Posts from — December 2011

Sen. Wyden Comments on Bahrain Arms Sale, BICI
The POMED Wire – December 5, 2011
enchilada
At an event sponsored by the Project on Middle East Democracy and the School of Advanced International Studies, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) gave a speech addressing the role of the United States in relation to ongoing unrest in Bahrain. Regarding the $53 million arms sale that he publicly opposed, Wyden said the U.S. “should not be rewarding a regime that has fired on peacefully assembled protestors, indiscriminately imprisoned its citizens simply for voicing a political viewpoint, and stifling basic human freedoms.” This, he said, “led me to introduce Senate Joint Resolution 28, which would stop the proposed arms sale to Bahrain until certain conditions were met.” Wyden added, “Until we see measurable [reforms], and on the recommendations made by the Commission report, I will continue to raise objections to the proposed arms sale to Bahrain.

Wyden stated that the BICI report “confirmed what others have been reporting about the human rights violations that took place during the protests that began earlier this year,” adding that the “report has shown the wisdom of stopping the arms sale.” “Imagine if everyone in Congress had kept quiet and this arms sale had been completed. What kind of message would this have sent the world or to the people aspiring for freedom and democracy?” he said.

Senator Wyden urged the Bahraini government to “immediately begin to implement the reforms
recommended by the [BICI],” by “holding all public officials accountable for their role in the abuses; reforming the Bahraini National Security Agency, Ministry of Interior, and Bahrain Defense Forces, all of which were involved in the systematic issue of torture against protestors; and implementing legislative changes as recommended by the national commission that is being formed.” …more

Hacking the Revolution
President Obama may talk a good game about Arab democracy, but he’s done nothing to stop Western technology firms from helping repressive regimes crack down on protesters.
BY DANIEL CALINGAERT – DECEMBER 5, 2011

Pick a country, any country, touched by the Arab Spring, and chances are that Western technology has been used there to suppress pro-democracy movements. Even though this directly undermines U.S. efforts to promote democracy and Internet freedom in the Middle East and elsewhere, President Barack Obama’s administration has remained oddly silent about it. If the White House won’t act, it’s time for Congress to pick up the slack.

European companies have provided software to security services in Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Yemen to monitor email and voice communications. In Bahrain, dissidents were confronted by interrogators with intercepted email messages and were tortured. U.S. surveillance technology was reportedly provided to Egypt (from Narus, a subsidiary of Boeing) and Syria (from the Silicon Valley-based firm NetApp), though both companies deny knowledge of the sales.

The use of Western technologies to censor Internet content is even more widespread. Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, among others, have blocked access to content deemed undesirable by their governments by using U.S.-made SmartFilter products. Syria got hold of Internet-filtering devices from California-based Blue Coat without the company’s knowledge, despite the U.S. trade embargo on Syria. These devices were used to block websites of opposition groups and news about the anti-regime protests. Other countries, including Qatar, Kuwait, and Sudan, use Canadian or European technologies to filter content on a large scale.
Western technologies to restrict the Internet are working directly at cross-purposes with the Obama administration’s policy of promoting Internet freedom and its encouragement of democratic forces in the Arab world. The Obama administration has repeatedly declared a strong commitment to the free flow of information online and has allocated $120 million to support civil society’s efforts to challenge Internet restrictions in repressive environments. Much of this support goes to circumvent Internet censorship and strengthen digital security of activists — thus, in part, to get around U.S.- and European-made blocks to Internet access and to protect activists from Western-built surveillance technologies. …more

Child Abuse In Bahrain Continues Without Accountability: Murder, Arbitrary Arrests, Torture And Harsh Military Sentences

On the eve of the Universal day of the child: Bahrain buries another child killed by the security forces
19 Nov 2011 – BHCR

Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) expresses its deep concern for the continued assaults against children under the age of 18 on the hands of the security forces of Bahrain, as part of the brutal campaign against pro-democracy protesters and continuous crackdown on villages. Since the review of Bahrain record by the committee of the child rights[1] in June 2011, the death toll of children has risen to 5 children and hundreds of children were subjected to excessive force by policemen, arbitrary arrests, torture at detention, prosecution and sentencing by military court. Children trials are still ongoing on the criminal court for charges related to freedom of expression and assembly.

The Bahraini government is a signatory of the International Convention for the Rights of Children, however while its Ministry of Human Rights prides itself of abiding by the rules and regulations of the convention, basic rights of children in Bahrain are being brutally violated by security forces without any actions from the authorities to end these violations.
Five children killed by illegal weaponry, suffocation of tear gas, being shot at face and run over

“Every child has the inherent right to life” – Article I of the International Convention for the Rights of the Child. …more

Treatment of medics in Bahrain
The Irish Times – December 6, 2011

Sir, – Prof Eoin O’Brien states that the report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) is ambiguous in its assessment of events at Salmaniya Medical Complex where the doctors treated the injured pro-democracy demonstrators (Opinion, November 29th). I disagree. There are two unambiguous strands to the findings of the report, one positive, the other negative.

