Posts from — August 2011

Bahrain denies entry for Aljazeera staff: Report Sunday, 07 August 2011 02:14

DOHA: Bahraini authorities are so upset with Doha-based Aljazeera TV Channel that they are reportedly not allowing the Channel’s staff — both Qatari nationals and expatriates — into the country.

There is an unofficial entry ban on Aljazeera staff into Manama, say social networking sites in Qatar as well as in Bahrain. The move might be fallout of a documentary English Aljazeera telecast on Wednesday, they suggested.

This, however, could not be independently confirmed by this newspaper since it was a weekend and officials were not available for comment.

The documentary entitled ‘Shouting In The Dark’ aired a shocking account of the pro-democracy protests in Bahrain.

The film follows the unraveling of the protests in Bahrain from its initial days last February and documents the ruthless ways in which the security agencies handled the uprising.

The documentary has, meanwhile, triggered a heated debate on social networking sites in Qatar and Bahrain with a majority of participants faulting Aljzaeera English Channel for its portrayal of the Bahraini uprising.

People have also been twitting messages with most of them saying that they are with Bahrain and that Aljazeera English Channel had no business focusing on the goings on in the neighboring Bahrain.

People commenting on social websites in Qatar say they wonder how the Bahraini authorities have been able to blacklist entire Aljazeera staff and not allow them entry into their territory.

“It’s surprising how Bahraini authorities come to know that a particularly Qatari visiting Manama is working with Aljazeera because Qatari passports do not mention the holder’s nature and place of work,” said a commentator.

Another commentator said that one of his fellow Qatari friends who went to Manama by air was not allowed entry into the country and turned back by the airport immigration authorities.

“This is even true of those going to Bahrain by road via Saudi Arabia, They are being turned back from the border although they are all Qatari citizens,” said yet another commentator.

According to still another commentator, a senior administration official of Al Jazeera who resigned a year ago, was also not allowed to enter Bahrain.

The commentators are largely unhappy with Al Jazeera English Channel and say they wonder why it is supporting Shia protesters in Bahrain and spoiling Qatar’s relations with the friendly neighbour.

At least one commentator said that he backed the Bahraini move to prevent Al Jazeera staff from entering the country because the English channel was constantly supporting the Shia protesters.

A website in Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, reported yesterday that the Al Jazeera documentary could seriously strain Doha’s relations with Manama.

The Peninsula …source

“Your Congress professes concern for our security needs and then threatens to undermine it without realizing it. Our security cooperation with the Palestinians is worth infinitely more than another missile or airplane package and is all the more vital at a time when the time honored political process is stuck. [The Palestinian Security Forces] have become true professionals, not for you and certainly not for us. That is why we trust them now, they are acting in their interests for their future. Tell your Congress to finish what you have started. Threats to cut aid! What are these people thinking?”

No countries for old men

Posted By Steve White Friday, August 5, 2011 – 10:17 AM

After serving nearly six years as the special advisor to the United States Security Coordinator (USSC) for Israel and the Palestinian Territories, I came home convinced of one thing, cognizant of another. The first was that a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not only in the vital security interests of Israel and the future state of Palestine, but also the United States. The second, initially noted two years ago by a former IDF Chief of Staff, was that, “The USSC, the IDF and the Palestinian Security Services were buying time, time for the politicians…. [A]nd they’re wasting it.” As we approach the United Nations General Assembly session in September, the first conviction remains immutable, while sadly, the reality of the general’s observation appears not to have changed in the slightest.

T. E. Lawrence wrote in the aftermath of the First World War, “…[W]hen we achieved, and the new world dawned, the old men came out again and took our victory to re-make in the likeness of the former world they knew… We stammered that we had worked for a new heaven and a new earth, and they thanked us kindly, and made their peace.”

It is ironic then that nearly a century later, both a Palestinian and an Israeli security professional would note something similar by asking me why Congress was threatening to abandon them in wake of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s recent hearing, “Promoting Peace, Reexamining U.S. Aid to the Palestinian Authority.” My Palestinian friend wrote, “Look what we did for ourselves — with your help. Compare that to Iraqis and Afghans where you’ve had to do it for them. Don’t they understand the potential magnitude of our work?”

My Israeli friend intoned: “Your Congress professes concern for our security needs and then threatens to undermine it without realizing it. Our security cooperation with the Palestinians is worth infinitely more than another missile or airplane package and is all the more vital at a time when the time honored political process is stuck. [The Palestinian Security Forces] have become true professionals, not for you and certainly not for us. That is why we trust them now, they are acting in their interests for their future. Tell your Congress to finish what you have started. Threats to cut aid! What are these people thinking?”

Great progress has been achieved on the ground, often at great sacrifice by the security organizations on both sides. Yet the “old men” are on the verge of taking the victory achieved by courageous Palestinian and Israeli security men and women, and remaking it in the likeness of the former world they knew. Is there truly no way out of this stalemate?

Let’s consider this path forward: The first step is a realization in the United States that Israel’s security, while clearly tied in a strategic sense to Washington, will in the final analysis best be worked out on the ground with its Palestinian neighbors. The Israeli defense establishment clearly understands this as it continues to quietly deepen its coordination with a professionalizing Palestinian security establishment. This nascent cooperation has been facilitated by the office of the USSC, with participation by Canada, the UK, a variety of European countries, and Turkey.

The result is a security situation in the Palestinian territories that is unprecedented, where Israeli Defense Force commanders suffer more attacks from radical Israeli settlers than Palestinian “terrorists.” In the aftermath of the second Intifada, the currency and miracle of this dynamic is made a reality today via the daily actions of those who do not predicate their actions on promotions, election outcomes or potential future political appointments, but rather on the long term interests of the peoples they serve and protect. Their selfless service has created the true basic foundations that enabled the renewal of a negotiations process, and underlay the facilitation of Palestinian economic and civil governance progress.

Renewed security cooperation has been the enabler, not a retardant, through the renewal of Palestinian Israeli security coordination — and a modicum of U.S. aid — combined with the presence of a trusted senior U.S. military coordinator. Now is not the time to throw the security “baby” out with the “political” bath water. It is time to recognize the value of the hard-won endeavors of the past five years, preserve the accomplishments, and then act in a worthy political manner.

