Volunteers in Surt removed bodies of people apparently killed in reprisal by anti-Qaddafi militias. Many had their hands bound and had been shot in the head

In Libya, Massacre Site Is Cleaned Up, Not Investigated
By KAREEM FAHIM and ADAM NOSSITER – October 24, 2011 – NYT

The volunteers said the victims included at least two former Qaddafi government officials, local loyalist fighters and maybe civilians. The killers, they believed, were former rebel fighters, belonging to anti-Qaddafi units that had used the hotel as a base in recent weeks. It appeared to be one of the worst massacres of the eight-month conflict, but days after it occurred, no one from Libya’s new government had come to investigate.

The interim leaders, who declared the country liberated on Sunday, may simply have their hands full with the responsibilities that come with running a state. But throughout the Libyan conflict, they have also shown themselves to be unwilling or incapable of looking into accusations of atrocities by their fighters, despite repeated pledges not to tolerate abuse.

The lack of control came into sharp focus last week, when former rebel fighters arrested Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. In videos of the capture on Thursday morning, victorious fighters were shown manhandling Colonel Qaddafi, who appeared to be bleeding and distressed but conscious. This was moments after he was pulled from a large drainage pipe where he had hidden after a NATO air assault destroyed part of his convoy. Subsequent video shows his bruised corpse, with at least one bullet wound to the head. …more

Bury Gaddafi with dignity
Gaddafi’s body should be treated with dignity in order to send a message to other dictators and future generations.
Hamid Dabashi – 22 Oct 2011 – AlJazeera

The unseemly pictures and videos circulating the internet capturing the final moments of Gaddafi’s life should be the last signs of indignity that Libyan people would ever see marking their historic revolution. Future generation of Libyans, the children of these very freedom fighters, deserve better.

Reports indicate that Colonel Gaddafi’s body is in the possession of authorities from the National Transitional Council (NTC). They must see that he gets a proper and dignified funeral, befitting a fallen head of state.

The body now in possession of NTC authorities is not just the remains of a fallen dictator to be violated freely on the battlefield of a cruel history. It is also the body-politic of future Libya. The triumphant euphoria of Libyans feasting on their victory, richly deserved, must not be marred by the undignified pictures of abusing the image they will most remember and tell their grandchildren for an entire history yet to unfold.

Treat Gaddafi’s body with dignity not because he deserved it. But because the Libyan people need it. They must commence the rest of their history with a sense of self-dignity, of triumphant pride. That self-dignity is now determined by how they will treat the dead body of Colonel Gaddafi.

Treat that body not as the fallen tyrant deserved, but as the future of your children deserves.

Shakespearian dilemma

There is a scene in Hamlet where the bereaved Prince turns to the conniving Polonius asking him to treat a group of actors visiting the Elsinore with dignity and generous hospitality. “Good my lord,” Hamlet says, “Will you see the players well bestowed? Do you hear, let them be well used, for they are the abstract and brief chronicles of the time. After your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live.”

These days are indeed “the abstract and brief chronicles of the time” for future Libyans, for the future of the Arab and Muslim world. They should treat the fallen tyrant not “according to his desert,” but after their own honor and dignity.
Follow Al Jazeera’s ongoing coverage

Let the pictures and videos of a proper burial and a dignified resting place for Colonel Gaddafi fill the schoolbooks in which future generations of Libyans will read their Arabic alphabet and learn the dignity of their parentage.

The man was a relic, a frightful echo from a past, a monster not entirely of his own making. Heads of state, who in some cases enabled the dictator, are now rejoicing in his downfall. …more

US senator talks about military options in Syria
The Associated Press – Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011- Las Vegas Sun

U.S. Senator John McCain said Sunday that military action to protect civilians in Syria might be considered now that NATO’s air campaign in Libya is ending.

However, President Barack Obama’s administration has made clear it has no appetite for military intervention in Syria _ a close ally of Iran that sits on Israel’s border _ and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton noted Sunday that the Syrian opposition has not called for such action as President Bashar Assad’s regime.

