Visit Bahrain Martyr’s Page HERE

Jailed Native American activist Leonard Peltier wins rights prize
By Agence France-Presse – Monday, September 5th, 2011 — 8:21 pm

MONTEVIDEO — Leonard Peltier, an indigenous rights activist jailed in the United States for decades, has received the first Mario Benedetti Foundation international human rights prize, the group said Monday.

The group called Peltier, a Native American activist convicted in 1977 for the murder of two US FBI agents, the longest serving political prisoner in the Americas. The case stemmed from a shootout at a reservation in the US state of South Dakota.

“Leonard Peltier, who on September 12, 2011 will turn 67, has spent more than half his life in prison. He is a symbol of resistance to repressive state policies by the United States, where there are people in jail for ethnic, racial, ideological and religious reasons,” a foundation statement said.

Ricardo Elena, a member of the foundation’s honorary board, said Peltier’s case “is one that is repeated over and over: violation (of rights); persecution, eviction, invasion and expropriation of the indigenous people from the time it was ‘discovered’ until now.

“It did not just happen in the United States; it is happening in southern South America with the (indigenous) Mapuche people, and with indigenous people in North America,” he stressed.

Peltier, whose family is indigenous Chippewa and Lakota, fled to Canada after the shooting and was later extradited. He was convicted in part based on the testimony of a woman, Myrtle Poor Bear, who claimed she was his girlfriend and witnessed the shootings. Poor Bear however admitted later she was pressured to make the testimony, but a judge blocked her testimony.

Elena took a swipe at the United States saying it “likes to think it is the seat of democracy, but it has political prisoners just like a dictatorship might have.”

The Mario Benedetti Foundation was set up to support human rights and cultural causes in synch with the work of the Uruguayan writer who died in 2009. …more

Bahrain king’s visit to Turkey sparks protests
Denver Post Wire Report – Posted: 09/05/2011

ANKARA, Turkey — A Turkish rights group protested the visit by the king of Bahrain, accusing his Sunni dynasty of carrying out a brutal crackdown on demonstrations for greater rights by the gulf nation’s Shiite majority. The state-run Anatolia news agency says dozens of members of the pro-Islamic advocacy group Mazlumder gathered outside Bahrain’s embassy in Ankara and burned posters of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, who is paying a private visit to Turkey. …source

Bahrain Government Makes U—Turn on Military Courts
For Immediate Release: August 22, 2011

Washington, DC – Human Rights First today criticized the Bahrain government’s sudden decision to bring back military courts to try pro-democracy activists. The group called the development as shocking as it is duplicitous.

“The world needs to take notice that the government of Bahrain has brought back its discredited military courts, which is further evidence that meaningful reform in that country is an illusion,” said Human Rights First’s Brian Dooley. “I met with many people in Bahrain last month who had been told their cases would now be heard in civilian instead of military courts. They were lied to.”

More than a dozen doctors and other medical professionals have been summoned to appear before the military court on Sunday August 28, even though the Bahraini authorities announced on June 26 that they were transferring all cases from military courts to civilian courts.

Among those waiting to have their cases heard are medics like Roula Al-Saffar, the head of the Bahrain Nursing Society, who was released from detention yesterday after four months in custody. Roula studied at Widener University in Pennsylvania and at the University of North Texas. She also worked for many years as a nurse at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. Though she has been released, the charges against her have not been dropped and she has now been summoned with her colleagues to appear before the military court on Sunday.

“The U.S. government has been publicly silent on Bahrain for some time now. It has not disassociated itself from the discredited National Dialogue nor spoken out against the police attacks on peaceful protests over the last few weeks. In light of this latest development, it should say clearly and publicly that any step back to military courts will have consequences for the relationship between the United States and Bahrain,” Dooley concluded. …more

More detainees join Bahrain hunger strike
Protest aimed at ongoing trials from the crackdown on demonstrations by the Gulf nation’s Shia majority.
Last Modified: 03 Sep 2011 18:07

A rights group in Bahrain says more detainees are joining a hunger strike to protest ongoing trials from the crackdown on demonstrations for greater rights by the Gulf nation’s Shia majority.

