Posts from — August 2011

Conclusions and recommendations of the Committee against Torture : Bahrain. 06/21/2005.
CAT/C/CR/34/BHR. (Concluding Observations/Comments)

Convention Abbreviation: CAT

COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE
Thirty-fourth session
2-20 May 2005

CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES
UNDER ARTICLE 19 OF THE CONVENTION

Conclusions and recommendations of the Committee against Torture

BAHRAIN

1. The Committee considered the initial report of Bahrain (CAT/C/47/Add.4) at its 653rd and 656th meetings (CAT/C/SR.653 and 656), held on 12 and 13 May 2005, and adopted, at its 663rd meeting (CAT/C/SR.633), the following conclusions and recommendations.
A. Introduction

2. The Committee welcomes the initial report of Bahrain although it regrets that the report, due in April 1999, was submitted with a five-year delay.

3. The Committee notes that the report does not fully conform to the Committee’s guidelines for the preparation of initial reports and lacks information on practical aspects of implementation of the Convention’s provisions.

4. The Committee welcomes the opportunity to discuss the report with a large delegation knowledgeable about diverse matters addressed in the Convention, and the full and constructive dialogue that resulted.
B. Positive aspects

5. The Committee notes the following positive developments:

(a) The extensive political, legal and social reforms on which the State party has embarked, including:
(i) The adoption of the National Action Charter in 2001 which outlines reforms aimed at enhancing non-discrimination, due process of law and the prohibition of torture and arbitrary arrest and stating, inter alia, that any evidence obtained through torture is inadmissible;

(ii) The promulgation of the amended Constitution;

(iii) The creation of the Constitutional Court in 2002;

(iv) The establishment of a new bicameral parliament with an elected chamber of deputies;

(v) Decree No. 19 of 2000 giving effect to the new constitutional provision establishing the Higher Judicial Council, drawing a clear dividing line between the executive branch and the judiciary and thereby reinforcing a separation of powers stipulated in the Constitution;

(vi) Decree No. 4 of 2001 abolishing the State Security Court which had jurisdiction over offences against the internal and external security of the State and emergency legislation, which are now heard by the ordinary criminal courts;
[Read more →]

August 19, 2011 – NABEEL RAJAB is released now after summon to police station for alleged “publishing wrong news & Info through social media”

Bahraini rights activist Nabeel Rajab honoured with Ion Ratiu Democracy Award
by Kristina Stockwood – IFEX – 17 August 2011

As president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) and one of the country’s leading rights activists, Nabeel Rajab has been closely monitored by the government, barred from leaving the country, beaten and harassed. His family home has been attacked with tear gas and armed invasions. One night, while he slept, dozens of masked gunmen stormed his house and abducted him, then drove him around in a vehicle all night and assaulted him – before returning him home. The Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington is honouring Rajab with this year’s Ion Ratiu Democracy Award (IRDA) to give international recognition to his courageous fight for democracy in Bahrain.

Rajab is one of the few rights defenders who has not been imprisoned or gone into hiding. In June, he was being investigated for posting photos on Twitter of alleged torture that resulted in the death of a prisoner.

According to the Wilson Center, “As one of the founders of the human rights movement in Bahrain… [Nabeel has] worked tirelessly and at considerable personal peril to advance the cause of democratic freedoms and civil rights of Bahraini citizens.”

The Ion Ratiu Democracy Award was established in 2005 in order to recognise the ideas, ideals and accomplishments of democracy activists around the world. Rajab has been invited to Washington, D.C., for one month to have an opportunity to engage with representatives of Washington’s policy, NGO and academic communities. He will also participate in a symposium given in his honour at the Wilson Center at the end of the year. …more

Citizens, Not Subjects: Debunking the Sectarian Narrative of Bahrain’s Pro-Democracy Movement
ISPU by Sahar Aziz 1 and Abdullah Musalem2

Against the Winds of Political Change

The origins of Bahrain’s pro-democracy movement are not sectarian. For the past three decades, Bahrainis have been dissatisfied with a weakening economy that does not fairly distribute the national wealth, a shortage of jobs for its growing number of youth, and the lack of any rule of law that grants equal rights to all of its citizens. In the past, these deep-seated grievances would occasionally erupt into protests and acts of defiance that were often met with violence. As with other Arab states, the Bahraini ruling family did all it could to suppress the growing demand for political reforms and a more equitable distribution of wealth.

The few occasions when it appeared that Manama was serious about reform ended in retrenchment as soon as the citizens exercised their increased freedoms. Hence much of the official rhetoric or negligible steps taken to support democracy were merely political posturing designed to create an image of liberalism for the international community in the hopes of increasing foreign investment.

An Ethnically and Religiously Diverse Arab State

Being a center of international trade has endowed Bahrain with a very diverse population. Throughout history, its ports have hosted Arab, Persian, South Asian, African, and European traders and invaders, many of whom settled down and assimilated. The majority of Bahrainis are Shi’a Muslims.7 At the end of the nineteenth century, the European colonial powers sought to create colonies or protectorates in their own image; the French established republics and the British established monarchies. The fall of the largely Sunni Ottoman empire and its competition with the Shi’a Persian empire found Arab and non-Arab members of both sects caught in a web of emerging nation states devised to serve colonial interests.

The current borders of Arab countries were determined in London and Paris. Elites who cooperated with them were rewarded economically and politically. Power was thus concentrated in the hands of a few. Bahrain was no exception. The ruling Al-Khalifa family does not consider itself indigenous; rather, it traces its ancestry to the Sunni tribes inhabiting the western coast of the Gulf with familial ties strengthened by decades of intertribal marriage and alliances.8 …more

Bahrain: Union Leaders On Hunger Strike
By William Fisher – The Public Record – Aug 19th, 2011

Jaleela Al Salman, Vice President of the Bahrain Society for teachers, and Rula AlSafar, President of Bahrain Nursing Society, are into the 12th day of a hunger strike to protest what they claim is their “illegitimate detention” in a Bahraini prison along with hundreds of teachers, doctors, and nurses who insisted on doing their jobs in the face of attacks and abuse from the government’s security forces.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights charges that since the Sunni government’s crackdown on the Shia majority of Bahrain in mid- March 2011, many activists, professionals and unionists have been targeted by being subject to arbitrary arrest, physical and psychological abuse, torture, dismissal from their jobs, and prosecuted at military and later at civilian courts.