Through the dedicated efforts of the Israelis, Palestinians, Americans, Canadians, British, and others on the ground, we have approached “victory” of the sort described by Lawrence 90 plus years prior. We have worked for a “new heaven and new earth,” and the progress is remarkable. But the “old men” are there, whether they are backward-looking Islamist rejectionists, backward-looking Israeli settler zealots, or well-intentioned but ill-informed members of the U.S. political establishment. And the danger of remaking our success into “the likeness of the former world they knew” is very real. Unless…

Steve White is a Washington-based independent consultant currently writing the history of the United States Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Territories. …source

Remembrance, Reflection, and Resistance
By David Krieger, August 6, 2011 – ceasefire magazine

We must come to understand Hiroshima and Nagasaki as war crimes. And we must resist the double standard that makes crimes committed by our enemies punishable under international law, while the same crimes committed by our leaders are deemed to be acceptable.

We remember the horrors of the past so that we may learn from them and they will not be repeated in the future. If we ignore or distort the past and fail to learn from it, we are opening the door to repetition of history’s horrors.

In August, we remember the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which took place on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively. Both were illegal attacks on civilian populations, violating long-standing rules of customary international humanitarian law prohibiting the use of indiscriminate weapons (as between combatants and non-combatants) and weapons that cause unnecessary suffering.

In a just world, those who were responsible for these attacks, in violation of the laws of war, would have been held to account and punished accordingly. They were not. Rather, they were celebrated, as the atomic bombs themselves were celebrated, in the false belief that they brought World War II to an end.

The historical record is clear about these facts: First, at the time Hiroshima and Nagasaki were leveled, each with a single atomic bomb, Japan had been trying to surrender. Second, the US had broken the Japanese codes and knew that Japan had been trying to surrender. Third, prior to the use of the atomic bombs, the only term of surrender offered to Japan by the US was “unconditional surrender,” a term that left the Emperor’s fate in US hands. Fourth, the precipitating factor to Japan’s actual surrender, as indicated by Japanese wartime cabinet records, was not the US atomic bombs, but the Soviet Union’s entry into the war against them. Fifth, when Japan did surrender, after the atomic bombings, it did so contingent upon retaining the Emperor, and the US accepted this condition.

The US drew a self-serving causal link from the bombings, which was: we dropped the bombs and won the war. In doing so, we reinforced the US belief that it can violate international law at times and places of its choosing and that US leaders can attack civilians with impunity. …more

Editorial Real Arab democracy Vs mythical “regional stability”
By Hicham Yezza

As an Arab, and an activist, the past few weeks have proven to be some of the most moving and exhilarating moments of my generation. After decades of hope and despair, it seems the iron grip of the Arab authoritarian kleptocracy has been, at long last, irrevocably broken. In every discussion I’ve had with fellow activists (some in Egypt and Tunisia, but also others in many other Arab countries on the cusp of change), one truth is evident: this generation is determined to reclaim, and restore, the legacy of its nation’s revolutionary struggle for independence from colonialism, a legacy spoiled and defiled by decades of dictatorship and repression.

However, one of the less charming aspects of observing the media deluge around the monumental events in Tunisia and Egypt, is the seemingly robotic framing, by people who should know better, of the options facing the ‘West’. Pundit after pundit, article after article, interview after breathless interview, the debate continues to oscillate between two choices: ‘democracy for untested Arabs’, on the one hand, and a vague, near-mystical notion called “stability in the region” on the other.

Of course, the very idea that freedom is something the West grants to carefully-selected, less enlightened Untermenschen, whilst being astonishingly patronising, is hardly new to anyone with a passing knowledge of Imperialist history. After all, women, black people and countless groups from the ranks of the oppressed have all been told, at some point or other in the not-too-distant past, that they too needed to earn their right to be equal. For decades, seriously-taken men solemnly pontificated in “civilized” circles about whether other quasi-human groups were “ready” to be “invited”, amidst concerns that granting them equal rights could lead to unspeakable catastrophes.

Paul Valery memorably called politics “the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.” For millions of Arabs, it has been very revealing to see many Western pundits and politicians publicly, and in all seriousness, agonise over the seemingly tricky conundrum of “allowing” Arabs to take control of their own destinies, and whether this incredible act of generosity might turn out to be a mistake if, heaven forbid, the lucky candidates prove to be unworthy recipients by electing the ‘wrong’ leaders.

Over the past few days, the inalienable right of eighty million Egyptians (and a quarter billion Arabs) to have a say in their own lives has been routinely dismissed as a mere geo-political consideration that ought not to distract from the bigger, more pressing calculus of realpolitik-inspired “stability”. Take, for instance, the calls by Barack Obama, Tony Blair, Hilary Clinton and others, for something called an “orderly transition” in Egypt that would, conveniently enough, allow Mubarak to hold on to power for a few more months. Egyptians are being asked to wait for their freedom until the US says they can have it (or, according to realpolitik-inspired cynics, until a suitably-pliant replacement is ready).

As to the much-vaunted regional “stability” (apparently under threat from the horrid prospect of ordinary Egyptians getting involved in their own affairs,) to call the notion Orwellian is to combine cliché with understatement. Indeed, whilst the regional elites and their Western patrons have been enjoying the fruits of “stability”, generations of ordinary Arabs have been subjected to half a century of quasi-pathological state brutality, institutional thuggery, systemic corruption, a crushing denial of basic rights of expression, communication, travel, and protest; not to mention entire generations of youths condemned to lives of abject misery and pointlessness, as well as millions of women infantilised and brutalised by a combination of patriarchy and bureaucracy.

Make no mistake, these are not distant, occasional aberrations dotted sparingly across national timelines, but hourly occurrences, to this very day, taking place, to varying degrees, across most of the Arab world. They are not sporadic excesses committed by errant foot soldiers but constitute the very Modus Operandi of entire systems of power, and inform their survival mechanisms. This is the “stability” the US and its allies are scrambling to safeguard. And to defend it as some sort of venerable achievement is to add insult to the injuries of its dozens of millions of victims.
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“The ability to articulate our experiences, feelings and demands depends on us having the necessary language to formulate and communicate them, both to ourselves and to each other. Without this skill, it is near-impossible to think, organise and act. It is for this reason that those in power attempt to subtly water down the language of empowerment, and it is this subtlety which we must be aware and suspicious of. It is only through articulating our own politics that we have the agency to deliver accurate critiques and build our own alternatives.”

