Bahrain Charges 20 With Abuse Of Protesters
November 21, 2011 – rferl.com

Authorities in Bahrain say 20 members of the security forces have been charged for alleged abuse of protesters during unrest earlier this year.

The government said an investigation had shown that there have been “instances of excessive force and mistreatment of detainees” during the February-March protests and crackdowns.

The statement was issued two days ahead of a report by an inquiry panel that is probing alleged government misconduct during the crackdown on Shi’ite-led protesters calling for greater rights in the island nation.

Authorities say 24 people, including four policemen, were killed in a month of unrest against the kingdom’s Sunni rulers.

The opposition puts the death toll at 30. Hundreds more were injured. …source

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Senate’s Disastrous New Detention Bill
by: Tom Parker – November 18, 2011 – Amnesty USA

The new National Defense Authorization Bill (S1867) presented to the Senate by the Armed Services Committee is such a disaster for civil liberties and human rights it is difficult to know where to begin.

Section 1031 of the Bill extends the Congressional Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed after the September 11th attacks to encompass any individual who has “substantially supported” Al Qaeda, the Taliban, or “associated forces”.

This is extraordinarily vague. The phrase ‘associated forces’ is so flexible that it can be used to encompass almost any militant Islamic group in existence from Indonesia to Nigeria. It might include political parties who share some of the militants’ aims but not their methods – like the Hizb ut Tahrir movement active in Western Europe and Australia.

The Bill does not set any territorial limits on where this conflict is being fought. The presumption is that US forces can engage terror groups with kinetic weapons systems wherever they find them – London, Copenhagen, Istanbul and Kampala are all fair game and to hell with consequences for any citizens of those countries who get caught in the middle.

Also alarmingly imprecise is the term “substantially supported.” In the past the Department of Defense has described both writing an opinion piece for The Guardian, a globally respected British newspaper, and detainee suicide as terrorist acts. To date, this bar has not been set high.

Some of those accused of terrorist affiliations have languished for almost a decade at Guantanamo and are still no nearer having their day in court. Requiring trials by Military Commission will simply relegate more accused individuals to the Twilight Zone of indefinite detention. …more

Bahrain braces for unveiling of probe into unrest
21/11/2011 – Bahrain Freedom Movement

DUBAI: Bahrain is bracing for the findings of a probe into a government crackdown on protesters as tension escalates in Shiite areas and the opposition vows not to back down from demands for democratic reform.

The report due out on Wednesday, commissioned by King Hamad, will unveil the findings of Bahrain’s Independent Commission of Inquiry into alleged government misconduct during the February-March crackdown on Shiite-led protests.

Authorities say 24 people, including four policemen, were killed in a month of unrest, while the Shiite-led opposition puts the death toll at 30. Hundreds more were injured.

Anti-government protests in mainly Shiite areas on the outskirts of Manama have intensified this month, resulting in clashes with security forces that have left dozens injured and one 16-year-old boy dead.

The mass demonstrations which rocked the Sunni-ruled kingdom earlier this year were violently crushed as government forces used live ammunition and heavy-handed tactics in clashes with protesters.

The final blow to the protests, inspired by the Arab Spring, came in mid-March as Bahraini security forces, boosted by troops from Gulf nations, drove demonstrators out of Manama’s Pearl Square — the focal point of protests.

Speaking at cabinet meeting on Sunday, King Hamad warned Bahrainis to steer clear of “anything that adversely affects” their unity.

Sporadic protests since March have intensified in anticipation of the commission’s findings.

“The real question is what happens after the report,” said human rights activist Mohammed Maskati.

“The situation is already very tense. The number of protests in the last two weeks is steadily increasing, as is the number of arrests,” said Maskati who heads the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights.

He warned that the report should “at the very least reflect the conclusions of other international human rights organisations … Otherwise, the crisis will escalate.”

International organisations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UN human rights agency, have repeatedly accused the government of violating citizens’ rights, citing allegations of torture, unfair trials, excessive use of force and violent repression.

Since the protests broke out, hundreds of Shiites have been arrested, including prominent members of the opposition, medics, teachers and youth activists.

Bahrain’s opposition groups have withheld comment until after the report is released, but at a joint press conference late Sunday they reaffirmed their commitment to democratic change.

“The Bahraini people will not go home-empty handed and we will not accept the status quo,” said prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Ali Salman, who heads Bahrain’s largest opposition group, Al-Wefaq.

“After the report is released, we will meet to plan our next steps,” said Salman.

“Our demands are clear: an elected government, a parliament with full authorities, an independent judiciary, security for all and a just electoral system,” he said.

Salam warned that there was “no way out” of the current political crisis unless the demands were met. …more

Several hurt as Saudi forces fire on protest: report
(AFP) – 1 hour ago

RIYADH — Saudi security forces opened fire on protesters in the Eastern Province Shiite region of Al-Qatif on Monday, wounding several people, witnesses said.

The demonstrators had taken to the streets in the town of Shwika to protest against the death overnight Sunday of a 19-year-old Shiite man, Nasser al-Mheishi, accusing police of killing him, the witnesses said.

Mheishi had been wounded near a police checkpoint in unclear circumstances.

“The police told us that gunmen had opened fire on the police checkpoint… and that my son was caught in the crossfire between the police and the armed men, and was struck by four bullets,” the man’s father, Ali al-Mheishi told AFP.

But a witness later said that one of the policemen at the checkpoint shot Mheishi dead, his father said.

A police spokesman in the Eastern Province declined to comment.

According to militants the death is the second in the past few days after another young man was shot by security forces in the Shiite town of Awamiya.