The Society says the two female unionists have reportedly been ill-treated in detention and are expected to be sentenced with false accusations. They were arrested on March 29 and their hunger strike started August 2. Their families reported that the two women plan to continue the strike until they are released.

Today, one of the hunger-strikers, Ms. Jaleela AlSalman, was taken to a hospital due to pains in the chest and deteriorating health, according to Maryam Al-Khawaja, head of the Foreign Relations Office of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.
Ms. AlSalman, the Vice President of the Bahrain Society for Teachers, is a 46 year-old mother of three. She was a deputy manager in Saba Secondary School. Her school, which has won significant awards a distinctive school with many projects and initiatives, independent from the Ministry of Education, to achieve excellence of the educational process where she was been either leading those projects or amongst the active members of the projects teams. …more

Annual foreign policy conference in Bahrain called off
Posted By Josh Rogin Friday, August 19, 2011 – Foreign Policy

The Bahraini government and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) will not hold what would have been the 8th annual Manama Security Dialogue this year because of the social upheaval and subsequent government crackdown in the country.

“We have decided not to convene the Manama Dialogue in December 2011,” IISS CEO and President John Chipman told The Cable. “Instead, we have decided to hold two ‘Sherpa Meetings’, one in January 2012, one in May 2012, involving high level officials from all the states that normally participate in the Manama Dialogue, to prepare for the intended resumption of the Manama Dialogue summit in December 2012.”

The Manama Dialogue is the region’s largest annual meeting of influential national security officials and experts. Chipman said that the Sherpa meetings are meant “to sustain the momentum” of the dialogue, as well as to build support for high-level government participation for the event in December 2012.

IISS notified government officials about the change in an information note last month.

“These Sherpa meetings will involve senior government officials from those states who normally participate in the Manama Dialogue,” reads a note on the Sherpa meetings provided to The Cable by IISS. There will be about 65 officials from 20 countries at each meeting, which will be off the record and held at IISS’s Manama office.

The most recent Manama Dialogue featured attendance by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, and your humble Cable guy. It’s the Middle East counterpart to IISS’s annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, which we also attended.

The Manama Dialogue is not the only international event in Bahrain that has been delayed this year for political reasons. The Bahrain Grand Prix Formula 1 racing event was postponed from March 2011 to October and then cancelled outright. The next F1 racing event in Bahrain is scheduled for November 2012. …source

BYSHR: Bahrain: Injured testimonies confirm that the hospital turned into prison
August 16th, 2011

Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights-BYSHR has documented testimonies of some injured of the protests that started on 14 February 2011. BYSHR representatives met with the injured after they had been released from jail. They were arrested from Salmaniya Hospital, the main governmental hospital, and were detained for more than three and a half months.

BYSHR sought the assistance of an independent physician, to examine the patients and report the injuries they suffered.

On 16 March 2011 the army and the National Guard took over of Salmaniya Hospital and arrested the protesters whom gathered in the hospital building. Later a number of doctors were arrested on charges of hospital occupation and the confiscation of Medical equipment.

Salmaniya Hospital is considered one of the witnesses to the human rights violations that took place against protesters since the 14th of February uprising, as thousands of the injured got medical treatment in Salmaniya Hospital due to the suppression of riot police using rubber bullets, tear gas, sound grenades and shot guns. Also, the military used live ammunition to disperse protesters on the 16th of March 2011 – the BYSHR have documented cases where live ammunitions were used.

An injured told the BYSHR: ” I was on the 4th floor in Salmaniya Hospital where I was being treated from a shotgun injury in the head and face – left side – when they transferred me to the 6th floor, and there I was mistreated, insulted, tied to the bed, eye folded and they used offensive words against the Shia and asked us to curse and insult the political opposition leaders”. (1)

And he continues: “I was taken later from the hospital to Noaim Police Station and then to Isa Town Police Station where I was tortured there too.”

Another protestor told (BYSHR)’s representative: “my right eye is injured because of a shotgun explosion besides me; I was taken to the hospital after the army and police took over, I tried to escape but I was arrested in a checkpoint near the hospital gate and I was tortured in an external room – the room of ambulance care assistants and ambulance drivers (attached Picture) – other injured were with me too.” (2)

A wounded by birds gunshots informed BYSHR: “I was injured on 15 March in my back by the ant-riot police. I was transported to Salmaniya Hospital. I was on the fourth floor, afterwards I was transferred to the sixth floor where I was mistreated, tied to the bed, and blindfolded. The doctors avoided talking to us about our cases for fear of the security forces. I was removed in a police car to Isa Town Police Station and was forced to sing the National Anthem and insult the opposition political leaders.”. (3)

The injured refused to mention their names because the charges against them are still valid even after their release.

BYSHR expresses its concern about those allegations and it demands urgent investigation in subjecting the injured to the allegations of mistreatment and torture at Salmaniya Hospital. BYSHR demands the Special Rapporteur on torture the urgent action and investigation of those accusations against the anti-riot police. …more

Bahraini Shiites’ Anti-Royal Graffiti Speaks of Unhealed Rift With Sunnis
By Donna Abu-Nasr – Aug 17, 2011 3:00 PM MT

The defaced walls of the Bahraini village of Burhama reflect the mounting tension between Muslims from the Shiite community and the Sunni-led royal family.

Every day, the village’s Shiites spray anti-monarchy graffiti on the facades of its buildings. And every day, the offensive language is concealed by police under a strip of white paint, until it reappears atop another white layer the next day.

The graffiti is just one indication that steps taken by the Sunni-led government have yet to heal rifts stemming from a crackdown this year on mostly Shiite pro-democracy protesters. Shiite villages have held rallies almost every night since the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan began Aug. 1, while al-Wefaq, the Shiites’ largest party, has announced it won’t participate in next month’s special elections to fill the parliamentary seats of its members who resigned to protest the crackdown.

“Those in power should be in harmony with the will of the people,” said Hadi al-Mousawi, one of 18 al-Wefaq members who quit the parliament. “But they just turn their backs to what the opposition wants.”

The grievances that sparked the demonstrations in February and March have intensified because the government has ignored core Shiite demands for higher living standards and equal representation, Mousawi said in a telephone interview Aug. 14.

Government measures to try to calm the situation weren’t enough, he said. The steps included releasing political detainees, reinstating many employees suspended from work on suspicion of participation in the protests, and hosting reconciliation talks. …more

Interview Thor Halvorssen – President, Human Rights Foundation
George Ayittey – How to Defeat a Dictator – 06/24/11

Ghanaian economist George Ayittey attended the Oslo Freedom Forum in May. There, he sat down with me to talk about defeating dictators.