The Anti Imperialist Language as Weapon

By Adam Elliott-Cooper

The professionalization of race equality is a phenomenon that has been written about extensively. The social movements fighting racism in the 1960s through to the 1980s were transposed to more manageable institutions by the Thatcher government. The CRE (Commission for Racial Equality), which is now the EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission), numerous government posts, particularly within the Home Office, and a host of think tanks and charities attempted to co-opt the intellectual minds involved in these movements, offering progressive research, a comfortable salary and a prestigious title.

For many people, these types of organisations are inviting; for others, they feel like a poor set of options. There has been a long struggle between the advocates of mainstream dominance and the more critical and radical voices who have entered these institutions and attempted to re-link them to the grassroots struggles for racial justice. The mainstream has worked hard to water down and de-politicise race equality, and one of the tools used to do this is language.

Few have observed the way in which language is used to water down radical critique or depoliticise the struggle for justice more eloquently than George Orwell. In his book 1984, he refers readers to the appendix, in which Newspeak, the government-imposed language of the dystopic Ingsoc, is deconstructed. For the totalitarian government in 1984 “Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible”. This sounds like a far-fetched idea belonging only in science fiction; however, Orwell goes on to explain how this can be done:

“The name of every organization, or body of people, or doctrine, or country, or institution, or public building, was invariably cut down into the familiar shape; that is, a single easily pronounced word with the smallest number of syllables that would preserve the original derivation.… It was perceived that in thus abbreviating a name one narrowed and subtly altered its meaning, by cutting out most of the associations that would otherwise cling to it. The words Communist International, for instance, call up a composite picture of universal human brotherhood, red flags, barricades, Karl Marx, and the Paris Commune. The word Comintern, on the other hand, suggests merely a tightly-knit organization and a well-defined body of doctrine. It refers to something almost as easily recognised, and as limited in purpose, as a chair or a table. Comintern is a word that can be uttered almost without taking thought, whereas Communist International is a phrase over which one is obliged to linger at least momentarily.”

Whether or not we agree with Orwell’s description of ‘Communist International’ is irrelevant. For many people in the powerful anti-capitalist movements of the time, the words ‘Communist International’ contained huge significance and symbolism. This can be transposed to words like African Caribbean or Black in the field of race equality today. For me, Black, in the British context, is a political term that was reclaimed in the 1950s to mean any person who suffers racial oppression, be they of African, American, Asian or Australasian descent. Being politically Black engenders ideas of Malcom X, the Black Panthers, the Brixton Uprisings, roots reggae and the Notting Hill Carnival. When someone says ‘African Caribbean’, it conjures up an image of people who are from the Caribbean but who have their roots in Africa. It immediately links to imperialism, slavery, the destruction of indigenous Caribbean peoples and the former British Empire which brought Africans them to Europe.
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Veolia AGM – BDS Action For Palestine
inminds – 25 May 2011

On Tuesday 17th May 2011, ten BDS activists from the UK, from various groups including London BDS, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the BDS National Committee, as well as Innovative Minds travelled to Paris to show solidarity and support for French BDS activists in their action outside the Veolia AGM.

Three French BDS groups had come together for the action: Association France Palestine Solidarite (AFPS), Campagne BDS-France and CAPJPO EuroPalestine.

Veolia has long been complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land.

Veolia is helping build and operate the Jerusalem Light Railway, a project which the UN Human Rights Council has declared is a “clear violation of international law”. The tram line runs across stolen Palestinian land connecting illegal Israeli settlements to Israel thereby helping consolidate the occupation.

JAMA: Human Rights Report Details Violence Against Health Care Workers in Bahrain
By M. J. Friedrich – 3 August 2011

When antigovernment protesters marched in February and March of this year on the streets of Manama, the capital of Bahrain, peacefully calling for political and economic reforms, a brutal response by the country’s security services followed.

The majority of the injured and dead were brought to Salmaniya Hospital in Manama. Rather than being a safe haven for the wounded, however, this facility, the largest modern medical facility in the country, was declared by the government to be a stronghold of opposition protesters. Security forces occupied the building. According to human rights organizations such as Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), patients were beaten and abused. Physicians, nurses, and other health care workers who treated the civilian protesters were systematically abducted, detained, and interrogated, and many now are facing trial for allegedly using the hospital as a base to try to overthrow the royal government.

Several human rights organizations such as PHR and Doctors Without Borders have reported abuses against patients and health care workers.

Richard Sollom, MA, MPH, deputy director at PHR and forensic pathologist Nizam Peerwain, MD, chief medical examiner, Tarrant County, Texas, carried out medical evaluations of torture survivors and spoke with people who witnessed physician abductions. They described their findings in a report released by PHR in April, Do No Harm: A Call for Bahrain to End Systematic Attacks on Doctors and Patients (
https://s3.amazonaws.com/PHR_Reports/bahrain-22April_4-45pm.pdf). The report also documents the use of medical transport for military purposes, the destruction of medical facilities and medical records, and the obstruction of medical care and treatment.

When reports about the injured protesters hit the international media, Sollom said, the Bahraini government put its own spin on the information, claiming that physicians were instigating political unrest, fomenting violence, turning the hospital into a political headquarters, and depriving thousands of people of treatment.

Many of the physicians targeted are the country’s leading medical specialists, physicians with 20 to 30 years of experience and impeccable medical credentials, said Sollom. “It strains credulity to believe that these physicians would suddenly, out of the blue, start deliberately harming patients rather than helping them, as Bahrain’s government has alleged,” he said.

At press time, dozens of physicians, nurses, and paramedics who were arrested for treating protesters were on trial before a military court. The government’s use of a military trial for these cases calls into question whether the rights of the accused can be adequately protected. Families of the defendants have reported to PHR and other human rights organizations that the defendants have been tortured and forced to sign false confessions in detention.