“Now that military operations in Libya are ending, there will be renewed focus on what practical military operations might be considered to protect civilian lives in Syria,” McCain said at the World Economic Forum in Jordan. “The Assad regime should not consider that it can get away with mass murder. Gadhafi made that mistake and it cost him everything,” he added, referring to ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi who was captured and killed last week by fighters loyal to the new government.

“Iran’s rulers would be wise to heed similar counsel,” McCain said.

It was not clear whether the Republican senator from Arizona was referring to American or NATO military action against the Syrian regime, which has waged a 7-month crackdown on opposition protesters and killed about 3,000 people, according to the U.N.

However, international intervention, such as the NATO action in Libya that helped topple Gadhafi, is all but out of the question in Syria. Washington and its allies have shown little inclination for getting involved militarily in another Arab nation in turmoil. There also is real concern that Assad’s ouster would spread chaos around the region.

Syria is a geographical and political keystone in the heart of the Middle East, bordering five countries with which it shares religious and ethnic minorities and, in Israel’s case, a fragile truce. Its web of alliances extends to Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah movement and Iran’s Shiite theocracy. There are worries that a destabilized Syria could send unsettling ripples through the region.

Most Syrian opposition groups, inside and outside Syria, also have said they oppose military intervention. …more

The U.S. State Department announced Oct. 14 that it was putting the Bahrain sale on hold until a government commission set up by King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa in June to investigate Manama’s harsh crackdown on protesters demanding the end of the Sunni monarchy. It’s more than likely the report will exonerate the Bahraini government, which would clear the way for the Pentagon to complete the $53 million sale. quagmire

Arms sales to Mideast under the gun
Oct. 24, 2011 – UPI

MANAMA, Bahrain, Oct. 24 (UPI) — Amid growing calls for halting arms sales to repressive Arab regimes, the U.S. administration has delayed a planned $53 million deal with Bahrain. But it’s a token gesture at best and is expected to go through eventually.

Not surprising since U.S. officials disclosed in September that the United States had secretly extended a defense agreement with the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom, a key regional financial hub, in 2002 that will run until 2016. The Pentagon declared the agreement, reached in 1991, is classified and declined comment on the extension. Because it’s not a full-blown defense treaty, the agreement didn’t require approval from Congress. The pact allows the United States access to bases in the island state, strategically located in the middle of the Persian Gulf opposite Iran, and the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. That’s a powerful U.S. military force in the volatile region and its importance grows as the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq moves toward completion Dec. 31.

The U.S. State Department announced Oct. 14 that it was putting the Bahrain sale on hold until a government commission set up by King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa in June to investigate Manama’s harsh crackdown on protesters demanding the end of the Sunni monarchy. It’s more than likely the report will exonerate the Bahraini government, which would clear the way for the Pentagon to complete the $53 million sale.

It includes 44 Humvee armored vehicles, several hundred TOW anti-tank missiles with associated equipment and support programs. Primary U.S. contractors are AM General and the Raytheon Co.
The United States clearly has strategic interests in Bahrain and doesn’t want to see the Al Khalifa monarchy fall as that would jeopardize U.S. bases in Bahrain and boost Iran’s influence.

The U.S. Navy is extending its naval base in Manama, which supports more than a dozen U.S. warships. The Navy has taken over the Mina Salman port, which will be large enough to berth Nimitz class aircraft carriers. The Navy has been in Bahrain since 1973, when the British pulled out of the Persian Gulf, and has built a minor naval station into one of the most crucial bases in the region.

According to the Marine Times newspaper, the U.S. Marine Corps plans to locate one of two new Marine Expeditionary Brigade headquarters in Bahrain under the U.S. Central Command.

Manama authorities claimed the mass protests, mainly by the kingdom’s downtrodden majority Shiites, were instigated by Iran, which has long claimed the island state as its territory.