Thor Halvorssen: How pervasive is dictatorship in Africa today?

George Ayittey: Africa has more dictators per capita than any other continent. In 1990, only four out of the 54 African countries were democratic; today, 21 years later, it is only 15. Fewer than ten can be deemed economic success stories and a free media exists in only ten African countries. Some people call this progress… that’s not what I would call it.

2011-06-23-Ayittey.jpg

George Ayittey presents at the Oslo Freedom Forum. In the Africa graphic behind him dictatorships are shown in red, democracies in white.

TH: That means at least 39 countries in Africa are still ruled by dictators.

GA: And we are fed up. Fed up! Angry Africans are fed up and are taking the heat to them. Dictators cause the world’s worst problems: all the collapsed states, and all the devastated economies. All the vapid cases of corruption, grand theft, and naked plunder of the treasury are caused by dictators, leaving in their wake trails of wanton destruction, horrendous carnage and human debris.

But guess who’s always cleaning up their mess?

For decades, the West has spent trillions of dollars trying to persuade, cajole, and even bribe them to reform their abominable political and economic systems. The West has even tried appeasement in their rapprochement. Enough!

TH: But shouldn’t the West pressure dictators with other measures like cutting off IMF loans and international aid packages and threaten to stop recognizing them diplomatically?

GA: The West has to understand that dictators never have and never will be interested in reform. They are stone deaf and impervious to reason. Period.

Dictators are allergic to reform, and they are cunning survivors. They will do whatever it takes to preserve their power and wealth, no matter how much blood ends up on their hands. They are master deceivers and talented manipulators who cannot be trusted to change.

TH: What kind of resources do they need in order to maintain their survival? Surely the loss of Western funding would hinder them?

GA: After a mere four-and-a-half years in office, the late dictator of Nigeria, Sani Abacha, managed to accumulate a personal fortune of 5 billion dollars. Omar Al-Bashir has siphoned 7 billion out of Sudan. And Hosni Mubarak of Egypt managed to accumulate a personal fortune of 40 billion dollars! All stolen from their own people.

Let me put that into perspective. The net worth of all U.S. presidents, 43 of them, from Washington to Obama, amounted to 2.7 billion. That means that Africa’s kamikaze bandits each stole more than the net worth of all U.S. presidents and then more.

TH: How does a human rights activist fight against 40 billion dollars of bribe money?

GA: This is exactly what happened in Egypt and Tunisia. Fed up with their corrupt antics, angry street demonstrators started pushing dictators out: Ben Ali fled, Mubarak was shoved aside, and more coconuts will tumble

But caution: Noisy rah-rah street demonstrations alone are not enough.

Three cardinal principles must be followed for a popular revolution to succeed. First, a united coalition of opposition forces is essential. Second, the dictator’s modus operandi — strengths and weakness — must be studied in detail. Lastly, getting the sequence of reform right is crucial; there are several steps that must be followed precisely in order.

TH: The sequence you just described should perhaps be named Ayittey’s law. By a “coalition” do you mean a political alliance? Wouldn’t that be difficult in most of these countries suffering under dictatorships or one-party rule?

GA: A small group of pro-democracy activists — call it an elders council — is imperative to serve as the nerve center, plan strategically, and coordinate the activities of the various opposition groups, civil society groups and youth movements. For example, The Gathering in Sudan in 1985, The Danube Circle in Hungary in 1988, Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia in 1989 and the Alliance for Change in Ghana in 1995, in which I participated. If the dictator schedules an election, the council must rope all political parties into an electoral alliance. In 2010, dictators “won” elections because of a divided opposition field. For funding, the council should rely on its own diaspora community, not on Western donors.

TH: Why should reformers depend on their community as opposed to Western donors?

GA: Reform must start with intellectual freedom and freedom of the press. Reform must come from within — made by the people themselves, not by Western governments or financial institutions. Internally-initiated reform is far more sustainable and enduring. The self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi started the Arab Spring. His was the ultimate and extreme form of freedom of expression.

2011-06-23-Ayittey2.jpg

TH: Ok, so first a coalition, second we find the dictator’s weaknesses…

GA: The modus operandi of all dictators is essentially the same: Besides parliament, if there is one, they seize control of six key state institutions (the security forces, the media, the civil service, the judiciary, the electoral commission, and the central bank), pack them with their supporters, and debauch them to serve their interests. To succeed, a popular revolution must wrestle control of at least one or more of these institutions out of the dictator’s clutches. The game was over for Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak when the military refused to fire on civilians. Ditto in the Philippines in 1986 and Georgia in November 2003, where the security forces were charmed with roses (hence, the “Rose Revolution.”) Ukraine’s Orange revolution of November 2004 won the Supreme Court to its side and Pakistan’s Black Revolution of March 2007 had the full support of the judiciary. Let me give you 3 more ways of toppling a dictator’s stronghold:

First, get the media out of their hands: create pirate radios, use social media. That’s what will unleash the reforms we all cherish so dearly, not Western sermons, sanctions, or appeasement.

Second, hit them with their own constitution. For example, Article 35 of China’s Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association. In Ghana, we used the Constitution and the courts to free the airwaves, leading to a proliferation of FM Radio stations, which were instrumental in ousting the regime in 2000.

Third, a dictator’s weakness is exploited by s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g its military geographically. Shut down the civil service and any military regime will collapse. It will not have enough soldiers to replace civil servants across the country; we saw this in Ghana in 1978 and Benin in 1989. We also saw the same thing this year, as street protests in Tunisia and Egypt erupted simultaneously in several cities and towns, straining security forces. …more

The Pain in Spain
By V. Noah Gimbel, August 17, 2011 – FPIP

As the sun rose on August 2, Spanish authorities destroyed the tent-village that had come to symbolize what some participants have called the Spanish Revolution. The ruling Socialist Party, via the Ministry of the Interior and in conjunction with the right-wing Popular Party that controls the local government, ordered Madrid’s Puerta del Sol cleared of all remnants of the 15-M (May 15) movement as its participants, the indignados (the outraged) watched helplessly. Police boots, chainsaws, and fire hoses erased months of makeshift architecture, street art, and community – once inhabited by some 28,000 campers – from the Spanish capital’s central square.

