Ayatollah: Hezbollah will respond to Iran attack
September 27, 2011 02:27 AM – By Kristin Dailey – The Daily Star

TEHRAN: Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has said Hezbollah will destroy Tel Aviv if Israel attacks Iran, an Iranian ayatollah told The Daily Star.

Ayatollah Jafar Shoujouni, a senior Shiite scholar and prominent member of Iran’s Combatant Clergy Association, said Nasrallah made the remark during a two-and-a-half hour meeting with the Hezbollah leader in Lebanon about three months ago.

During the meeting Nasrallah told him, “I am a cadet of Ayatollah Khamenei’s school,” said Shojouni.

Nasrallah also expressed gratitude toward the late Grand Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Bahjat, crediting the recently deceased Iranian religious leader’s prayers for Hezbollah’s victory in the 2006 war, adding that his resistance group would retaliate against any Israeli attack on Iran.

“If Israelis come near Tehran, we will destroy Tel Aviv,” Shojouni, who was Bahjat’s only student for eight years, quoted Nasrallah as saying.

Western and Israeli analysts have warned that an Israeli attack on Iran could draw Hezbollah retaliation, but officials in the resistance group have never acknowledged or denied this publicly.

Shojouni said Nasrallah is a cause of honor, not just for Lebanon, but also for all Islamic and Arab countries.

“Because Israelis are afraid of him and his people, we must thank him, and Iranians are protecting him for this reason,” he said.

“Israel is afraid of this sayyed, son of Zahra, and it shows because Israel has forgotten what was once its slogan, which is that they will have the lands from the Euphrates to the Nile River. It shows that they are so afraid of Hezbollah that they have forgotten about all of these things,” Shojouni added.

Speaking about the unrest in neighboring Syria, one of Iran’s closest allies, the ayatollah said that the Assad family’s control of the Syrian presidency for four decades was “not correct.”

“These sort of 40-year presidencies will lead to dictatorship, and it is so,” he said, arguing that Syria should instead “follow the path and methods of Iran,” by holding elections for a new president every four to five years.

However, he warned that Israel and Western countries were seeking to exploit the turmoil in Syria to their own advantage.

“On this point I say with certainty, Syria is not Libya. In Libya, oppression led to an awakening of the people, but in Syria, Israelis and Americans have made this problem in the name of the people … I think they wish to open the door of Syria with NATO force. Of course, Iran won’t allow this to happen,” he said.

“In the Iranian overview, Syria is on the front line against Israelis, and even Hezbollah in this case is connected with us [geographically] through Syria,” he said. “We agree with any kind of protests or internal reform aimed at improving the situation of the people. [But] our goal is that Zionists not use these protests as a way to inflict damage on Hezbollah and Syria’s resistance.”

…more

The Emperor’s Speech
Obama Defends Delusions – by Nebojsa Malic, September 24, 2011 – Antiwar.com

The speech Barack Hussein Obama gave before the UN General Assembly aimed to assure the world that the Atlantic Empire was still the world’s hegemon, strong as ever, and committed to persevere in the historical mission of ridding the world of things that weren’t nice. While meant to sound inspirational and even triumphant at times, it came off more as an attempt at self-reassurance, a plea to the world to ignore the observable reality and continue to accept the myth of Imperial omnipotence.

Meaningless Peace

Almost at the start, Obama began making excuses. He inherited the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said, but is about to end them “from a position of strength.” Those who have to say they are strong usually are not. And though he claimed both countries will soon enjoy a “normal relationship” with the U.S. as “sovereign nations,” Obama promised an “equal partnership” with Iraq and “enduring partnership” with the Afghan people – meaning that in practice, they won’t be rid of U.S. garrisons, drones, spies and bribes just yet, and maybe not ever.

So, in Empire-speak, “sovereignty” is entirely meaningless, and “partnership” means taking orders without question. File that for future reference.

The False Spring

The “tide of war is receding,” Obama proclaimed. Al-Qaeda had been “degraded” and Osama bin Laden is dead. Freedom is erupting all over the world, with the “help” of Empire and its allies. In Obama’s narrative, everything is part of the inevitable historical march of “equality”, from the civil wars in Ivory Coast and Libya to the “revolutions” in Tunisia and Egypt.

Never mind that the situation in Ivory Coast was not quite as simple, or that the popular revolts in north Africa all seem to have been at least partly driven by Imperial agents. Never mind that the UN authorized a no-fly zone in Libya, not a six-month bombing campaign and “regime change”. Forget about the Shariah Democrats or whatever the Al-Qaeda in Libya calls itself now, having been installed in power by NATO. When facts come up against the narrative, the facts lose.