A statement on Saturday by the Bahrain Center for Human Rights said the strike now includes nearly 20 doctors who are jailed and face anti-state charges linked to the protests against Bahrain’s ruling Sunni dynasty.
The rights group said at least two other prominent activists, Abdul Jalil al-Singace and Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, have also begun hunger strikes in solidarity. The activists were sentenced to life in prison in June.
Nabeel Rajab, a spokesman for the group, told Al Jazeera the detainees are insisting that a trial, if any, should take place in a civil court not a military tribunal.

The trials are scheduled to resume on Wednesday.
Rajab said because little change has come into effect despite promises of reform from the government, there are now renewed protests in the prisons and in the streets.

Zainab al-Khawaja says her father, Abdulhadi, and al-Singace, opposition Haq movement member, stopped eating on Tuesday in solidarity with detainees held at Bahrain’s Dry Dock prison.

She said the detainees, who were arrested as part of a March crackdown on pro-democracy protests, went on hunger strike against the government’s failure to honour promises to release them.

“I am concerned about my father’s health,” al-Khawaja said. “He was beaten when detained and his jaw was broken.

“He has already lost too much weight in prison and yesterday he called me and said his blood sugar level has dropped,” she added.

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who also holds Danish citizenship, was jailed for life along with Singace and six other opposition activists in June.

Bahrain’s interior ministry says 24 people, including four policemen, were killed in the month-long protests that erupted in mid-February.

Security forces backed by troops from Bahrain’s Gulf neighbours crushed the protest movement.

The opposition says that scores of people were arrested, and many of them tortured. Hundreds more were dismissed from their jobs.

Four people have been sentenced to death and three to life imprisonment after being convicted of the killing of two policemen during the protests.

Nine others were jailed for 20 years after being found guilty of abducting a policeman. …more

Youth protest of Jordanian Forces ‘presence’ in Bahrain
Posted on September 5, 2011 by mat – Signal Fire

AMMONNEWS – near 50 of Jordanian youth staged a protest on Sunday in front of the Bahraini embassy in Amman to protest what they said Jordanian Gendarmerie Forces ‘presence’ in Bahrain.

The protest was held amidst heavy security presence, with various police, and gendarmerie forces surrounding the area, and closed the roads around.

Several media outlets reported that hundreds of Jordanian security forces were sent to Bahrain to help the Bahraini security forces to handle the protesters.

The protesters expressed solidarity with Bahraini peaceful demonstrations, and denounced the use of force to disperse the protesters by Bahraini Forces, and the destruction of “ Loaloa” circle where the Bahraini protesters staged their sit-ins.

Earlier many youth Movements canceled their participation in the protest. …more

recent tweet from @Free AlKhawaja – lawyers from the international federation for human rights banned from entering Bahrain tonight to monitor the doctors and activists trial

200 Bahrain detainees on hunger strike
September 05, 2011 08:37 PM – Agence France Presse – The Daily Star

DUBAI: More than 200 Shiite Bahrainis jailed for their role in a month of pro-democracy protests in the Sunni-ruled kingdom have joined a hunger strike, a rights and opposition activist said on Monday.

The strike was started last week ago by 12 doctors arrested in the wake of a mid-March deadly crackdown on the Shiite-led protests, said Nabeel Rajab, the head of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.

He said the number of prisoners on strike has climbed to more than 200, adding that some of the medics have been hospitalised.

The report could not be verified through independent sources.

The 12 doctors were among 47 doctors and nurses from Salmaniya central hospital accused of incitement to overthrow the regime of the Al-Khalifa ruling family. The others were freed on bail, and their trial resumes Wednesday.

Human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and opposition Haq movement member Abduljalil al-Singace, both jailed for life, joined the strike a week ago, Khawaja’s daughter Zainab told AFP on Saturday.

