Posts from — September 2011

Bahrain: Death Squads kill a child in cold blood and AI protests incorrect reporting
Bahrain Freedom Movement – 02/09/2011 – 12:53 am

The killing on Wednesday of an under-aged Bahraini boy has re-ignited the revolution and took the country into what could become a decisive phase of its revolution. Ali Jawad Ahmad Al Sheikh, 14, was with a group of boys at the graveyard to visit the grave of an earlier martyr, Ali Al Mo’men, who had been killed in mid-March.

One of the government troops shot him in the face and killed him almost instantly. He was taken to Sitra Clinic for treatment. But the Al Khalifa troops surrounded the clinic, snatched the body and took it to the Salmaniya Hospital which is run by the military. The authorities wanted to falsify the facts and issue a death certificate with false reasons for the death but the family refused to receive a forged document. The people were so enraged by the cold-blooded of this young boy on Eid Day (which is a day of celebration) that they attended his funeral yesterday in their tens of thousands. They chanted anti-regime slogans including: “Down with Hamad” and “The people want regime change”. The atmosphere was so charged that any attempt by the regime’s Death Squads to intervene would have led to blood bath. The royal commission, led by Charif Bissiouni, once again, failed to live up to its ethical duty. Although they visited the martry’s corpse at the morgue, they continued to whitewash the crimes of the regime either by their silence or the occasional positive remarks by Bissiouni himself.

Meanwhile two senior human rights figures have gone on hunger strike in support of the medical staff who had also gone on hunger strike. They issued the following statement yesterday: “Based on the human feeling and the human rights responsibility, we, Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja and Abdul Jalil Al Singace, announce that we have started our hunger strike in solidarity with the medical team and the other hunger strikers at the Dry Dock prison and to protest the continued arbitrary detention and unfair trials in relation to recent events in Bahrain”. This brave step is likely to cause serious bodily damage to both as they had endured the most torture among the prisoners and both are reported to be in ill-health.

In another disastrous development the Al Khalifa have demoted many senior academic staff at public schools to ordinary teachers in order to meet the shortage of teachers caused by the mass dismissal of hundreds in recent months. Most of these inspectors are well qualified with masters and doctorate degrees and their sudden demotion is seen as an attempt to subjugate the Bahraini professional teachers and pave the way for more foreigners who may be brought from outside.

As the people’s revolution takes a new leap forward, the Al Khalifa have brought into the country more Jordanian troops to supplement the Saudi occupiers. Over the past month demonstrations and protest have shaken the foundation of the regime which had thought that the Saudi occupation would bring Bahrainis to their knees. The sudden flare up of public emotions and activism has been unprecedented with massive protests in the streets of towns and cities chanting slogans that call for the removal of the Al Khalifa regime.

In an embarrassing fiasco Amnesty International today was forced to issue a statement in response to distorted reporting by the regime’s media. It said: “A number of Bahraini newspapers published articles on 2 September containing incorrect information about Amnesty International statements on Bahrain. The articles incorrectly state that Amnesty International called on Bahraini political groups not to use children in protests for political gains or as human shields. Amnesty International has never published such a statement and urges all these newspapers to immediately withdraw this article from their websites and to publish corrections in their printed editions. The most recent statement issued by Amnesty International on Bahrain can be found on its website:

see amnesty statement HERE

…source

Bahrain’s contribution to the Arab Spring
The Bahraini government used the spectre of sectarian violence to justify their crackdown on peaceful protesters. by Lamis Andoni Last Modified: 30 Aug 2011 14:07 – AlJazeera

Arab silence on the continued repression of the Bahraini people is a shameful episode that does not fit the era of the Arab revolution. It is also a testimony to the determination of the US-backed Gulf political order – that is leading the effort to place a cap on change in the Arab World – to prevent the revolution from reaching its member states.

But in a wider context, the silence, or at least the lack of adequate solidarity with Bahraini revolutionaries, is indicative “of fear” of the Iranian and Shia influence on the predominantly Sunni Arab world. The Gulf states made sure to portray the protests as a sectarian Shia plot in order to obscure the Bahraini movement’s political message of justice and equality.

The relative success of isolating the Bahraini movement by fomenting sectarian fears is regretfully a sign that the Arab Spring has not succeeded in doing away with sectarian prejudices that are not only impeding effective solidarity, but threaten to tear up some Arab uprisings.