On the positive side, the BICI report stated that no evidence was found to support the most serious charges made against the doctors, thus vindicating what they had always maintained: 1. They did not take over the hospital. 2. They did not use or supply weapons to demonstrators. 3. They did not misappropriate medical supplies. 4. They did not refuse treatment to any injured or sick person on the basis of their religion.

Nevertheless, despite these findings by the BICI Commission, there are serious question-marks about the prospect of the doctors receiving any kind of justice or fair trial in Bahrain. On November 28th, at the second appeal hearing against their convictions, prosecutors for the state presented boxes of weapons to the court that included 168 bullets, four ammunition cartridges, three Molotov cocktails and a host of other weapons which they claimed were confiscated by Bahraini police at Salmaniya Medical Complex.

Lawyers for the doctors protested that the weapons, had they existed, should have been produced to the military court which originally convicted the doctors and they demanded that the court not accept this “evidence” – but the judge refused their request.

Given this kind of “justice” there is no doubt that the negative findings of the BICI report will be grist to the prosecutors’ mill. The report contains two ominous statements that can be used to harm the doctors in their appeal against their convictions which has been postponed, yet again, until January 9th, 2012. …more

Anti-regime protest held in Saudi Arabia
Mon Dec 5, 2011 – PressTV

Saudi Arabian demonstrators have taken to the streets in oil-rich Eastern Province to condemn the killing of five protesters two weeks ago, witnesses say. Protesters on Monday held placards bearing the pictures of those killed by Saudi forces in the city of Qatif.

Demonstrators also took to the streets in nearby towns and villages including Awamiyah, shouting slogans against the ruling Al Saud family.

Meanwhile, activists said military vehicles have surrounded some villages and parts of Qatif.

Last month, Saudi regime forces opened fire on thousands of anti-regime protesters and killed five people. Saudi demonstrators criticize “systematic discrimination” in the kingdom, saying they are targeted for demanding more freedom and equality.

Amnesty International accuses Saudi authorities of arresting hundreds of people for demanding political and social reforms, and calling for the release of their relatives who have been detained without being charged or tried.

Saudi authorities banned public gatherings on March 5 after demonstrations were held in Eastern Province.

More than 300 people have been detained for taking part in peaceful demonstrations in the cities of Qatif, Ahsa and Awamiyah in the Eastern Province since March, Amnesty says. …source

Bahrain opposition struggles with next steps
Political stalemate and police crackdown suggest a long-term crisis for Bahrain, as small-scale protests continue.
by Gregg Carlstrom – 27 Nov 2011 – Al Jazeera

Protesters in A’ali marched past a sign that said ‘we are free peaceful protesters’ [Al Jazeera]

Manama, Bahrain – A nine-month crackdown by the government has not stopped Bahrain’s protest movement: Demonstrators still take to the streets to confront police, at times violently, and to denounce the government. As many point out, these anti-government protests have gone on, albeit on a smaller scale, for years.

But their efforts are limited these days to small protests and clashes in villages. Police have adopted tactics which would not feel out of place in the Israeli-occupied West Bank: checkpoints block major roads and the entrances to communities; convoys of armoured vehicles tear down narrow roads in villages; most demonstrations are prohibited.

The security measures mean that a visitor to Manama might not notice any signs of the unrest, save for the occasional police jeep splattered with a paint bomb thrown by protesters.

It is too early to tell whether police will continue the sorts of abuses the commission documented, though during clashes on Wednesday morning, hours before its release, they fired tear-gas canisters and sound bombs into a makeshift clinic in a private home, a practice criticised in the report.

The bigger question for many in Bahrain’s anti-government opposition, however, is whether the report leads to political reconciliation and reforms, and so far those efforts seem stalled.

Opposition leaders hoped for a major concession from the government last week, perhaps a prisoner release, when the official commission studying this year’s unrest released its report on human0rights abuses. None has been forthcoming.

All of this suggests that Bahrain’s slow-boiling crisis will drag on for the foreseeable future.

The formal political opposition is marginalised, and the street-level opposition is tightly restricted. However, protesters no longer seem to fear the government, not when women climb to the rooftops to chant yasqat Hamad (“Down with Hamad”) as tear-gas canisters whiz overhead.

“I almost hope that I am arrested,” one female activist said on Tuesday.
‘This government must resign’

King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s only response to the report, so far, has been to establish a new commission entrusted with studying the previous commission’s work. He announced the panel during a speech on Wednesday, and formally established it on Saturday via a royal decree.

The announcement was greeted with scorn by the opposition, which dismissed it as a stalling tactic.

Al Wefaq, which has normally been careful in its criticism of the government, refused to work with the commission unless Hamad first sacks his cabinet. He asked two members of the party to join the new commission, and both refused.
Signs at Friday’s rally read “down down government” and “we want democracy” [Al Jazeera]

“We will not work or co-operate with the present government, and we demand for its resignation,” Khalil Marzooq, a senior member of Al Wefaq, said.