Sollom noted that he and other human rights observers speculate that the Bahraini government has systematically targeted physicians and other health care professionals because these caregivers, who treated protesters taken to the hospital, have firsthand evidence of the excessive force used by the government security forces. “This is one of the most egregious sets of violations of medical neutrality and breaches of international law that I’ve seen personally and we as an organization have seen in decades,” said Sollom. Medical neutrality refers to the ethical duty of medical professionals to care for and treat those in need without regard to race, religion, or political affiliation and to have a neutral and safe space provided by the state to carry out their work. …more

Panic on world markets
Author: Michael Burke of Socialist Economic Bulletin
IrishLeftReview.org – Published: August 6th, 2011

International business news and other TV channels are offering a Babel-like interpretation of the current slump in world financial markets. European (including British) stations are reporting the Wall Street-led declines as a response to the continued debt crisis in Europe. But this makes no sense. An EU crisis would have been felt first in EU markets and perhaps not at all in the US – US stocks had been rising over a prolonged period while Europe has been in turmoil. (And, despite what we may think, Greece or Ireland might fall into the sea while causing barely a ripple in the Hang Seng and the other plummeting Asian stock indices).

US channels have no explanation at all for the crisis- and analysis is limited to individual stocks, the scale of losses for investors and a generalised antipathy to Washington.

The Asian networks come closest to identifying the source of the current crisis- which isn’t in Europe at all. Their consensus is that markets are plunging because of the slowdown in the US economy.

But, why now? We are repeatedly told that financial markets react instantaneously to new information. The US GDP data for the 2nd quarter of 2011 were truly awful, up just 0.7%. As the BEA annualises quarterly data (multiplies by 4) this means that the US economy grew by under 0.2% from the 1st quarter.

On closer inspection the data were even worse. Large downward revisions to both the prior quarter and further back mean that economy fell by 5% in the recession, and has not recovered that prior peak in activity yet, as had been previously thought. This is the weakest US recovery from recession in the post-WWII period. Yet these data were published last Friday. If they were the immediate cause of the panic, it is a slow motion reaction.

No, the new news is the compromise agreement in Congress on Tuesday to raise the Federal debt ceiling in return for large scale cuts in Federal spending. This can only have one consequence- slower growth. Since the anticipated profits derived from growth drive stock prices, it is natural for stocks to fall when growth prospects are lowered. As Wall Streeters say, the US has just suffered a derating.

The crisis is driven by ‘austerity’- US austerity.

EU financial markets are caught in the backwash of this, as slower US growth certainly harms global growth prospects. This is felt most keenly in their weakest link, the sovereign debt markets, since these have assumed all the stresses of the EU economies and financial systems. But we should not expect stock and other markets in Europe to remain unscathed, especially bank stocks.

In particular, as reaction to the latest bailout of Greece’s creditors shows, bond markets do not reflect any confidence in these repeated prescriptions. Instead a first bailout of the economy is required, in Greece, Ireland and elsewhere.

There was a fondness before for asserting that Ireland was closer to Boston than Berlin. With the German economy recovering far more robustly than the US, we will hear less of that in the years ahead.

It might be wise instead to focus on the German and other answers to the crisis. This was not just short-term economic stimulus, but long-term productive investment.

For too long this economy has been a weigh-station for US companies counting their profits. Instead of listening to their self-serving advice on economic policy (while following German strictures on fiscal policy) policymakers in Ireland should emulate what works, in Germany, Sweden and most of Asia, investment-led growth initiated and guided by the State. ...source

US Economy lost , Debt more than its GDP, Apple has more cash than US Govt
August 4, 2011 – Written by jafrianews

JNN 03 Aug 2011 : The US Department of the Treasury says the country’s debt has topped 100 percent of its gross domestic product amid concerns over the slow pace of economic recovery.

Washington’s gross debt rocketed $238 billion on Tuesday to reach 100 percent of its GDP immediately after US President Barack Obama signed into law the congress legislation to raise the country’s borrowing ceiling, AFP reported on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Obama voted in favor of a controversial bipartisan plan to raise the debt ceiling of the United States in exchange for spending cuts, just hours before the first ever default in US history.

The US Treasury figures show the new borrowing has increased Washington’s total public debt to $14.58 trillion, which stands higher than the end of 2010 GDP of $14.53 trillion.

It has also put the US within a coterie of countries whose public debt exceeds their GDP, including Japan (229 percent), Greece (152 percent), Lebanon (134 percent), Italy (120 percent), and Ireland (114 percent).

According to the default-preventing compromise bill, the US debt ceiling was raised by $2.4 trillion, to reach a total of $16.7 trillion.

With its colossal debt topping its GDP, the United States is now also within the group of highly indebted countries like Italy and Belgium.

The last time America’s debt surpassed the size of its annual economy was in 1947, two years after the end of World War II.

Credit ratings agencies such as Moody’s Investors Service, have warned Washington to reduce its debt-to-GDP ratio quickly, otherwise it may face losing its triple A rating.

Figures from the US Treasury Department have indicated that Apple Inc. has more cash to spend than the government of the United States.
The latest report of the United States Treasury on cash and debt operations put the country’s cash balance at $73.7 billion, but Apple’s reserves are currently $76.4 billion, the state-run BBC reported on Friday.

The United States is currently spending around $200 billion more than it collects in revenue every month.

However, Apple’s market is growing at a tremendous rate. For example, in the three-month period ending on June 25, its net income was 125 percent higher than the same period in the previous year.

The US debt ceiling is currently capped at $14.3 trillion, up from $10.6 trillion when President Barack Obama took office in 2009, and the administration says that if it is not elevated by August 2, the government will default on its obligations.

But, economists say that if the United States refuses to increase its debt limit, it could be devastating for the US and other economies around the world.

Although US lawmakers are engaged in heated arguments on whether to cut spending for public services, such as education and elderly healthcare, increase taxes, or raise the borrowing level, they continue to authorize the US government to spend tens of billions of dollars for military interventions in other countries. …source

As Iran Celebrates Journalists’ Day, Many Journalists Remain Imprisoned
Washington – August 5, 2011

As Iranians commemorate Journalists’ Day on August 8 (17th of Mordad in the Iranian calendar), Iran remains one of world’s most dangerous countries for reporters. Freedom House condemns the Iranian regime’s ongoing crackdown on journalists and calls for the release of Bahman Ahmadi Amouee and all other journalists who remain unfairly imprisoned.

“When journalists are not free to do their job – i.e., hold authorities up to scrutiny — governments are then free to rule without consequences,” said Freedom House president, David J. Kramer. “The Iranian government’s ongoing crackdown on journalists is a shameful attempt to prevent citizens from understanding the regime’s true nature. Freedom House stands in solidarity with all wrongfully imprisoned journalists in Iran and calls for their immediate and unconditional release.”