She said they stopped eating on July 26 in solidarity with other detainees.

Despite the heavy-handed clampdown by security forces in March, which was followed by mass arrests and dismissals from jobs for thousands of Shiites, the majority community has taken to the streets again.

Candle-lit processions and vigils are being held on a daily basis, according to images posted on the Facebook page of Al-Wefaq, the main Shiite opposition formation.

Al-Wefaq led the political front of youth protests which broke out in February, inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. The opposition has demanded major political reforms.

Bahraini security forces backed by Saudi-led Gulf troops in mid-March drove protesters out of central Manama’s Pearl Square, where they had camped out for a month. Authorities shortly after razed the roundabout.

Authorities say 24 people were killed in the unrest, including four policemen. The opposition puts the toll at 30. …source

“I wouldn’t stay here at the Center and wait for the wounded to come here dead. I’m going where they are. I wouldn’t wait for dead bodies to come”. She went to one of the paramedics. “I couldn’t bear that, take me now, take me there immediately”. The paramedic was smoking his cigarette nervously, he took a deep breath, looked at her insisting eyes, and said “Get in”.

Bahraini Doctors: A Thorn to the Regime- part 6- Sitra’s Long Day
Bahrain Mirror

“We were at the Health Center. We were treating the wounded who were brought in hundreds. We heard terrible screams coming from outside the Health Center. We got ready for something important. A young man came in carrying one of the injured. His steps were heavy. His face was bloodless. His countenance could not fully express the shock on his face. As he entered, screams exploded in the center. I was standing away from the entrance, I only noticed trail of blood that was spilling on his walking line. When the man passed by anyone, that one would cry, slap their chest, curse, beat their head with their hands or against a wall. Still, he was far from me. I got a glimpse of a piece of something dangling behind the injured’s head. I didn’t figure out what it was. The young man got closer to me. I approached him to treat the injured. He looked at me momentarily in despair. He continued his way to the other door toward the ambulance. The place got hysteric. No one was able to believe what they saw, neither able to contain themselves. The victim’s head was then directly in front of me. I saw the horrible view. I hadn’t imagined I would see such a view for my entire life, a head was burst open by bullets. His brain was spilt out. Only skin remained. I totally collapsed”A female doctor remembered.

This scene took place in Sitra, and specifically in Sitra Health Center. It was March 15, 2011. The first day of the martial law (National Security Law). The particular event which preceded the scenes at the Health Center was the besieging of Sitra and attacking it by the security forces. To be more specific, the event was the incursion of Peninsula Shield troops into Bahrain. The martyr was Ahmed Farhan (30 years) whose brain spattered. He was shot directly in the head. The young man who carried his body was Monem Mansoor. Monem would be sentenced for three years in prison because he carried Farhan’s body.

The ambulance arrived at Salmaniya Hospital with Farhan’s body at around 3:00 PM(1). The receiving of the body was not different from that at Sitra Health Center. The same shock, self-beating and bewilderment. A female doctor recalled: “We were in a state of mourning. Even the male doctors collapsed and cried loudly. Some women fainted. Nobody dared to see the horrific and ugly scene. Dr. Ali AlEkri shouted hysterically: Treat him, why are you just looking at him? Another replied: Oh, doctor, how can we treat him while he’s without a brain”.

Appreciation of Another Sort
The medical staff were no longer outside the event. They became part of it. It was not because the killed and the wounded passed through them, but because they became subjected to dangers in the same way as the peaceful protesters. In the previous part of this report we saw what the medical staff were subjected to; beating and threats for exercising their humanitarian and professional role in treating the wounded and injured. In this part we will see more of punishment, harassment and torture.

Jailed nurse Rulla Al-Saffar hugs Dr.Haneen Al-Bosta

Haneen Albosta was a young female doctor. She loved here profession. During her university study she scored the third among young scientists(2) in a competition that was held by the University of Medicine in Ukraine. That is how the international community acclaimed her talents while she was still a student. However, on March 15, 2011, and as a full-fledged doctor, she was waiting for a prize of another sort. The prize was from her own country.

