Posts from — September 2011

Testimonies from Bahrain: Jailed Activist’s Wife Speaks Out
Trials in Bahrain will continue on September 25. Please take action now!
Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and his wife Khadija
By Khadija al-Mousawi, wife of imprisoned human rights defender ‘Abdulhadi al-Khawaja.

It was on a Friday when we gathered in my daughter Fatima’s flat as a family – eating together, talking about politics and human rights or joking and laughing.

Suddenly we heard a very loud noise. In a matter of seconds the flat door was broken in and burly, masked men burst into the room. I cannot explain how I felt at that moment, because no word in the dictionary, or in any language, can explain it.

My husband had always said “whenever they come to take me, please do not interfere and I will just go with them”. But he was not allowed to go peacefully. One of them grabbed him by the neck and then pulled him down the stairs by his legs. He was brutally beaten – punched and kicked in front of me and my daughters. When my eldest daughter interfered, they responded with insults and tried to arrest her too. I was torn between begging them not to take her and looking at my husband on the stairs where they were still kicking him and praying that he was ok. As if that was not enough, I suddenly noticed three masked men holding my three sons-in-law by their necks and taking them downstairs. At that point I was furious, sad and helpless.

My husband was gone, but I could not show how sad I felt because my daughters were suffering after watching the arrest of their husbands and father.

From that night on, our lifestyle changed. We would stay up all night, just in case the masked men decided to come back, and sleep after sunrise. We always slept fully clothed, just in case. Every sound made me jump and check the apartment was safe.

Days went by and we were waiting for news – any news. We asked a lawyer to try to get any information about their condition or whereabouts. He told us that that would be fruitless since lawyers weren’t being told anything about detainees. I was praying to God, “Please just keep them alive!” – because after seeing how ‘Abdulhadi was beaten, I was not sure that he had survived. My daughter decided to go on hunger strike. She was getting weaker and weaker every day. …more

Bahrain Requests Humvee Mounted TOW-2A and TOW-2B Missiles
By US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Monday, September 19th, 2011

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress today of a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Bahrain for Armored High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicles, TOW Missiles and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support worth an estimated $53 million.

The Government of Bahrain has requested a possible sale of 44 M1152A1B2 Armored High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs), 200 BGM-71E-4B-RF Radio Frequency (RF) Tube-Launched Optically-Tracked Wire-Guided Missiles (TOW-2A), 7 Fly-to-Buy RF TOW-2A Missiles, 40 BGM-71F-3-RF TOW-2B Aero Missiles, 7 Fly-to-Buy RF TOW-2B Aero Missiles, 50 BGM-71H-1RF Bunker Buster Missiles (TOW-2A), 7 Fly-to-Buy RF Bunker Buster Missiles (TOW-2A), 48 TOW-2 Launchers, AN/UAS-12A Night Sight Sets, spare and repair parts, support and test equipment, publications and technical documentation, personnel training and training equipment, U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support services, and other related elements of logistical and program support. The estimated cost is $53 million.

This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a major non-NATO ally that has been, and continues to be, an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East.

The proposed sale will improve Bahrain’s capability to meet current and future armored threats. Bahrain will use the enhanced capability as a deterrent to regional threats and to strengthen its homeland defense.

The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.

The prime contractors will be AM General in South Bend, Indiana, and Raytheon Missile Systems Corporation in Tucson, Arizona. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale.

Implementation of this proposed sale will not require the assignment of any additional U.S. Government or contractor representatives to Bahrain.

There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale. This notice of a potential sale is required by law and does not mean the sale has been concluded. …source

US, Bahrain in talks on $53mn arms deal
Fri Sep 16, 2011 11:18PM GMT

The United States and Bahrain are currently discussing a deal, which, if it goes through, would see the US sell the Persian Gulf kingdom $53 million of military equipment, according to a recent report.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which is part of the US Department of Defense, has notified the Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to the government of Bahrain, the German defense news website defpro.com reported on Thursday.

DSCA provides financial and technical assistance, transfer of defense materials, training, and services to US allies, and promotes military-to-military contracts.

Bahrain is seeking to purchase armored high mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicles, TOW missiles and associated equipment, and training and logistical support from the US military.

Reports estimate the total cost of the deal, which still needs to get congressional approval, to be over $53 million.

In February, Manama began a harsh crackdown on Bahraini citizens calling for an end to the absolute monarchy at anti-government demonstrations.

Human rights groups say the United States, Britain, and other Western countries are supplying arms to the Bahraini regime.

The US is selling arms to Bahrain despite the fact that scores of people have been killed and many more arrested and tortured in prisons in the Saudi-backed crackdown on protests in Bahrain — a longtime ally of the US and home to a huge military base of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

Bahraini forces have abducted many people, including opposition activists, journalists, teachers, students, doctors, and nurses, and have also destroyed dozens of mosques.

Human rights groups and the families of protesters arrested during the crackdown say that most detainees have been physically and psychologically abused. …source

WMA appeals to King of Bahrain over Trial of Health Professionals

(16.09.2011) The World Medical Association has appealed directly to the King of Bahrain to intervene in the case of the 20 health professionals facing trial in the country after they treated injured protesters during the recent political unrest.

In a letter to King Shaikh Hamad bin ‘Issa Al Khalifa, the WMA urges him to carry out an immediate and independent investigation into the allegations of torture and other ill-treatment against some of the health professionals, as well as against other detainees in Bahrain, to make the results public, and to bring to justice any officials responsible for the torture or other ill-treatment of detainees.