The conglomeration of organizations that make up the 15-M movement vowed to march on the square at 7:30 that evening to protest what they called an illegal eviction. The government responded with nothing short of a call to arms, halting all metro and commuter rail access to the station at Puerta del Sol. Meanwhile, dozens of national police vans turned the square into a parking lot, and helmeted policemen set up barricades at every entrance to the square. Helicopters flew overhead as the combined forces of municipal police in riot gear and national police – hands on pistols – reinforced the barricades and patrolled the surrounding areas on foot.

Nevertheless, a fairly large showing gathered at the barricades that evening, gaining momentum as their non-violent outrage met with no response from the police. “We’ll stay until there are no more people from 15-M,” said one officer. That was around 8:30 when crowds were still rather light. …more

Shadow Warriors: Movin’ On Up
By Conn Hallinan, August 18, 2011 – FPIP

For decades the U.S. military has waged clandestine war on virtually every continent on the globe, but for the first time, high-ranking Special Operations Forces (SOF) officers are moving out of the shadows and into the command mainstream. Their emergence suggests the U.S. is embarking on a military sea change that will replace massive deployments, like Iraq and Afghanistan, with stealthy night raids, secret assassinations, and death-dealing drones. Its implications for civilian control of foreign policy promises to be profound.

Early this month, Vice Adm. Robert Harward—a former commander of the SEALs, the Navy’s elite SOF that recently killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden—was appointed deputy commander of Central Command, the military region that embraces the Middle East and Central Asia. Another SEAL commander, Vice Adm. Joseph Kernan, took over the number two spot in Southern Command, which covers Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Obama administration has been particularly enamored of SOFs, and according to reporters Karen DeYoung and Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post, is in the process of doubling the number of countries where such units are active from 60 to 120. U.S. Special Operations Command spokesman Col. Tim Nye told Nick Turse of Salon that SOFs would soon be deployed in 60 percent of the world’s nations: “We do a lot of traveling.”

Indeed they do. U.S. Special Operations Command (SOC) admits to having forces in virtually every country in the Middle East, Central Asia, as well as many in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. But true to its penchant for secrecy, SOC is reluctant to disclose every country to which its forces are deployed. “We’re obviously going to have some places where it’s not advantageous for us to list where we’re at,” Nye told Turse.

SOF forces have almost doubled in the past two decades, from some 37,000 to close to 60,000, and major increases are planned in the future. Their budget has jumped from $2.3 billion to $9.8 billion over the last 10 years. …more

Bahrain steps up crackdown on demos
shiapost – August 18, 2011

The Saudi-backed Bahraini forces have intensified their brutal crackdown on peaceful anti-government protesters across the Persian Gulf sheikhdom.

The Bahraini regime forces clashed with protesters in several areas late on Wednesday.

According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested during the harsh government clampdown on peaceful demonstrations since mid-February.

On Tuesday, Vice President of the Bahrain Teachers Association (BTA) Jalila al-Salman was hospitalized with chest pains following a 10-day hunger strike to protest her continuing torture and ill treatment while in custody.

The Bahraini regime fired some 14 university teachers for taking part in demonstrations against the ruling Al Khalifa family on Saturday.

Since the beginning of the revolution in Bahrain, large numbers of anti-government protesters have poured into streets across the nation to demand more rights, freedom and wide-ranging political reforms. …more

BCHR Second Open Letter to Head of the Bahraini Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI)

Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni
Chair, Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry
18 August 2011

Dear Sir,
Thank you for your letter dated 9 August 2011, in which you outlined the position of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI).

Whilst we, at the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), are of course pleased that the government has demonstrated “extraordinary willingness… to listen to anything we bring to his [minister of interior] attention and act on it”, the main issue raised by our previous correspondence with you was your statement that this willingness from the minister “leads me to believe that on his part there was never a policy of excessive use of force or torture.” It was this last statement which we sought clarification about, since we did not understand how you had reached this conclusion at such an early stage. Your letter in response was noticeably silent on this point. You did note that you believed it was “premature to reach any conclusions”, which we are certainly in agreement with.

Whilst appreciating the difference between individual criminal responsibility and the responsibility of superiors, there is a wealth of evidence confirming that, at the very least, the government and the ruling establishment had knowledge and condoned the actions of the security forces.

The most notable examples of this are the speeches of Marshal General Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Commander in Chief of the Bahrain Defence Force, and the actions and speeches of Nasser Al Khalifa, the son of the reigning monarch. Khalifa bin Ahmed threatened protesters in remarks made to BNA in May, saying, “I say to those who did not get the message, ‘If you return we will come back, stronger this time'”. In a public forum, on state television, Nasser Al Khalifa threatened retribution to all those involved in the protests regardless of their position in society and their profession. In a telling final statement, Nasser Al Khalifa noted that, as an island state, those involved in the protests in Bahrain had “nowhere to escape to”. Within a few hours of this statement, the systematic targeting of athletes involved in the protests commenced. To compound this, Nasser himself became personally involved in the torture of at least two opposition leaders, Abdulla Isa Al-Mahroos and Mohammed Habib Al-Muqdad, both of whom have provided testimonies which have been sent to the BICI.

Other witnesses have come forward to testify that they were beaten by different members of the Al-Khalifa family, such as Fatima Al-Bagali, who was tortured at West Riffa detention center on the 9th of May by the General Director of Southern Province Police, Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, because of a speech she had made at Pearl Square. Ayat Al-Qurmezi, also arrested for an anti-government poem she had read at Pearl Square, and Dr Fatima Hajji, have also claimed to have been tortured in detention by Noura Al-Khalifa.

These testimonies are, worryingly, the tip of the iceberg. In these circumstances, I hope you can appreciate that your comments to Reuters that “there was never a policy of excessive use of force or torture”, even if taken out of context, were highly prejudicial and created much anxiety and anger amongst the victims of this policy.

The actions of Bahrain’s ruling elite have consistently reinforced the message that dissent, in any form, is simply not to be tolerated in Bahrain. The targeting of individuals, both physically and economically, has been systematic. State television has pursued an agenda akin to the McCarthy witch hunts; naming and publically humiliating those involved in the recent protests. Indeed a number of state sanctioned websites have sprung up in which people are encouraged to name “traitors” to the regime. This state-sanctioned pressure has been compounded by the mass expulsion by state entities of employees who have been “tainted” through their association to the opposition.

It is in this context that it becomes difficult to believe that those in authority did not have knowledge of the persecution being effected through state apparatus. We would be happy to provide a range of evidence to confirm the assertions made in this letter and look forward to working with the BICI to achieve its stated goals and bring to light the situation in Bahrain.

