here is a prepared statement issued by the Depart of State regarding Bahrain – a standard diplomatic memo written and released by a staff member and published on Clinton’ behalf.

Press Statement
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
December 16, 2011
Bahrain’s National Day

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I am delighted to congratulate the people of Bahrain as you celebrate your National Day. Our two countries have shared a long history of partnership built on mutual interest and mutual respect. The United States values this friendship, rooted in the history of our people-to-people ties dating back to the early years of the 20th century. We look forward to working closely with the Government of Bahrain and all Bahrainis on the important endeavor of building a prosperous, secure, and peaceful future for your nation.

here is the BNA delusional translation of the press release

US Secretary of State congratulates Bahrain
20/12/2011 – BNA
Washington, Dec. 20 (BNA)—On behalf of US President Barack Obama and the American people, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton congratulated Bahrain on its National Day and His Majesty the King’s accession to the throne.

In a statement marking the occasion, the US Secretary of State hailed strong bilateral relations and mutual respect.

She also voiced her country’s keenness to cooperate with Bahrain to ensure a prosperous, secure and peaceful future for the kingdom.

Egyptian General: Protesters Deserve to be Thrown into Hitler’s Oven
Local Editor – moqawama.org

A retired Egyptian general says the protesters who came under attack by soldiers were “delinquents who deserve to be thrown into Hitler’s ovens.”

Gen. Abdel Moneim Kato, who serves as an adviser to the military’s public relations department, made the remarks in an interview with the Egyptian newspaper al-Shorouk on Monday.

The invocation of Nazi Germany came just hours before Egypt’s military rulers claimed to have foiled a plot to burn down the country’s parliament building. The comment was strongly criticized by several Egyptian activists and politicians.

Mohamed ElBaradei, a presidential hopeful, tweeted that the retired general had “a deranged and criminal state of mind!”

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information in Cairo also denounced General Kato, calling him an “official who does not hesitate to declare Nazi opinions that incite hatred and justify violence against citizens he disagrees with.”

The Egyptian military’s violence against protesters in the past five days left at least 14 people dead and hundreds more injured, according to the Health Ministry.

The demonstrators call on the junta to immediately transfer power to a civilian government nearly one year after the country’s revolution toppled former dictator Hosni Mubarak. …source

20 – Dec. @angryarabiya: These last few days were tough, but the only thing that broke me down was leaving political prisoner Fathiya behind #bahrain

Fathiya and Jassim Hayat’ Story:

Fathiya and Jassim Hayat were arrested on 30/9/11. Their Crime was allowing two youngs boys into their house to save them from Police Beating and Arresting them.

An Act of Kindness has put Fathiya and her family in Jail, first for 45 days Detention for Investigation and now for a further 45 Days Detention for Investigation.

On the day of arrest, Police broke down her front door, scaring children and arrested the two boys that were hiding, Ahmed & Hussain Al Madani, they also arrested Fathiya, her brother Jassim,father Abduali, and later her Mother and another brother Mohammed.

After a few hours they released Father, Mother and her brother Mohammed, but to today Fathiya and her brother 19yr old Jassim are detained, without Trial or investigation.

Fathiya is a wonderful woman, very kind natured but has no Political Involvment with any movement, she was simply been kind to two young men.

PLEASE PLEASE RT her story to the world and help with the immediately release of Fathiya and her brother Jassim.
thank you.

Bahrain releases female blogger pending trial forceably
(AFP) – 6 hours ago

MANAMA — Bahraini authorities on Tuesday ordered the release on bail of Shiite female blogger Zainab al-Khawaja, whose rough arrest was exposed worldwide through YouTube.

The public prosecutor decided to release Khawaja and Maasuma al-Sayed, pending trial on charges of “taking part in (illegal) assemblies on Budaiya highway and assaulting a female police officer”, BNA state news agency said.

It said a lawsuit was being prepared to bring the two women to the criminal court.

But the two women have so far refused to leave prison, insisting on taking out with them another woman whom they found in custody, according to Mohammed al-Maskati, head of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights.

He said that the woman, Fathia Abdali Hayat, was arrested in September and accused of sheltering protesters, and the two others found her behind bars at Issa Town police station.

One of several video clips showing Khawaja’s arrest generated nearly 173,000 hits since Thursday. It showed the Shiite activist refusing to stand up and leave a roundabout following a sit-in that was dispersed by police.

The footage showed her being handcuffed by a policewoman.