The revolt took place as the Arab world was convulsed by uprisings by pro-democracy protesters that have toppled the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt, both U.S. allies, and overturned the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was killed by rebel fighters.

Other uprisings are taking place in Syria and Yemen, with some 5,000 people killed since January, most of them by the forces of regimes they seek to topple. Western human rights organizations claim the weapons used by these repressive regimes, with records of large-scale human rights abuses, were provided by U.S., European and Russian governments and defense companies.

These groups demand tighter regulation of arms sales to such regimes. Amnesty International said Oct. 18 that many of the world governments calling for political reforms and human rights in the Middle East were the very ones preventing it by selling weapons to those regimes. Amnesty’s report on arms sales to despotic regimes listed Austria, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the United States as the main suppliers since 2005 to the countries — Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen — covered by the study.

Britain has said it plans to tighten export regulations to halt the sale of weapons, ammunition and tear gas to regimes that maintain police states and abuse human rights. But, like the Americans, Britain and its European partners are coming to rely heavily on military exports to maintain production lines and research and development at a time when defense budgets are being slashed because of the global economic slowdown. So it wasn’t surprising that when British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the gulf in February, when the Arab uprisings were getting into full swing, a posse of executives from U.K. defense companies went with him. …source

HRW: Bahrain: Medics Describe Torture in Detention
Appeals Court Should Void Flawed Convictions – OCTOBER 21, 2011 – BCHR

(Beirut) – Medical staff convicted by a military court of alleged serious crimes during the period of anti-government protests in Bahrain in early 2011 were subjected to abuse and torture in detention, Human Rights Watch said today. Given the fundamental unfairness of the trial, including that civilians were tried in a military court, Bahrain’s High Court of Appeals should reverse the convictions of 20 medical staff when they hear their appeal on October 23, 2011, and order an independent investigation into the defendants’ allegations of abuse and torture.

The prosecutors should drop all charges based solely on their exercise of freedom of speech and assembly, and ensure a new trial for defendants in a civilian court only if there is evidence of possible criminal activity, Human Rights Watch said. On October 5, Attorney General Ali Al Buainain announced that the appeal will “be equivalent to a retrial.” Human Rights Watch interviewed 7 of the 20 medical staff convicted of serious crimes, who told of severe abuse in detention and extensive violations of their rights to a fair trial.

“The appeals court should decisively overturn the unfair verdicts against the medics and dismiss outright all politically motivated charges,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The new hearing should also disallow allegedly coerced confessions.”

On September 29, the National Safety Lower Court, a special military court, convicted the 20 doctors, nurses, and paramedics on charges including forcibly taking over the Salmaniya Medical Complex and refusing treatment to patients based on sectarian affiliation. The court also convicted the 20 of transparently political offenses, such as “instigating hatred against the ruling system,” “incitement to overthrow the regime,” and “spreading false news.”

On March 16, the Bahrain Defense Force (BDF) took control of the Salmaniya Medical Complex, the largest medical complex in Bahrain. Beginning on March 17, security forces arrested 48 medics, 28 of whom separately face lesser misdemeanor charges before a civilian court for speech-related offenses.

Medical staff interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that interrogators subjected them to physical and psychological pressure during pretrial detention, typically to coerce confessions. Authorities held many of them for weeks, much of that time incommunicado. None could meet with their lawyers to prepare their defenses prior to the military court trial. Many saw family members and lawyers for the first time on June 6, at their first trial session. …more

Geopolitics and Democracy in Bahrain
By: Abbas Bu-Safwan – Published Friday, October 21, 2011 – Al-Akhbar

The Bahraini popular uprising is bound by its local framework and by regional and international factors that guide its direction and may define its outcome. In light of this reality, a more comprehensive approach needs to be taken towards the choices and outcomes that await the current political situation in Bahrain.

