Posts from — November 2011

Khalil Al Madhoon: A Tortured Artist in the Prisons of the Capital of Culture 2012 – Bahrain
by BCHR

Khalil Ebrahim AlMadhoon

Age: 25 years
Marital Status: Married
Degree: Bachelor of Art Education 2010, Helwan University (Egypt) – GPA: Very good
Job: Director of decoration at a construction company
Art field: Calligrapher and wood art
Awards: Several local and international. List of Awards included at the bottom of the page.

Detention: Detained since 23 March 2011
Sentenced by martial court: 15 years in prison

Khalil AlMadhoon is a Bahraini artist who is one of very few artists in Bahrain who use wood as a medium in their artwork. He also uses Arabic calligraphy in his pieces and has mastered the art of murals. Nowadays however, Khalil is a political detainee who has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by military court for daring to dream of democracy and freedom and manifesting these dreams in his artwork.
Revolution’s dream: an artwork of “I’m a sacrifice for my country”

After 15 March 2011, following the entry of Saudi troops into Bahrain and the fierce attack on Pearl Roundabout, Khalil had one goal. His goal was to complete a piece of artwork which he had drawn in his imagination for weeks and finally had time to work on. He spent several nights working on what he believed represented the dream of every Bahraini. This painting has a background of the revolution’s icon of freedom, the demolished “Lulu Monument” (pearl roundabout) with a man holding the Bahraini flag and Arabic calligraphy stating “Ana Fida Watani – I’m a sacrifice for my country”.

Arrest and torture

Every pro-democracy protester expected to be arrested following the entry of Saudi troops after the declaration of a state of emergency. Many people were being targeted for their political beliefs of opposition to the government. Khalil knew he would most probably get arrested at some point. He slept every night with worries and concerns, but not for long. On the dawn of 23rd March, his house was raided. He was arrested alongside three of his brothers: Hamid (27 years old), Taher (18 years old) and Jihad (15 years old) and several of his cousins. They were all beaten before being taken away. Khalil was first taken to the detention center of Al Qala’ah (Ministry of Interior HQ) next to Al Noaim police station, then to Qudhaibiya police station and finally to the Dry Dock detention center in ward 8 which falls under control of the National Security Apparatus. Khalil was subjected to torture and ill-treatment at every detention center he was sent to. He was admitted to the military hospital in March for about a week, to be then moved to the military prison, Al Qurain prison. Marks of torture are still visible on his nose, chin and hands.

Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has dismissed the head of the state’s security apparatus.
29 November, 2011

Tuesday’s announcement to replace Sheikh Khalifa bin Abdullah, a member of the ruling Al Khalifa family, as the head of the National Security Agency comes a week after an inquiry exposed widespread rights abuses during a crackdown on protests led by the kingdom’s Shia Muslim majority.

Adel bin Khalifa Hamad al-Fadhel takes over from Sheikh Khalifa, who was made secretary-general of Bahrain’s Supreme Defence Council and a national security adviser to the king.

Under pressure from its US allies, the Sunni-ruled kingdom has said it will comply with the findings of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI).

A $53m arms deal between the two countries was put on hold last month when the US congress and the state department said they wanted to consider the findings of the BICI report before proceeding with the sale.

The BICI was established by a royal decree in June, and headed by six international rights lawyers, following international criticism of Bahrain’s reaction to the protests that began last February.

This includes the imposition of martial law and calling in Saudi and UAE forces as part of the government’s crackdown on protests.

The security reshuffle follows Hamad’s statements earlier this week that he would hold to account and replace any officials involved in the abuses cited in the BICI report.

Bahrain has said that the interior ministry is currently engaged in a process of hiring US and British security experts to help Bahraini police forces in maintaining order while still respecting the rights and freedoms of the people.

The government has also announced that a code of conduct will be developed for the nation’s police forces, found by the BICI report guilty of using excessive force on protesters between February and March this year.

After announcing a national commission to “follow up and implement” the BICI report published last week, Hamad used the occasion of the security chief’s removal to name the head of the national commission entrusted with responding to the BICI report.

Ali bin Saleh al-Saleh will lead the national commission that will examine the inquiry’s recommendations.

Two members of the opposition Wefaq party, the nation’s biggest political group, were asked to take part in the commission but declined because opposition parties were not approached directly or given the chance to choose who represents them.

A government statement said it was “disappointed” at this development.
…source

Saudi police on high alert
Saudi police take precaution and put up checkpoints following violence that took place in east of the country.
26 Nov 2011 – AlJazeera

Saudi police have taken extra precaution and are on high alert following violence that took place in the east of the country.