Yours sincerely

Nabeel Rajab
President
Bahrain Center for Human Rights
…source

Facebook Becomes Divisive in Bahrain
Phillip Walter Wellman – Dubai, United Arab Emirates
torturous
A Bahrain woman looks at pictures of victims of the February 14 uprising, displayed at an exhibition during a gathering held by the Al Fateh Youth Union in Isa Town, south of Manama, Bahrain, July 28, 2011

It has been six months since anti-government protests inspired by the successful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt first erupted in Bahrain. And as in Egypt, many Bahrainis used social media Internet sites such as Facebook to help organize the protests. The Bahraini government is now using Facebook, too – apparently to track down and arrest the protesters.

It is questionable whether the Arab Spring ever would have amounted to much without social media on the Internet. In most cases, as more and more frustrated youths turned to their computers to express their discontent, an increasing number of people left their homes to publicly demand change.

The term “Facebook Revolution” was coined after the successful ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. And in Bahrain, the social networking site also played a role in encouraging people to participate in the nation’s “Day of Rage” protests on February 14, and in the pro-democracy demonstrations that followed.

Manama’s Pearl Roundabout traffic circle quickly became Bahrain’s own version of Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where protesters, made up of mostly Shi’ite Muslims, set up camp and pushed for reform.

Unlike in Egypt, however, the demands of the Bahrainis were never met. The Sunni government, with military help from neighboring Gulf States, quelled the uprising and afterwards, reportedly used access to social media to help identify and punish those who spoke out.

Rights groups say that more than 1,000 opposition supporters have been arrested since the crackdown began. Today, many Bahrainis say they are apprehensive about using social media.

A recent documentary aired on the al-Jazeera television network describes how one Facebook page helped single out a 20-year-old Shi’ite woman who allegedly was arrested and tortured. Visitors to the page were told to reveal her name and workplace on that page, “and let the government take care of the rest.”

Another page displayed photos of other demonstrators that would be checked off once a person was detained by authorities.

According to Abdulnabi Alekry, chairman of the Bahrain Transparency Society, the government’s use of social media to help identify opponents has pushed the country’s Sunnis and Shi’ites further and further apart. …more

Bahrain Shiite opposition seeks reform referendum
The Associated Press

The head of Bahrain’s main Shiite Muslim opposition party wants a referendum over whether the Gulf kingdom’s rulers should retain their wide powers.

The Associated Press MANAMA, Bahrain — The head of Bahrain’s main Shiite Muslim opposition party wants a referendum over whether the Gulf kingdom’s rulers should retain their wide powers.

The appeal by Ali Salman seeks to increase pressure for broader reconciliation efforts. Salman told reporters Wednesday the proposed referendum would ask whether the tiny island nation’s government should be elected or remain appointed by the leaders. It’s seen highly unlikely that Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy would allow such a vote, after months of crackdowns against Shiite-led protests demanding greater rights.

Salman’s Al Wefaq party has broken off talks with Bahrain’s rulers and plans to boycott parliament elections next month. Mass protests led by Bahrain’s majority Shiites began in February, inspired by other Arab uprisings. …source

Female Teacher on Hunger Strike in Bahrain Hospitalized
8-17-2011 – By Human Rights Defenders Program – Human Rights First

In July, Human Rights First profiled Jalila al-Salman, a Bahraini teacher who has been detained since March for her alleged role in coordinating a teachers’ strike. We are very concerned to hear from local human rights defenders that Jalila was hospitalized today for chest pains following 10 days on hunger strike. Among the handful of women still in detention in Bahrain, Jalila and fellow prisoner, Roula Al Saffar, the Head of the Bahrain Nursing Society, have undergone a joint hunger strike to protest their continued detention and ill treatment. There are reports that Jalila has been severely tortured.

While there were hopes that the women detainees would be released pending a transfer to civilian courts at the start of Ramadan, so far there have been no improvements to their situation.

Another female detainee told HRF staff in Bahrain what happened to her, Her account is consistent with what has happened to other female detainees:

I was taken from the hospital where I was working during the middle of the day. Four masked men came and took me for an interrogation. They blindfolded me and took me to the investigations office. They were verbally abusing me, saying the doctors at the hospital were sectarian, only treating Shiite patients.

Then they moved me to another room – I was blindfolded the whole time and a policewoman pushed me along the corridor for more questioning.

They wanted me to say that doctors took injured people for operations unnecessarily, they had very minor injuries but doctors made these injuries worse and caused death on purpose in two cases.

They said we wanted to make Bahrain look bad, to hurt its international reputation. I said no, patients were really bleeding badly, some from live ammunition wounds, and we didn’t make their wounds worse. …more

[cb Editor Note: The balance of this article has not been seen here so it’s conclusion and analysis are unknown. It does seem an article of significance. It would be good to see it published without profit motive from JAMA. It’s viewing in entirity is contingent on subscription to JAMA. ]

Human Rights Report Details Violence Against Health Care Workers in Bahrain
M. J. Friedrich – Journal of American Medical Association

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. …more

[cb editors note: ..it comes to notice that had Bissiouni sought integrity for the investigation he is currently pursuing for the al Khalifa regime, he would have spent significant time with the offended parties and opposition to insure participation without prejudice and barring adequate assurance of participation across the spectrum a nonacceptance of the position. All parties would have been subscribers to the Investigation and consequently serve to sanction it. This was never in the design of the Investigation or it’s Committee and since Bissiouni has made repeat prejudicial statements and statements that can serve no other end except agitation, he has doomed his effort and it has gone down in the flames of al Khalifa disingenuity. Meanwhile al Khalifa continues it’s daily routine of Human Right violations and systemic assault and repression of those who would oppose the regime. Mr. Bissiouni you sir are al Khalifa’s lie and charade. al Khalifa has once again discredited himself and he has unmasked Mr. Bissiouni as a fake and a man of dishonor and dubious character. ]

Bahrain: Independence Day celebrated with protests as Bissiouni’s mission doomed
15/08/2011 – 2:03 am

The past few days have witnessed dramatic escalation in demonstrations and protests in most towns and villages. Yesterday Bahrainis held a big rally in Sitra to mark the 40th anniversary of the country’s independence from Britain.