“This government must resign, because it’s proved now that it has killed and tortured our citizens.”

The government, in turn, has sought to cast the opposition’s refusal as a delaying tactic.

Khalid Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s foreign minister, said this week that the cabinet is a “legitimate government appointed by the king” and dismissed calls for its removal.

The political standoff, in some ways, parallels a similar deadlock this summer, when the king launched a “national dialogue.

“Al Wefaq withdrew from the talks after a few weeks, describing them as “not serious,” a decision which some opposition supporters now consider a tactical error.

“The [dialogue] was killed by the opposition, not by us,” Khalid Al Khalifa said. “Now the only thing on the table is the BICI recommendations, and the independent committee that will result from it.”

The opposition, indeed, remains divided over its ultimate goals. Al Wefaq and other parties handed out carefully worded signs at a protest on Friday, inscribed with messages like “Down with the government” and “We want democracy”.

Wefaq members at the rally stressed to journalists that they wanted only to reform the existing system.

But when the protesters chanted, their loudest refrain was yasqat Hamad (“Down with Hamad”), an unambiguous message for the country’s monarch. …more

Bahrain Responds To Criticism Of Reform Efforts
December 1, 2011 – NPR – All Things Considered

Last week, the Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain released a report examining its own handling of the Arab Spring uprisings that happened there earlier this year. More than 5,000 protesters were interviewed in the investigation, an unprecedented move in the region. Yet, opposition members say the government isn’t going far enough in its efforts to reform. Melissa Block speaks with Bahraini government spokesman Abdulaziz bin Mubarek Khalifa, who responds to those accusations.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

One week ago, the Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain came under sharp critique in a 500-page report on human rights abuses committed during this year’s pro-democracy uprising. The report was commissioned by the Bahraini government itself. It details a litany of human rights abuses endured by protesters, including systematic torture, forced confessions and arbitrary detentions.

The report was applauded by the U.S. State Department. But yesterday on the program, a leading Bahraini human rights activist, Nabeel Rajab, was skeptical.

NABEEL RAJAB: People are still in jail. People are still being tortured. Excessive use of force going on against protestor till this moment, and those responsible for all those violation are still in their job committing the same crimes.

BLOCK: Well, we’ve invited the government of Bahrain to respond. And today, we’re joined by Abdulaziz bin Mubarek Al-Khalifa. He’s a spokesman for the Bahraini government.

Welcome to the program.

ABDULAZIZ BIN MUBAREK AL-KHALIFA: Thank you for having me.

BLOCK: The commission that we mentioned documented five cases of prisoners who died as a result of torture. And we just heard the activists there alleging that protesters are still in jail, still being tortured. Is that true? Is that the case?

AL-KHALIFA: Absolutely not. I think the results of the report made it very difficult for us to listen to, but it confirmed our fears. And what we want to do is to learn from these mistakes. There are lessons to be learned and we accept this as a report in its fullest form. And we are committed to reform.

BLOCK: When you talk about lessons to be learned from this report, one of the recommendations from the commission was that the top officials responsible for allowing the abuses would be held accountable, would be replaced. That hasn’t happened yet. Why not and will it in the future?

AL-KHALIFA: Well, we already started to implement a couple of the points that they did mention in the report before the report actually even came out. So, we saw 20 security officers from different ranks prosecuted because they were responsible for the deaths that took place tragically in custody. So it’s an ongoing process. There is more investigations to be made and we look forward to holding the people responsible for these tragic events responsible. So we’re working on them.

BLOCK: One person who was removed from his post this week was the security chief. who oversaw the crackdown on protesters. But he was then given a new top-level job that’s seen not as a punishment, but actually as a promotion. He, like yourself, comes from the ruling Al-Khalifa family. And many claim that that family name shields many people from the punishment that they deserve.

AL-KHALIFA: No, it doesn’t shield anybody and no one is above the law. And, as you quite rightly said, this person was relieved and I don’t see it as a promotion at all. I mean, he just doesn’t have the responsibility of continuing in his position. And his successor actually is somebody not from the ruling family. And so, it – there is no set term or any kind of obligation that these senior positions, whether it’s in security or any other responsibility, has to do with the family name.

BLOCK: Mr. Al-Khalifa, on the same day that this human rights report was issued, our correspondent in Bahrain, Kelly McEvers, was in the town of A’ali and she was there when riot police attacked a group of unarmed civilians, actually fired tear gas into their home. I want to play the tape of what that sounded like.

(SOUNDBITE OF A TAPE)

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)

KELLY MCEVERS, BYLINE: That’s right here, outside our door. Okay, now we’re hiding.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Oh, my God.

MCEVERS: They’re shooting in the house.

BLOCK: Mr. Khalifa, why is that still happening in your country? Our correspondent, Kelly McEvers, was there with the people who were being tear-gassed inside their home. She said the canisters being fired at such close range that they were ripping holes into the walls of the house. They were old women and children in this house with our reporter.

