October 4 at the Wilson Center: Bahrain, the Forgotten Uprising in the Arab Spring

Bahrain: the Forgotten Uprising in the Arab Spring
October 04, 2011 // 12:00pm — 1:00pm – RSVP

Event Speakers
Maryam Al-Khawaja
Head of Foreign Relations, Bahrain Center for Human Rights

As the Arab Spring has swept across much of the Middle East and North Africa, large-scale popular protests have been generally absent in the Persian Gulf except in Bahrain where massive demonstrations have been met simultaneously with a strict government crackdown on dissent and only limited promises of reform. Al-Khawaja will discuss the prospects for change in Bahrain, the current status of the protest movement, and options for U.S. policy in this regard.
Location:
4th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center
Directions to the Wilson Center

Bahraini Protesters Jailed in Harsh Crackdown After Election Boycott
Obama administration sells Bahrain monarchy $53 million in arms as false praise of democratic progress continues
by John Glaser, September 26, 2011 -AntiWar.com

Bahrain jailed 46 Shiite protesters after clashes amid an election boycott on Saturday, sentencing 32 of them to 15 years in jail over violent anti-government protests. The head of a teachers union was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for calling for the overthrow of the monarchy.

Only 17 percent of eligible voters visited the ballot box in Bahrain’s by-elections held on Saturday. The low turnout was the result of a boycott led by the majority Shiite population that has been protesting against the minority Sunni-led monarch.

The elections were held to fill 18 seats in the 40-seat parliament that the Shiite opposition party al-Wefaq vacated in protest due to the government crackdown in recent months. Some now are calling for new elections.

The government argued that the low turnout was primarily because of intimidation of voters and candidates by the opposition. Opposition groups instead claimed that security forces cracked down on some Shia villages, beating protesters and using teargas, shotguns, stun grenades, and rubber bullets to prevent successful demonstrations at the Pearl roundabout.

Opposition groups also claimed that the elections, absent a boycott, would have been a sham. In the weeks leading up to voting day, the monarch prevented Bahraini civil rights groups from monitoring the election.

Serious abuse within Bahrain’s prisons has been alleged by many in the opposition, and the New York Times reported on claims that detainees had been forced to eat their own feces, among other mistreatment.

In his speech to the United Nations, President Obama reaffirmed that the US is a “close friend of Bahrain” and that he has hope for the so-called National Dialogue, decried as a farce by the majority of Bahrainis. Eight days before the by-elections, the Obama administration demonstrated their firm partnership with the Bahraini dictatorship by selling them $53 million in arms, including equipment that could be used against protesters. …source

WINEP interprets the Shiite representation of the end of the world through the prism of its own postulations. …according to the Islamic revolutionaries, the purpose of politics is to raise human consciousness until reaching the era of the Mahdi on earth. In contrast to Jewish or Germanic apocalyptic thinking, it does not envisage any final destruction, but a development of human consciousness.

According to WINEP, the Shiites banned the atomic bomb to better conceal they are building it
Voltaire Network – 27 September 2011 -français

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), which denounced the supposedly military nature of the Iranian nuclear program, must regularly be confronted with a hefty contention: how is it possible that the Revolutionary Guards could be developing such a program in secret when the manufacture, stockpiling, threat and use of weapons of mass destruction were forbidden by a fatwa of the Supreme Leader of the Revolution? [1]

After its long-standing denial of the fatwa’s existence, the WINEP responds to this argument in a new report. Yes, the prohibition exists, but the Islamic Revolution has always been flexible in interpreting Islam according to its needs. What is forbidden today could be allowed tomorrow. In addition, WINEP maintains that, with the Iranian Shiites’ gift of dissimulation, it can not be excluded that they have already changed their doctrine and are currently conducting under cover military nuclear research. In this case, the fatwa issued by the Supreme Leader would serve as a lure to dupe the West. Moreover, the danger is all the greater considering the rise of new Iranian leaders imbued with an apocalyptic ideology which could lead them to use the atomic bomb.

The reader will not fail to be amazed at the bad faith oozing from this report. Thus, after having long denied the existence of the fatwa, the WINEP now explains that, on the contrary, it is proof that the Iranians must be hiding something because they are intrinsically perverse. The most preposterous part is certainly the end of the reasoning: WINEP interprets the Shiite representation of the end of the world through the prism of its own postulations. President Ahmadinejad repeated in many of his speeches that, according to the Islamic revolutionaries, the purpose of politics is to raise human consciousness until reaching the era of the Mahdi on earth [2] In contrast to Jewish or Germanic apocalyptic thinking, it does not envisage any final destruction, but a development of human consciousness.