On 14th August 1971 the British signed the document granting Bahrain full independence following decades of struggle by Bahrainis that eventually led to a UN fact finding mission in 1970 to evaluate what the Bahrainis wanted. The mission confirmed to the UN General Assembly that the people wanted full independence and a new government in which they would be full partners. Bahrain became independent on 15th August only to enter into the black era headed by the notorious dictator, Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa who would stay at the helm of power until today. It has been one of the bleakest period of Bahrain’s history with thousands of Bahrainis detained, tortured or killed. Despite the independence, British legacy has survived through Ian Henderson, the notorious torture architect, the unwavering British support to the Al Khalifa hereditary dictatorship and clandestine security and military support from both USA and UK to this murderous regime.

Over the past few days, Bahrainis have been preparing to mark the anniversary through nightly protests. The revolutionaries had announced a week-long programme of activities to mark the independence. At Sitra’s festival yesterday, the people power was exhibited through the speeches, poems, slogans and dedication to the cause of freedom and liberation. The day before (Saturday 13th August), several demonstrations and protests took place in several places. There was a big protest at Dair town in which men and women participated. They were attacked by the regime’s Death Squads and mercenary forces and the skirmishes continued during the night. The aggressors used excessive amounts of tear gas and chemical weapons against the unarmed civilians and there were several casualties. The people were entrenched near the Zakariya Al Ashiri roundabout and would not be dislocated by the aggressors. A similar protest took place at Sitra, Al Ekr and elsewhere. The night before there were demonstrations in many places, led by the peoples’ night march in Sanabis. It was one of the most memorable encounters between the people and the mercenaries. It continued throughout the night, but it was a testimony to the bravery of the Bahrainis and the cowardice of the Al Khalifa forces who targeted women and children inside their homes with tear gas and chemical weapons.

Meanwhile, calls have been made to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to dispatch its long-awaited fact-finding mission to investigate the Al Khalifa crimes against Bahrainis. This has followed the disastrous failure and the near-collapse of the Bissiouni royal commission which had been formed and financed by the dictator. Mr Charif Bissiouni gave his commission the kiss of death when he pre-empted its finding by absolving the regime of responsibility for the crimes committed against Bahrainis. More seriously, Bissiouni has been accused of passing information from the victims to the dictator that led to immediate revenge from those who have been languishing In jail for months under torture. The commission has failed to stop torture and sought to flatter the regime by not asking for the immediate repeal of the notorious Decree Law 56 that is at the source of the ongoing torture and abuse. Mr Bissiouni had earlier praise the dictator and his son of being “democratic” and “against torture” while the attacks on peaceful demonstrations continued unabated.

Among the most dramatic cases that had been presented to Bissiouni’s doomed commission are two testimonies by senior figures who had been severely tortured since their arrest in mid-March. Both have accused Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the dictator’s son, of personally administering torture on them. These are among the most damaging to both the dictator and his newly-recruited ally. To stop torture immediately, Bissiouni has to order the immediate arrest and trial of this torturer, a step that is unlikely to be taken by the commission which is financed by the despot himself. This makes it a priority for Navi Pillay to request the immediate dispatch of her mission to Bahrain.

Bahrain Freedom Movement
15th August 2011 …source

This is what David Cameron got wrong: you can’t cut police budgets at the same time as you cut everything else. Because when you rob people of what little they have, in order to protect the interests of those who have more than anyone deserves, you should expect resistance—whether organized protests or spontaneous looting.

Daylight Robbery, Meet Nighttime Robbery
Tuesday, August 16, 2011 – The Nation – by Naomi Klein

I keep hearing comparisons between the London riots and riots in other European cities—window smashing in Athens, or car bonfires in Paris. And there are parallels, to be sure: a spark set by police violence, a generation that feels forgotten.

But those events were marked by mass destruction; the looting was minor. There have, however, been other mass lootings in recent years, and perhaps we should talk about them too. There was Baghdad in the aftermath of the US invasion—a frenzy of arson and looting that emptied libraries and museums. The factories got hit too. In 2004 I visited one that used to make refrigerators. Its workers had stripped it of everything valuable, then torched it so thoroughly that the warehouse was a sculpture of buckled sheet metal.

Back then the people on cable news thought looting was highly political. They said this is what happens when a regime has no legitimacy in the eyes of the people. After watching for so long as Saddam and his sons helped themselves to whatever and whomever they wanted, many regular Iraqis felt they had earned the right to take a few things for themselves. But London isn’t Baghdad, and British Prime Minister David Cameron is hardly Saddam, so surely there is nothing to learn there.

How about a democratic example then? Argentina, circa 2001. The economy was in freefall and thousands of people living in rough neighborhoods (which had been thriving manufacturing zones before the neoliberal era) stormed foreign-owned superstores. They came out pushing shopping carts overflowing with the goods they could no longer afford—clothes, electronics, meat. The government called a “state of siege” to restore order; the people didn’t like that and overthrew the government. …more

Article 23 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Geneva Convention IV, Article 33 – No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.

Interview: Abdulla Alderazi, Bahrain Human Rights Society

August 16, 2011—Abdulla Alderazi, a longtime defender of civil rights and a university professor, has joined the growing ranks of men and women sacked from their jobs for calling for peaceful change in Bahrain.

Shortly after pro-democracy demonstrators gathered in Pearl Roundabout in February, the government launched a violent crackdown and a campaign to “purify” Bahrain of dissenters. The process has included summary firings of workers who participated in the demonstrations or in a general strike, or were alleged to have done so. More than 2,400 people have lost their jobs in the last six months, many in recent days.

This latest round of dismissals at the University of Bahrain comes on the heels of a “national dialogue,” organized by the government to “present the people’s views and demands for further reform…” and concluded in late July. The ongoing firings and other reprisals belie government assertions that it is working toward reconciliation.

Alderazi, who also is secretary general of the Bahrain Human Rights Society, said he and 18 other academics at the University of Bahrain—where he has taught for more than 20 years—were suspended in April and dismissed on Thursday, August 11. The accusations against him include: going to the Pearl Roundabout, talking to foreign media, and engaging in civil disobedience.

“When I was being interrogated (by an internal university committee), they asked me if I was teaching human rights principles. I said, ‘No. I teach English,’” he said, adding that many of the accusations against him—such as publicly expressing his views—are protected by Bahrain’s constitution.

University officials skipped all the normal disciplinary procedures to fire Alderazi and his colleagues. They referred all 19 professors to the public prosecutor, accusing them of taking part in peaceful protests. The university also has dismissed hundreds of students over recent months.

“We (the Bahrain Human Rights Society) have been working to raise awareness about human rights and, since February, we have been defending the civil rights of the detainees and demanding more reform and respect for human rights,” he said.