AL-KHALIFA: Well, like I said from the beginning, there are lessons to be learned. And as the number of personnel need training, we’ve begun to do that. I think about 400 members of the police force have started to be retrained. We’re going to take training from the top people and the best experts from around the world.

So I do think that this is going to be a new chapter in the way that security is going to be managed. And I’m sure that we’re going to learn from all the mistakes that took place in the past. And I’m sure we’re going to be living in a better Bahrain in the future.

BLOCK: Mr. Al-Khalifa, thank you for your time.

AL-KHALIFA: Thank you, ma’am.

BLOCK: That’s Bahraini government spokesman Abdulaziz bin Mubarek Al-Khalifa. He spoke with us from Manama.

…source

The liberal use of US-manufactured tear gas on protesters
24-11-2011 – moqawama – By Ahmed Feteha, Michael Gunn

The liberal use of US-manufactured tear gas on protesters in recent days has raised questions about its public health effects – and who is actually ordering its use.

Egyptian security forces are digging deeper into their budget with each volley of increasingly fatal US-made tear gas they launch at demonstrators.
The human cost of the violent crackdown in central Cairo is increasingly clear — among the 39 fatalities reported to date, several are said to have died of asphyxiation caused by tear gas.
But the financial background to the use of crowd control weapons raises questions about the extent of Washington’s financial assistance to Egypt’s military and how this might filter down to the ministry of interior.

The USA is the biggest arms supplier to Egypt, providing an average of US$1.3 billion in military and law equipment every year since 2000.
Records from the US Department of State show the US supplied $1.7 million of “toxicological agents” — “including tear gases and riot control agents” — to Egypt in 2010.

This was the largest dispatch of such agents in at least 10 years.
In 2009, the US supplied 33,000 units of ‘tear gas and riot control agents’ worth $460,000. It did not supply in 2007 nor 2008, but gave 17,000 units worth $240,000 in 2006, documents show.

This assistance, however, was granted to the military, and it is not clear whether it was then channelled to the ministry of interior.
The Central Security Forces (CSF), Egypt’s riot control machine, is a division within the Ministry of Interior, but is closely tied to the armed forces, as its troops are conscripted through the military then transferred to CSF.

“The military’s arming includes tear gas and riot control weapons. The ministry of interior supposedly buys its own weaponry through other channels,” Mahmoud Kotri, a retired brigadier general who wrote a book suggesting radical police reforms, told Ahram Online.

Kotri confirmed that when the current minister of interior, Mansour El-Essawy, was appointed in March he issued explicit instructions to CSF not to carry live ammunition when confronting protesters.

This directive apparently included a ban on shotguns. Kotra explained these weapons were formerly used to fire tear gas canisters via an ad-hoc launcher. El-Essawy’s instructions probably forced CSF to acquire new types of gas bombs and new ways of launching them, says Kotri.

Nevertheless, doctors on Tahrir Square treating the injured say they have seen many protesters hit by live ammunition, including shotgun wounds.
Kotri believes that a third party might be involved in the shootings
“No MOI official in his right mind would order the use of live ammunition. Not after what happened in January and the former security leadership currently on trial for killing protesters — it just doesn’t add up,” he says.
Protesters and medical staff in Cairo have also expressed concern about the kind of gas being deployed by security forces.

Speaking to Ahram Online at the field hospital in Qasr El-Dobara church behind Tahrir Square on Monday night, volunteer doctor Lilian Sobhy said their improvised clinic had seen 290 patients in 24 hours, the majority with breathing problems.

“Some in contact with the gas are suffering from a severe burning sensation in the lungs,” Sobhy said. “This is not normal gas and these are not normal symptoms.”
Others, however, claim the symptoms — serious though they are — are no different from those caused by extreme exposure to CS gas in the past.
A former police officer told Ahram Online a colleague of his in the CSF was exposed to tear gas used by Egyptian border guards on Palestinians who broke through Rafah crossing in 2008.

He said the army’s gas was “unbearable and different from that used by CSF”.
Given the impressions above, many questions arise.
Is this a new kind of gas? If so, what is its nature? Is it designed use on civilians or is it a much more powerful assault tool used for military purposes? Who provided such weapons to the CSF? Was it the army, or did it get them through other channels? …more

Saudi Arabia: Protesters and reformists targeted in name of security
By admin On December 3, 2011 – 01 December 2011

The last nine months has seen a new wave of repression in Saudi Arabia as authorities have cracked down on protesters and reformists on security grounds, Amnesty International said today.

In Saudi Arabia: Repression in the Name of Security, the organization says hundreds of people have been arrested for demonstrating, while the government has drafted an anti-terror law that would effectively criminalize dissent as a “terrorist crime” and further strip away rights from those accused of such offences.

“Peaceful protesters and supporters of political reform in the country have been targeted for arrest in an attempt to stamp out the kinds of call for reform that have echoed across the region,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s interim Middle East and North Africa Director.