Saudi police put up checkpoints around the town of Qatif on Friday, after two people were killed and six others were wounded on Wednesday in an exchange of gunfire between security forces and what the Saudi interior ministry called criminals serving a foreign power.

Slogans condemning the royal family have appeared on walls throughout the Qatif.

Wednesday’s deaths brought the toll to four people dead, with nine others wounded, since unrest erupted in in the region last week.

“These casualties have occurred due to the exchange of gunfire with unknown criminal elements who have infiltrated among citizens, and are firing from residential areas and narrow streets,” the interior ministry said on Thursday.

The ministry denied that Shias had been killed by bullets fired by police in Qatif, an administrative unit of the province where a large Shia Muslim community resides.

Echoing language it used after an attack on a police station in the Eastern Province last month, the ministry said: “The goal of those who provoke unrest is to achieve dubious aims dictated to them by their foreign masters.”

The previous references to foreign meddling have been widely interpreted as Shia-dominated Iran, the Sunni-led kingdom’s rival for influence in the Gulf.

Sunni Arab monarchies in the region saw Iran as the force behind unrest earlier this year in majority Shia Bahrain.

Iran has denied repeated accusations that it is trying to destabilise Bahrain.

It has also dismissed an alleged plot that US authorities said last month had implicated Iran’s security agencies in a plan to kill the Saudi ambassador in Washington. …more

Saudi security forces withdraw from Shiite villages
(AFP) – 28 November, 2011

RIYADH — Saudi security forces have withdrawn from Shiite villages in Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia following unrest last week in which four people were killed, witnesses said on Monday.

The move appears aimed at reducing friction with the kingdom’s minority Shiites on the first day of Ashura, a 10-day commemoration of the 7th-century killing of the highly revered Imam Hussein.

Security forces pulled out overnight from Shweika and Awamiya villages in the Eastern Province, scene of intense clashes between protesters and security forces of the Sunni-dominated kingdom, witnesses and rights activists said.

“Armoured vehicles transporting anti-riot forces towards Dammam city have pulled out and checkpoints have been lifted,” said one witness, after those forces were brought in as reinforcements during demonstrations.

Four Shiites were shot dead last week. The interior ministry said security forces had come under fire from gunmen operating on “foreign orders,” hinting at involvement by Saudi’s arch rival Iran.

The ministry said two policemen were wounded in the clashes.

Later on Monday, state news agency SPA reported that the governor of Eastern Province, Prince Mohammed bin Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, against whom graffiti was painted on walls in the streets of Qatif city, had met Shiite dignitaries.

The dignitaries “expressed their rejection and dismay at the situation in Qatif and that they do not approve of such violations by some people,” the statement said.

They also “affirmed their allegiance to their leadership,” it added.

Prince Mohammed, who has vowed that the interior ministry will investigate the deaths, said the kingdom “will not allow people like those, as little as they are in numbers, to disturb security,” the statement said.

A source who attended the meeting, the second of its kind in a week, told AFP that Prince Mohammed “has listened to the demands of the Shiites in the province, especially those concerning the release of prisoners, creating justice for all citizens, and ending sectarian discrimination.”

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP the meeting which lasted more than one and a half hours was “positive.”

Meanwhile, prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr Nimr demanded the “release of all those detained in the protests, and all prisoners of conscience — Sunnis and Shiites.”

In a speech at the funeral of one of the protesters, Nimr said: “We are determined to demand our legitimate rights by peaceful means.”

Eastern Province is home to the majority of the kingdom’s Shiite population of around two million, who represent around 10 percent of Saudis.

In March, Shiites in the oil-rich province demonstrated in sympathy with fellow Shiites in neighbouring Bahrain, after security forces, backed by troops from its Sunni Gulf neighbours, clamped down on pro-democracy protests led by that country’s majority Shiite community.

Another Shiite cleric, Munir al-Khabbaz, called on protesters to use “civilised means while demanding their rights and rejecting violence,” adding that “clashing with security forces is religiously prohibited.”

“The sons of Qatif do not implement foreign agendas but demand their rights,” he said.
…more

Bahrain postpones protesters’ death penalty appeal
November 29, 2011 – USA Today

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) – A civilian court in Bahrain on Monday postponed a highly anticipated ruling on the appeal of two protesters sentenced to death by a security court during a wave of anti-government protests earlier this year.

Meanwhile, another high-profile case resumed on Monday — the retrial of doctors and other medical professionals who treated protesters injured during the Shiite majority’s campaign for greater rights in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom.

The medics’ trial has been closely watched by rights groups that have criticized Bahrain’s prosecution of civilians by the special tribunal, which included military prosecutors and judges. The tribunal was set up under martial law-style rule that was lifted in June.