With so many people out of work, many of them family breadwinners, Alderazi said, people are surviving through solidarity, sharing what they have. He also said many still hold out hope that, despite the firings and continued violence in the streets, reconciliation and reform will come to Bahrain.

As secretary general of the Bahrain Human Rights Society, a non-governmental organization established in 2001 and recognized by the government, Alderazi said he will still speak out for the rights of others. ….source

Crimes against humanity require two factors in order to be proven: they have to be systematic and political. None of those applied to the events that took place in Bahrain, said committee head Dr. Mahmoud Sherif Basyouni. “There was no proof whatsoever of crimes against humanity and had there been any, I would have definitely written that in my report,” he told the Bahraini newspaper Al Ayam. …source

Bahrain Commission of Inquiry Statement on events at their offices

In light of recent allegations that the Bahrain Commission of Inquiry (BICI) has reached a determination on its investigation, as well as verbal and physical attacks on its staff, the BICI wishes to make the following statement.

Despite misleading headlines in recent news articles claiming that the Commission has determined that the government of Bahrain committed no crimes against humanity during the demonstrations that have occurred over the last several months, the Commission would like to clarify that it has not made any such determination. The Commission’s investigation is ongoing and will continue until all relevant evidence has been gathered. Its staff is still in the process of interviewing victims and witnesses, collecting evidence, and evaluating the circumstances. The Commission will not make a determination as to the extent of human rights abuses in Bahrain until its investigation is complete. Because certain media outlets and activists have misrepresented the comments of the Commission Chair, Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni, in order to support their political positions, for the time being, the Commission will no longer entertain interviews to the media. Should the Commission decide that a public statement is necessary, it will provide this information on its website, www.bici.org.bh. The Commission will not allow itself to be used as a political tool for any group.

Additionally, the Commission’s office is hereby closed until further notice. This is due to the fact that today, hundreds of people forced their way into our office, having been angered over what they believed to be the Commission Chair’s “conclusions” on the investigation, and additionally having been directed by activists on Twitter and through mass texts to come to the office to report their complaints. The Commission believes its doors should be open to anyone who wishes to come forward and provide information on human rights abuses. However, as we have advised on our website and on Twitter, appointments must be made in order for our investigators to best serve the witnesses and victims. After attempting to accommodate the crowd by offering to take down their information in order to schedule appointments, some in the crowd became restless and verbally and physically threatened the staff. Individuals yelled insults, posted threatening messages on the office walls, sent threats via text and email, and even physically shoved and spat at a member of staff. Individuals also continued to photograph and video record people in the office, despite advice from staff that such actions undermine the confidentiality and safety of the many witnesses and victims coming forward. While the Commission’s staff is committed to conducting its investigation, it will not jeopardize the security of the individuals that work at and patron the office. While the office remains closed, investigators will continue to accept statements submitted by email. …more

US Debt Downgrade May Have Chinese Connection
Posted by Bill Conroy – August 14, 2011 – Narco News

S&P’s Action Appears to Have Triggered Enhanced Fortunes for Some US Business Interests in China

Standard & Poor’s recent downgrading of the US credit rating is being billed in the media as a major blow to the economic credibility of the nation and to the future election prospects of President Obama, but there are some special interests that appear to have benefited from that black mark on the US currency.

Those beneficiaries include the parent company of S&P as well as a Republican senator and aspiring vice presidential candidate who played a key role in the recent debt-ceiling negotiations that engulfed Congress and the White House in turmoil over the summer.

On Aug. 5, S&P, a subsidiary of McGraw-Hill Cos., lowered its assessment of US long-term debt, cutting its rating from a top-notch AAA to a slightly less-favorable AA+ (the only major rating agency to do so) and in the process sent shock waves through world markets.

Within days of that action, another event occurred that was barely covered in the mainstream media.

The Chinese currency, the yuan, spiked suddenly in value, reaching in a few days a 17-year high against the dollar. And this was not an unexpected result in the wake of S&P’s downgrading of US debt, according to some economists, given that China holds $1.2 trillion in U.S. Treasury notes and as much as $2 trillion more in US dollars — all of which became less valuable in the wake of the credit downgrade.

The Dow Jones news service reported on Aug. 1, four days prior to S&P’s downgrade, that an economist with a major Chinese state-run think tank was predicting just such a spike in the value of the yuan (also known as the renminbi, or RMB) should the US credit rating be slashed. …more

Some members of the Bahraini royal family beating & torturing political prisoners
by Bahrian Center for Human Rights (BCHR) – 16 August 2011

The BCHR expresses grave concern and is alarmed to learn that members of the Alkhalifa family have personally been involved in beating and torturing pro-democracy protesters. After the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Bahrain the Center has been receiving reports from victims that they were subjected to severe beatings and torture by people they identified as members of the Bahraini royal family. Five members of Alkhalifa have been specifically mentioned by victims, they are: Noura Alkhalifa, Khalifa Bin Ahmed Alkhalifa, Khalifa Bin Abdulla Alkhalifa and sons of the King, Khaled Bin Hamad Alkhalifa and Nasser Bin Hamad Alkhalifa. One of the victims subjected to torture by Nasser Bin Hamad Alkhalifa is Swedish citizen, Mohammed Habeeb Al-Muqdad, currently imprisoned at Al-Gurain military prison.
Detention Centers

The first victim to speak out was poet Ms Ayat Al-Qurmuzi, who was imprisoned for reading a couple of anti-government poems during the pearl roundabout peaceful protest. Ayat was arrested by masked civilians and blindfolded, after her release she spoke of being tortured by men and women. One of the women she claims tortured her was Noura Alkhalifa. Ayat gave a detailed account of what she was subjected to on the hands of Noura. Among other things Ayat said Noura cursed her, spat on her, and slapped her many times across the face. Noura threatened Ayat that her tongue would be cut off, when Ayat refused to open her mouth, Noura hit her with a broom on her mouth. Noura also spat into Ayats mouth and used electric shocks on Ayats face. As Noura Alkhaifa tortured Ayat she repeated slurs against shias and said “the people you criticize are your masters, and they will remain in power forever, whether you like it or not”.

Another victim is doctor Fatima Hajji. On the 17th of April Noura Alkhalifa and 25 masked men attacked Dr. Fatimas flat in the village of Bani Jamra and arrested her. During interrogations Noora demanded that Fatima confess, when Fatima said she had done nothing but treat patients Noura replied “If you do not confess I will have to torture you the way I tortured Doctor Ali Al-Ekri.” She added that detainees Roula Al-Saffar and Ghassan Dhaif had already confessed.