The WINEP is the think tank created by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Its mission is to provide briefing documents to the pro-Israel lobby in the United States. …source

U.S. warns Mikati over Syria sanctions
September 27, 2011 – By Mirella Hodeib -The Daily Star

NEW YORK: Prime Minister Najib Mikati told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Lebanon will fulfill its international obligations Monday, while Clinton cautioned Mikati against becoming involved in the situation in Syria.

“We discussed the many international obligations that Lebanon has and the prime minister assured me that Lebanon would always fulfill [its] international obligations,” Clinton told reporters following a meeting with Mikati at the office of the president of the U.N. Security Council in New York.

She also vowed that the U.S. would continue providing assistance to the Lebanese Army.

Mikati told The Daily Star that the U.S. administration was “understanding” and aware of the peculiar nature of Lebanese politics.

“They showed understanding for our situation and the most important thing for them is that Lebanon keeps a neutral stance,” he added, in reference to events in Syria.

Echoing Mikati, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said Clinton expressed to the Lebanese prime minister the U.S. administration’s understanding of Lebanon’s “very delicate situation.”

“The secretary reiterated our strong commitment to Lebanon, our understanding that Lebanon is in a very delicate situation and our support for Lebanon’s unity, Lebanon’s stability, and Lebanon’s sovereignty,” said the former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon.

“We also cautioned the prime minister that Lebanon needs to be very, very careful in not getting caught up in the unrest in Syria, in terms of not allowing Lebanon to be a way for Syria to evade sanctions and accountability for the brutality that the Syria government is showing against its people,” he said.

According to a statement circulated by Mikati’s media office, the prime minister informed the U.S. delegation that his government was working on “promoting stability in Lebanon and safeguarding it against the negative repercussions of events in the region.”
…more

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Letter from Birmingham jail, April 16, 1963,

Bahrain military court to rule on appeal of jailed opposition activist
Amnesty International – 27 September 2011

A military court in Manama is due to hand down its verdict on 28 September on an appeal brought by a group of prominent opposition activists in Bahrain after they were jailed in one of the ongoing trials linked to pro-reform protests earlier this year.

The military-run National Safety Court of Appeal is expected to confirm or overturn the conviction of 14 people jailed for their alleged roles in mass demonstrations at the capital’s GCC Roundabout (formerly Pearl Roundabout) in February and March 2011.

Amnesty International has repeatedly criticized the unfair military trials at the National Safety Court of First Instance, which convicted and sentenced the 14 along with seven others who were tried in absentia. There has been no independent investigation into allegations by some of the defendants that they were tortured in pre-trial detention, when they were held incommunicado.

“These opposition leaders were tried and sentenced by a court that is neither independent nor impartial,” said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

“We believe some or all of them may be prisoners of conscience, imprisoned possibly solely for their participation in peaceful protests.”

“It was quite wrong for the government to send civilians for trial before military courts to penalize them for their participation in anti-government protests.”

The defendants were previously sentenced to between two years and life imprisonment, on charges that included “setting up terror groups to topple the royal regime and change the constitution.” They all deny the charges.

The military prosecution is said to have failed to provide any substantive evidence to show that the accused used or advocated violence during the protests.

An Amnesty International observer attended the appeal hearing session for the group on 6 September, where defence lawyers asked the presiding judge to hear the defendants’ testimony about alleged abuses during their arrest and interrogation, including beatings and other ill-treatment.

“The detention and trials of these activists and others linked to pro-reform protests in Bahrain have been riddled with problems that tainted the legal proceedings,” said Malcolm Smart.

“Bahrain’s authorities must carry out a thorough and independent investigation into allegations that detainees were tortured and otherwise abused in custody, and bring to justice those responsible.”

Hundreds of Bahrainis have been arrested since pro-reform demonstrations began in central Manama in February and March, and scores of health workers, activists, teachers and others have faced military trials that have failed to meet international fair trial standards.

On 25 September, another military court sentenced the former president and vice-president of the Bahrain Teachers’ Association to 10 and three years in prison, respectively, after convicting them on protest-related charges that they deny. …more

[cb editor: King Hamad, a good place to start – stop the violence, boot the Saudi’s, free the captives, repent and plead for mercy.]