Haneen recounted what she had gone through to the Bahraini daily “Al-Wasat”, which published her testimony the following day(9). She documented it on the police records when she would be interrogated later. “Bahrain Mirror” got more details from one of Dr. Haneen’s relatives.

Haneen was at home, she had just come from the medical tent at the Pearl Roundabout. She slept for only few hours. It was 10:30 in the morning. A paramedic phoned her: “Come now, they have attacked Sitra Area”. She got up immediately, put on her dress. Her mother tried to stop her, her brother tried too. They yelled at her not to go. She did not care. She prepared her things to leave. The last she heard was her mother’s voice calling her. She would know later that her mother lost her conscious after she left. In Salmaniya Hospital she stood waiting for an ambulance to take her to Sitra. A minibus with a wounded entered the hospital. Haneen helped in removing the wounded from the minibus. She got on the minibus, closed the door, and headed to Sitra.

When the minibus approached Sitra, she saw that garbage containers and rocks were scattered on the road at the entrance of the area. Those acted a deterrent for security forces when trying to enter. At the Health Center, she saw the wounded lying on the ground, some of them suffering from tear gas suffocation, and some were wounded by gunshots(3). Haneen quickly set to work treating the gunshot cases and moving the ones with larger wounds to the nursing section. A large crowd(4) of people gathered at the entrance of the Center, orming a human chain to organize and facilitate the entry of the cases being received. At the entrance, there was a doctor who quickly triaged the incoming injuries and directed them to the appropriate section of the Center(5).

I wouldn’t wait for dead bodies to come
“It was about noon time, the number of wounded was increasing quickly, we started to smell blood and see more of it. We felt that things started to warm up. We expected the worst” A member of the medical said. It was not long after the mid-day, before the devastating arrival of Farhan’s body, that shook the Center and the people who witnessed that arrival. The ambulance left to Salmaniya Hospital with Farhan’s body to issue a Death Certificate . For fifteen minutes after that the medical staff were still in a state of bewilderment. Screams prevailed over talk. The shock shrouded the place.

Farhan’s body kept Haneen shocked for a while. She was silent. Then she screamed: “I wouldn’t stay here at the Center and wait for the wounded to come here dead. I’m going where they are. I wouldn’t wait for dead bodies to come”. She went to one of the paramedics. “I couldn’t bear that, take me now, take me there immediately”. The paramedic was smoking his cigarette nervously, he took a deep breath, looked at her insisting eyes, and said “Get in”.

They proceeded toward where the clashes were raging. They were behind the first row of the bare-handed protesters who were face-to-face with the anti-riot police. They started showering rubber bullets. Some of the bullets hit the garbage containers. frightening sounds were heard. The youths kept on shouting: “God is Great”. They were increasing in numbers, not decreasing, while advancing closer to the police. The tear gas became denser. Fainting cases increased. The youths dragged the injured toward Haneen. The shooting became more violent and the police aimed their rubber bullets and birds gunshots directly at the protesters(8). With each round of attack the youths jumped into the houses, but then kept returning. “Those young men didn’t break, they didn’t get tired, attack and retreat” An eyewitness said. …more

A second letter was leaked from the Dry Dock prison to “Bahrain Mirror” by Ebrahim Al-Demistani the Secretary General of Bahrain Nursing Society

Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive):A second letter was leaked from the Dry Dock prison to “Bahrain Mirror”. It was written by Ebrahim Al-Demistani the Secretary General of Bahrain Nursing Society. It was written on 9th August 2011.

Al-Demistani was born in 1970. A Chief Nurse in Aluminium Bahrain Company(Alba) and a certified international trainer of trainers from the American First Aid organisation since 2007. He trained hundreds of paramedics from Bahrain and the GCC countries. He carried out scores of workshops in safety and first aids and sprots injuries for Ministry of Education employees. He presented scores of lectures for the school students in their various stages.