Another female member of the security forces appears to grab Khawaja’s face violently, before both then dragged her to a police vehicle.

One of the policewomen can be seen punching Khawaja in the chest as she lay on her back on the pavement.

The mother of a one-year-old child and whose husband Wafi al-Majed is in prison along with her father, leading opponent Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, Zainab al-Khawaja is known on the social network Twitter as “Angry Arabiya.”

She tweeted from the roundabout before her arrest, saying she was chanting “Down, down (King) Hamad” and that a “few girls” have joined her while “riot police don’t seem to know what to do.”

Shiite youth groups had called for a series of consecutive protests on the highway which links Shiite villages with Manama’s former Pearl Square, the focal point of a month-long pro-democracy uprising that was crushed in March. …source

Prisoners release needed before Bahrain talks: UK
18 December, 2011 – ABNA

The release of all the political prisoners from jail in Bahrain must precede the start of any constructive dialogue for reforms inside the country, according to British Liberal Democrat peer Lord Avebury.

Prisoners release needed before Bahrain talks: UK(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – The release of all the political prisoners from jail in Bahrain must precede the start of any constructive dialogue for reforms inside the country, according to British Liberal Democrat peer Lord Avebury.

“I believe a precondition for any kind of dialogue must be the freedom for those who stood up for human rights and justice,” the 83-year old peer said.

“The British government should be pressing Bahrain authorities to do that first before they sit down and talk about dialogue,” he told after chairing a seminar in parliament entitled “Dead end for a regime guilty of systematic torture” in Bahrain.

In an interview, Avebury criticised Prime Minister David Cameron for inviting the Bahraini king for talks last week before recommendations by Bissiouni inquiry into human rights abuses were implemented.

“I am disappointed that the prime minister received the king and the prince quite recently and seemed to gloss over all that happened,” he said.

Cameron was “talking about a dialogue when the main leaders of the opposition and human rights activists are still in prison under heavy sentences many of them having received life sentences,” the Lib Dem peer said,

This, he said, was “even though the king agreed to implement the recommendations of the Bissiouni Commission, which included the release of all the political prisoners.”

“So far I am not satisfied with the reaction by the British government both to the Bissiouni report and independent report that was produced by many non-governmental organisations in Bahrain,” he added.

At the seminar, Avebury suggested that the commission, ordered by the king back in June, was aimed to remove international pressure to stop torture, arbitrary detention, extra-judicial killing and dismissal of workers in Bahrain.

He told that he was not hopeful that reforms being carried out after observing repeated failures by the Bahraini authority to bring about democratic change for the past 20 years.

“We have a cycle. We go round in circle with unrest leading to some minor apparent concessions and as soon as the fuss has died down they are reversed,” the British peer said.

“We go back to square one, that’s happened several times during my observation of Bahrain since the early 90s, so I believe that unless we get political reform in the direction of human rights and democracy we are never going to get human rights involving Bahrain,” he said.

“I believe the precondition for reforms is political reform,” Avebury emphasised. …source

Saudi Arabia calls for Gulf ‘union’ – Abdullah opens summit with a proposal to set up strong entity to meet challenges

By Jumana Al Tamimi – December 20, 2011 – GulfNews

Dubai: In a surprise move, King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia told fellow Gulf leaders who are meeting in Riyadh to establish a Gulf Union to take on “the challenges that threaten our nations, security and stability.”

“I ask you today to move from a stage of cooperation to a stage of union in a single entity,” Abdullah said at the opening session of a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit yesterday. He warned the bloc’s security was being targeted, without elaborating.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, led the UAE delegation.

The two-day summit will focus on several issues, including the security collaboration among the member states in the face of increasing Iranian threats and the fears of a growing Iranian military presence in Iraq after this week’s US withdrawal from Iraq.

“Iranian threats to the GCC will be tackled,” Abdul Aziz Bin Saqr, President of the Gulf Research Centre told Gulf News.

“There must be a clear GCC response to Iranian threats,” he said.
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Internal affairs

Arab Gulf countries have repeatedly accused Iran of interferring in their internal affairs, especially in Bahrain, Kuwait and the eastern province of Saudi Arabia, where there is a noticeable Shiite population — a charge Iran has denied.

Tehran, on the other hand, has criticised the way the Gulf governments handled the protests of its Shiite citizens. It also threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz and hinder the maritime movement across the strategic passage.

The GCC summit, which is the first since the wave of revolutions swept the Arab region late last year, is expected to discuss the military and security cooperation, some press reports said.