The WMA adds that the confessions obtained under torture must not be submitted or used as evidence in the trial of the 20 health professionals or any other trials in Bahrain.

The health professionals, including a number of physicians, are due to appear before a military court on September 26 charged with participating in efforts to overthrow the Bahraini monarchy and taking part in illegal rallies.

The WMA says it believes that if the health workers are found guilty, they could be possible prisoners of conscience.

In its letter, which was also sent to Bahrain’s Minister of Social Development and the Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs, the WMA says the trial, according to Amnesty International, does not appear to have met international standards for fair trial.

‘We are deeply concerned that, despite the serious charges brought against them, these health professionals appear to have been brought to trial solely because of their peaceful efforts to provide medical assistance to people injured by government security forces during popular protests in February and March, in which case those held in custody would be prisoners of conscience and should be immediately and unconditionally released.

‘All healthcare personnel must be protected and supported in their moral, ethical and professional responsibilities to provide care for the sick and injured. We call on you to be fair and just in this matter.’ …source

Jaffar Hassan dies after serious injuries and security forces attack mourners
19 Sep 2011 – BCHR

Jaffar Hasan, 28 years-old, married with two kids, one boy n one girl is from Demistan. Back in March 2011, the security forces stormed his house in search of his wanted brother, as his brother was not there, they beat him up severely. And for the second time in the same month, security forces once again stormed his flat in Buri, in search of his brother, and again he was severely beaten, particularly on his stomach and chest. His health deteriorated due to the kicking on his chest, and he was taken to Salmaniya Medical Complex for treatment for three days, then to Jordan, where he was diagnosed with Hepatitis and bowel perforation.

Jaffar was brought back from Jordan late July, when his health further deteriorated, so he was admitted to Salmaniyah hospital again on 8th August and remained in the ICU until he passed away on 18th August 2011. According to his family, Jaffar Hasan was fit and healthy and did not suffer from any kind of diseases, and his health deteriorated due to the outrageous beatings by the security forces.

Jaffar and his injuries

As the funeral procession was finishing, mourners were heavily attacked by security forces. There were reports of attempts by security forces to run people over with their jeeps. …source

Anthony Shadid on Bahrain suffering
16 September, 2011

“In the revolts that have roiled the Middle East this year, toppling or endangering a half-dozen leaders, Bahrain, an island kingdom once best known for its pearls and banks, has emerged as the cornerstone of a counterrevolution to stanch demands for democracy. While the turmoil elsewhere has proved unpredictable — the ascent of Islamists in Egypt, the threat of civil war in Syria and the prospect of anarchy in Yemen — Bahrain suggests that the alternative, a failed uprising cauterized by searing repression, may prove no less dangerous.

“The situation is a tinderbox, and anything could ignite it at any moment,” said Ali Salman, the general secretary of Al Wefaq, Bahrain’s largest legal opposition group. “If we can’t succeed in bringing democracy to this country, then our country is headed toward violence. Is it in a year or two years? I don’t know. But that’s the reality.”The toll of the ensuing repression was grim: in a country of about 525,000 citizens, human rights groups say 34 people were killed, more than 1,400 people were arrested, as many as 3,600 people were fired from their jobs and four people died in custody after torture in what Human Rights Watch called “a systematic and comprehensive crackdown to punish and intimidate government critics and to end dissent root and branch.”For decades, Bahrain’s relative openness and entrenched inequality have made it one of the Arab world’s most restive countries, as a Shiite majority numbering as much as 70 percent of the population seeks more rights from a Sunni monarchy that conquered the island in the 18th century.

But February was a new chapter in the struggle, when the reverberations of Egypt and Tunisia reached Bahrain and, after bloody clashes, protesters seized a landmark known as Pearl Square, where they stayed for weeks. Activists trade stories of colleagues forced to eat feces in prison and high-ranking Shiite bureaucrats compelled to crawl in their offices like infants. Human rights groups say 43 Shiite mosques and religious structures were destroyed or damaged by a government that contended that it faced an Iranian-inspired plot, without offering any evidence that Tehran played a role.

Backed by the armed intervention of Saudi Arabia, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa declared martial law in March, and though it was repealed June 1, the reverberations of the repression still echo across the island.“They told me, ‘There are two ways we can deal with you — as a human or as an animal,’ ” Matar Matar, 45, recalled being told after he was arrested by men in civilian clothes in May and jailed for three months.”

The crackdown here has won a tactical and perhaps ephemeral victory through torture, arrests, job dismissals and the blunt tool of already institutionalized discrimination against the island’s Shiite Muslim majority. In its wake, sectarian tension has exploded, economic woes have deepened, American willingness to look the other way has cast Washington as hypocritical and a society that prides itself on its cosmopolitanism is colliding with its most primordial instincts. Taken together, the repression and warnings of radicalization may underline an emerging dictum of the Arab uprisings: violence begets violence.” ...source

Bahrain Feature: Repression Tears Apart a Country (Shadid)
Friday, September 16, 2011 – Scott Lucas – EA WorldView

Demolition of a Shia Mosque in BahrainAn interesting parallel to James Miller’s coverage on EA of the situation in Bahrain — Anthony Shadid, who in my opinion is one of the best reporters for first-hand observation, reports for The New York Times:

The battle began soon after sundown. And for the next six hours, in air heavy with heat and tear gas, phalanxes of police officers in helmets battled scores of youths in ski masks, as customers at a Costa Coffee not far away sat like spectators.

No one won in the clashes, which erupt almost every night in this Persian Gulf state. Five months after the start of a ferocious crackdown against a popular uprising — so sweeping it smacks of apartheid-like repression of Bahrain’s religious majority — many fear that no one can win.

