to substantial prison terms for what the opposition characterizes as “nothing.” And they’re equally up in arms about the “virginity tests” the military police administered to women taken into custody (the army now says it is discontinuing this practice.) …more

U.S. may act unilaterally vs Iran-armed Iraq militias
By Phil Stewart – BAGHDAD | Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:13am EDT

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – The United States will take unilateral action when needed to deal with the threat to American troops in Iraq from Shi’ite militias armed by Iran, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said on Monday.

U.S. forces officially ended combat operations in Iraq last August but have come under increasing fire in recent weeks. Fourteen U.S. service members were killed in hostile incidents in June, the highest monthly toll in three years.

U.S. officials blame Shi’ite militias armed by Iraq’s Shi’ite neighbor Iran for most of the recent attacks.

At least three U.S. service members have been killed this month, including one on Sunday, the day Panetta arrived in Baghdad on his first trip to Iraq as defense secretary.

Washington still has about 46,000 troops in Iraq more than eight years after the 2003 invasion overthrew Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein but is scheduled to withdraw its forces by year-end under a security pact between the two countries.

“We are very concerned about Iran and the weapons they are providing to extremists here in Iraq,” Panetta said in an address to U.S. troops in Baghdad. “In June we lost a hell of a lot of Americans as a result of those attacks. And we cannot just simply stand back and allow this to continue to happen …”

Panetta said Washington’s first effort would be to press Iraq to go after Shi’ite groups responsible for the attacks. He was scheduled to meet Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki later on Monday.

“Secondly, to do what we have to do unilaterally, to be able to go after those threats as well, and we’re doing that,” he said, referring to the right of U.S. forces to defend themselves on Iraqi soil.

General Lloyd Austin, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, declined to comment on what specific measures unilateral action might involve.

“I think what the secretary was pointing to was we’ll do what’s necessary to protect ourselves and that could include a host of things … so we’ll just leave it at that,” Austin said.

LETHAL INSURGENCY

U.S. forces in Iraq now operate largely in the background, training and assisting Iraqi police and soldiers against a weakened but still lethal insurgency that launches hundreds of attacks each month. …more