In the initial trial at the security court, more than a dozen health professionals were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of up to 15 years on charges of attempting to overthrow the monarchy.

However, faced with rising international criticism, authorities subsequently ordered a retrial of the medics in a civilian court. …more

Bahrain postpones trial of 61 athletes accused of protest links
By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, November 29, 4:41 AM

MANAMA, Bahrain — A Bahrain court has postponed the trial of 61 athletes and sports officials accused of links to anti-government protests.

Defense attorney Mohsen al-Alawi says the hearing was rescheduled for Jan. 4 because most of the defendants did not appear at Tuesday’s proceedings. They include handball, basketball and volleyball players along with referees and administrators for several sports.

The charges include illegal assembly and inciting hatred against Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy.

The defendants are among 150 Shiite sportsmen detained as part of crackdowns on protests by Bahrain’s Shiite majority seeking a greater political voice.

An independent report issued last week accused authorities of widespread abuses including torture. …source

Mark C. Toner
Deputy Department Spokesman
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
November 28, 2011
[Bahrain Excerpt]

QUESTION: Yeah. Bahrain?

MR. TONER: Bahrain.

QUESTION: As you well recall, the Independent Commission of Inquiries report was released on Wednesday morning, our time. You have —

MR. TONER: That was a long time ago, but yeah.

QUESTION: Yeah. You had an initial reaction, and, of course, the Secretary had her comment and the White House also issued a statement. So it’s been five days. I realize it’s a long report, but even though it’s a holiday weekend, I imagine your Bahrain experts will have read the report. Two questions: One, does the report, now on reflection, seem to you to have been a fair and genuinely independent-minded and no holds barred sort of report? And then secondly, is what you have seen so far from the Bahraini Government suggestive of their taking genuine steps to try to hold everyone accountable for their actions in the – putting down the protests this year? And is it suggestive to you that – of a sort of rule of law or some other kind of process that may eventually lead to reconciliation with the Shia population?

MR. TONER: Yes, on the fact that we believe it was a credible and transparent report that did come out. Of course, it is, as you said, a very long report, and we have read through it and remain – and – I’m sorry – continue to study various aspects of it, but we certainly believe it was a transparent, credible process carried out with due diligence. We did – we do commend the commission’s work, and we commend the king for allowing it to work in an unfettered environment.

In answer to your second question, I think it’s – we’re still waiting and monitoring. We did, obviously, see that Bahrain has formed a report implementation committee that’s going to implement some of the report’s recommendations. We welcome the formation of that national implementation committee. We think it’s a good first step, and we would just urge the government to meet the high standards of transparency and accountability that were recommended by the report.

QUESTION: And how about reconciliation? I mean, do you think that the government is taking steps towards trying to achieve reconciliation?

MR. TONER: Well, we think that, again, the work of this commission and now the follow-up committee, if it indeed does take the kind of steps that seek to implement the commission’s recommendations, would help move that process of national reconciliation forward.

QUESTION: And should Bahrain have – we just talked a lot about the Egyptian elections. Should Bahrain have a fully fledged democracy?

MR. TONER: Again, what I think is important now for Bahrain is to address the report’s recommendations. It was a very tumultuous period there in the spring. The government there has made an effort, the king has made an effort to address some of the problems that resulted from that period. We need to see a national reconciliation process emerge from this, and then ultimately a political process will emerge from that that leads to – or that addresses, I think, the aspirations of the Bahraini people.

QUESTION: Well, let’s – I mean, there’s been tumult in a lot of countries this spring. In three of the ones we’ve talked about today – well, let’s just stick to two, Tunisia, where it began, and Egypt. You have very warmly praised the movement to elections; you have made clear that you believe that democratically elected governments are in the U.S. national interest. You don’t seem to have any trouble with the notion of dealing with a religiously based government, should one emerge in either of those countries, or as it has in Tunisia.

MR. TONER: So long as their committed to democratic ideals.

QUESTION: Right. So why not answer my question – does Bahrain deserve a fully fledged democracy – with yes? Is that not the U.S. interest in the world?

MR. TONER: Look, we very much want to see the democratic aspirations of the Bahraini people met by the government. Ultimately, that’s the goal here. But I also want to praise – we also want to praise the steps that they’ve taken to address some of the incidents that took place last spring and try to move the country on a better path towards reconciliation.
[Read more →]

Jillian York on MENA, Media, and Freedom
29 November 2011 – Aslan Media

Al Jazeera English’s The Stream co-host Ahmed Shihab Eldin, described Jillian C. York as “[this] generation’s go-to person for Internet neutrality.”As the Director of Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, York has worked passionately on digital activism, Internet privacy, and freedom of expression online in the Middle East and North Africa.