In October 14 people, including 11 policemen, were wounding during clashes in Awamiya between security forces and demonstrators.

At the time the interior ministry in the Sunni-ruled kingdom blamed “outlaws” for the violence.

The group carried out acts causing “insecurity with incitement from a foreign country that aims to undermine the nation’s security and stability,” a ministry spokesman said in an indirect reference to Shiite Iran.

The overwhelming majority of the estimated two million Saudi Shiites live in Eastern Province, which neighbours Bahrain where authorities, supported by Saudi-led Gulf troops, earlier this year crushed a Shiite-led protest. …more

“We’re the only game in town,” the professor, M. Cherif Bassiouni, said.

Bahrain Nervously Awaits Revolt Report’s Findings
By ANTHONY SHADID – November 21, 2011 – NYT

There is the beleaguered crown prince of a veteran American ally, and a scheming royal family that believes, with seeming sincerity, that it was almost overthrown. An ensuing crackdown made chauvinism against the majority the effective policy of the state. Inscrutable and aggressive, Iran and Saudi Arabia lurk over a body politic, where the opposition waits, restrained, even as it warns that far worse is yet to come.

Bahrain’s protests in February and March stand as the opening credits to a plot that remains unresolved today, in an oil-rich region that sits at the nexus of American hegemony, regional rivalries and looming instability. In all the revolts that have roiled the Arab world this year, Bahrain’s government managed a tactical, perhaps ephemeral victory through force. But in doing so, it may have destroyed a society that once took pride it its cosmopolitanism. The question not only for Bahrain but for other Arab countries in tumult — like Egypt and Syria — is whether reconciliation can stop an unraveling spreading across the region.

The answer here may be in the hands of an Egyptian-American law professor asked by the king this summer to investigate the protests, crackdown and aftermath, in what the king’s supporters called a bid to heal the country. His task: essentially arbitrate a crisis in which neither side even agrees on what to call the landmark traffic circle where the revolt erupted.

“We’re the only game in town,” the professor, M. Cherif Bassiouni, said.

The commission of jurists and scholars led by Mr. Bassiouni is scheduled to issue its report Wednesday, which has become the defining moment for Bahrain, its Sunni Muslim monarchy and its restive Shiite Muslim majority. Its promise is to chart a way forward for reforms to blunt the fires of revolution that have swept Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Its peril is that it comes too late for Bahrain. Critics, and there are many, already contend it will whitewash the crimes that were committed, a conclusion that will almost certainly condemn the country to more years of unrest and volatility. …more

Meanwhile, Bahraini human rights groups will release their own “massive report documenting all violations committed by the Bahrain regime since February 14th” on November 22, as “none of the local independent human rights organizations were invited to the BICI launch ceremony on the 23rd.”

Bahrain: Regime, Human Rights Groups Anticipate BICI Report
November 21, 2011 – POMED

The Bahraini Cabinet circulated a press release in preparation for the November 23 release of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry’s (BICI) report. The statement reads, “All the while BICI has carried out its work, the Government has carried out its own assessments and conducted its own investigations. These investigations have revealed things to praise as well as things to deplore. Regrettably, there have been instances of excessive force and mistreatment of detainees. This was in violation of government policy. 20 prosecutions against the officers involved have been initiated. This is in no way the limit of the steps that will be taken.”

The statement also assured readers that “the Government does not seek to excuse any wrongdoing. The BICI has stated publicly that it has investigated the instances of mistreatment. We can expect that its report will be very critical of these occurrences and the Government’s responsibility for failing to prevent them. The Government expects such criticism. We cannot condone mistreatment and abuses by our officials. There will be no impunity. All those responsible for abuses will be held accountable.” Furthermore, the government listed two steps it has taken to “address and remedy injustice” in Bahrain, including the establishment of a Special Fund for Victims and the National Dialogue.

Meanwhile, Bahraini human rights groups will release their own “massive report documenting all violations committed by the Bahrain regime since February 14th” on November 22, as “none of the local independent human rights organizations were invited to the BICI launch ceremony on the 23rd.” …source

Bahrain admits “excessive force” ahead of rights report
November 21, 2011 – By Andrew Hammond – Reuters

DUBAI: Bahrain admitted on Monday its forces had used excessive force and mistreated detainees during democracy protests, as it awaited the release of an independent report expected to be critical of the Gulf state’s handling of the unrest. “The government has carried out its own assessments and conducted its own investigations. These investigations have revealed things to praise as well as things to deplore,” said a cabinet statement sent to Reuters in English.

“Regrettably, there have been instances of excessive force and mistreatment of detainees. This was in violation of government policy. Twenty prosecutions against the officers involved have been initiated,” it went on.

The death of a Bahraini teenager after he was run over by police during protests last week has raised the stakes ahead of the release of a report into the government’s crushing of the democracy protest movement early this year. Sixteen-year-old Ali Yousef al-Sitrawi was killed during a protest in the Juffair district of Manama. The government said a police vehicle lost control because of oil spilt on the road deliberately by protesters, but opposition activists say police often drove straight at them.
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Article 12 ‘ States shall assure the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child…’ Article 13 “The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, …’

Universal Children’s Day

“There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they can grow up in peace.” – Kofi Annan

Universal Children’s Day takes place on November 20 annually. In 1954 the United Nations’ (UN) General Assembly proclaimed November 20th as Universal Children’s Day. Each year the day set to promote international awareness for children’s rights and issues across the globe. The date of 20 November marks the day on which the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in 1989. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was then signed on the same day in 1989, since its adoption the Convention has been signed or ratified by more countries than any other international treaty, and has since been ratified by 191 states.