Noura started slapping and cursing Fatima continuously for about 25 minutes. Then she used a hose to beat her on her feet. When Noura Alkhalifa looked through Dr. Fatimas blackberry and saw two emails, one to Human Rights Watch about her suspension and the other about Martyr Ahmed Shams she shouted at Dr. Fatima “How dare you ruin the image of our government”, then electrocuted her on her face.
Fatima was told to confess that she had pretended to cry in front of foreign media, and that she had stolen 100 bags of blood from the blood bank and given it out to protesters to spill on themselves and pretend to be injured. She was forced to sign a confession after being threatened with rape. Fatima was also sexually harassed by men under the supervision of Noura. She was forced to stand on one leg, make animal noises, sing and dance.

Fatima Al-Bagali who is a student at the teaching college in University of Bahrain was arrested on the 9th of May 2011. She was blindfolded and taken to West Riffa detention center. Where Khalifa Bin Ahmed Alkhalifa The center director interrogated her about a speech she had given on Pearl Square, and about antigovernment comments she had made on facebook. Khalifa beat Fatima, slapping and kicking her as he said “You shia are ungrateful to your masters the Al-Khalifa”. After more beatings Khalifa threatened to rape Fatima if she dared to speak about what she had been subjected to. …more

IT Security & Network Security News
Google to Enforce Real Name Policy After 4 Days
By: Clint Boulton – 2011-08-12

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is now giving Google+ users who violate its real name policy by using fake names or pseudonyms four days to get in compliance before it suspends user profiles.

Google+ requires its 25 million-plus users to create Google user profiles, public pages on the Web that users may fill out “to help connect and find real people in the real world.”

The company argues that by providing a common name, users will be assisting their friends, family members, classmates, co-workers and other acquaintances to find and create “a connection with the right person online.”

Google started a minor furor last month when it began suspending accounts of those it believes were pseudonyms or fake names.

Users were both upset that they could not use Google+ with nicknames or false names to hide their identities and that Google unceremoniously turned off their accounts without notifying them first and giving them a chance to make corrections.

Bradley Horowitz, vice president of product management for Google+, promised to make changes and provide a “clear indication of how the user can edit their name to conform to our community standards.”

The company delivered Aug. 11. Saurabh Sharma, a product manager on the Google+ team, said Google will give users whose profile names do not hew to Google’s Names Policy will get a four-day grace period in which they can fix their profile before Google takes “further action,” which means an account suspension.

“During this period, you can continue to use Google+ as usual,”Sharma wrote on Google+. “We’re hoping that most affected users will be able to quickly fix their profile name while continuing to enjoy all that Google+ has to offer.”

Sharma then invited users dissatisfied with this compromise to check out of Google+, taking their data with them via the Google Takeout data migration tool fashioned by Google’s Data Liberation Front.

The move may mollify some users who created joke accounts with pseudonyms, but it’s certainly not going to appease the glut of users who use false names to hide their identity for privacy and security purposes. And it certainly isn’t satisfying folks who use nicknames, as Google+ user Jon Savage wrote:

“The problem is not allowing ‘nyms makes Google+ a less diverse place. People have nics they are known by and have used for years online. People know them by those names. I’m seeing tons of folks getting suspended for using their 2nd life names that are every bit as real as the names they use in the world. Please, please reconsider this name policy.”

Microsoft researcher Danah Boyd has described the enforcement of real name policies by Google and Facebook as a corporate “abuse of power” over those who are weaker. ReadWriteWeb’s Marshall Kirkpatrick offered his own sour critique of Google’s policy refresh. …source

British Prime Minister Does a 180 on Internet Censorship
Commentary by Eva Galperin – August 11th, 2011

After several days of destructive riots throughout the UK, British Prime Minister David Cameron is practically tripping over himself in his eagerness to sacrifice liberty for security. In a speech before an emergency session of Parliament today, Cameron highlighted concern over rioters’ use of social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter:

…when people are using social media for violence we need to stop them. So we are working with the Police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality. I have also asked the police if they need any other new powers.

Exactly what kind of government censorship of social media Cameron has in mind is unclear, but he went on to urge Twitter, Facebook, and Blackberry to remove messages that might incite further unrest across the country. British Home Secretary Theresa May is reportedly meeting with all three companies to discuss their “responsibilities” in light of the UK riots. Twitter has steadfastly refused to bow to government pressure to shut down the rioters’ accounts or delete their Tweets, referring to a blog post written by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and General Counsel Alex McGillivray earlier this year, near the start of the Arab Spring:

Some Tweets may facilitate positive change in a repressed country, some make us laugh, some make us think, some downright anger a vast majority of users. We don’t always agree with the things people choose to tweet, but we keep the information flowing irrespective of any view we may have about the content.

It was a sentiment shared by Cameron as recently as this February, when he gave a speech in Kuwait in which he asserted that freedom of expression should be respected “in Tahrir Square as much as Trafalgar Square.” The Prime Minister’s 180-degree shift on freedom of expression unfortunately places him one step closer to the growing, worldwide cohort of politicians and despots seeking solace in censorship. …more

Six Months On: How Bahrain’s Street Was Silenced
Brussels correspondent for TIME magazine – By Leo Cendrowicz – 15/8/11

Six months ago, Bahrain seemed to be swept along with the Arab Spring. Today, however, hopes for real change seem dim.

It was perhaps an unorthodox romantic gesture, but it could still qualify as a Valentine: on February 14 this year, as the Arab Spring was surging, a group of pro-democracy demonstrators in Bahrain began what they thought would be a message of brotherly love for their country. Trust us, they said, give us our voice and together we can build a new era of respect and civil rights. That was exactly six months ago, but the message seems to have gotten lost in the post.

For the outside world, the drama reached its climax in mid-March, when the jittery Bahraini establishment decided the protests had to be met with extreme prejudice: it invited Saudi and other Gulf ally troops to help crush the demonstrations. They rumbled over the 25 km King Fahd Causeway that connects Bahrain with the Saudi mainland and brutally ended the protest in an operation that left around 30 people dead.

But the story is far from over. Bahrain is still tingling with tension, the air poisoned with suspicion, sectarianism more pointed than ever as the country slowly reverts to normal after its messy turn on the Arab Spring carousel. The establishment’s efforts at reconciliation have been dismissed by the opposition as mere window dressing for its oppressive policies. The passions unleashed in the short burst of protest against the soft authoritarianism are still coursing through the tiny Gulf island of just 1.2 million. …more