This year’s turmoil in the Mideast and the still burgeoning Arab Spring have kept York busy, and brought new awareness to the power of digital media and online activism. York noted that “it’s hard to generalize” across the region, and pointed out the varying levels of Internet penetration in different MENA countries. For instance, Egypt has about 25% Internet penetration while Libya has about 5%. This makes for quite different populations; and though driven by similar objectives of democracy and political reform, this online cultural variance makes each country’s “spring” experience unique.

Nonetheless, the world witnessed how social media amplified the voices of protesters in Egypt and Tunisia and accelerated the fall of the Mubarak and Ben Ali regimes, respectively. E-activism has evolved dramatically over the course of the past year in both these countries. For instance, in Egypt, a number of protesters who were crucial to the momentum of the critical mass that drove Mubarak out of office have opted for being active solely on the Internet, rather than taking to the streets. This phenomenon is known as slacktivism. In Tunisia, where the first free and fair elections were just held after the ouster of Ben Ali, 30% Internet penetration was enough to organize mass protests. But while these protest movements have been pushed forward by online activism, York notes “there’s not a whole lot of great use of the Internet for political representation.”

Syria’s revolution has yet to come to a resolution. Syria’s Electronic Army—a clique of hackers loyal to the Syrian regime that floods a variety of Facebook pages and defaces and disables various websites—is, says York, “ the biggest [coordinated cell of hackers in a country] I’ve ever seen!” She continued, “ the intention is to attack the website of any organization or agency that has spoken out in favor of the Syrian opposition. Because they’re so distributed, they’re unclear about their targets.”

When asked whether the efforts of companies such as Facebook and Twitter, not to mention that of the U.S. government, to protect Internet freedom of expression and privacy online are up to acceptable standards, specifically in light of a politically volatile Middle East, York remarked, “I have less to be critical of now than say 8 months ago. The Arab spring has taught [social media] companies a lot of lessons.” She went on: “Twitter and Google’s speak2tweet was an interesting instance of trying to adapt to a local need. They’re doing more than they were a year ago…[but] the push to end online anonymity is a huge problem. Facebook and Google+ are not listening at all when it comes to protecting the need for anonymity…I understand that they want to make a certain type of community but they’re not listening to the needs of international and domestic users. It doesn’t feel like they’re thinking internationally yet.” …more

Disappearing Dissent: How Bahrain Buried Its Revolution
Posted by Aryn Baker Tuesday, November 29, 2011 – Time

Every dictator worth his epaulets knows that the best way to nip a revolution in the bud is to have his opponents “disappear.” No body to mourn, no martyrs raised, and of course the ever-useful plausible deniability. But in Bahrain, with its tightly packed population of 230,000 citizens living on a small sandy archipelago in the Persian Gulf, it is difficult to bury the bodies. People notice. So what’s an authoritarian government to do when the people rise up and protest the regime? Bury the evidence and pretend it never happened.

Pearl Roundabout was the locus of Bahrain’s anti-government protests last spring, the Bahraini answer to Egypt’s Tahrir Square. The roundabout, located at the intersection of several major roads leading to the capital’s major business centers, was crowned by a soaring white monument constructed in 1982 on the occasion of the third Gulf Cooperation Council Summit, which was held in Manama that year. The six convex arches, one for each of the council member nations, were topped by a giant pearl, symbol of the region’s maritime heritage. Before oil transformed the coast from sand spit to skyscrapers, the gulf was best known for its pearling industry.

But soon after the protests started on Feb. 14, the monument took on a new symbolism—defiance against a regime that had repeatedly failed to deliver on a decade old promises of reform and political freedoms. As in Tahrir, protestors set up a camp around the monument, and used the hexagonal fountain at its base as a stage for rallies. In the early hours of Feb. 17, security forces broke up the camp with a combination of rubber bullets, tear gas and live ammunition. Six people died and the Bahraini revolution was born. What started as a unified protest soon devolved into a ugly sectarian split; Bahrain’s Sunni minority rallied in support of the Sunni royal family, and Shias, who make up an estimated 70% of the population, lobbied for rights they said they had long been denied. Protestors started calling their movement the Lulu Revolution after the Arabic word for pearl.
…more

Boris Kagarlitsky: Reflections on the Arab revolutions
International Journal of Socialist Renewal – November 28, 2011
By Boris Kagarlitsky, translated from Russian by Renfrey Clarke