In particular, Freedom House is worried by the continued imprisonment of Bahman Ahmadi Amouee. A prominent journalist, Bahman was arrested on June 20, 2009 in the aftermath of Iran’s disputed presidential election. The Iranian regime detained Bahman and his journalist wife, Jila Baniyaghoub, after they wrote articles critical of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Jila was released after two months. Bahman remains in Tehran’s Evin prison. …more

Open Letter to Mr. Obama
05/08/2011 – 11:00 am | Hits: 61

Mr. Obama,

Closely observing how pro-democracy youth in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab countries have led the revolutions and toppled two strong US allies dictators, the youth in Bahrain have formed the *February 14th Youth Coalition* to lead and represent a peaceful pro-democracy revolution that aims to create a real democratic system, where all people, Sunnis or Shiia are equal.

On 13th of March, when the revolution was about to attain real democracy, the Saudis invaded Bahrain with thousands of heavily armed troops backed by hundreds of tanks and tens of Apache helicopters with one mission: search-and-destroy anyone who had dared to call for democracy and anything related to the Pearl (Lulu) square, including the square itself!

This happened only two days after your Assistant Secretary of State, Jeffery Feltman had met with the authorities in Manama and in front of the 5th Navy Fleet, which turned blind eyes to the Saudi forces as they launched full-scale attack against the unarmed protesters. In these attacks, at least 35 so far have been killed including women and children and thousands injured. The main Salmaniya hospital was occupied by the Saudi and Bahraini military who prevented the injured from receiving treatment. The Saudis were not satisfied by ‘cleansing’ the square but have also pursued the protesters to their far villages and even workplaces. In this vicious attack, which took ugly sectarian dimension at least 30 Shiia mosques were demolished in one of the most outrageous crimes of modern history.

It is widely believed that the Saudis would not have invaded our country without prior permission from the US Navy HQ in Manama. If this is true, these acts made the US Administration complicit in the crimes committed by the Saudis and their GCC allies. The official statements about Al Khalifa regime calling for “help” from neighboring GCC countries was only a facade. Robert Fisk, who was in Bahrain during the invasion, stated on 14th June that “*Bahrain didn’t invite the Saudis to send their troops; the Saudis invaded and received a post-dated invitation*”.

We perceive the US and Saudi stands as complimentary rather than conflicting, playing the bad cop and good cop game. But rest assured, playing the good cop part is not going to put you and your administration on the “right-side” of history!

While we welcome any credible and honest initiative toward real reform that stripes the brutal regime of Al Khalifa from their dominating power, brings to justice anyone who was involved in the crimes associated with the crackdown (including the King and Prime Minister themselves) and addresses political, social and economic problems originally created by Al Khalifa dynasty, we regard the current “National Dialogue” as nothing but yet another American tactic to confuse the revolution and salvage the Al Khalifa and the Al Saud from the quagmire. This would also give the Al Khalifa regime the time they need to disturb the demographic balance further by naturalizing tens of thousands from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, Iraq and more recently Sudan. The so called National Dialogue has failed before it started. The pro-democracy supporters re-iterated their original demands, especially the downfall of Al Khalifa hereditary dictatorship. The opposition parties, which joined the dialogue have lost much of their credibility and people’s support and pull out at the end.

Despite the brutal repression and tragedy, the peaceful pro-democracy revolution in Bahrain will never stop until real democracy is attained regardless of the cost and time. Our courage and determination is strengthened by the murder of our people, detention of our men, women and children, the vicious torture of detainees and the process of starving Bahrainis by the ruling family.

Unfortunately, your administration has not learnt the lessons of Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq and has chosen to be on the wrong side of history once again. We have learnt that peaceful protest and civil disobedience are indeed the best weapons to fight for our rights. We started the revolution peacefully and will continue to be so until we obtain our rights and freedom. However, with its current policies, your administration has insisted on taking sides against our people and supporting the tyrants, dictators, torturers and enemies of humanity.

To show otherwise, we suggest the Fifth Fleet be moved to another country that is not included your own list of human rights abusers!

Regards,

Pearl Revolution Political Center
28th July, 2011
…source

Bahrain: Revolution re-invigorated as Bissiouni’s committee discredited
Bahrain Freedom Movement – 05/08/2011 – 4:56

Concern is rising for the health of the two women detainees; Jalila Al Salman and Dr Rola Al Saffar, who had started yesterday hunger strike to protest their continued detention without trial. They were part of the medical staff who were targeted by the Saudi occupiers when they invaded the country.

They were badly tortured by the Saudi and Al Khalifa officials who targeted doctors and nurses for treating injured Bahrainis. The hunger strike has become an international issue with several human rights bodies expressing concern and calling for their release. Amnesty International issued a statement expressing concern at the whole issue: “”Amnesty International is concerned that they are being held solely because they took part in protests, in which case they would both be prisoners of conscience who should be released immediately and unconditionally.” Frontline which defends human rights defenders said: “Front Line is deeply concerned for the safety and well being of Mrs Jalila Al Salman, vice president of the Bahrain Teacher’s Society and Mrs. Rula Al Saffar Assistant Professor at the College of Health Sciences and the Head of Bahrain Nursing Society, following reports received today that they have gone on hunger strike in protest at their continuing torture and ill treatment while in custody”.

Meanwhile, the Bahraini revolution has continued unabated. For the past few days, the people have protested in various parts of the country, calling for a regime change and demanding an immediate end to the Saudi occupation. Last night, the people of Bani Jamra staged their protest as the regime’s forces waged relentless attacks on the people, using chemical and tear gas weapons to subdue the youth. The regime’s thugs attacked the Bahrainis causing many injuries, some of which were horrendous. The people of Dair also went on protest but were also attacked mercilessly by the Al Khalifa mercenaries. The people are also calling for the right to self-determination. Disproportionate amounts of chemical and tear gas were used against the people. Some were hurled inside the houses to ensure maximum injuries. Similar demonstrations were held yesterday at Bilad Al Qadeem, Sitra and Mhazza. The youth have become more emboldened to stage these demonstrations under the eyes of the occupiers. A new feeling of nationalism is now motivating the youth to undertake daring steps to ensure the liberation of their land from the Saudi occupation. On Wednesday 3rd August, the people of Duraz demonstrated in support of the detained leaders who had been severely tortured. It has now been confirmed that the dictator’s son, Nasser had been involved in torturing the detainees directly. Sheikh Mohammad Habib Al Miqdad was one of his victims.

