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