November 28, 2011 – Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — “Turning-points in the history of humanity,” a contributor to the left-wing Algerian newspaper Le Matin observed in the summer of 2001, “are never simple for contemporaries to understand. Rarely are people able fully to assess the significance of these episodes, or their consequences. The developments concerned do not proceed in the manner, or at the time and place, that people expect. The early years of the twenty-first century have seen this rule reaffirmed. During this time, new and increasingly powerful trends have been mingled with the heritage of the past, dragging us back. History, however, operates through these new forces, which gradually but inevitably will succeed in overcoming the inertia of the past.” (1)

The Arab revolutions of 2011 came as a surprise to many people, including left analysts, who expected and predicted social and political shocks everywhere, from Latin America to Eastern Europe, except in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East. These events, however, were not historical accidents (in history, nothing on this scale happens by chance), but were the logical and natural results of earlier developments. The effect of surprise was due to the fact that the societies of the Middle East had been kept under heavy pressure by authoritarian regimes that did not allow any serious mass protests; in outside observers, this created an impression of graveyard-like tranquillity. This very stability, however, was the precursor to an explosion of extraordinary force. Tightening the lid of repressive police rule on the boiling cauldron of Arab societies, the ruling classes unknowingly guaranteed that social pressures would blow this lid to pieces.

Another reason for the confusion among the analysts lay in the relatively favourable figures for indices of economic and even social development. Gross domestic product kept growing right up until the outbreak of the world crisis, levels of education were improving, and achievements had also been registered in the areas of housing construction, public transport, and social security. The only problem was that the statistics, while recording certain quantitative improvements, concealed an accumulation of systemic contradictions and even structural decline in the economy.

The crisis of 2008 not only brought a sharp rise in food prices, creating an unprecedented social crisis on what might have seemed a level space. It also revealed numerous problems which along with everything else proved that the development strategies chosen by most of the governments in the region, and considered relatively successful in the 1990s, had finished up in a dead-end.

Liberals and dictators

The neoliberal reconstruction of capitalism that took place in the 1980s and 1990s was accompanied by a shift of production and jobs from Europe to countries where cheap labour power was available. From this angle, the prospects for the countries of North Africa seemed bright. Not only were wages low, but significant numbers of the population spoke European languages. In this situation, the governments of Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt seemed justified in deciding to develop education systems capable of raising the quality of labour power and of making these countries more attractive to foreign capital. Prospects in Libya, where the income from oil sales created additional possibilities for industrialisation, also looked promising.

Geographically these countries were close to Western markets, and many of them possessed their own raw materials and energy bases. Even Egypt, which did not have large oil reserves, was located not far from energy sources, and thanks to the Aswan Dam which had been built with Soviet help, had an abundance of cheap hydroelectric power. The infrastructure of all the countries in the region was in reasonable condition. For investors, the dictatorial regimes were an attraction, guaranteeing stability and preventing problems from arising with public criticism, environmental bans, trade unions and strikes. The only more or less obvious risk factor was the Islamist movement, whose influence was gradually increasing. This movement, however, was the target of systematic repression by the apparatus of the various states. …read the rest of article HERE

US praises Bahrain probe as ‘transparent, credible’
(AFP) – November 27, 2011

WASHINGTON — The United States on Monday praised Bahrain’s King Hamad for allowing an “unfettered” probe into a government crackdown on protests, and called its work “transparent” and “credible.”

It amounted to further US reaction to the publication last Wednesday of a special independent commission report in Bahrain that found police used “excessive force” and tortured detainees in a crackdown on the Shiite-led democracy protests in March.

“We certainly believe it was a transparent, credible process, carried out with due diligence,” State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told reporters, adding US officials were still studying the probe’s findings.

“We do commend the commission’s work, and we commend the king for allowing it to work in an unfettered environment,” Toner said.

But he said “we’re still waiting and monitoring” when asked if he saw signs that the Bahraini government would hold accountable those responsible for the deadly crackdown.

Toner described Bahrain’s decision to set up a national committee to implement the report’s recommendations a “good first step.”

But “we would just urge the government to meet the high standards of transparency and accountability that were recommended by the report,” he said.

The White House last Wednesday called on Bahrain to punish those guilty of human rights abuses in anti-government violence this year, and said it would closely follow its ally’s actions.

White House spokesman Jay Carney welcomed King Hamad’s commitments to pursue reform following the report, which he commissioned to probe allegations of government misconduct and human rights abuses against protesters. …more

Arab hip-hop and rap artists get inspired by recent events
by Janne Louise Anderson – Nov 28, 2011 – The National

On January 25, 2011, the day of the first major demonstration in Tahrir Square in Cairo, the 28-year-old Syrian-American rapper Omar Offendum, aka Omar A Chakaki, went to his studio in Los Angeles and wrote a verse calling for the overthrow of the former president Hosni Mubarak.