Bahrain Women Take Pride in Vital Protest Role
By SOUAD MEKHENNET – December 20, 2011 – NYT

MANAMA, BAHRAIN — Women in Bahrain are known to play more of a role in public life than in most neighboring countries. They drive, vote, and some are active in politics.

So it was no surprise to find on arriving here that Bahraini women were also prominent in protests. During a recent demonstration outside the U.N. office in Manama, women, most of them wearing black abayas, stood apart from male peers, carrying pictures of men who they say had been tortured and signs asking for global support.

Noura, 24, was one of the few women not wearing a head scarf. “I am here because Bahrain has to change,” she proclaimed, though boldness in baring her head did not extend to being identified by full name. “For years now, the Khalifas are dividing the power among themselves,” she said, adding that she was Sunni like the ruling family, but that the Bahraini news media very often report that the protesters are all Shiite. “There are Sunni people like me criticizing the fact that most of the minister posts and important positions are in the hands of one family,” she insisted.

Indeed, two days of reporting turned up some women like Noura who were Sunni and critical of the ruling family, while others, like Sawsan Haji Taqawi, a member of Parliament, who criticized the opposition, were Shiite.

Mrs. Haji Taqawi said she had been attacked by some in the opposition for taking part in elections. “I can only say don’t be fooled and believe that for all of them, democracy is meaning the same as for people in the West,” she said, claiming that much of the opposition had a more conservative religious agenda and would not support the empowerment of women. “Mistakes have been made,” she conceded, “and we need to work on it together. But how should this happen, if the opposition is not willing to sit down?” ….more

Bahraini Al Khalifa forces Martyred another Young Shia Protester » Bahraini Martyr Ali Al Qasaab
December 19, 2011 – JafriaNews

JNN 19 Dec 2011 Manama : Ali al-Kassab, 17, was martyred on Thursday after he was run over by a police car in Abu Saiba town near the capital, Manama.

At least 12 others were injured in the Saudi-backed regime crackdown on peaceful demonstrations in several towns and villages.

Security forces also detained nine others, including a prominent human rights activist.

Bahraini protesters blocked many roads, including the main highway in Manama.

Protests have been held in almost every village and town in the small Persian Gulf country since opposition groups called for protests and road blocking.

Bahrain has been experiencing a popular revolution since mid-February against the decades-long rule of Al Khalifa dynasty in the Persian Gulf island nation.

On March 14, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded Bahrain to assist the government in Manama in order to quash peaceful protesters in the country.

On November 23, an independent inquiry commission mandated to probe the clampdown on ant-government protesters said the regime had used “excessive force” to crush the protests.

Bahrain: End Takeover of Lawyers’ Group Revoke Order Canceling Election Results
December 20, 2011 – HRW

It seems that adding “human rights” to its name has only made this ministry more brazen in violating international standards for freedom of association. The ministry should immediately revoke its order and allow the members of the lawyers’ society to elect their officers without the heavy hand of the state.
Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch

(New York) – Bahraini authorities should immediately revoke an order canceling the results of the election for the Bahraini Lawyers’ Society’s governing board, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Lawyers’ Society, the official professional body for lawyers, held an election for new board members on November 26, 2011. Fatima al-Balooshi, minister of Human Rights and Social Development, issued an order on November 30 canceling the election results and reinstating the previous board and president to manage the affairs of the society for the coming six months. The ministry, which prior to June 20 had been called the Ministry of Social Development, has jurisdiction over civil society organizations in Bahrain under Law 21/1989. In its letter justifying the decision, the ministry said that the society “did not comply with the legal procedures.”

“It seems that adding ‘human rights’ to its name has only made this ministry more brazen in violating international standards for freedom of association,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The ministry should immediately revoke its order and allow the members of the lawyers’ society to elect their officers without the heavy hand of the state.”

The association’s annual election of officers was originally scheduled for April. The society postponed its election until November because the government imposed a state of emergency in March following pro-democracy demonstrations that started in mid-February.

Hameed al-Mulla, the newly elected president of the society, whose election was annulled by the ministry’s order, told Human Rights Watch that the ministerial order reinstated the board members and president who had been elected in 2009 for a six-month period. Al-Mulla, vice president during the previous term, said that five out of seven of the previous board members reject the ministry’s decision to reinstate them.

Al-Mulla said that the election had been held in accordance with both the society’s bylaws and government regulations, and that the society had notified the ministry of the election two weeks before holding its general assembly.