“While the arguments used to justify this wide-ranging crackdown may be different, the abusive practices being employed by the Saudi Arabian government are worryingly similar to those which they have long used against people accused of terrorist offences.”

Amnesty International said that the government continues to detain thousands of people, many of them without charge or trial, on terrorism-related grounds. Torture and other ill-treatment in detention remains rife.

In April 2011, an Interior Ministry spokesperson said that around 5,000 people connected to the “deviant group”, meaning al-Qa’ida, had been questioned and referred for trials.

Amnesty International said that since February 2011, when sporadic demonstrations began – in defiance of a permanent national ban on protests – the government had carried out a crackdown that included the arrest of hundreds of mostly Shi’a Muslims in the restive Eastern Province.

Since March 2011 over 300 people who took part in peaceful protests in al-Qatif, al-Ahsa and Awwamiya have been detained, either at demonstrations or shortly afterwards. Most have been released, often after pledging not to protest again. Many face travel bans. …more

cessation

A military court has sentenced three well-known athletes because of the pro-democracy protests
December 4th, 2011 – BYSHR

A military court in Bahrain today (December 4, 2011) has sentenced three athletes to one year in prison for taking part in pro-democracy protests. The three were working in the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF)

Athletes:

1-bodybuilder Mr.Tareq al-Fursani, a gold medallist in several Asian championships.
2- Mr.Ali Said, a goalkeeper in the national soccer team. ( More info : Bahrain TV presents confession of the national team goalkeeper)
3-Mr.Mohammed Hassan al-Dirazi, a member of the national basketball team.

Others in the same case:

1-Hameed Ali Ahmed.
2-Hassan Hameed Hassan.
3-Mohammed Zaher.
4-Abdulhadi Mahdi.

Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) expresses its deep concern due to siege of opinion and freedom of peaceful assembly.
…source

If history is to be believed; Appointment of two police officers heralds new repression in Bahrain
Bahrain Freedom Movement – 03/12/2011

Bahraini opposition have been outraged by the tactics of deception adopted by the Al Khalifa clan as they continue to divert attention away from their crimes and the people’s calls for their downfall from power.

Following the clear cut indictment of the dictator and his close lieutenants of torture crimes amounting to crimes against humanity, their allies, mainly in Washington and London came with the idea that killers may be “reformed” if they are helped by Western “experts”. This policy is at the heart of the troubles and calamities befallen the Bahraini population since they started their modern civil resistance ninety years ago.

The announcement that the Al Khalifa would appoint two police officers; an American and a British to overhaul the security services following their exposed crimes against the peole has been dismissed as mere gimmicks and diversionary tactics devoid of any real meaning or useful consequences. In addition to the bad record of each of the two officers, history has its own sad episodes of similar nature in Bahrian. After the first Baharna uprising of 1922 the British appointed Charles Belgrave as a “special financial advisor” to the newly-appointed ruler who has the same name as the present dictator; Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. The situation gradually became more repressive as people rose up to demand freedom, liberty and a constitution.

After 1954-56 uprising two British officers were brought into the country to help the Al Khalifa deal with the angry population. After 14 people were killed by police forces during the 1965 uprising, the British took the decision to “improve” the police performance by bringing Ian Henderson, the former colonial officer who had been expelled by Oginga Odinga soon after he took office as the Prime Minister of the liberated Kenya. Bahrain went through one of its bleakest periods in the following 35 years as the “Special Branch” tortured Bahrainis to death. During the 1994-1999 uprising more than 40 Bahrainis were killed and thousands tortured.

The response by the Al Khalifa and their British backers was to bring yet another British “expert” to overhaul the notorious security apparatus. David Jump was recruited with big promises by the Foreign Office that a new ear would ensue, free from torture. However more Bahrainis continued to fall at the hands of the torturers, the last of whom during that period was Nooh Khalil Al Nooh. When the present dictator succeeded his father in 1999 the world was duped into believing that a new, democratic era had dawned on the country only to for the people to experience the shock of the life time. Soon after the dictator tore up the country’s constitution, he started a killing spree resulting in the martyrdom of at least five people and the arrest, kidnap and torture of hundreds more before the situation erupted on 14th February. …more

Mr. John Timoney, the former Miami Police Chief most notable for his violent handling of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) Protests in 2003.

On November 2003, Tens of thousands of demonstrators who came to Miami to protest the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) ministerial meetings met with police harassment, provocation, and brutality. More than 100 protesters were treated for injuries, 12 were hospitalized and an estimated 250 were arrested.

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

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

(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. …more

Bahraini authorities prevented the representative of Human Rights Watch from attending the trials
November 30th, 2011 – BYSHR

Bahraini authorities prevented today -November 30, 2011- the representative of Human Rights Watch from attending the trials of journalist Reem Khalifa and members of the Board of Directors of the Bahrain Teachers Society.

The trial of journalist Reem Khalifa was postponed to December 15, 2011.