“This is all cutting so deep,” said Abdulnabi Alekry, an activist whose car was stopped at one of the checkpoints of trash bins, wood and bricks the youth had fashioned during the clash in August. “The fabric here was never that strong, and now it is torn.”

In the revolts that have roiled the Middle East this year, toppling or endangering a half-dozen leaders, Bahrain, an island kingdom once best known for its pearls and banks, has emerged as the cornerstone of a counterrevolution to stanch demands for democracy. While the turmoil elsewhere has proved unpredictable — the ascent of Islamists in Egypt, the threat of civil war in Syria and the prospect of anarchy in Yemen — Bahrain suggests that the alternative, a failed uprising cauterized by searing repression, may prove no less dangerous.

See also Bahrain Special: New Martyrs, New Protests, New Crackdown

The crackdown here has won a tactical and perhaps ephemeral victory through torture, arrests, job dismissals and the blunt tool of already institutionalized discrimination against the island’s Shiite Muslim majority. In its wake, sectarian tension has exploded, economic woes have deepened, American willingness to look the other way has cast Washington as hypocritical and a society that prides itself on its cosmopolitanism is colliding with its most primordial instincts. Taken together, the repression and warnings of radicalization may underline an emerging dictum of the Arab uprisings: violence begets violence.

“The situation is a tinderbox, and anything could ignite it at any moment,” said Ali Salman, the general secretary of Al Wefaq, Bahrain’s largest legal opposition group. “If we can’t succeed in bringing democracy to this country, then our country is headed toward violence. Is it in a year or two years? I don’t know. But that’s the reality.”

For decades, Bahrain’s relative openness and entrenched inequality have made it one of the Arab world’s most restive countries, as a Shiite majority numbering as much as 70 percent of the population seeks more rights from a Sunni monarchy that conquered the island in the 18th century. But February was a new chapter in the struggle, when the reverberations of Egypt and Tunisia reached Bahrain and, after bloody clashes, protesters seized a landmark known as Pearl Square, where they stayed for weeks. …more

Is There A U.S. Human Rights Policy?
Posted on Sunday, September 18, 2011 – by Elliott Abrams

Now in its third year in office, the Obama Administration has never championed the cause of human rights. Its slow reaction in June 2009 to the stealing of the election in Iran and the birth of the “Green Movement” there, and its delay in backing the rebellions in Egypt, Libya, and Syria, are evidence of this problem. But two recent news items show just how bad the situation has become.

In Bahrain, American silence and inaction in the face of human rights abuses has produced resentment toward the United States. Here is what The New York Times reported last week:

As the status quo endures — some believe that the king may introduce reforms this month, while others remain skeptical — anger among many Shiites toward American policy has deepened. Though some appreciated President Obama’s criticism of the crackdown in May, many lament what they see as a double standard. In contrast to the treatment of Syria and Libya, they point out, no administration official is calling for sanctions against Bahrain, a country where the United States has its largest regional naval base, for the Fifth Fleet. “Democracy isn’t only for those countries the United States has a problem with,” said Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

Last week as well, the Obama Administration made an astonishing kow-tow to China and intervened in free elections in Taiwan. The Financial Times of London reported this:

The Obama administration has warned that a victory by Tsai Ing-wen, the Taiwanese opposition leader, in the island’s January presidential election could raise tensions with China. A senior US official said Ms Tsai, the Democratic Progressive party leader who is visiting Washington, had sparked concerns about stability in the Taiwan Strait, which is “critically important” to the US. “She left us with distinct doubts about whether she is both willing and able to continue the stability in cross-Strait relations the region has enjoyed in recent years,” the official told the Financial Times after Ms Tsai met with administration officials.

What a picture! We intervene in Taiwan where there are free elections, and remain far too quiet on Bahrain where there are manifold abuses. When Bahraini human rights activists see a double standard, they are close to the truth: the Obama Administration appears to have no coherent human rights policy at all. If human rights NGOs were not mostly on the Left they would be protesting far more vociferously against this abandonment of principle.

The resentment felt in Bahrain can be dangerous to U.S. interests; indeed in the future it can endanger the presence of the Fifth Fleet there. I recall well the Nixon Administration’s support for the Greek coup in 1967, an act for which the people of Greece have still not forgiven us. One lesson of the Arab Spring must surely be that our relations with rulers cannot be allowed to displace our concern for the fate of the peoples they rule—who will remember whether we were with them or against them as they sought to end oppression and direct their own destinies.
…source

What a hypocritical world we live in
by Pamela Hansen – Article published on 18 September 2011

How can countries that market arms to tyrannical regimes pretend that they do not support human rights violations? What is even more two-faced is that they then get on their high horse and interfere militarily, or subtly, in other countries because of atrocities caused by weapons supplied by themselves?

I am so nauseated by politicians supporting and selling arms to dictators then turning all shocked and appalled when those weapons are used to ensure the tyrants retain their power.

UK anti arms campaigners have expressed dismay that Bahrain, which has killed scores of mainly Shias (who are treated as second-class citizens) since protests broke out in February, has been invited to one of the world’s largest arms fairs being hosted in London’s docklands.

When, in the early hours of 17 February, Bahrain security police stormed the roundabout where a protest was being held, doctors, nurses and paramedics went to the aid of people who had been shot, beaten and tear-gassed.

The security forces were not well pleased and, according to reports, at least one doctor was attacked by baton-wielding officers while tending to an injured demonstrator.