Notice also the different standards for different places. The Empire wants governments in Syria and Yemen gone, so they are told to surrender to the protesters – or else. Yet in Bahrain, a major US naval base, the Empire prefers “a meaningful dialogue that brings peaceful change that is responsive to the people” and believes ” the patriotism that binds Bahrainis together must be more powerful than the sectarian forces that would tear them apart.” …more

Torture fears for Bahraini women and girls in detention
September 26, 2011 – Amnesty International

The Bahraini authorities must urgently investigate reports that women were tortured in detention after being arrested in Manama during pro-reform protests, Amnesty International said today.

Security forces arrested scores of people in the capital on Friday as protesters attempted to reach the city’s GCC Roundabout, formerly Pearl Roundabout.

Among those detained are 38 women and seven girls who were arrested at a city centre shopping mall and accused of “illegal public gathering”, rioting, and attacking security forces. They were apprehended without arrest orders, interrogated without lawyers present and some of them reportedly tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

“It appears that Bahrain’s authorities have patently denied these women and girls their rights after rounding them up at a Manama shopping centre,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“All detainees must be given access to lawyers and contact with their families.”

The detainees have not had contact with their families or adequate access to legal counsel since their arrest, and the authorities have reportedly not given them food or allowed them to pray.

Several of those in detention are ill and need medical treatment.

When their lawyers requested to attend the women’s interrogations at the Public Prosecution Office (PPO), they were told the women were not being held there.

After refusing to leave, the lawyers saw some of the women detainees being moved from one floor to another inside the building and managed to speak to some of them.

Nour al-Ghasla, 20, had bruises on her face apparently from ill-treatment in custody, and many others are believed to have been beaten by police.

After their arrest, the women were taken to two police stations in Manama before being transferred to the PPO on Saturday morning.

Following their interrogation, the PPO ordered that the 38 women be detained for 45 days, pending investigation. It is believed they are currently being held at the women’s detention centre in ‘Issa Town outside the capital.

The seven girls also remain in custody despite a juvenile court ordering their release today. …source

Bahrain government cracks down on protests as majority boycott elections
Mon, 09/26/2011 – 13:37 – Free Speech Radio

In Bahrain today a court set up by the monarchy sentenced the head of the teachers’ union to 10 years in prison for participation in anti-regime protests. His deputy received three years. The sentences follow returned protests, which began last week ahead of elections that took place Saturday.

Security forces used stun grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters according to witnesses in the village of Sanabis.

A video posted on Youtube shows security forces in riot gear stomping on an unarmed man as he lies on the ground. A woman tries to intervene, and a policeman sprays her in the face with a canister as a crowd gathers.

According to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, security forces attacked protesters in the lead up to the voting. Government forces also arrested 45 women and girls in one of Bahrain’s main shopping malls days before the election, according to the AP.

The majority Shiite opposition critical of the monarchy rule boycotted Saturday’s elections, which were scheduled to elect replacements for more than a dozen lawmakers who resigned in protest of how the regime responded to the demonstrations. A second round of voting will take place October 1, as some candidates failed to win 50 percent of the vote. …source

Bahrain ‘fires tear gas’ on protesters
26/09/2011 – 5:53 p | Bahrain Freedom Movement

Reports from Bahrain claim security forces have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters who are calling for a mass boycott of parliamentary elections planned for Saturday.

“The protesters have tried to take to the streets in a number of villages around the country and they have been immediately met with brutal police repression,” a source in Bahrain said on Friday.

“Police have been firing tear gas, rubber bullets, shotgun pellets and other types of objects at protesters who are largely unarmed in these villages. Those who are carrying anything are stones and maybe paint to throw at police vehicles.”

Saturday’s election will fill 18 parliamentary seats emptied when the country’s main Shia opposition party stepped down six months ago to protest an earlier violent government crackdown on demonstrations.

Earlier this year, Shia-led groups had earlier called for demonstrations to press the government for more freedoms from the Sunni monarchy which has ruled the strategically important Gulf island for more than 200 years.

‘Under repression’

Protesters on Friday marched to Manama’s Pearl Square, the former epicenter of Bahrain’s uprising that broke out in February.

“There are some posters of politicians hanging around places in Manama, the capital, that I’ve been seeing,” the source said.

“But once you get into the villages, which are predominantly the Shia villages in and around the capital, you don’t see any support for these politicians, who many are calling ‘opportunists’.”

Bahraini authorities have stepped up pressure on anti-government activists ahead of the elections, threatening those who use social media and websites to urge acts of dissent with jail.