Few days ago Isa Ahmad Al Taweel, 50, was martyred as a result of an attack by chemical weapons that caused him to suffocate. His funeral was also attacked and more injuries were reported. The cases of these deaths have been reported to the Al Khalifa-appointed committee of investigation. Headed by Charif Bissiouni, the committee has been condemned as a tool to cover the crimes of the dictator and his sons. Yesterday, Bissiouni failed his neutrality test when he attempted to whitewash the dictator and his eldest son by describing them as democrats. He has ignored their role in the suppression and torture of Bahrainis. Moreover, there are authenticated reports that Bissiouni himself had reported some of the victims who presented their cases to him to the dictator. These victims have been betrayed by the discredited royal commission. Calls have been made by notable human rights activists for the more neutral members of the committee to resign lest their reputation be smeared more. It is now clear, especially after their visit to the torture chambers, that they have failed to make any difference to the plight of the victims. Attacks on demonstrators have become more tense and torture has not ceased. The committee has failed even to achieve the repeal of the notorious Law 56, decreed by the dictator to give immunity to those involved in torture. Bahrainis are insisting that only an independent fact-finding mission from the office of the UN Human Rights Commissioners, could establish some of the facts and expose the crimes of the Saudi and Al Khalifa crimes. Bissiouni’s commission has already decided to whitewash the Al Khalifa dictators, killers and torturers.

Bahrain Freedom Movement
5th August 2011
…source

US and British-Backed Bahrain Regime: the Use of “Toxic Terror” in Collective Punishment
by Finian Cunningham -Global Research, August 5, 2011

After more than five months of popular opposition to its autocratic rule, the US and British-backed unelected monarchy in Bahrain is deploying a new tactic of repression – toxic terror.

Unable to thwart widespread calls for democratic freedom, the Western-backed Bahraini dictatorship is targeting vulnerable civilians – the young, elderly and infirmed – in a bid to crush the pro-democracy movement.

Regime forces have launched a campaign of massive, indiscriminate firing of tear gas into villages and homes – with horrific effects. With thousands of canisters dispensed in the past fortnight alone, whole villages have become shrouded in toxic fumes on a daily basis.

Five civilians, including women, physically disabled and a five-year-old boy, have died so far from suffocation resulting from regime forces firing tear gas canisters into homes. In such attacks, the dwellings quickly become thick with the acrid smoke released by these weapons. The elderly and weak cannot escape from the lethal exposure.

In the last two weeks, state military forces have stepped up attacks on family homes in mainly Shia villages, which are seen as supportive of the pro-democracy movement.

“This is a deliberate, systematic tactic of terrorising people,” says Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights. “This is not just a case of a few officers behaving randomly. We are seeing entire villages coming under sustained attack with thousands of gas canisters thrown into homes by uniformed riot police who ride into villages in Ministry of Interior jeeps. These deadly attacks could only be carried out on the orders of the regime’s rulers.”

The Persian Gulf island kingdom, where the US Navy Fifth Fleet is based, is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family headed by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. He is also the supreme commander of the Bahraini armed forces.

The unelected Sunni regime, described by Washington and London as a key ally, has been in power since Bahrain was granted independence from Britain in 1971. The prime minister, 77-year-old Shaikh Khalid bin Salman Al Khalifa (uncle of the king) is the longest unelected premier in the world. Some 80 per cent of the unelected ministerial cabinet – appointed solely by the king – are members of the royal family, as are senior officers in the military forces.

Inspired by the Arab Spring pro-democracy movements sweeping the Middle East and North Africa, Bahrain’s Shia majority population took to the streets on 14 February calling for democratic rights. The Shia – who represent 70 per cent of the national population – have long suffered political and economic discrimination under the Sunni dynasty.

Both Washington and London backed a Saudi-led invasion force into Bahrain in mid-March to crush the peaceful protests. Since then, military from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have supported Bahraini forces in a brutal crackdown against pro-democracy protesters. The crackdown has resulted in some 40 civilians deaths, over 1,000 illegal detentions, torture of detainees and hundreds of show trial prosecutions held in military courts.

Among those prosecuted are doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers and journalists, who have been charged with ludicrous crimes such as “inciting hatred against the rulers” and “subversion on behalf of a foreign enemy” (implying Iran).

Some 2,500 workers, invariably from the Shia population, have also been sacked from their jobs. Sporting clubs, athletes and critical websites have been banned as part of the state crackdown.

However, the wave of repression – condemned by international human rights groups – has failed to halt the pro-democracy movement. At a recent rally in Duraz and Saar, over 100,000 people turned out maintaining their demand for “self determination” [1]. This turn-out from a national population of only 600,000 is comparable with the heyday of massive popular mobilisations against the regime during February and March.

“This shows that the repression by the regime and its allies has failed,” says Rajab. “They have not intimidated the people from demanding their democratic rights.”

Rajab, who last month was awarded the Ion Ratiu Democracy Award by the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars for his human rights work, says that the inability to suppress calls for democratic change is why the Bahraini regime has now resorted to a new tactic of “collective punishment” of civilians.

“Despite extrajudicial killings, mass incarcerations and routine torture, the regime realises that these methods have failed to defeat the popular opposition. Now they have moved to collective punishment by going into villages and terrorising people with deadly use of tear gas,” says Rajab.

Many amateur videos attest to the use of this terror tactic by the Bahraini pro-state forces [2]. …more

Relief Group Stops Work in Bahrain After Raid
By RICK GLADSTONE – Published: August 5, 2011 – NYT

Bahrain, the tiny but strategically important Persian Gulf monarchy that has sought for months to suppress an Arab Spring-inspired uprising, is engaged in a heated dispute with one of the world’s foremost medical relief organizations, which has stopped working there after accusing Bahraini security forces of raiding its premises last week.

The accusation by the organization, Doctors Without Borders, has been challenged by Bahrain’s Health Ministry. But the sensitivities surrounding the dispute over the July 28 raid speak to what human rights activists call a particularly odious aspect of the Bahraini protests: the government’s systematic effort to deny medical services to wounded protesters — partly by jailing or intimidating the doctors, nurses and paramedics who have tried to treat them.