Doctors staged a protest after word spread that security forces were preventing the wounded from being taken to hospital. They blocked the entrance to the hospital, demanding the resignation of the health minister.

Other hospital workers, including nurses, joined in the protests. This led to 47 medics held under arrest in March. In early June, those doctors and nurses who had treated injured protesters in Bahrain appeared in a special military court in Manama charged with attempting to topple the monarchy.

The list of invitees to the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition, which also included Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, the UAE and Kazakhstan, had been held back from the campaigners until the press started asking for it last week.

More than 1,300 companies, around half of which are British, are participating in the exhibition. Sixty-five countries have been invited.

In February, we saw the embarrassment of the US government in the early days of the revolution in Egypt, when the media was ever so careful not to call it that. Tear gas used against the regime protestors, obviously supplied by the US, flashed on our TV screens and we discovered that countries, notably the US, had subsidised Mubarak’s military to the tune of $1.3 billion a year.

Although President Barak Obama applied pressure on the Egyptian military for it not to attack the protestors, had the Egyptian people not been so resolute to overthrow Mubarak, the so-called democratic countries would still be propping him up.

He would no doubt have been invited to the current UK arms fair as well as Gaddafi.

And all is not over in Egypt. Last week, the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), (whose representatives have no doubt visited the arms fair) widened the scope of the emergency law – restricted in 2010 by Mr Mubarak to narcotics and terrorism – to include strikes, traffic disruption and the spreading of rumours.

Hundreds are again gathering in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to protest against the recent expansion of the emergency law. The Egyptians are now protesting at the military’s handling of transition from autocratic rule.
[Read more →]

[cb editor note: The work that goes on over at Global Research is excellent and no less praise from here for Mr. Cunningham. However, in the article that follows I respectfully disagree with Mr. Cunningham’s premise; Washington Preparing For ‘Regime Change’ in PR Disaster Kingdom. I expect the reality lies else where, in a broken down, over stretched and arrogant State Department and US Intelligence gathering Agencies. Their best briefings on Bahrain are little more that uninformed, uncritical from lazy analysts who reach no further than the BNA and feed Clinton and Obama the feel good, Pollyanna crap that they have cowed their staffs down to provide, as Obama tries to improve his election prospects, so we can all enjoy four more years of greedy democrats instead of greedy republicans. Tyrannical party leaders seem to enjoy the company and flattery of tyrannical kings.

The “partners” that occupy the White House aren’t interested in Bahrain aside from their personal and political profit motives. If democrats and “friends can make a few bucks” pimping the DNC leadership out as PR people to repackage al Khalifa’s sales image to the West and maybe increase national sales of a few extra tons of CS gas, they will, because that’s what interests them about the situation in Bahrain. They aren’t worried about loosing their base for the 5th fleet, they can just park the tanks and anti-riot gear there that the West has been selling the GCC and the Saudi’s. In Bahrain they sell CS gas and PR people but this Method of Operation was originally championed by former Secretary Albright in Kosov by snatching the Cell Phone concession as “spoils of war” after President Clinton and Cheney crushed Kosov and installed KBR and Haliburton as economic victors there. Same shit different theater.

The folks in DC have transformed themselves from the morally bankrupt to the morally dead. Their is no grand strategy, no ideal of a higher good other than amassing wealth, there is no real plan, just a world power dominated by egos and profit motives and a nation that has the guns and bombs to support their desires – here unto now anyway. This point of view would do the left some good, it might wake up and realize there is no grand plan or conspiracy other than profit motive and that the Western political system is neither sophisticated nor is it intelligent, it’s just fucking greedy. Sorry Mr. Cunningham maybe I’ll cheer up a little this week when (if) Greece defaults and Capitalism takes a shot to the nuts – one can only hope.

Peace,
Philipn ]

Bahrain: Is Washington Preparing For ‘Regime Change’ in PR Disaster Kingdom?
by Finian Cunningham – Global Research, September 18, 2011

The persistence of pro-democracy protests in Bahrain in the face of brutal repression may be giving Washington second thoughts about its unwavering support for the royal rulers of the strategically important Persian Gulf kingdom. Are we about to witness a cosmetic ‘regime change’ – not so much for the genuine sake of democratic rights in Bahrain, but more to save Washington’s vital interests across the region?

The tiny island situated between Saudi Arabia and Qatar serves as the base for the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet. The Fifth Fleet, comprising 16,000 personnel and 30 vessels, is a staging ground for US military projection across the Middle East and Central Asia. It also monitors the sealanes of the Persian Gulf through which some 30 per cent of the world’s total supply of traded oil passes every day.

Since the mainly Shia population of Bahrain took to the streets on 14 February in protest against the unelected Sunni monarchy of the Al Khalifa dynasty, Washington has given unrelenting support to the regime – invariably describing Bahrain as “an important ally”.

Apart from the US Fifth Fleet, the US has a free trade agreement with Bahrain, it sells some $20 million in weapons every year to the kingdom, and Bahrain is a financial hub for American and global capital.

Bahrain returned all these favours by lending Washington and its NATO allies diplomatic cover for the military intervention in Libya to oust Muammar Gaddafi. Bahrain, along with the other Gulf monarchies of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, lined up dutifully behind the US/NATO intervention to give it a veneer of Arab approval, and thus head off charges that the aerial bombardment of Libya is a Western imperialist war of aggression. The Gulf Arab monarchies have also performed the same political function of providing diplomatic cover for the US/NATO sanctions and threats of intervention against Syria.