“The ministry refused to accept the notification letter when we tried to deliver it in person, so we sent it via special mail and received confirmation it had been delivered,” he said.

Representatives of the Bahrain Human Rights Society monitored the election, in which 85 eligible members elected the new board members, al-Mulla said.

In an earlier letter to the society, sent on November 23, the ministry asked for documentation to verify the membership of 135 of the group’s approximately 200 members, including the lawyer the ministry later reinstated to manage the society for the coming six months, al-Mulla and another member of the society told Human Rights Watch.
…more

Verified Sources Report:

20 Dec, 2011 – URGENT: Public prosecutor orders release of Zainab Alkhawaja and Masooma AlSayed on bail as case against them will be heard at later date.

16 Dec, 2011 – Slide Show – Zainab, Civil Disobedience. HERE

15 Dec. 2011 – At 10:00PM MST US – Zainab Alkhawaja and Masooma AlSayed will be detained for 7 days. According to lawyer: Masooma Alsayed was kicked in her leg and is now limping, was not seen by doctor Zainab when arrested had something sprayed in her eyes and was unable to see for approx an hour. Zainab in police station was beaten on head, arms and legs, as she was unable to see. Zainab recognized the voice of the policewoman who beat her, prosecutor refused to write it down lawyer attempted to show prosecutor video of the arrest, he refused to see it policewoman came in with bandaged arm claiming Masooma and Zainab hit her. Zainab refused to sign statement unless policewoman’s name was taken who hit her Prosecutor got angry and made everyone leave the room, awaiting decision.

15 Dec. 2011, At 7:50PM MST US – Zainab Alkhawaja, 27 year old Human Rights Defender has been arrested following a protest and has been charged with, illegal gathering, assaulting a female officer, inciting hatred against the regime. Masooma AlSayed also arrested has been charged with, illegal gathering, assaulting a female officer. At this hour both are awaiting a decision whether they will be held or released on bond.

….updates to follow.

MORE – Anonymous Source – 15 December, 2011

Today Bahraini security forces used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of opposition supporters attempting to protest alongside a highway leading to the island kingdom’s capital (more details: HERE. *Zainab Alkhawaja, 27, *a human rights activist*, *has participated in this peaceful protest. She staged a sit-in on a roundabout with several women. The riot police have responded with shooting tear gas canister on the women where all of them left the place except Zainab. She continued her sit-in peacefully to exercise her right to freedom of expression in accordance to the declaration of the Human Rights. The police again shot tear gas canister, this time directly on Zainab: video – HERE

The female police came toward Zainab and handcuffed Zainab. As seen on recorded video HERE and the attached photos, Zainab has been slapped and hit on the face, dragged from the handcuff itself on ground all the way through to the pavement then to the street, she has her Muslim head scarf removed from her head. It’s very worrying the way she was ill-treated in public.

She, as well as another woman Ms Masooma alSayed were then taken to the police station and referred to the general prosecution “for taking part and calling for illegal gathering and one of them attacked public security female employee near Busaiba” MOI Tweet HERE The available videos clearly shows no kind of physical assaults practiced by Zainab.

At the general prosecution, Zainab told the lawyer that the female officer ” took my scarf off and tied it around my mouth to stop me from speaking”. Lawyer Zahra Masood who is with zainab Alkhawaja in the general prosecution, said that zainb looks tired & hardly opens her eye. She is still there (since around 9pm Bahrain time) as we write these words.

Zainab is mother of 1 year old child. Her husband, father and uncle are all in jail. He *father* is the prominent Human Rights activist AbdulHadi AlKhawaja, a former Regional Protection coordinator for the Middle East with Front Line and former President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). He is now in jail and sentenced to life be military court for taking part in the Feb 14 protest. Her husband Wafi, was arrested along with her father and is now sentenced to 4 years in jail also by a military court.

Zainab has been targeted before, arrested from Bahrain UN house in June 2011 HERE and before that she summoned for interrogation at the police station.

See this video where Zainab talks about her activism, family, human rights, Abdulhadi and the difficulties of struggling for human rights in Bahrain: HERE More information about her below.

*We call you to take immediate action to guarantee the release of Zainab AlKhwaja and her fellow who were arrested and assaulted for merely exercising her right to freedom of expression and assembly in accordance to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Please take every action in your hand to call for her release and protection from further targeting and ill-treatment. The officers responsible for the seen
violence against AlKhawja can be easily identified and should be taken accountable for he clear assaults they have committed.