Many medical workers in Bahrain are often too frightened to help protesters, activists say, and the wounded themselves are often too frightened to seek help, fearing they will be arrested.

At the height of the protests, led by the kingdom’s Shiite majority, seeking more rights from the Sunni monarchy, security forces commandeered the Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain’s largest public hospital. Dozens of doctors and nurses who treated protesters were arrested.

In a report last month, Human Rights Watch said the crackdown included “attacks on health care providers; denial of medical access to protesters injured by security forces; the siege of hospitals and health centers; and the detention, ill-treatment, torture and prosecution of medics and patients with protest-related injuries.”

It called the attacks “part of an official policy of retribution against Bahrainis who supported pro-democracy protests.”

Doctors Without Borders had become one of the few remaining resources to treat protesters hurt in confrontations with the police and security forces.

In a statement on Wednesday condemning the raid on its offices in the capital city, Manama, the group said that since the street protests started six months ago, it had treated almost 200 “injured and ill patients who did not seek care in health facilities because they feared being arrested.”

The statement also said the group’s doctors had “seen patients in villages across the country who have refused urgently needed hospitalization due to the high risk of arrest, and others who were severely beaten in jail.” …more

Jurist: Bahrain inquiry serious, political split grave
MSNBC

DUBAI — Bahrain is cooperating with an investigation into anti-government protests it crushed but that will do little do resolve the sectarian political tensions behind the unrest, according to the head of the inquiry.

The island kingdom, home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has asked international lawyers to investigate its greatest political turmoil in years, which began with anti-government protests led by the Shi’ite Muslim majority in February.

Bahrain called in troops from fellow Sunni-led monarchies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as it cracked down on demonstrators in March, detaining more than a thousand in a campaign marked by repeated allegations of torture.

Cherif Bassiouni, an Egyptian American who has led similar U.N. inquiries in Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia, said Bahrain’s ruling Al-Khalifa family was approaching the aftermath of the unrest differently than it had when sectarian-tinged political violence last swept the kingdom in the mid-1990s.

“The situation has evolved because the king and certainly the crown prince are much more committed to the rule of law and human rights than other persons in the government and the Al-Khalifa clan,” he said in a phone interview late Thursday.

“The mere fact that the king has appointed this commission and the Interior Ministry is cooperating shows me things have changed.”

The investigation itself, he warned, cannot right relations between Bahrain’s rulers and its Shi’ite population, which says it is systematically denied access to land, housing and state employment on sectarian grounds.

“This doesn’t address the endemic problems, doesn’t address the need for political change, for a new constitution, the economic disparities or the political division of Sunnis and Shi’a. All the underlying problems remain,” Bassiouni said.

“That’s not going to solve the problems of power disparities between the Shi’ite population and the Sunni rulers, nor the feeling of injustice the Shi’a community has.”

ANTICIPATES RELEASE OF MORE DETAINEES

The investigation follows a state-orchestrated “National Dialogue” over the protests and crackdown, which in late July proposed expanding the powers of Bahrain’s elected parliament. King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa granted that request, while preserving the dominance of an upper house that his court picks.

Bahraini activists and rights groups have said the government-funded commission, though well-intentioned, is cut off from people who fear reprisal for giving testimonies that implicate security forces in abuses in an ongoing crackdown.

Bassiouni, a recognized authority on international criminal and human rights law, disputed that claim, saying the investigation — formally known as the Bahraini Independent Commission of Inquiry — had intervened to free detainees and acted on allegations of abuse.

“We have caused the release of 41 people in the last week, caused the suspension of a police chief and several officers. Two were arrested for alleged involvement in torture…all this is from people who gave testimonies,” he said.

“It’s totally untrue that people are afraid of coming forward. It’s not the case that they don’t have anxieties, but that’s because they’ve had bad experiences and they don’t know where this is going.”

Bassiouni estimated there are now about 300 people in detention over the protests, down from a peak of some 1,400. He said he hoped to secure the release of a further 150 in coming days, and cited the Interior Ministry’s readiness to release detainees as a sign of good faith.

“What I have found so far is the extraordinary willingness of the minister to listen to anything we bring to his attention and act on it, whether it’s suspension of police officers, arrest of police officers, or release of detainees,” he said.

“It leads me to believe that on his part there was never a policy of excessive use of force or torture…that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. I think it was a case of people at the lower level acting, and there not being an effective chain of communication, control.”

He declined to say what the investigation had found so far about the conduct of other security forces and the military. …source

How Bahrain’s ‘Facebook Uprising’ Allowed Authorities To Target Protesters
Huffington Post UK – Michael Rundle – First Posted: 4/8/11

When Bahrain erupted in anti-government protests in February, many in the West extolled the positive role played by social media sites such as Facebook, including some writers on The Huffington Post.

But for many in Bahrain, sites such as Facebook had a darker, more sinister role to play in the uprising – according to a programme broadcast by Al Jazeera on Thursday.

It tells the story of Ayat al Qurmezi, a 20-year-old woman, who first attracted attention from authorities by publicly reading a poem that was critical of Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa and the king.

Her actions, at Pearl Roundabout in Manama, the focal point of the demonstrations, led to a Facebook page calling for her torture and arrest.

Thousands of pro-government supporters flocked to the page, where they goaded each other to post horrific messages such as “I spit on you whore!” and “God willing the security forces smash her mouth and teeth”, before demanding the woman’s arrest.

The film alleges that this page, and others like it, were allowed to stay live for months instead of being pulled down by moderators.

And as the documentary reports, those wishes were granted when with the help of the Facebook page, Ayat was tracked down and taken into custody.

“What we’ve heard is that Ayat was tortured and put in the military hospital,” Ayat’s mother says in the 50-minute film. “I’m going to die from worrying about her.”

It was only three months later that Ayat turned up on state TV, to issue an apology that the family says was obtained by force.

The documentary also alleges that Facebook pages which showed photos of known protesters were set-up and left active for weeks, in order for authorities to track them down and arrest them. Each of the pictures was ‘checked off’ as the protesters were captured.

Produced by a journalist who worked undercover in the country for three months to expose the tactics used by government authorities, the film, ‘Shouting In The Dark’, also includes graphic evidence of killings, torture and other forms of physical violence.

Footage of a funeral march that ended in fatal shootings by government troops and an attack on a hospital by tanks and helicopters are shown in the film. It also depicts riot police abducting protesters from their homes, and protesters describing their horrific experiences.