The uprising in Bahrain is purely an internal event. It is the manifestation of people’s bitterness toward the ruling dynasty and their monopolization of power. The uprising is merely the translation or embodiment of people’s resentment stemming from a dictatorial regime and from corruption, including the inconsistent implementation of law and the strong hold that security forces have over politics. The regime in Bahrain has demonstrated an increasingly entrenched discrimination against its Shiite citizens. The government has taken steps to change the demographics by illegally offering Bahraini nationality to non-Shiite migrants, though Shia still represent at least two-thirds of the population in the country. This internal tension is at least a century old, and its renewal reflects the depth and longevity of the crisis. Since the 1930s, Bahrainis have demanded an elected parliament and a regime that upholds the law equally for all its citizens.

The geopolitical realities of the small islands of Bahrain may prevent a democracy from ever taking hold. At the very least, the characteristics of the Bahraini ruling system and its rentier economy impede any transition to a democratic regime. The geographic location of Bahrain is a factor that also hinders renovation of the country’s tribal structure. How so?

Bahrain is in the center of a turbulent region, with a history of wars that precedes the establishment of the relatively new state. This region that includes Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries is governed by tribes. Bahrain’s Al Khalifa tribe has controlled political power and the national wealth for the past 230 years. Such regimes don’t tolerate authentic democratic transformations that allow people to effectively participate in the ruling of their country. Moreover, Saudi Arabia considers Bahrain to be its backyard. In other words, it has a real say in Bahraini affairs. When demonstrations spread in Manama between mid-February and March, Saudi Arabia felt that its influence in Bahrain was threatened. It intervened militarily in a crude and unprecedented manner. …more

24 October.2011

Latest News regarding Bahrain’s Doctors in Chains:

On 23rd October the medics went back to court, unsure whether it was for an appeal or a retrial. The Public Prosecution dropped a few of the lesser charges and stated that a retrial would begin, starting on 28th November. The trial will be open to the public. We encourage everyone to write to their government to encourage them to send representatives to observe the proceedings to ensure a fair trial. This is a fact sheet handed out by the Public Prosecution in court on 23rd October regarding the proceedings: Public Prosecution statement on 23 Oct 2011 distributed in Appeal Court HERE

This is the response from the medics’ lawyers, released on 24th Oct: Arabic & English Medics’ Lawyers statement in reply to PP statement on 23 October 2011

In the name of God the most merciful and precious

Statement by the Lawyer of the Bahraini Medics regarding the Start of the Hearings before the Criminal High Court of Appeal The Criminal High Court of Appeal yesterday, 23rd October 2011, held its first hearings of the appeals filed by the Medical Staff and also by the Public Prosecution. In a precedent considered the first of its kind in the history of the Courts of Bahrain, the Public Prosecution distributed among the persons attending the Court hearing, just a few minutes before the hearing started, an English statement printed on the Public Prosecution’s letterhead papers, consisting of three pages. The statement was entitled “Fact Sheet for Hearing of 23.10.2011.”

In our capacity as the defense lawyers for the Medical Staff charged in the Case, we hereby lay our response to the Public Prosecution’s statement and also what the Public Prosecution’s representative recorded in the hearing minutes, as follows:

First: There is difference in the charges put against the Medical Staff before the Court of Appeal and those which were put against them before the military National Safety Court. The Public
Prosecution, for example, dropped three minor charges out of 14 charges put against them. The three charges which the Public Prosecution dropped from the list of charges are only misdemeanors
the punishment for which does not exceed a maximum of three years’ prison term. Those three misdemeanors are:

1. Public incitement of hatred to the ruling regime or showing contempt towards it, which is punishable according to Article 165 of the Penal Code. Statement by the Lawyer of the Bahraini Medics regarding the Start of the Hearings before the Criminal High Court of Appeal 1

2. Publicly broadcasting false or malicious news or statements which are detrimental to the public interest, which is punishable by Article 168 of the Penal Code.

3. Inciting others, by any method of publication, not to comply with the applicable laws or to do any act that constitutes a crime, which is punishable by Article 173 of the Penal Code.