He called a fellow rapper, the Iraqi-Canadian and Dubai-born Yassin Alsalman – more widely known as The Narcicyst.

“Yo, Yassin,” he said. “Do you have time to write a verse?”

The Narcicyst did and recorded it that same day in Montreal. Quickly the stars aligned: The HBO Def Poet Amir Sulaiman sent in a third verse from Atlanta.

Freeway, an American Muslim MC, sent a verse from Philadelphia. And finally, the Palestinian-Canadian R&B vocalist Ayah did the hook. Everything was produced by Sami Matar, a Palestinian-American composer from California, and within three days #Jan25Egypt hit YouTube:

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

The words are Gandhi’s but the voice is Offendum’s, laid over a backdrop of rows of praying men being dispersed by a water canon. Then, saluting the 26-year-old Tunisian vegetable-seller whose self-immolation prompted the Tunisian revolution, The Narcicyst raps:

“But first God rest the soul of those who choose to be free, from poverty they rose, knee-deep in robbery, souls will plummet and burn like Mohammed Bouazizi. From Cairo to Baghdad.”

On the day of the video upload, tweets from Tahrir Square started ticking in, thanking the artists.

Within a week the track had been viewed more than 100,000 times, mainly in the Middle East. A Libyan, Yemeni and Syrian uprising later, the number has more than doubled. …more

Bahrain medics face new charges of supplying weapons to protesters
Monday 28 November 2011 – by The Guardian

Bahraini medical staff accused of trying to overthrow the government of the Gulf state earlier this year, and who had hoped charges against them might now be dropped, faced new accusations in a court hearing.

Twenty staff from the Salmaniya Medical Complex in Manama had thought their ordeal might be ending on Monday after the release of last week’s report detailing human rights abuses by Bahrain’s security forces during the Pearl revolution in February.

The report by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) found allegations that the medics “assisted the demonstrators by supplying them with weapons” to be unfounded.

But prosecutors produced guns, swords, knives and chains and claimed this was proof against the doctors, nurses, and paramedics. These weapons had not been presented previously – and led to an incredulous response in court. “It was really hilarious,” one of them, Dr Nada Dhaif, told BBC Radio 5. “The government has missed the chance that anyone will take this seriously.”

The 20 were initially convicted in the military-run national safety court in September on a raft of charges, including incitement to overthrow the regime. The government said they were involved with “hardline protesters” and they were sentenced to five to 15 years. …more

That Rocky Road to Damascus
By Pepe Escobar – November 28, 2011 – OP ED News

The trillion-dollar question in the “Arab Winter” is who will blink first in the West’s screenplay of slouching towards Tehran via Damascus.

As they examine the regional chessboard and the formidable array of forces aligned against them, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the military dictatorship of the mullahtariat in Tehran must face, simultaneously, superpower Washington, bomb-happy North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members, nuclear power Israel, all Sunni Arab absolute monarchies, and even Sunni-majority, secular Turkey.

Meanwhile, on their side, the Islamic Republic can only count on Moscow. Not as bad a hand as it may seem.

Syria is Iran’s undisputed key ally in the Arab world — while Russia, alongside China, are the key geopolitical allies. China, for the moment, is making it clear that any solution for Syria must be negotiated.

Russia’s one and only naval base in the Mediterranean is at the Syrian port of Tartus. Not by accident, Russia has installed its S-300 air defense system — one of the best all-altitude surface-to-air missile systems in the world, comparable to the American Patriot — in Tartus. The update to the even more sophisticated S-400 system is imminent.

From Moscow’s — as well as Tehran’s — perspective, regime change in Damascus is a no-no. It will mean virtual expulsion of the Russian and Iranian navies from the Mediterranean.

Yet key lateral moves by the West are already on. Diplomats in Brussels confirmed to Asia Times Online that the former Libyan “rebels” — now trying to come up with a credible government — have already given the go-ahead for NATO to build a sprawling military base in Cyrenaica. …more

Saturday 26th November – International Day of Action to support the medics

Location: Freedom Plaza to the Embassy of Bahrain.

Time: Meet in Freedom Plaza at 11:30 am or the UDC metro station at 12:00 pm for a march to the Embassy of Bahrain

Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—November 26, 2011. Over 1,000 medical workers from 30 different countries have signed a petition calling for an immediate dropping of all charges gainst the 20 Bahraini medics facing up to 15 years in jail.

On Monday, Nov. 28, the 20 will face a civilian court after international outrage forced the prosecution to backtrack on the original sentences. In what is a clear case of political ersecution, the medics face trial for treating injured protesters.

In an attempt to support the medics, physicians around the world will be handing the petition to different Bahrain embassies and consulates on Saturday 26th November.