Bahrain and the other Gulf dictatorships (despite the irony of that) have thus played an important propaganda function. They have helped underpin the premise that the US and NATO involvement in Libya and Syria is guided by defence of human rights and democratic freedoms.

But now here’s the rub. Bahrain stands out as a glaring contradiction to stated US government claims regarding its interventions in Libya and Syria.

The fact that some 40 people have been killed in Bahrain for peacefully demanding democratic freedoms and basic human rights is an unmitigated damning indictment of the US-backed regime. Thousands have been injured – many horribly mutilated – from regime forces firing at unarmed peaceful demonstrators.

The apparent glaring contradiction between US foreign policy towards Bahrain and its espoused concerns for the people of Libya and Syria makes Bahrain under the Al Khalifa regime a serious liability to Washington’s “humanitarian” credibility.

Given the ongoing persecution against Shia workers (over 3,500 sacked); the preposterous use of military show trials to prosecute dozens of doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers and athletes; the widespread condemnation by human rights groups of illegal mass detention and torture; the targeting of independent journalists and bloggers; the expulsion of hundreds of students and academics – the liability of the Al Khalifa regime to Washington’s foreign policy credibility grows ever more unwieldy by the day. …more

Bahrain forces fire tear gas at funeral
Security forces use tear gas and rubber bullets on procession of a man who died after he himself was tear-gassed.
Last Modified: 17 Sep 2011 00:10

Governement says Jawad Marhun was killed by sickle cell disease, but his advocates say otherwise [Reuters]

Bahraini security forces have fired tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse thousands of mourners at the funeral of a man who died after he himself was tear-gassed, a Shia politician said.

“Security forces used tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the demonstrators while the majority of them were trying to leave at the end of the funeral,” said Matar Matar, a senior member of Al-Wefaq, Bahrain’s largest Shia opposition formation, on Friday.

Tens of thousands of Bahrainis, he said, were at the funeral of Jawad Marhun, a 36-year-old who died late on Wednesday from what Al-Wefaq said was “excessive exposure to tear gas from a canister tossed into his parents home on September 10”.

The government of Bahrain, which crushed a month of protests in mid-March, said Marhun had died from “acute respiratory” problems as a result of sickle cell disease. His family denies that he had the disease, according to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR).

In April, the government said two other activists died from the blood disorder while in custody.

“Sooner or later, the people will achieve victory,” the mourners chanted in the village of Sitra, according to Matar.

“He is the second victim within about two weeks in Sitra,” said the former member of parliament.

“In general, the tension in Bahrain is increasing and the government is still using excessive force against the demonstrators and ignoring the demand for real dialogue that would lead to major political reforms.”

The BCHR says that the government has intensified its use of tear gas in a campaign to stop unrest.

“We are receiving many complaints that the teargas being used now produces a black smoke rather than white, and is a lot stronger than the one security forces used to use,” the BCHR said in a statement.

“The burning feeling in the chest is sharper, and the skin feels like it is burning (as described by protesters).”

On August 31, Ali Jawad Ahmed al-Sheikh, 14, died in the village of Sitra during a protest after prayers commemorating the beginning of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

The opposition said al-Sheikh was fatally wounded when he was struck in the face by a tear gas canister fired by security forces.

“According to those who took him to the hospital, those working at the hospital refused to treat the boy,” said the BCHR.

The government said the teenager died of trauma after suffering a blow from a blunt object to the back of the neck that could not have been caused by a rubber bullet or tear gas.

The deaths come ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for September 24.

The opposition has already boycotted the polls and wants democratic reforms in the Gulf kingdom where a Sunni monarchy has ruled over a majority Shia population for decades.

“I believe that the shortest path for stability can be reached if the king takes a brave decision to drive the kingdom (towards) tolerance and real political reform,” Matar said.

Security forces were aided in the March crackdown on protesters after being backed by troops with tanks from neighbouring monarchies.

Authorities said 24 people were killed in the unrest, including four police officers. The opposition put the toll at 30. …source

Tad Stahnk Response to Bahrain’s Ambassador to Washington, letter to Washington Post editor – original letter follows

The Post’s Sept. 9 editorial on Bahrain wisely warned that “the administration should use its influence now — before the crisis resumes.” In fact, the crisis hasn’t ever gone away for Bahrainis, even though the U.S. government has conveniently forgotten it.

The writer is director of policy and programs at Human Rights First.

Letter to the Editor
Bahrain’s progress — or not
Published: September 16 – Washington Post

Regarding the Sept. 9 editorial “Bahrain’s brewing crisis”:

We agree that thoughtful dialogue on events in Bahrain is crucial. But this editorial wrongly criticized our peaceful reconciliation process and failed to provide a comprehensive picture of what we have accomplished for all Bahrainis.

Moreover, the editorial asserted that the United States has played a passive role as we work to unify our nation. Bahrain’s government has appreciated support from our ally the United States as we strive to peaceably overcome challenges. We are proud to be home to the Navy’s 5th Fleet, and we stand with the United States in its fight against terrorism.

The decision of opposition groups to remove themselves from our peaceful dialogue reinforces an active trend of trying to hinder Bahrain’s democratic process. Bahrain’s 300 National Dialogue participants represented all political parties, including opposition groups. We cannot force a rational, measured process on those who would rather settle disputes in the streets.

The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry will detail the actions of the government and protest movement. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights welcomed the creation of the group, which has already demonstrated an impartial approach to investigating events in Bahrain. We are prepared to live with whatever hard truths are revealed.

Houda Nonoo, Washington

The writer is Bahrain’s ambassador to the United States.