Part of the problem is that the Arab uprisings have not yet radically changed the official Arab order that consists of governments that have fed sectarian divisions to ensure their longevity. The fact that Bahrain’s population is 70 per cent Shia but is ruled by an authoritarian Sunni royal family have made it possible for governments to claim an Iranian scheme to undermine the stability of the Gulf and consequently the Arab world.

Some Iranian statements, such as the infamous quote by former Iranian Shura Council speaker Akbar Nateq Nouri, that Bahrain is part of Iran, did not help. In other words, the Bahraini movement for change became partly a victim to the geopolitical contest between Iran and Saudi Arabia over the strategically located country. But mostly the open conspiracy against the Bahraini movement was precisely due to its indigenous, popular and political nature – a fact that was clear from the very outset.

Historic struggle

If anything, the Bahraini protests that started last February were in effect a continuation of a long-standing historic struggle for political freedoms that preceded the tiny country’s independence from Britain in 1971.

Bahrain was affected by the anti-colonialist Pan Arab and leftist wave that swept the Arab world in the fifties demanding independence from British rule and the formation of an elected consultative council. The dream was about to be fulfilled after independence when in 1973 Emir Issa Ben Salman Bin Khalifa approved a constitution allowing elected parliament (74 per cent were elected and around 26 per cent were appointed by the Emir).
Click for more of Al Jazeera’s special coverage of the government crackdown on protests in Bahrain

The parliamentary experiment came to a halt when the Emir dissolved parliament, citing fears of sectarian strife – a claim refuted by the opposition at the time – and proceeded to rule by decree.

An all-out campaign of arrests and torture followed, forcing many Bahraini intellectuals and activists to seek asylum in other countries, particularly in Europe, including the Eastern bloc, away from reach of their government.

The Bahraini government, which by then had become a close ally of Washington, tried to impose subordination by pursuing a combined policy of repression and discrimination against the Shia. The 1979 Iranian revolution spurred the emergence of movements based on religious identity (Sunni and Shia alike), especially after the blow dealt to the secular opposition.

But the major demands of the Bahraini opposition revolved around equality and a restoration of parliamentary life – although a pro-Iranian Shia group did call for extending Tehran’s rule to the tiny country.

In 1994 an uprising, led mainly, but not exclusively, by Shia parties finally culminated in the signing of the National Action Charter (NAC) in 2001. It represented an historic accord between the opposition and the royal family based on the restoration of parliamentary elections and political reforms.

But in spite of two parliamentary elections, Hamad Ben Issa Al Khalifa, who succeeded his father and changed his title to king from emir (prince) – a move that was supposedly aimed at establishing a constitutional monarchy – continued the regime’s authoritarian and repressive policies.

Thus it was natural that Bahrainis were inspired early on by the success of the Arab uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt to pursue a new stage of their struggle. As early as February 14, Bahraini youth followed the example of their peers in other Arab countries by staging protests and sit-ins demanding constitutional and political reforms.

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CIVICUS urges Bahrain Government to stop sham trials of activists
Johannesburg. 1 September 2011.

CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation in solidarity with regional civil society groups urges the Government of Bahrain to stop the ongoing sham trials of pro-democracy activists and provide them the right to appeal lengthy and unjust sentences in regular civilian courts.

On 11 September 2011, 21 civil society members and concerned citizens will be forced to appeal sentences handed out to them in June 2011 by BahrainÂ’s military National Safety Court. The activists have been handed severe punishments ranging from two years to life in prison for speaking out against the nationÂ’s repressive monarchy during protests that stretched from February to March this year.

“The politically motivated charges, unfair nature of the trials and severity of the sentences for the mere exercise of the right to democratic dissent, make a mockery of judicial processes,” said Mandeep Tiwana, Policy Manager at CIVICUS. “The trial of civilian protestors in military courts breaches their right to be tried by competent and independent judges.”

The charges against the activists include incitement of hatred, contempt of the regime, taking part in rallies without notifying competent authorities and spreading malicious propaganda with the aim of disrupting public order. CIVICUS has also received reports that some of the detainees have been physically tortured and their family members intimidated.