The action has already been confirmed in London, Washington, Ottawa, Beirut and Cairo with others expected to be confirmed within the next 24 hours.

In United Kingdom, the British Health Trade Union, UNISON, has supported the petition and will representatives will be joining the team handing the petition to the Bahrain Embassy in London. They will meet with Bahraini Doctors who were working in Manama’s Salmaniya Hospital during the unrest in February and March.

There is hope that, given the recent report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry that openly criticized the Bahrain Governments crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, that the charges will be dropped.

However it remains to be seen as to whether the Government will indeed implement the recommendations made in the report.

Dr. Fatima Haji, one of the 20 Doctors being tried said:

“We have had these false charges hanging around our necks for the past few months and the emotional and physical stress we have gone through has caused so many problems. We have been unable to work, due to the charges, and we are living each day not knowing if it will be the last time we see our children and families for up to 15 years. We are pleased that the international pressure has led to our case being heard again, but we hope and pray that justice will be done and all the charges will be dropped. We are medics and all we want to do is help people regardless of their political, religious or any other belief. The international support we have received has been very warming and we hope that it will work to force the Government to drop these hurtful and untrue accusations.”

Karen Reissmann, a mental health nurse and national executive member of UNISON, said:

“This is a disgrace. The medics should all be released immediately with all charges dropped. All health staff has a duty to treat anyone who needs their care. They were simply doing their job.”

Dr. Margaret Flowers adds, “Medical providers who are treating people in times of war or protest have traditionally been exempted from arrest. However, recent trends such as the arrest of the medics in Bahrain and arrest of nurses caring for protesters in the occupations in the US are unethical and very disturbing. We must demand that this be stopped.” …more

Hillary Clinton aide at the helm of Amnesty International USA
Voltaire Network – 23 November 2011

Suzanne Nossel, former assistant to Richard Holbrooke in his capacity as UN Ambassador and currently Hillary Clinton’s Deputy Assistant for International Organization Affairs, has been selected as the new Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. In the discharge of her duties at the State Department, she diligently exploited human rights to benefit imperial ambitions.

Ms. Nossel had previously worked for Human Rights Watch, as well as for Bertelsmann Media Worldwide and the Wall Street Journal as Vice President of Strategy and Operations.

The AI-USA Board of Directors deemed that Suzanne Nossel’s commitment to the Clinton and Obama administrations was sufficient proof of her competence and decided not to hold a grudge against her for the crimes committed in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, etc.

Ms. Nossel has launched several campaigns against Iran, Libya and Syria. In recent months she made a name for herself by misinforming the Human Rights Council in Geneva with a view to getting the resolution authorizing the war on Libya adopted by the Security Council. Ms. Nossel’s allegations have since been debunked. …source

Bahrains Human Rights Report Likely Absolves the GCC
by Samuel Halpert, November 28, 2011 – 1948 A Human Rights Forum

As indicated by my last post, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the report from the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry into that country’s recent crackdown on political protests. The Commission has just released its report, and under current international law the GCC probably can’t be held accountable.

First of all, the Commission has determined that several Bahraini governmental agencies perpetrated “a systemic practice of physical and psychological mistreatment, which in many cases amounted to torture.” (BICI Report, 292) They also concluded that such a systematic pattern could not have developed without the knowledge of the upper-level commands of the Bahraini government. (BICI Report, 275) Which means the Bahraini government had a role in the torture that occurred during the crackdown.

And what of the other governments with troops in Bahrain last spring? Starting in mid-March, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) forces from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and other member states played a role in the crackdown as well. Presupposing that the Bahraini government had engaged in torture, when anticipating the Commission’s findings there were three questions related to the GCC Peninsula Shield Force’s (referred to in the report as the Jazeera Shield Force, or GCC-JSF) involvement I said were necessary to analyze GCC responsibility under international law:

(1) Did the GCC-JSF itself torture Bahrainis?
(2) What degree of control, if any, did the GCC-JSF exercise over Bahraini detainees who were subsequently tortured?
(3) Did GCC-JSF at any point exercise effective control over Bahraini territory where torture—by any party—occurred?