…source

Bahraini protesters, police clash after man’s funeral
By the CNN Wire Staff -September 17, 2011

Manama, Bahrain (CNN) — Clashes between protesters and police extended into a second day in Bahrain on Saturday, following the burial of a man who died in questionable circumstances this week.

Tens of thousands marched chanting anti-regime slogans in the funeral procession of Seyyed Jawad Ahmed Hashim Marhoon in Sitra, southwest of the capital, Manama.

Shortly after the burial, scores of mourners clashed with police.

The Bahrain Ministry of Interior said it dealt with a group of vandals who blocked streets following the funeral march.

Clashes broke out late Thursday and early Friday, ahead of Marhoon’s funeral. Many of the same areas saw renewed clashes following the funeral.

Violence was reported in most Shiite villages across the small Gulf island, including some on the outskirts of Manama, where anti-riot police moved in.

Thick clouds of tear gas, rubber pellets and stones covered many of the streets as police clashed with angry protesters.

Parts of the capital also saw limited clashes, but the heaviest were in Sitra.

Marhoon died in a hospital after being admitted to the intensive care upon arrival.

Relatives say he developed difficulty in breathing after tear gas was fired at his father’s home on September 10, but the family fearing arrest and reprisal opted not to seek medical care until later.

In May, a report by Doctors Without Borders entitled “From hospitals to prisons” said medical staff in Bahrain had been unfairly targeted by government forces.

Injured protesters have been arrested at hospitals, according to the report.
[Read more →]

Youth groups have utilized social media to attract support for a number of demonstrations in the lead up to next week’s elections, including a protest at the Pearl Roundabout site in Manama that has become symbolic with Bahrain’s opposition movement.

Tensions Rise Ahead of Bahrain Elections
September 17, 2011
Phillip Walter Wellman – Manama, Bahrain

Tensions are mounting in Bahrain ahead of planned parliamentary elections next week, with opposition supporters vowing to hold a mass demonstration in the capital, Manama.

Next Saturday’s poll will fill 18 seats abandoned by the main opposition al-Wefaq party, who quit in February over the government’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

Mattar Mattar, one of the legislators who resigned, says the decision to replace all of the opposition parliamentarians is proof that the nation’s leaders are neglecting the grievances of the people. “They are trying to ignore us, but this plan will not succeed. They are going on the wrong track. Without opening a real dialogue and without going for real political reform it’s difficult to reach stability here,” he said.

Bahrain’s political opposition comprises, in large part, the nation’s majority Shi’ite Muslims, who say they are treated like second-class citizens by the ruling Sunni minority. They have been calling for more rights and for the introduction of a constitutional monarchy.

Some hardliners in the opposition have been demanding the abolition of the monarchy, and as unrest continues, their numbers are growing.

Clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters take place nearly every night in Shi’ite neighborhoods.

According to rights groups, about 40 people have been killed and more than a thousand detained since February. The government has defended the crackdown, saying it is needed to reinstate stability.

On Friday, tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades were used to disperse tens of thousands of mourners at a funeral in Sitra, south of Manama.
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Bahrain top Shiite cleric says authorities treat protesters as ‘enemies of state’
By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, September 16, 5:50 AM

MANAMA, Bahrain — Bahrain’s Sunni rulers have treated Shiite anti-government protesters seeking greater rights in the Gulf kingdom as “enemies of state,” a senior cleric said Friday, as tensions deepen between the strategic island’s minority Sunnis and majority Shiites.

The comments by Sheik Isa Qassim came as mourners were gathering for the funeral of a 35-year-old man who relatives say died after inhaling tear gas fired at protesters on Tuesday night. Sayyed Jawad Ahmed is to be buried later Friday in Bahrain’s oil hub of Sitra.

Anti-government protesters stand amid makeshift barricades in the headlights of riot police vehicles, unseen, during clashes in the Shiite Muslim area of Sitra, Bahrain, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011. Clashes erupted after word of a Sitra man’s death. Relatives said the man died in hospital after being repeatedly exposed to heavy tear gas used by riot police to quell anti-government protests. The official Bahrain News Agency reported, however, that Sayed Jawad Ahmad, 35, was a sickle cell patient who died after suffering Acute Respiratory Syndrome Distress.

Clouds of tear gas waft through the streets of Sitra, Bahrain, on Wednesday night, Sept. 14, 2011. Clashes erupted after word of a Sitra man’s death. Relatives said the man died in hospital after being repeatedly exposed to heavy tear gas used by riot police to quell anti-government protests. The official Bahrain News Agency reported, however, that Sayed Jawad Ahmad, 35, was a sickle cell patient who died after suffering Acute Respiratory Syndrome Distress.

Clashes erupted after word of a Sitra man’s death. Relatives said the man died in hospital after being repeatedly exposed to heavy tear gas used by riot police to quell anti-government protests. The official Bahrain News Agency reported, however, that Sayed Jawad Ahmad, 35, was a sickle cell patient who died after suffering Acute Respiratory Syndrome Distress.

The kingdom’s health ministry confirmed the death in a statement Thursday, saying Ahmed died from “acute respiratory syndrome distress.”

Shiites make up a majority of Bahrain’s people, but they have long complained of discrimination at the hands of the country’s ruling Sunni dynasty and a lack of economic opportunities.

More than 30 people have died since February when protests started in Bahrain, inspired by other Arab uprisings.

Hundreds of activists have been detained and brought to trial on anti-state charges in a special security court set up after authorities imposed marital law and invited a Saudi-led Gulf military force in the country to help deal with dissent in the tiny island nation.

