What Next in Bahrain? More U.S. Silence
December 7, 2011 – The Trench

After successfully delaying a proposed arms shipment until the release of Bahrain’s “Independent Commission of Inquiry” (BICI), Senator Ron Wyden has made sure to keep his low-wattage spotlight on the island nation. Speaking at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington D.C., the Senator articulated a red-line that few U.S. officials are willing to go near.

“Imagine if everyone in Congress had kept quiet and this arms sale had been completed,” Wyden asked his audience in Kenney Auditorium. “What kind of message would this have sent the world or to the people aspiring for freedom and democracy? America should NOT be rewarding brutal regimes with arms. It’s that simple.”

The Obama administration has yet to process Bahrain’s latest shipment of arms (joint-training with Oakland police is another story), but a reward-based media blockade remains in effect after the BICI’s release. Treated as an afterthought throughout the Arab revolutions, U.S. officials again turned their backs on Bahrain as they concentrated on Egypt, Syria and Pakistan’s latest blowup. The White House praised King Hamad’s inquiry and urged him to follow through on proposed reforms, a message designed to reduce U.S. culpability in Bahrain.

Little – if anything – has changed in the two weeks since King Hamad received his BICI in Manama’s Royal Occasions Hall. Confidence quickly dropped after the inquiry’s release, protesters continue to battle government forces in a running low-intensity conflict, and Shia opposition groups such as Al Wefaq and Waad remain marginalized in the political process.

Nabeel Rajab recently arrived in Washington to spread awareness of Bahrain’s environment. The head of Bahrain’s Human Rights Organization wasn’t invited to any State Department meeting and only spoke briefly to Gayle Smith, senior director for democracy in Obama’s National Security Council. Thus Rajab settled for media organs to disseminate his message, and Foreign Policy’s attempt to maintain neutrality – “Is US on Wrong Side of Bahrain?” – rapidly descends into redundancy.

“What I have realized is that there’s a difference between the way the American government and the American people look at the Arab uprisings or the Arab revolution. I have received great support from American civil society, human rights groups, etc., in support of the Bahraini revolution. But that is totally different than the position of the United States government, which has disappointed many people in the Gulf region. And they have seen how the U.S. has acted differently and has different responses for different countries.”

Rajab’s interview offers a clear, sensible warning to U.S. policymakers attempting to navigate Bahrain’s uprising: support genuine democratic reform or risk total regime change. While many Sunni Bahrainis and external observers fear an Iranian takeover if the Shia opposition receives greater political representation, Rajab’s message is free of Tehran’s interference. He is genuinely trying to assist the Obama administration in diffusing Bahrain’s crisis and creating a stable democracy. ….more

‘KSA rejects seditious elements in Bahrain’
By Hussein Hazzazi and Muhammad Al-Daqa’i

JEDDAH – Saudi Arabia supports the Bahraini King, government and its people against those trying to destabilize the country, said Dr. Abdullah Aal Al-Sheikh, Speaker of the Saudi Shoura Council, at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Shoura Speakers meeting in Jeddah on Saturday.

He lauded the decision taken by the GCC leaders for the Peninsula Shield Force to secure Bahrain’s vital installations and protect the country from those with seditious and malicious intentions.

Aal Al-Sheikh also praised the signing of the GCC-brokered deal in Yemen. “We hope this agreement will end the country’s long conflict and tension and restore its status as a hub for human civilization.”

He said the GCC Unified Parliament will only be achieved by leaders trusted by their people. A working paper on the subject will be produced for discussion at future meetings. “We are only having our fifth meeting so we don’t expect to immediately achieve a unified parliament and Shoura Council.”
Aal Al-Sheikh said the Shoura Speakers meeting was important because it comes before the 32nd GCC Summit, which will take place in Riyadh this month under the chairmanship of King Abdullah.

Addressing the session, Assaf Al-Assaf, representative of the GCC Secretary General and Director of the Administration of the Parliaments Council, paid tribute to Khalid Bin Hilal Al-Ma’wali, Chairman of the Omani Shoura Council, and Muhammad Ahmad Al-Mirr, Chairman of the Union National Council in the UAE, for attending the periodic meeting in Jeddah.

“Our meeting is part of joint efforts to deepen and strengthen the brotherly relations between our councils, which are aimed at achieving the noble goals stipulated by the GCC Basic System.”

The GCC states have made big strides in its parliaments, in the interest of all Gulf citizens, he added.

The speakers concluded their 5th session with a communiqué strongly condemning Iran’s accusations against Saudi Arabia, plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the US, and interference in the internal affairs of GCC states.

The statement denounced Iran for conspiring against GCC’s national security and creating sectarian conflict in the region. …source

Bahrain: Opposition Offices Defaced; Government to Bring in Red Cross
POMED – b Alex – 10 December, 2011

Pro-government demonstrators marched to the offices of a Bahraini opposition party of Waad and painted graffiti on the walls against the majority Shia population and Iran. Some of the slogans painted on the walls were ”down with Iran” and “Shi’ites get out,” as Waad, a secular group aligned with the largest Shia opposition group al-Wifaq has been at the forefront of demonstrations for the past nine months. This comes as Bahraini security forces fired tear gas upon anti-government protesters marching to the Pearl Square roundabout on Friday.

Bahrain has decided to allow members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) into its prisons following the human rights abuses outlined by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report released last month. Bahrain’s information authority said in a statement on Friday that “the Red Cross will also hold training courses on human rights and international humanitarian law for [ministry of interior] personnel to enhance their skills and reinforce and promote a culture of human rights.” State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland praised the Bahraini government ”for moving quickly to implement the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry Report recommendations,” and continued to urge the government to implement other reforms from the report as “Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Mike Posner, is going to be in Bahrain next week to continue our human rights dialogue.” …source

OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani
9 December 2011 – UN

The United Nations human rights office announced today it is dispatching a delegation to Bahrain, where serious rights violations are alleged to have occurred earlier this year, to discuss how to build a more open and democratic society in the Middle East country.

A four-member team will head to Bahrain next week at the request of the Bahraini Government, according to Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

“The delegation looks forward to engaging with the Government, civil society, members of the political opposition and victims of human rights violations in the country,” Ms. Shamdasani said.

The delegation looks forward to engaging with the Government, civil society, members of the political opposition and victims of human rights violations in the country.

The team – which will be headed by Bacre Ndiaye, the Director of the Human Rights Council and Special Procedures Division at OHCHR, and Frej Fenniche, the chief of the office’s Middle East and North Africa section – will then submit recommendations to High Commissioner Navi Pillay on the way forward for Bahrain.

The small island country was beset by violent clashes between security forces and protesters earlier this year, part of the Arab Spring uprising that has engulfed much of the region and led to the toppling of long-term regimes in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen.

Last month an independent inquiry into the alleged rights violations during the clashes found, according to media reports, that Government forces had used excessive force during the crackdown in February and March and had tortured some detainees. …more