The trial of members of the Board of Directors of the Bahrain Teachers Society (BTS) was postponed to January 9, 2012. Additional information on trial ( http://byshr.org/?p=855)

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) expresses its deep concern regarding the trial of the Board of Directors of the Bahrain Teachers Society (BTS) and journalist Reem Khalifa. …source

Obama Meets with European Officials as Egyptians, Bahrainis Wait for Reform

For Immediate Release: November 28, 2011
Share31

Washington, DC – Today, as President Obama meets with European leaders to discuss a coordinated response to developments in North Africa and across the Middle East, Human Rights First urges him to make clear that efforts to disrupt political reform in Bahrain and Egypt will not be tolerated and that the protection of human rights defenders in the region is a top priority.

“Today’s election in Egypt is only one step in that nation’s journey to a new political reality. It will be essential for the United States and its European allies to support a swift transition to elected civilian rule,” said Human Rights First’s Brian Dooley. “In response to the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry’s (BICI) report issued last week that confirmed widespread human rights abuses in the Kingdom, the United States should send a clear and unequivocal public message to the Bahrain regime that the time for stonewalling and delay is over. It must implement fundamental human rights reform now.”

Ahead of today’s election in Egypt, Human Rights First issued a blueprint outlining goals and recommendations for Egypt’s transition to democracy. The report, Blueprint: Promoting Reform in Egypt, offers recommendations for both the Egyptian and United States governments and reflects the rapidly changing situation in Egypt.

The organization was in Bahrain last week as the BICI issued its findings. According to Dooley, who attended the event, little has changed in the wake of the report and the Bahrain Government has failed make any substantive moves on human rights. Dooley stated that Bahraini security forces continue to tear gas protestors and that the sham trials of medics and others continue.

“The group of 20 medics were back in court today despite the BICI findings that they and many others had confessions extracted under torture, had been denied proper access to lawyers and been denied a fair trial process,” Dooley stated. “The BICI largely confirmed what Human Rights First and other leading human rights organizations have been saying for months, that thousands of people were wrongly detained and many of them tortured. It’s time for the international community to tell Bahrain’s leadership that such abuses will not be tolerated.” …more

Blast Damages Bus Near British Embassy in Bahrain
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS – December 3, 2011 – NYT

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — A canister containing powerful explosive material blew apart the front of a minibus near the British Embassy in Bahrain’s capital on Sunday, the Interior Ministry said. There were no injuries or other serious damage.

Interior Ministry spokesman Salah Salem described the material as “highly explosive” and said it was undergoing further analysis. Authorities gave no details on possible suspects, but security has been boosted sharply across Bahrain during annual Shiite Muslim religious ceremonies.

Bahrain’s majority Shiites began an uprising in February seeking greater rights from the Gulf kingdom’s Sunni rulers. Some apparent Sunni protesters have jeered or tossed stones at the Shiite religious processions in recent days.

Salem said the blast ripped away one of wheels from the minibus and shattered its windows in a public parking lot about 50 yards (meters) from the British Embassy in the capital, Manama.

It was not immediately clear whether the blast’s proximity to the embassy was intentional. It comes less than a week after mobs in Iran’s capital stormed the British Embassy and a residential compound for diplomatic staff, leading Britain to pull its diplomats from Iran and expel Iranian envoys from London.

Bahrain’s rulers claim Iran has links to Shiite protesters in the strategic Gulf island nation, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. Shiite leaders in Bahrain deny any connections to Tehran and an independent commission report into the unrest also found no evidence of ties.

At least 35 people have died in clashes and protest-related violence since February. Hundreds of people have been arrested, including prominent Shiite activists sentenced to life in prison.

On Sunday, a military court sentenced three sportsmen — all Shiite employees of the Bahrain armed forces — to one year each in prison on charges that included disobeying orders to stay away from demonstrations.

The defendants included medal-winning bodybuilder Tareq al-Fursani; Ali Said, a goalkeeper for the national football team, and Mohammed Hassan al-Dirazi, a member of Bahrain’s basketball squad, said lawyer Mohsen al-Alawi, who was in court when the court martial sentences were given.

The trial of 61 other athletes and sports officials is scheduled for Jan. 4. 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. ……source

Max Blumenthal: How Israeli Occupation Forces, Bahraini Monarchy Guards Trained U.S. Police For Coordinated Crackdown On “Occupy” Protests
By Max Blumenthal – Al-Akhbar – 02 December, 2011

New York – In October, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department turned parts of the campus of the University of California in Berkeley into an urban battlefield. The occasion was Urban Shield 2011, an annual SWAT team exposition organized to promote “mutual response,” collaboration and competition between heavily militarized police strike forces representing law enforcement departments across the United States and foreign nations.