Bahrain is a strategically important nation in the Persian Gulf and is the home of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

The United States has urged Bahrain’s ruling dynasty, a close Washington ally, to listen to the protesters’ demands for more political freedoms. However, a government-led national dialogue produced no compromise with the Shiite opposition, which only had token representation at the talks.

“The regime has designated the section of society asking for rights as enemies of state,” Sheik Isa said during Friday’s sermon at a mosque in the opposition stronghold of Diraz, northwest of the capital Manama.

Bahrain lifted emergency rule in June. Since then, government opponents have clashed with police almost every night. …source

[cb editor: since the writing of this story several others have been killed by the use of CS Gas. The nonlethal is a lie.]

Lethal Non-Lethal Weapons: The Deadly Effects of Tear Gas in Bahrain
By marcowenjones On July 22, 2011

Tear gas, or CS gas, has become part of the daily diet of many Bahrainis who continue to take to the streets in pursuit of their democratic struggle. The use of this so-called ‘non-lethal’ crowd control weapon has become increasingly controversial, not least because it has potentially resulted in the death of 6 Bahrainis, including 6-year-old Mohammed Farhan. More recently, however, it is believed by many to have been responsible for the death of 47-year-old mother-of-two Zainab Juma, who died last Friday following demonstrations in Sitra. If we include the death of Ahmed Farhan, who was apparently killed when a stun grenade exploded right next to his head, then about one in six people have so far died in Bahrain as a result of these ‘non-lethal’ weapons. It makes sense then to explore the nature of these weapons, who sells them, who is affected by them, and how ‘ non-lethal’ they really are.

Who has died?

Of the approximately 40 people who have died so far, the following are thought to have died from tear gas inhalation; Zainab Hassan al-Juma (47) , Sayad Adnan Sayed Hassan (44), Zainab al-Tajer, Mohammed Farhan (6), Isa Mohammed Ali Abdulla (71) & Khadija Mirza Al-Abdulhai (50). Here we can see that those killed by tear gas are not just the very young or the very old. Indeed, tear gas seems to be responsible for the death of people of all ages and both sexes. I’ll stop short of saying it affects all demographics, since I think it is safe to say that most of the dead are neither the rich nor the privileged. So why is a supposedly ‘non-lethal’ technology so deadly. Well there are a number of reasons – including the misuse of tear gas, the fact that tear gas manufacturers have a poor quality control system, the variable concentrations used by different companies and also the fact that CS (2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile) is a potentially lethal chemical.
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Stop the Sales of “nonlethal gas”, It Isn’t ,  It’s Killing our loved ones!

Say “No More Gas” to: NonLethal Technologies, PA USA
Ph: 724-479-5100 sales@nonlethaltechnologies.com

Urgent Appeal – from Anonymous Bahraini Source – 15 September, 2011

Dear Friends,

As we have been witnessing every night, several villages were attacked with excessive teargas tonight. For the first time in a while a family decided to take their three daughters (one is a baby) whose conditions were worsening due to the teargas to the hospital. This family was inside their home and were subjected to the teargas because it was shot next to their home. At the hospital they were told to go to the central police station.

The father, Mansoor Ali Alkhawaja, and uncle, Salah Ali Alkhawaja, are now being held by the police, and the two girls and their mother are being held by female police (girls are Aqdas Mansoor alkhawaja, shez a baby, Noor Mansoor Alkhawaja and fatima Mansoor Alkhawaja).

This is an urgent call for an intervention to ensure they are released and to receive proper medical attention.

This unfortunately will only further convince people not to seek medical help despite the countless injuries, some very serious, we are seeing on a nightly basis.

Infant gassed at home during heavy attack on his village:

Direct Attacks on homes, obvious targets from “hit lists”:

Direct Attack on Mother and Child seeking safety:

cb editor: The underlying issue at hand is, the US has set the precedence of immoral conduct for the entire Western “Misery Industrial Complex” it built in the launching of it’s pretentious “war on terror” over a decade ago.

An entire new breed or class of “merchants of misery” have emerged from the shadows of war profiteering. They have aligned themselves as whorish participants in support of tyrants engaged in immoral practices of torture, murder and despotism who in recent times would have been deemed untouchable by public relations firms, arms dealers and technology peddlers.

This phenomena is a direct consequence of occupation of the highest levels of the USG by the Corporatist’s and their subsequent privatization of the US Military, using it not in the common defense of the people as it was intended, but as a “force gratis” to advance the aims of private commercial interests and to advance corporate multinationalism – their private army.

Such was the nature of the “privateers” of the 1700s who looted the wealth of nations in an existential bid to create their own nation, the United Sates. In the worst of economic times the whorish nature of the Corporatist, modern day privateers, is amplified when they “scrape bottom” in “existential desperation” that transforms them into profiteers of misery and torture as they service the lowest and most despicable of Kings and Tyrants who have wealth to squander.

Main Article

Companies that cooperate with dictatorships must be sanctioned
Published on Friday 2 September 2011.

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.

“Human lives are at stake. Must they be sacrificed for the sake of profits? The leaders of international companies operating in the new technology domain, especially telecommunications surveillance, in Libya, Syria, Burma, China, Turkmenistan and other authoritarian counties should think about their responsibility. Their tools, their equipment and their know-how are being used for criminal purposes.”

These technologies are at the heart of a new war. Emails can now be intercepted, Skype calls can be recorded, webcams can be turned on remotely and Internet content can be modified without the users knowing. Reporters Without Borders urges Internet users to be much more careful.