The sentencing of the 21 activists follows on-going harassment and prosecution of other activists and concerned citizens across Bahrain for speaking out against the governing Monarchy. This violent crackdown by the Bahraini authorities has caused the deaths of more than 24 protesters and the detention of more than 500 people. Scores of human rights and political activists, protesting lawyers, teachers, nurses, doctors and paramedics continue to languish in BahrainÂ’s jails.

Ziad Abdeltawab, Assistant Director at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, laments that: “Bahrain has placed itself among the worst human rights oppressors in the world. The punitive campaign led by the authorities in Bahrain against those who peacefully choose to exercise their right to protest and those who support them is unprecedented. The unconditional release of these activists is an obligation incumbent on the Government of Bahrain.”

On 29 June 2011, a royal decree by King Hamad bin ‘Issa Al Khalifa ordered all military court cases to be transferred to civilian courts. However on 18 August, another decree ordered that the National Safety Court would continue to handle cases classified as “felonies” (crimes classified as serious) requiring the appeals for the 21 activists to be heard in a military court.

“The treatment of these activists is a source of grave concern to the international community. It represents a serious infringement of international law, amounting to an abdication of responsibility by a state to uphold its human rights obligations,” said CIVICUS. The international community has been shamefully silent on these abuses in stark contrast to their positions on Libya, Syria, Iran and other countries.

CIVICUS urges the Bahraini authorities to stop the sham trials and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience.

CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is a global movement of civil society dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society across the world. …source

BYSHR: Prominent Rights Activists are in Hunger Strike in detention Protesting against the Brutal crackdown and arbitrary arrest
September 1st, 2011 – BCHR

In solidarity with the Medical Staff and detainees on hunger-strike in Bahrain’s Dry Dock Prison, Prominent Human Rights activists Mr.Abdulhadi Alkhawaja and Dr. Abduljaleel Alsingace today announced an open hunger-strike from their prison in Gurayn (Military Prison).

In a letter, they said that it was also in protest to the arbitrary detention, unfair trials of the detainees and Brutal crackdown

Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) expresses its concern about the situation of detainees in Bahrain after they started an open hunger strike.

More information:

Mr.Alkhawaja and Mr.Alsingace are currently serving life sentence along with prominent opposition leader including Mr.Ebrahime Sharife General secretary of Waad and Mr.Hassan Mushame leader of Haaq in Military Prison

Mr.Alkhawaja:was the former president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) and former MENA coordinator (frontline-Human Rights Defenders). Mr.Alsingace:Coordinator of Human Rights bureau in “Haq” movement.
…source

Companies that cooperate with dictatorships must be sanctioned
2 September 2011 – Reporters without Borders

Reporters Without Borders condemns the criminal cooperation that exists between many western companies, especially those operating in the new technology area, and authoritarian regimes.

“These companies no longer have any reservations about collaborating with criminal governments,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said. “Providing dictatorships with communication equipment or confidential data is irresponsible. A total of 122 bloggers and netizens are currently detained worldwide. The companies that work with these governments are complicit and responsible for the fate of these detainees. Financial sanctions should be imposed on companies collaborating with governments that jail bloggers or censor the Internet.

“Without financial sanctions, these practices will not stop. Companies are not above the law. There are courts that try illicit practices by companies. Why shouldn’t they try the criminal responsibility of companies that collaborate with regimes that are guilty of crimes? Provision should be made at the national level for penalizing such collaboration, and referral to the International Criminal Court should be considered when companies become the accomplices to war crime by dictators. After being concerned about impunity for dictators, the world should now be worrying about impunity for companies.
[Read more →]

“3rd day of hunger strike of 130 detainees including doctors at “Dry dock detention center”

Jailed Bahrain doctors on hunger strike
by Hugh Tomlinson, Dubai – The Times – September 02, 2011 12:00AM

A GROUP of Bahraini doctors on trial for alleged terrorism have begun a hunger strike in protest at their treatment, amid claims they have been tortured in custody.

The 14 men began their protest on Tuesday after being denied bail last week by a military court. Relatives say the health of several of the doctors has deteriorated rapidly and they are not receiving adequate medical treatment.

“One doctor has a cerebral aneurism, another has severe injuries from torture. Another man is suffering badly from diabetes. Now they are all on hunger strike their condition will only get worse,” said a relative.