Bahrain asks Iran to help solve crisis

September 27, 2011 – Shia Post

Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid ibn Ahmad Al Khalifah has asked for Iran to help the country resolve the current crisis.

He made the remarks during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on the sidelines of the 66th annual session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday, IRNA reported.

Salehi raised concerns about recent developments in Bahrain, saying that the crisis can only be solved through dialogue between the Bahraini authorities and the people.

Sheikh Khalid said a fact-finding committee, led by renowned human rights expert Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni, is investigating the events and will publish its report by the end of October.

The Bahraini foreign minister also stated that Manama will abide by the committee’s findings.

Bahrainis have been holding anti-government demonstrations since mid-February, demanding an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty’s 40-year rule.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others have been arrested in a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters in Bahrain, which is the base of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf.

Salehi also held separate meetings with the Sudanese, Syrian, and Bulgarian foreign ministers on Monday.

Salehi and his counterparts discussed the latest international and regional developments and called for the expansion of bilateral relations. …source

Bahrain seeking Iran’s help to defuse crisis
September 27, 2011 – JafriaNews.com

JNN 27 Sept 2011 TEHRAN – The Bahraini foreign minister has called on Iran to help resolve the problems gripping his country.

Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa made the remarks during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi held in New York late on Monday.
The Bahraini foreign minister had requested the meeting.

During the meeting, Khalid expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Iran and Bahrain do not currently have ambassadors to each other’s country and said he is keen that the ambassadors resume their activities.
He also said that dissension among Muslim nations in the region is unacceptable.

On the fact that a number of countries have expressed serious concern over the situation in Bahrain, Khalid said, “We have established a fact-finding committee chaired by Mr. (Mahmoud Cherif) Bassiouni, (an international United Nations war crimes expert), which will announce the result of its investigation by October, and we will accept the result and will act accordingly.”

The Iranian foreign minister said that the Islamic Republic has adopted a clear stance on the developments occurring in the region, does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, and respects their national sovereignty.

Salehi also said, “Iran believes that the only solution to problems facing Bahrain is practicing restraint and holding dialogue between the Bahraini officials and the people of the country.” …source

Obama knows what’s at stake politically–conservative Jewish and evangelical Christian money and votes–and is allowing his election agenda to overtake his international responsibilities. Those include respecting the “Arab Spring”, a fight for democracy in a sea of autocratic rule. Obama is once again choosing not to do the right thing…

Obama and Netanyahu Left in the Dust, Overtaken by the Arab Spring and Bid for Palestinian Statehood
By Merle Lefkoff, September 26, 2011 – FPIF

Tony Blair got one thing absolutely right.

The special envoy to the Middle East Quartet (the UN, the U.S., the EU, and Russia) did not get much sleep at the UN meeting in New York last week. In an environment made frenetic because of the Palestinian bid for full recognition as a UN state, Blair seems to be alone in a deep understanding that the most auspicious time for diplomatic negotiations is when everyone who matters is bumping into everyone else who matters in the same space. His insistence on using the chaos to the fullest allows him to be especially resilient in the face of Palestinian anger at the suggestion that negotiations replace the Palestinian application. No problem. Blair is now affirming Prime Minister Abbas’s strategy to make a bid for full UN membership. In this period after the vote, negotiations are certain to be even more frenetic. It was never an either/or situation: either negotiations for a two-state solution, or application for statehood at the U.N.

If scientists and mathematicians were on the scene they would no doubt have a theoretical interest in the diplomatic scurrying for some kind of behind-the-scenes results. “Aha!” they might say. “Here we have a collection of ‘agents” interacting with one another in pursuit of a seemingly simple result, and what might emerge is something much more complicated that cannot be predicted on the basis of the collective action.” This ambiguity, the hallmark of what theorists call nonlinear systems (what goes in is not necessarily what comes out), is what makes everyone crazy and often unable to find solutions to a complex problem. Like Tony Blair, scientists find the chaos challenging and seductive, knowing that this is a terrific opportunity for changing the game.

Unlike President Obama, stuck in the legend of present-day Israel read to him by the American Jewish right, Blair seems able to scan a larger library, maneuvering deftly through the stacks for an answer at the edge of chaos. He is comfortable in not knowing which book off the shelf might suggest the happy ending he is searching for. Where Blair is diplomatically nimble and adaptive, Obama is disappointedly rigid and adamant.