Reporters Without Borders reiterates the need for legislation banning cooperation between companies and dictatorships on the lines of the proposed Global Online Freedom Act (GOFA) in the United States and its European equivalent. Like the EU regulations on trade in products that could be used for “capital punishment, torture or other cruel treatment,” there is now a need to introduce international regulations on the provision of technology that threaten cyber-citizens, to control the export of certain technologies, to create a monitoring body that is independent of governments and to have dissuasive sanctions ready. Companies should also have legal and official recourse against measures in countries like China or Iran that force them to obstruct the free flow of information.

The GOFA, a bill submitted to the US Congress in 2006 and still awaiting adoption, aims to prevent US companies from “cooperating with repressive governments in transforming the Internet into a tool of censorship and surveillance.” The European equivalent, submitted to the European Parliament on 17 July 2008 by Dutch MEP Jules Maaten of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), aims to forestall online censorship possibilities and to regulate the potentially repressive activities of European Internet companies. It would create an Office of Global Internet Freedom with the job of combating online censorship by the most repressive governments and protecting the personal data of Internet users.

These measures are now urgent and necessary. Examples of companies cooperating with such governments are on the increase. Referring in May to Microsoft’s acquisition of the Internet telephony company Skype, Microsoft Russia president Nikolay Pryanishnikov said he was ready to provide its source code to the Russian security services. Microsoft is nonetheless a leading member of the Global Network Initiative, an alliance that brings private-sector companies and investment funds together with organizations that defend freedoms.

Many other companies that have shown no interest in the GNI’s principles seem ready to stop at nothing to conquer new markets. Bull, Nokia, BlueCoat, Netfirms and Cisco have all yielded to the lure of profits. Reporters Without Borders has compiled the following summary of their repressive practices.

Libya: Bull (France) and Boeing (Unites States)

Amesys, a subsidiary of the French computer company Bull, reportedly provided Col. Muammar Gaddafi with Internet surveillance equipment, including a system called Eagle that can intercept email sent via Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo! and monitor MSN and AIM instant messaging. According to the Wall Street Journal, several files containing transcripts of phone and chat conversations between government opponents were found in Libyan intelligence agency computers.

Boeing and its offshoot Narus, which specializes in software that protects against Internet attacks, are also suspected of cooperating with the Gaddafi regime. They have denied this.

Syria and BlueCoat (United States)

According to a study of Syria’s censorship infrastructure last month by Telecomix, Fhim and Reflets.info, the Syrian government’s phishing and website blocking is assisted by the US company BlueCoat. The passwords and “private” communications of Yahoo! Messenger, MSN and Facebook users are being recorded with the help of technology provided by BlueCoat, the survey said. BlueCoat has allegedly provided Syria with at least two different technologies, including Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), which can be used to intercept all sorts of communication including emails and phone calls as well as photos and messages posted on online social networks such and Facebook and Twitter, and proxy filters.

Bahrain and Nokia Siemens Network (Finland)

Nokia Siemens Network (NSN) has been accused of providing the monitoring technology that the Bahraini authorities have been using to spy on the emails, mobile phone conversations and text message of dozens of human rights activists. Abdul Al-Khanjar, an activist who was detained from August 2010 to February 2011, said the security officials who interrogated him revealed that they had the records of the messages he had sent from his phone. Speaking on condition of anonymity, several Nokia employees confirmed that this technology had been provided to Bahrain. Ahmed Al-Doseri, director of information and communications at Bahrain’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, confirmed that Bahrain was using this kind of sophisticated monitoring technology. There may be a European Union investigation into these allegations.

Nokia spokesman Ben Roome said: “We are very aware that communications technology can be used for good and ill.” Reporters Without Borders regrets that this awareness is not reflected in the company’s commercial decisions. Nokia and Siemens already provided Iran with software necessary for telecommunications surveillance in 2009. Nokia confirmed that it had sold DPI-based technology to Iran.

Thailand and Netfirms (Canada)

Netfirms Inc, a Canadian web hosting company that is also based in the United States, provided the Thai government with information that enabled it to identify Anthony Chai, a US citizen of Thai origin, as the person who was anonymously conducting a pro-democracy blog in the Thai language, Manusaya.com. As a result, the Thai authorities were able to arrest and interrogate Chai at Bangkok airport, when he visited Thailand, and even got him to meet with a Thai official after he had returned to California. They also warned him that he would be arrested for lèse-majesté if he went back to Thailand. Chai filed a complaint against Netfirms on 24 August for providing his email and IP addresses to the Thai authorities without his knowledge, and for closing down his blog at their request.

China and Cisco (United States)

The US computer technology company Cisco Systems has been accused not only of providing China since 2007 with the technology for a censorship system called Golden Shield, used for identifying political dissidents, but also of helping to set up and develop the system. Two complaints have been recently filed against Cisco in the United States: one on 19 May in a court in San Jose, California, by the Falun Gong, a religious movement banned in China, and one in June in a Maryland court by three Chinese netizens – Liu Xianbin, Du Daobin and Zhou Yuanzhi – and 10 other people.

Both lawsuits stress the Chinese government’s use of Cisco’s technology to identify online dissidents and the fact that this enabled the authorities to detain and torture them. Cisco has denied any role in Chinese repression in a message posted on the company’s blog by vice-president Mark Chandler. “We have never customized our equipment to help the Chinese government – or any government – censor content, track Internet use by individuals or intercept Internet communications,” Chandler wrote.

Nonetheless, Cisco cannot deny providing the Chinese government with security technology including Deep Packet Inspection, which can be used to track down cyber-dissidents. …source