During March events, Al-Demistani lost his 17 year old son. In the evening of March 13, 2011, an

unidentified car deliberately ran over the young man on the bridge that overlooked the Pearl Roundabout. It fled quickly. That day witnessed volatile events, in the morning the sit-in at the Financial Harbour was attacked, then the Roundabout, and what the university saw of armed people attack. All of that coincided with the spread of organised armed gangs in all the regions of Bahrain. They were labelled Baltagiya (thugs or bullies).

That painful and tragic loss did not stop the regime from arresting Ebrahim Al-Demistani in a systematic intensive campaign that targeted the medical staff who were a thorn in the regime throat that was hard to remove. In his leaked letter, Al-Demistani asked that his letter to be published to tell of the detainees ordeal in the Dry Dock prison, the deliberate negligence of their health care citing what he suffered personally of health care negligence, stressing that others suffered similarly. That was shown in a way or another in the first leaked letter of the psychological, health and physical deterioration that the medical staff experience in the prison.

Al-Demistani explains: “I was beaten directly on the vertebral column and the coccyx bone for seven continuous days since the start of my arrest on 3rd April 2011. I felt horrible pain. After I was taken to the Dry Dock prison on 8th April I was checked up by the clinic doctor there who is a resident doctor. He continued treating me by tranquillisers; Cataflam, Voltaren and PrednIsolone. I felt numbness and tingling in the soles of my feet”. Al-Demistani’s excruciating pain was not alleviated. So he frequented the prison clinic.

But did the treatment plan change? Al-Demistani says in his letter: “I continued to visit that doctor for about 15 to 18 times, without x-raying me or transferring me to a specialist”. He remained all the time suffering pain that he did no identify its cause exactly except he felt it after the torture and harsh beating that he suffered in the first days of his detention. However, the doctor did not bother to make any move to reveal the cause of the pain and the tingling that persisted for about fours months.

Al-Demistani added: “Just three weeks ago, I was transferred by the resident doctor in the Dry Dock prison clinic. Today I went for my first physiotherapy session in the hospital at the Fortress. The session took only 15 minutes from 9:00-9:15, then I sat waiting for the bus to go back to the Dry Dock prison. I waited for four complete hours. I asked to lie down because of the severe pain that I was not able to sit any more. I was allowed to lie down in a bed in a ward where a number of hunger strikers detainees from the Central Region were kept”. Al-Demistani added in his letter: “After the doctor in charge came he asked me why am I lying in the bed? I told him of the pain I felt, and that I asked the doctor in the Dry Dock prison clinic to transfer me to an orthopaedic four months ago and till now I was not transferred. The doctor asked the appointments employee to book me an appointment for the following day which was Wednesday 10th August 2011. I was booked that appointment, but after 15 minutes he told me I could see the consultant. I saw Dr. Adel Al-Sheikh an orthopaedic and told him the whole story. He verified the number of my visits to the Dry Dock prison clinic from the computer that numbered 18 visits. After that he ordered an x-ray for me whose result was a fracture in the coccyx bone”.

Now, after four months Al-Demistani came to know that the excruciating pain he endured for four months was because of a fracture in his vertebra. All that time the resident doctor in the Dry Dock prison clinic did not bother to do any check-up to diagnose the cause of the pain that the detainee suffered despite his repetitive visits to no avail.

Al-Demistani wrote that the doctor: “told me at present they can’t perform surgically for fear of complications, and he will depend on tranquillisers (Olfer) and physiotherapy, and the fracture needs nine months”. Al-Demstrani colleagues in the prison tell that he cannot sit because of the fracture and he suffers severe pain when sitting or praying.

So Al-Demistani finds himself back-broken twice. The first time when the thugs murdered his young son and he picked his rose a martyr in his hands. The second time when the torturers broke his back and did not care to treat him. …source