The doctors are charged with turning a hospital into a terrorist base as thousands of protesters took to the streets across the island kingdom in February, demanding democratic reforms from the ruling al-Khalifa family.

The government alleges that the men took hostages at Salmaniya hospital in the capital, Manama, hoarding guns in the building and using ambulances to run weapons to the protesters. Opponents say, however, that the authorities have been staging show trials to justify a violent crackdown.

More than 30 people have been killed since troops moved in to quash the protests in March.

With martial law in place, a military court was set up to try the detainees.

At the doctors’ first hearing, in June, the most damning evidence came from confessions signed by the defendants themselves and the testimony of “confidential witnesses”. The detainees have said their confessions were extracted under torture. Prisoners were beaten with sticks and hoses, deprived of sleep and forced to sign papers while blindfolded, they say.

One of the doctors described being hooded and made to stand for several hours in a cold room during repeated interrogations.

“Then they gave me some papers. I never saw them, I just signed everything they told me to. What choice did I have?” he said.

Tensions remain high across the kingdom, with protests continuing on an almost daily basis. …more

Thousands march at Bahraini boy’s funeral
Shia groups say 14-year-old died after teargas canister hit him, a charge denied by the Gulf Arab state’s government. – Last Modified: 01 Sep 2011 19:16

About 10,000 marched at 14-year-old boy’s funeral, calling for overthrow of King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa

[Reuters] Thousands of Bahrainis have attended funeral procession of a teenager who rights groups say died after being hit by a tear gas canister fired by police.

About 10,000 marched on Thursday at the 14-year-old boy’s funeral, calling for the overthrow of King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa and the Sunni Muslim royal family in the Gulf state, Reuters news agency reported.

The marchers, many of them in tears, shouted “Down with Hamad” and “Death to Al-Khalifa”, as they carried the Shia Muslim boy’s body from his family’s home to a cemetery, a witness said.

The crowd dispersed peacefully and there were no reports of clashes with police forces.

The government denied that police were responsible for the death, and offered a 10,000-dinar ($26,500) reward for information on Ali Jawad Ahmad’s death.

“The coroner’s report indicates that the markings on Ali’s neck are not consistent with being hit with a tear gas canister or rubber bullet as some have claimed,” the government said in a statement on Thursday.
Click here for more of Al Jazeera’s coverage on Bahrain

The boy died after reportedly being hit by a tear gas canister during clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces on Wednesday.

Activists blamed the police for the death of the teenager, who was among the protesters in the oil hub area of Sitra.

Bahrain has been in turmoil for the past few months since protests by the majority Shia community broke out, demanding greater freedom and political rights.

More than 30 people have been killed since the protests began in February inspired by other uprisings across the Arab world.

More than 70 per cent of Bahrain’s population is Shia Muslim but they claim widespread discrimination by the ruling Al-Khalifa dynasty.

Small-scale clashes between police and mostly Shia demonstrators have become a near nightly event in the tense Gulf nation since authorities lifted emergency rule in June.

King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa offered compensation to victims of the crackdowns in February, but says protest-related trials will continue.

In July Bahrain’s leaders opened reconciliation talks, but the country’s main Shia party walked out and threatened to stage further protests.

An independent fact-finding panel is investigating alleged rights abuses in Bahrain and is expected to release its findings at the end of October. …source

Bahrain on edge: Nightly clashes and calls for more protests
By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, September 1, 10:36 AM

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — It’s become a nightly duel in Bahrain: Security forces and anti-government protesters waging hit-and-run clashes in one of the simmering conflicts of the Arab Spring.

So far, the skirmishes have failed to gel into another serious challenge to the Gulf nation’s Western-backed monarchy after crushing a reform rebellion months ago. But there are sudden signs that Shiite-led demonstrators could be poised to raise the stakes again on the strategic island, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

Hundreds of demonstrators Wednesday made their boldest attempt in months to reclaim control of a central square in the capital Manama, which was the symbolic hub of the protest movement after it began in February. Riot police used buses to block roads and flooded streets with tear gas to drive back the marchers before dawn.

Hours later, mourners gathered in a Shiite village in another part of Bahrain for a 14-year-old boy they claim was killed by security forces. Clashes flared until early Thursday across the oil hub area of Sitra before the boy’s burial.