The Al Jazeera journalist who produced the film said in a statement:

“This is the complete story of a revolution which was shot completely undercover, at times at personal risk … I went completely underground removing the SIM cards from my phones and moving from place to place and showing up to peoples’ homes alone and unannounced because the government so tightly monitors all communications and tracks journalists using their phones.”

Shouting in the Dark will be broadcast on Al Jazeera English at 2100 BST on SKY guide 514, Freeview 89 and Freesat 203 and online. …source [cb Editor: Shouting in the Dark via Youtube in Post below on this Page]

Pentagon to monitor social networking sites for threats
Posted on August 4, 2011 by mat

The Pentagon is planning to use social networking sites to tackle threats such as cyberterrorism and to identify where a major event like the Arab revolutions might next take place, reports in the US say.

The US department of defence is offering $42m (£25m) to fund research into monitoring social networks to track the formation, development and spread of ideas, and identify misinformation and attempts to foment unrest. The move by Darpa, the defence advanced research projects agency, comes in the wake of use of social networks by insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq and by home-grown threats such as Anonymous. Darpa did not respond to requests for comment from the New York Times.

Darpa is also seeking to identify people involved in such activity, what their intentions are and the impact of online campaigns to shape opinions or gather support on an issue, according to a document presented at the offices of the military contractor System Planning Corporation.

US efforts to monitor or manipulate social media have generally focused on non-US-language operations in the Middle East. However, other online groups are starting to be classified as threats by wings of the military. The new proposals also seek to further efforts by the US government to automatically generate social media content through fake accounts, or bots. In March this year it was reported that US Central Command (Centcom) had awarded a contract to develop software that generates so-called “sock puppet” accounts – fake identities used to promote a particular view while hiding the user’s true identity. …source

Shouting in the dark
The story of the Arab revolution that was abandoned by the Arabs, forsaken by the West and forgotten by the world.
AlJazeera Special programme Last Modified: 04 Aug 2011 20:27

Bahrain: An island kingdom in the Arabian Gulf where the Shia Muslim majority are ruled by a family from the Sunni minority. Where people fighting for democratic rights broke the barriers of fear, only to find themselves alone and crushed.

This is their story and Al Jazeera is their witness – the only TV journalists who remained to follow their journey of hope to the carnage that followed. This is the Arab revolution that was abandoned by the Arabs, forsaken by the West and forgotten by the world. …source

#FreeHashim AlMosawi, Bahrain – These tweets about Hashim AlMosawi are from White Liley who translated from here.

Today I’ll tell you the story of Hasim AlMosawi, 22yo who is in jail and being tortured since 18 March without charges. Detainee Hashim AlMosawi is a young man with rarely high potential. He graduated from high school with a GPA of 99.2%. Then studied in UK as part of Crown Prince program.

Detainee Hashim AlMosawi is the first #Bahraini to get Tomas Adison fellowship from General Electric #GE. He is now being tortured in jail by people who don’t know how to read. It’s believed that Hashim AlMosawi was jailed because his name was similar to the name of the spokesman of 14 Feb. youth, Mohammed AlMosawi. When they discovered his success, he was put in jail as revenge
when Hashim was arrested, he was blindfolded and put in solitary confinement in AlQalaa for 10days. He was being tortured daily, they spat in his mouth, then he was forced to sign blank papers.

Hashim then was taken to dry dock prison, and put in solitary confinement for 10days and suffered from both physical and psychological torture only because he was successful and studies in UK. [edit by courtesy] …source

Crowd control weapons absent from Arms Trade Treaty
July 25, 2011 by Eric Stoner – Published by Waging Nonviolence

In the negotiations for the Arms Trade Treaty, which wrapped up earlier this month, one subject that was not clearly addressed was the sale of crowd control weapons—such as tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons and electric shock stun guns—that are regularly used in cracking down on peaceful protest. The problem is that the sale of these weapons is big money for many Western governments. As the Inter Press Services reports:

BCHR Photo Gallery Here These “less than lethal” weapons are easily abused as lethal weapons. Many Bahraini Protesters and Innocents caught in the deliberate lethal misuse of these weapons have been killed since the February Protests.

AI [Amnesty International] said it has identified U.S.-made tear gas canisters and solid rubber bullets, and French tear gas grenades and solid rubber dispersion grenades in the aftermath of the attacks on civilian demonstrators in the streets of Bahrain early this year.
…more

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary – For Immediate Release
August 04, 2011

FACT SHEET: President Obama Directs New Steps to Prevent Mass Atrocities and Impose Consequences on Serious Human Rights Violators

“The United States is committed to working with our allies, and to strengthening our own internal capabilities, in order to ensure that the United States and the international community are proactively engaged in a strategic effort to prevent mass atrocities and genocide. In the event that prevention fails, the United States will work both multilaterally and bilaterally to mobilize diplomatic, humanitarian, financial, and—in certain instances—military means to prevent and respond to genocide and mass atrocities.”

–National Security Strategy of the United States, May 2010

Today, President Obama is directing a comprehensive review to strengthen the United States’ ability to prevent mass atrocities. The President’s directive creates an important new tool in this effort, establishing a standing interagency Atrocities Prevention Board with the authority to develop prevention strategies and to ensure that concerns are elevated for senior decision-making so that we are better able to work with our allies and partners to be responsive to early warning signs and prevent potential atrocities. Today he is also issuing a proclamation that, for the first time, explicitly bars entry into the United States of persons who organize or participate in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and serious violations of human rights.

The Presidential Directive on Mass Atrocities, Presidential Study Directive-10 (PSD-10), is innovative and significant in several respects: …more

Aug 4, 2011
Bahrain admits raid on international medical group

DUBAI – BAHRAIN says its police raided the offices used by Medecins Sans Frontieres because the group was operating without permission in the Gulf Kingdom.

The statement follows a condemnation by the aid group over the storming of its offices on July 28.

Bahrain’s Ministry of Health said in a statement released on Thursday that police searched the group’s medical center and arrested an employee who was later charged with offences including providing medical services without a license.

MSF, also known by its English name Doctors Without Borders, on Wednesday said armed Bahraini forces ‘violently raided’ its offices in the capital Manama.

MSF said they damaged property, confiscated all medical supplies and arrested volunteer Saeed Mahdi. — AP …source