At the time, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department was preparing for an imminent confrontation with the nascent “Occupy” movement that had set up camp in downtown Oakland, and would demonstrate the brunt of its repressive capacity against the demonstrators a month later when it attacked the encampment with teargas and rubber bullet rounds, leaving an Iraq war veteran in critical condition and dozens injured. According to Police Magazine, a law enforcement trade publication, “Law enforcement agencies responding to…Occupy protesters in northern California credit Urban Shield for their effective teamwork.”

Training alongside the American police departments at Urban Shield was the Yamam, an Israeli Border Police unit that claims to specialize in “counter-terror” operations but is better known for its extra-judicial assassinations of Palestinian militant leaders and long record of repression and abuses in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Urban Shield also featured a unit from the military of Bahrain, which had just crushed a largely non-violent democratic uprising by opening fire on protest camps and arresting wounded demonstrators when they attempted to enter hospitals. While the involvement of Bahraini soldiers in the drills was a novel phenomenon, the presence of quasi-military Israeli police – whose participation in Urban Shield was not reported anywhere in US media – reflected a disturbing but all-too-common feature of the post-9/11 American security landscape.

The Israelification of America’s security apparatus, recently unleashed in full force against the Occupy Wall Street Movement, has taken place at every level of law enforcement, and in areas that have yet to be exposed. The phenomenon has been documented in bits and pieces, through occasional news reports that typically highlight Israel’s national security prowess without examining the problematic nature of working with a country accused of grave human rights abuses. But it has never been the subject of a national discussion. And collaboration between American and Israeli cops is just the tip of the iceberg.

Having been schooled in Israeli tactics perfected during a 63 year experience of controlling, dispossessing, and occupying an indigenous population, local police forces have adapted them to monitor Muslim and immigrant neighborhoods in US cities. Meanwhile, former Israeli military officers have been hired to spearhead security operations at American airports and suburban shopping malls, leading to a wave of disturbing incidents of racial profiling, intimidation, and FBI interrogations of innocent, unsuspecting people. The New York Police Department’s disclosure that it deployed “counter-terror” measures against Occupy protesters encamped in downtown Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park is just the latest example of the so-called War on Terror creeping into every day life. Revelations like these have raised serious questions about the extent to which Israeli-inspired tactics are being used to suppress the Occupy movement. …more

WikiLeaks Releases Documents on Government Surveillance Tactics
For an ongoing project called Spy files, hundreds of documents on dozens of governments and contractors have been released
by John Glaser, December 01, 2011

WikiLeaks has released secret files shining light on the mass surveillance practices of dozens of governments and the corporate contractors that provide the technology.

The whistle-blowing organization, according to a press release and a new “Spy files” section of the website, is “releasing a database of hundreds of documents from as many as 160 intelligence contractors in the mass surveillance industry.” This latest release – with the help of “Bugged Planet and Privacy International, as well as media organizations form six countries” including the Washington Post in the U.S. – includes 287 documents, but the “Spy files” project will be ongoing.

“In the last ten years,” reads the press release, “systems for indiscriminate, mass surveillance have become the norm.” Some national security contractors even “record the location of every mobile phone in a city, down to 50 meters. Systems to infect every Facebook user, or smart-phone owner of an entire population group are on the intelligence market.”

The contractors and countries included in the Spy files release include SS8 and Blue Coat in the U.S, Gamma corporation in the U.K., Ipoque in Germany, Amesys and Vupen in France, VASTech in South Africa, ZTE Corp in China, Phoenexia in the Czech Republic, among others. …more

Julian Assange: iPhone, Blackberry and Gmail users are ‘screwed’
guardian.co.uk – 2 December 2011

WikilLeaks founder Julian Assange tells smartphone and Gmail users ‘you’re all screwed’ by intelligence contractors who sell mass surveillance devices for such technologies in the post 9/11 world. He also announced that his whistleblowing organisation was embarking on a new ‘source protection platform’

…source

Bahrain hires John Yates, former Met officer, to oversee reform
02 Dec 2011 – By Damien McElroy – Telegraph

Mr Yates has been asked to overhaul the controversial service with John Timoney, a former head of Miami police, to ensure its procedures meet international human rights standards.

The former assistant commissioner resigned in July over accusations surrounding his handling of the phone hacking affair and his ties with Neil Wallis, the former senior executive at the News of the World who later worked for the police force.

An independent report last week found that Bahrain’s security forces used excessive force, torture and summary justice to crush a popular protest movement that paralysed the Gulf state earlier this year. …more

John Yates resigns from Met police over phone-hacking scandal
Vikram Dodd, Sam Jones and Hélène Mulholland – guardian.co.uk – 18 July 2011

‘I have acted with complete integrity and my conscience is clear’ – John Yates Link to this video

The Metropolitan police assistant commissioner John Yates has become the second high-profile Scotland Yard officer to resign over the phone-hacking scandal.

The resignation of Yates – the country’s top counter-terrorism officer – comes a day after his boss, the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, stepped down.

In a statement, Scotland Yard said: “Assistant commissioner John Yates has this afternoon indicated his intention to resign to the chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA). This has been accepted. AC Yates will make a statement later this afternoon.”