“Down with the regime,” chanted some of hundreds of people in the funeral procession. “More protests.”

Some waved the flag of the Libyan rebels, who are closing in on the remnants of Moammar Gadhafi’s government.

Bahrain remains the outlier of the Arab revolts.

Its Sunni rulers have managed to hold their ground — and even tighten their grip with military help from neighboring Saudi Arabia — against majority Shiites demanding a greater political voice. Washington and Western allies have denounced the punishing crackdowns, but been mild when it comes to Bahrain’s ruling dynasty. The possible risks from a harder line appear too great. They include jeopardizing key Arab military relationships on Iran’s doorstep.

Washington’s Gulf Arab allies argue any gains for Bahrain’s Shiites could open the door for influence by Iran’s Shiite regime.

Bahrain’s Shiite leaders strongly deny any links to Iran. They note that their fight for greater rights goes back decades — and is now re-energized by the pro-democracy wave across the Arab world.

In July, the Shiite political bloc walked out of government-led reconciliation talks, claiming they failed to address key demands such as ending the monarchy’s ability to hand-pick the government. Shiites also appear ready to boycott parliament elections on Sept. 24 — an act that state media has called treason.

Shiites account for about 70 percent of Bahrain’s 525,000 citizens, but claim they face systematic discrimination such as being barred from top political and security posts. Last week, Bahrain’s most senior Shiite cleric, Sheik Isa Qassim, told worshippers that the country’s rulers can either embrace reforms or risk the same fate as Libya’s Gadhafi.

“Can’t they learn from the fall of dictatorships and see what happens to those who denied their people basic rights?” Qassim said as police helicopters patrolled over his mosque. “We now see what happens to the Libyan dictator, just as what happened to Tunisian and Egyptian despots.”
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Bahrain streets tense after boy’s funeral
By the CNN Wire Staff – September 1, 2011 — Updated 1937 GMT (0337 HKT)

Sitra, Bahrain (CNN) — Thousands of people took to the streets in Bahrain Thursday as the funeral took place for a 14-year-old boy whose death a day earlier sparked wide anger, witnesses said.

Clashes broken out overnight Wednesday into Thursday between Shiite Muslim protesters and police, after witnesses said they saw Ali Jawad al-Sheikh collapse after riot police fired a tear-gas round at him and other protesters in Sitra, southwest of the capital Manama.

But Nabeel Rajab, president of Bahrain’s Center for Human Rights, who was at the funeral, said the procession had remained calm, with no outbreaks of violence.

He told CNN crowds of people had gathered from the early morning but police had pulled out from the entire area, using helicopters instead to monitor the situation.

Rajab predicted larger protests demanding political reform would take place later Thursday.

“We expect to see protesters out tonight. The February 14 Movement called for a protest tonight in Manama and places around Manama,” he said, adding that tensions had been building in the past three to four weeks, as people lost hope of achieving a political solution to the country’s problems.

Meanwhile, government officials say they are investigating the death and Bahrain’s Interior Ministry has offered a 10,000 Bahraini dinar ($26,400) reward for information leading to the arrest of his killer, state news agency BNA reported Thursday.

The Interior Ministry has said no clashes were taking place at the time the boy was injured, saying that the last reported incident of unrest in the area was around 1:15 a.m. Wednesday.

And a police chief said Thursday that the hospital officials who informed the police they had received the boy’s body did not give any details about the incident or where the body was found, BNA reported.

Bahraini officials said Thursday that the doctor who carried out an autopsy on the body concluded that the cause of death was an injury sustained behind the neck, where there were fractures causing bleeding around the spinal cord.

Blood tests by the forensic laboratory did not show any sign of tear-gas exposure, BNA cited public prosecution chief Osama Al Asfoor as saying.

Bahrain’s interior ministry issued a news release later Thursday, citing the coroner’s report in discounting a fatal hit from a tear-gas canister or rubber bullet.

“The coroner’s report indicates that the markings on Ali’s neck are not consistent with being hit with a tear gas canister or rubber bullet as some have claimed,” the release said. “The markings were too large and suggest that he was hit with a larger object. Further, the coroner’s investigation shows that no tear gas was found in his lungs.”

The release said the youth died “as a result of a serious blow to the back of the neck … that culminated in a blood clot in the brain, which eventually took his life.” …more