The report does examine the role of the GCC-JSF in the crackdown. The Commission, relying mostly on reports received from the Bahraini government, found no evidence that the GCC-JSF committed human rights violations in Bahrain. GCC-JSF troops were in Bahrain only in anticipation of foreign intervention, protecting vital infrastructure in the south. (Manama, the center of the unrest, is on the north end of the island.) The sole allegation made to the Commission against the GCC-JSF, which the Commission duly investigated, turned out to be the work of the Bahrain Defense Force. The Commission’s conclusion also noted that no GCC-JSF units reported firing any weapons, engaging civilians, or sustaining injuries (BICI Report, 377-378).
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Webcast with Nabeel Rajab, Winner of 2011 Ion Ratiu Democracy Award, and events in Washington DC

NABEEL RAJAB – RECIPIENT of the 2011 ION RATIU DEMOCRACY AWARD

The Ratiu Foundation is pleased to announce the programme of events connected with Nabeel Rajab, a human rights activist and co-founder of The Bahrain Human Rights Society, receiving the 2011 Ion Ratiu Democracy Award.

Thursday 1 December 2011 – NABEEL RAJAB at the 2011 Ion Ratiu Democracy Award Workshop

14:00, 5th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20004-3027
RSVP online HERE at

This event is scheduled to be WEBCAST LIVE at HERE at 14:00 (Washington DC time), 19:00 UK time …more

Those who support democracy must welcome the rise of political Islam

From Tunisia to Egypt, Islamists are gaining the popular vote. Far from threatening stability, this makes it a real possibility
guardian.co.uk – Sunday 27 November 2011 – by Wadah Khanfar

Ennahda, the Islamic party in Tunisia, won 41% of the seats of the Tunisian constitutional assembly last month, causing consternation in the west. But Ennahda will not be an exception on the Arab scene. Last Friday the Islamic Justice and Development Party took the biggest share of the vote in Morocco and will lead the new coalition government for the first time in history. And tomorrow Egypt’s elections begin, with the Muslim Brotherhood predicted to become the largest party. There may be more to come. Should free and fair elections be held in Yemen, once the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh falls, the Yemeni Congregation for Reform, also Islamic, will win by a significant majority. This pattern will repeat itself whenever the democratic process takes its course.

In the west, this phenomenon has led to a debate about the “problem” of the rise of political Islam. In the Arab world, too, there has been mounting tension between Islamists and secularists, who feel anxious about Islamic groups. Many voices warn that the Arab spring will lead to an Islamic winter, and that the Islamists, though claiming to support democracy, will soon turn against it. In the west, stereotypical images that took root in the aftermath of 9/11 have come to the fore again. In the Arab world, a secular anti-democracy camp has emerged in both Tunisia and Egypt whose pretext for opposing democratisation is that the Islamists are likely to be the victors.

But the uproar that has accompanied the Islamists’ gains is unhelpful; a calm and well-informed debate about the rise of political Islam is long overdue.

First, we must define our terms. “Islamist” is used in the Muslim world to describe Muslims who participate in the public sphere, using Islam as a basis. It is understood that this participation is not at odds with democracy. In the west, however, the term routinely describes those who use violence as a means and an end – thus Jihadist Salafism, exemplified by al-Qaida, is called “Islamist” in the west, despite the fact that it rejects democratic political participation (Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaida, criticised Hamas when it decided to take part in the elections for the Palestinian legislative council, and has repeatedly criticised the Muslim Brotherhood for opposing the use of violence).

This disconnect in the understanding of the term in the west and in the Muslim world was often exploited by despotic Arab regimes to suppress Islamic movements with democratic political programmes. It is time we were clear. …more

Saudi Arabia: Shia Protests Against the State Intensify
By Bhaskar Prasad: – November 28, 2011 – IB times

Four people were killed and nine wounded in clashes between Shiite Muslims and Saudi Arabian security forces in the oil-rich Eastern Province, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. The latest round of fighting took place last Wednesday, during a funeral for one of the protesters.

“Security checkpoints and vehicles have been the target of gunfire from aggressors hiding among civilians since Monday,” the ministry said, “Security forces have dealt with the situation with as much restraint as possible.”

Saudi Arabia’s Shiite minority is concentrated in the kingdom’s eastern oil-producing hub. There were violent clashes in February and March this year as security forces crushed protests by Shiites demanding democracy and representative governments.

The politics of Saudi Arabia takes place in a framework of a particular form of absolute monarchy whereby the King of Saudi Arabia is both head of state and the head of government. Predominantly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia has accused Shiite-led Iran of interfering in the affairs of Arab countries in the Persian Gulf, home to three-fifths of the world’s oil reserves. Iran denies the allegation and accuses the Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain of discriminating against Shiites.

Shiites say they face discrimination in education and government jobs and that they are spoken of disparagingly. They also complain of restrictions in setting up places of worship and marking Shiite holidays.

The Saudi government denies these charges of discrimination and asserts that the latest confrontations by protesters were “ordered by their masters abroad”, by which the government invariably means Iran.

As per the latest report from AFP, Saudi security forces have withdrawn from Shiite villages in Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia. …source