Therefore, it is clear that the Public Prosecution maintained all charges against the Medical Staff the constitute felonies, which are the most grave and serious, mainly the following:

1. Occupying a public hospital which is punishable with up to life imprisonment as per Article 149 of the Penal Code.

2. Possessing arms without license which is punishable with up to 15 years’ imprisonment as per Article 7 of the Explosives and Arms Law.

3. Detaining public servants and preventing them of carrying their duties which is punishable with up to 15 years’ imprisonment as per Article 357 of the Penal Code.

4. Promoting the overthrow of the political system of the State by force which is punishable with up to 10 years’ imprisonment as per Article 160 of the Penal Code.

Practically speaking, dropping the said three minor charges by the Public Prosecution will have no impact on the prison sentences passed against the Medical Staff, in case the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling handed down by the military National Safety Court for any of the felony charges above-mentioned. This is because according to Article 66 of the Penal Code, a single punishment
which is that or the gravest offense will be applied. .FULLTEXT HERE

Ignoring Human Rights, Defense Dept. Considers Selling Weapons to Bahrain
by Zachary Foster – 24 October, 2011 – policymic.com

Last week, Amnesty International published a report urging the international community to ban arms sales of any kind to countries in which there is a substantial risk that these arms will be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international human rights law.

The report analyzed arms transfers to Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Yemen since 2005, finding that the principle weapons suppliers were Austria, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and the United States.

The evidence is at times disturbing. In 2009, Finland authorized the sale of sniper rifles to Bahrain for “demonstration purposes.” Egyptian security forces (mostly from the Ministry of Interior) killed hundreds of peaceful protestors with shotguns and automatic weapons obtained from the U.S. government as well as other U.S. commercial suppliers. Libya used Spanish-made MAT-120mm mortars in the city center of Misrata – weapons that are altogether prohibited by the Convention on Cluster Munitions. These and thousands more weapons sales, the report documents, have enabled tyrants in the Middle East to slaughter their own people.

To the credit of the West, in most cases the U.S. and European states froze contracts or revoked licenses to states that began using their weapons en masse against their own people.

Still, exceptions can be made for friends. A September 14 Department of Defense press release noted a possible Foreign Military Sale to the government of Bahrain, which had requested 53 million dollars of military equipment, including 44 Armored High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicles, a variety of wire guided missiles, Night Sight Sets, spare parts, and other support and test equipment. Perhaps some of the tanks and armored vehicles used in the February 17 raid on peaceful Bahraini protesters — in which five people were killed and 250 injured — were damaged and in need of urgent U.S. government repair before the next round of protests broke out?

The State Department, in response to pressure from Congress and other NGOs, recently announced a “delay” in the shipment of new arms to Bahrain pending the results of an international commission investigating “alleged” abuses by the Kingdom’s security forces. Is Foggy Bottom incapable of conducting its own investigation? Is there not enough independent evidence of flagrant human rights violations to “cancel” the shipment altogether?

The main recommendation of the report, however, is not to prohibit arms sales to erstwhile violators – something about which there seems to be general consensus (with the possible exception of the Defense Department) – but rather to establish “objective and non-discriminatory” criteria “designed to prevent arms transfers where there is a substantial risk of serious violations occurring” in the future.

How it is possible to establish “objective” criteria to predict which countries will commit “serious” violations in the future? If these criteria were so easy to develop, why didn’t Amnesty publish this report a year or two ago? Amnesty could only conceive of producing such a priori criteria after violations have taken place.

The inevitable risk – one acknowledged in the report – is that politicians will exploit this kind of law to punish some states and reward others, for reasons that may or may not have anything to do with the potential for human rights violations (if such a potentiality is even possible to determine). Short of banning the sale of any kind of arms to anyone for any reason, I think the Amnesty recommendations need a great deal more deliberation – including public debates over the objective criteria – before U.S. lawmakers consider accepting them. …source