Complex systems science is often called “the science of surprise,” or the “science of emergence.” In order to assist difficult negotiations in today’s world, the mediator must give up the need to control the outcome of a very nonlinear, very chaotic, quite unpredictable process. Otherwise, there are no surprises and no breakthroughs, just the same old tired outcomes. Because Netanyahu and Obama are wedged in the old and increasingly discredited paradigm of command and control, they are failing as leaders facing a much more complex world. This failure of leadership disrupts, and ultimately disables, what little respect is left for U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East.
[Read more →]

Power struggle deepens divisions among Bahraini royal family
Police suspended for torture reinstated as hardliners seek to marginalise their ‘liberal’ prince
By Patrick Cockburn – Tuesday, 27 September 2011 – The Independent

Senior Bahraini police officers suspended for torturing detainees are being swiftly reinstated in a sign of a growing struggle for power within the al-Khalifa royal family over the extent of the repression to be used against pro-democracy protesters.

In addition, 90 Jordanian officers, serving in the Bahraini police force and alleged to have mistreated prisoners, are having their contracts terminated and are being sent back to Jordan, opposition sources have told The Independent. They say it is not clear if this is to purge the security forces of the worst offenders or to get rid of witnesses to the wholesale use of torture when the government crushed the Arab Awakening movement in Bahrain in March.

Increasing divisions within the Sunni royal family are becoming more blatant as statements by King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa aimed at conciliating the majority Shia community are not followed up by action. Though he told state and private companies to reinstate the 2,500 employees sacked for taking part in pro-democracy protests, many have been unable to get their old jobs back.

The government’s actions are also contradictory. Earlier this month it suspended several senior police officers, some of them members of the al-Khalifa ruling family, after they were accused of being implicated in torturing prisoners. One officer held an important position at Riffa police station, notorious for the use of torture, and another was a section chief of the CID. Demonstrations by Sunni in Riffa in favour of the suspended officers were followed by the immediate reinstatement of at least one of the men.

The hardliners in the royal family are led by the army commander, Khalifa bin Ahmed, and his brother, the Royal Court Minister, Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed. They were once at odds with the Prime Minister, Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman, who has held his job for 40 years since the British left in 1971, but they closed ranks when the Arab Awakening started in February in Bahrain, sparked by pro-democracy uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

The largely peaceful demonstrations centred on Pearl Square in the middle of the Bahraini capital Manama, but the government reacted as if it was facing an armed insurrection. A Saudi-led military force crossed the causeway from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain in the middle of March and a brutal crackdown followed with mass arrests and use of torture. Forensic experts brought in by an investigating commission verified that 63 detainees had been so severely mistreated that marks of torture were still visible three or four months later.

The hardliners in the royal family, supported by Saudi Arabia, have sought to marginalise Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad, seen as the most liberal royal. Before the March crackdown he sought to work out an agreement with al-Wifaq, the main opposition party. Since then he, along with King Hamad, has lost much of his authority.

The government crackdown was accompanied by the state media launching an anti-Shia campaign, claiming, without any evidence, that Iran had fomented armed rebellion against the al-Khalifa dynasty. Sectarian hatreds increased, leading to Sunni-run private companies and state organisations refusing to re-employ sacked Shia employees despite the King’s order.

Mohammed Sadiq of Justice for Bahrain says that among those sacked who have not been re-employed are 24 Shia journalists, working on Al-Ayam newspaper, who were fired on 16 March. Some 402 workers at Aluminium Bahrain (almost all Shia) were sacked and only 50 have been re-employed though they have had to sign new employment contracts whereby they lose all annual leave and sickness benefits.

The continuing repression has not returned stability to Bahrain and is not likely to do so. There are nightly protests in Shia districts with the police using rubber bullets and stun grenades. Occasional deaths of protesters enrage the Shia community. Particular fury was caused by the death of Ali Jawad al-Sheikh, 14, apparently killed by a tear gas grenade fired at point-blank range.

The ruling family – from liberal voice to hardline colonel

Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa

Seen as the most liberal member of the Khalifa family, the Crown Prince had sought an agreement with opposition parties before protests began. Now, increasingly marginalised by hardliners in the royal family, he has lost much of his authority.

King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa

Conciliatory moves from the king aimed at the majority Shia community have not been followed up by action. Despite ordering state companies to reinstate employees sacked for taking part in protests, many have not yet been able to get their jobs back.

Colonel Sheikh Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Khalifa

As the leading hardliner within the royal family, the army commander has benefited from the support of Saudi Arabia, which sent a military force to help crush protests in March. He has seen his influence grow as the crackdown continues. Richard Hall …source