“There is a class of society under repression and there are obstacles at every turn, blocking their voice,” said Sheik Isa Qassim during Friday’s sermon.

The cleric told followers in a mosque in Diraz, an opposition stronghold northwest of the capital Manama, that the vote on Saturday is meaningless.

“This is fake democracy,” Sheik Isa said.

Nightly clashes

Shia muslims make up a majority of Bahrain’s population, but they have long been ruled by a Sunni dynasty which they claim has not provided economic opportunities.

According to human rights groups, more than 30 people have died as a result of the protests in Bahrain.

Hundreds of activists have been detained and brought to trial on anti-state charges in a special security court since March, when Bahrain’s rulers imposed martial law and invited a Saudi-led Gulf military force to help put down dissent.

Since Bahrain lifted emergency rule in June, rights groups claim government opponents have clashed with police almost every night.

Manama’s Pearl Square has been heavily guarded since Bahrain’s security forces stormed the protesters’ encampment camp there six months ago.

On Friday, police checkpoints were erected on the streets leading up to the square. Armored police vehicles were seen parked near the former hub of anti-government protests and riot police were lined up behind the vehicles.

The opposition’s boycott of Saturday’s vote will likely tighten the grip of the kingdom’s Sunni rulers, who have so far managed to ride out six months of protests inspired by the Arab Spring. …source

The Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) and International Media Support (I-M-S) have the pleasure of inviting you to a seminar on:

Bahrain – The Human Rights Situation
Thursday, 29 September 2011, 13.00-15.00
Danish Institute for International Studies
Main Auditorium
Strandgade 71, ground floor, 1401 Copenhagen K

Background

For years the opposition in Bahrain has demanded political reforms giving all in the divided society equal rights in the political system, in economic affairs, and in access to housing and job opportunities. With inspiration from the peaceful and successful demonstrations in Egypt, demonstrators from all branches of the opposition (Sunni, Shia, secular, fundamentalist, liberal and socialist) went to the streets and from the now demolished Pearl Roundabout organized big demonstrations demanding reforms. The peaceful demonstrations were brutally cracked down by government forces with the support of military troops from Saudi Arabia and police cadres from United Arab Emirates in March. That came through without much attention from the international press and without serious reactions from the international community. Bahrain is a close “non-Nato ally” to the USA and hosts a base for the US Fifth Navy Fleet. While the international community and the USA are much concerned about human rights violations in Syria, Libya, Palestine, and Yemen, Bahrain does not appear to be on the agenda.

Speakers

Nabeel Rajab is a Bahraini human rights defender and President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), a nonprofit non-governmental organization, promoting human rights in Bahrain. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East Division, Deputy Secretary General for the International Federation for Human Rights and Chairman of CARAM Asia. Earlier this summer, it was announced that he will be receiving the 2011 Ion Ratiu Democracy Award, presented annually by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The argument for awarding it to Rajab was because he “has worked tirelessly and at considerable personal peril to advance the cause of democratic freedoms and the civil rights of Bahraini citizens”. Rajab has played a key role in the pro-democracy uprising in Bahrain during 2011.

Maryam Abdulhadi Alkhawaja is also a Bahraini human rights defender. She is the daughter of the prominent Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja and head of the foreign relations office for BCHR. Alkhawaja grew up in Denmark as she and her family was granted political asylum in the late 1980. They lived in Denmark until 2001. She was present in Bahrain during the initial phase of the uprising and has since then been active in driving western politicians attention to the situation in Bahrain and as well as the case of her father Abdulhadi Alkhawaja who was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2011 for his pro-democracy activities.

see more program details HERE

Handball players from Bahrain jailed for 15 years

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) – Two members of Bahrain’s national handball team were jailed for 15 years Monday after being charged with taking part in anti-government protests

The father of Mohammed and Ali Mirza said his sons were found guilty of being part of a group of anti-government demonstrators that burned down a farm owned by a member of the ruling family.

Mirza Salman Abdulla told The Associated Press his sons did not take part in the demonstrations by Bahrain’s Shiite majority against the Sunni dynasty.

“The sentence was not expected. My sons didn’t do anything,” Abdulla said. “This is all nonsense and not true. Until the crisis happened, they were outside Bahrain and they are not involved in politics.”

“My two sons always loved their country and sports,” he added. “That is what they did all their lives.”

A military court closed to the public also found the brothers guilty of possessing weapons and stealing money.

Ali Jawad, a beach handball player, was given 15 years by the military court for burning down the same farm.

The Mirza brothers, who played at the handball world championship in January, were among 150 Shiite athletes, coaches and referees detained as part of a crackdown on protesters. Many of them took part in marches organized by athletes in support of the demonstrations.

Inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, Bahrain’s Shiite majority took to the streets Feb. 14 to demand that the country’s more than 200-year-old Sunni dynasty loosen its control on top government and security posts. After days of mostly peaceful protests, the regime cracked down on the protesters, resulting in the death of more than 30 people and the detention of thousands. …more

Bahrain jails Shi’ites over protests
26 Sep 2011 18:13 – Reuters Alertnet – By Andrew Hammond

MANAMA, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Bahrain on Monday sentenced 32 men to 15 years in jail over violent anti-government protests and handed the head of a teachers’ union a 10 year prison term for calling for the overthrow of the Gulf Arab monarchy.

A military court ruled that the 32 men, whose names suggested they were all Shi’ite Muslims, set fire to fields and robbed farmers’ homes “with a terrorist intent” and took part in illegal gatherings, the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) said.

The agency said teachers’ union chairman Mehdi Issa Mohammed Abu Deeb was found guilty of disrupting schooling, broadcasting false news and threatening national security by encouraging protest marches and sit-ins.

His deputy, Jalila Mohammed Reza al-Salman, was jailed for three years.

Bahrain’s Sunni Muslim rulers in March quashed pro-democracy protests led by the Shi’ite majority demanding an end to sectarian discrimination and a greater say in government.

Gulf Arab states Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates sent troops to help crush the demonstrations. In the ensuing crackdown, about 30 people were killed, hundreds wounded and more than 1,000 detained — mostly Shi’ites.

The verdicts were issued days after a by-election to fill seats vacated by the largest opposition bloc Wefaq in protest at the handling of the unrest. The election was boycotted by Bahraini Shi’ites, reducing turnout to 17 percent.

Unrest continues almost nightly in many Shi’ites villages in the banking hub, which hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet.

A group calling itself the February 14 Youth Coalition — activists involved in the protests that began in February — called on Monday for an escalation in the clashes with police, saying security measures had gone too far to put down attempts to revive protests.

“We announce the beginning of a new stage in the holy defence which will involve more deterrence and pain for the regime,” it said, adding it was time to throw aside “political calculations” on how to respond to the authorities.

“We call on all the people to move forward in confronting the hand that has violated honour,” it said.

It was not clear how much influence the activists have. Wefaq is the strongest group but some analysts say it is losing its hold over many younger Shi’ites, radicalised by events, and that communal violence is likely to worsen in the absence of a political reconciliation. …more

40 women arrested over Bahrain vote protest: opposition
(AFP) – 8 hours ago

DUBAI — More than 40 Bahraini women were arrested and beaten by security forces for protesting against parliamentary by-elections, the main Shiite opposition group Al-Wefaq said in a statement Monday.

“More than 40 Bahraini women were savagely arrested… in a commercial centre where they were beaten,” it said.

“Seven minors aged between 12 and 15 were among them,” the statement said, quoting their lawyers, adding that they were “beaten and humiliated.”

Al-Wefaq called for the immediate release of the women, said they had only been expressing their “right to freedom of expression,” and called their treatment “savage and inhumane.”

The group said clerics from the Shiite-majority kingdom ruled by a Sunni dynasty staged a protest sit-in on Monday in a Shiite suburb of the capital Manama.

The women were arrested on Friday a day before the by-elections boycotted by the opposition to replace 18 Shiite MPs who quit the parliament in protest over the violence used against demonstrators in February.

A second round of voting in the by-elections will be held on Saturday in nine constituencies, the authorities announced on Sunday. …source

Bahrain: Second Round of Elections Set for Oct. 1
POMED – 25 Septemebr, 2011

Bahrain will hold a second round of elections on October 1 to fill the 9 seats in which no candidate received fifty percent of the vote in Saturday’s by-elections. Of the other seats, “four deputies were elected in the absence of any competitors, and five seats were allocated.” While a government statement reported voter turnout of 17.4%, Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa claimed the turnout was 51.4%.

Amid the by-elections, “many Shia areas” continue to witness violent clashes “nightly,” and the crackdown persists. On Monday, the National Safety Court sentenced Mahdi Abu Deeb, head of the Bahrain Teachers’ Society, to ten years in prison, and his Jalila al-Salman received three years. Their charges include “instigating the committing of criminal acts such as inviting for a teachers sit-in, the stopping of the educational process in the Kingdom, the staging of processions and demonstrations at various locations in the Kingdom.” Others also received jail time for harboring a suspect.
…source

[cb editor: in the US if you were to put Klansmen in police uniforms and make it okay to go into Black or other ethically dominate neighborhoods this is what you would have – at least until there was civil war.]