His decision to quit came as the Metropolitan Police Authority’s professional standards cases subcommittee held a meeting to consider a slew of complaints against him.

The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said the resignations of Yates and Stephenson were “regrettable but right”. He said: “Whatever mistakes have been made at any level in the police service, now is the time to clear them up.” …more

JOHN TIMONEY – King Hamad’s, Fascist Pick for Torture State Reform

13 November, 2009 – by One People’s Project (Anit-fascist Project)

NAME: John Timoney
HOME BASE: Miami, Florida

This just might be the biggest dirt bag to wear a badge today. With his tactics against protests from New York to Philly to Miami, John Timoney has turned every police department he has ran into a garden variety Weirmacht. After what he did in Miami, however, he and many of his officers should be on the inside of a jail cell, but instead he is giving advice to other police departments on how to deal with protestors. This nets him praise among the right, and that should be the first sign that something is wrong with him.

Born in Dublin, Ireland coming to the US at the age of 13 and raised in Washington Heights, Timoney joined the New York City Police force on July 15, 1969. Rising through the ranks rather quickly, he was at the rank of Deputy Inspector when he became notorious in 1988, leading police to attack the homeless, housing activists, squatters and massive numbers of their Tent City supporters in Tompkins Square Park. In 1994, the year Rudolph Giuliani became mayor, Timoney was tapped to be second in command of the NYPD, and nothing said ‘happy days’ more to the brutal police officers out there more than the words ‘Mayor Giuliani’. In June of 1996, Amnesty International released a report titled Police Brutality in the New York City Police Department, which used official police statistics. In it, the organization noted that in 1994, the first year that Timoney was second in command at the NYPD, the city saw ‘a 34% increase in civilians shot dead.’ In the same year, there was also a ‘53.3% increase in civilians shot dead in police custody’ as well as ‘an increase in the number of civilians injured from officers’ firearms discharge during the same period.’ Amnesty also reports that the New York City Civilian Review Board ‘reported that it received 4,920 new complaints in 1994, an increase of 37.43 percent over the previous year’. Timoney’s reign as First Deputy to the Police Commissioner saw a 50% increase of complaints in communities of color.

In 1998, Timoney became the police commissioner of Philadelphia, moving from one city with a racist repressive mayor to another that honors one from their history with a statue similar to the one of Sadaam Hussein we had seen toppled in news footage in 2003. In Philly, he tried to uphold that city’s legendary reputation of police brutality, which he must have been successful in doing because just like in NYC, complaints of police misconduct shot through the roof and reached record levels. The Police Advisory Commission said complaints for the fiscal year 2000 were the most they had received in a single year. The Commission made 13 disciplinary recommendations to Timoney as well as 17 opinions, but it had no real enforcement power and in the end Timoney implemented one recommendation, a one-day suspension. He would also pull stunts like issuing decisions before he receives the Commission’s recommendations. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer commission members have complained that Timoney had rendered their work useless, and it cost the city overall. The Police Advisory Commission’s Executive Director Hector Soto has called Timoney’s behavior ‘an attack on the concept of our commission.’ …more

Forgotten Bahrain
By As’ad AbuKhalil – Mon, 2011-11-28 02:18- Angry Corner – Al-Akhbar

Bahrain is the forgotten uprising. It does not seem to figure on the agenda of any state or party. Few still remember that the Syrian regime had also supported the suppression of the Bahraini uprising: it even supported the Saudi/UAE military intervention (Syria was hoping to win favor with Saudi Arabia and GCC members and to count on their support in a future suppression within its own borders).

Other Arab governments did not express any sympathy or support for the Bahraini people: the region is still suffering from the impact of the acute campaign of Saudi-sponsored anti-Shiite agitation. The Saudi regime was able to take us back to the times when Shiites were not accepted as legitimate Muslims. Al-Azhar, which is easily controlled and bought off, seems to have forgotten that it had officially accepted Twelver Shiites as “legitimate” Muslims.

Bahrain is a special case in many ways. It has always been ahead of other GCC members in political development. It was certainly not due to any kindness on the part of the House of Khalifa, but the Bahraini population has exhibited acute political awareness over the decades. It was for decades a venue of Arab nationalist and leftist political activism. Its press was livelier than the various bulletins of Saudi princes. Labor unions in Bahrain were exemplary models of courageous political activities.

Yet, the House of Khalifa took advantage of the eruption of the Lebanese civil war in 1975 to impose a rigid and repressive rule and roll back the previous political and social advances. The House of Khalifa, like the various GCC countries, took on the formula of replacing the British colonial sponsor with the American imperial sponsor. Once the US receives financial, military, and intelligence services from those reactionary monarchies, it commits itself to firm defense of those regimes against all domestic enemies. The US defended many of those regimes, not against the Islamist extremist of recent years, but against progressive and liberal groups as well. The US rarely raises its voice against repression by Gulf countries. The Obama administration could not even feign outrage at the repression in Bahrain. ….more