Bahrain gives assurance over Formula One fears
Gary Meenaghan – 10 January, 2012 – National

The Bahrain Grand Prix was last staged in 2010 and there are indications that it will resume this year.

Organisers of the Bahrain Grand Prix have moved to quell rising fears regarding the situation in the Kingdom after human rights groups called for Formula One teams to boycott the race planned for April 22.

Last year’s grand prix was cancelled following unrest in the Gulf state, but the race has returned to the calendar this year following assurances from the Crown Prince that the issues are being dealt with.

Nabeel Rajab, the vice-president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, said last weekend that a campaign will be held to boycott the race, adding “Formula One, if they come, are helping the government to say [the situation is normal].

“We would prefer it if they didn’t take part. I am sure the drivers and teams respect human rights.”

However, a spokesperson for the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) on Monday said the government, which had an independent report carried out last year, has moved to ensure no further human rights violations will take place.

“Last year, the King of Bahrain commissioned an independent report into alleged human rights abuses, the findings of which were published in November,” the spokesman said. “The report found evidence of human rights violations and made certain general and specific recommendations.

“The government has fully acknowledged the findings of the report and is acting swiftly and convincingly on the recommendations.”

Bernie Ecclestone, the commercial rights holder of Formula One, said at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November that he saw no reason not to return to Bahrain and did not believe the race would become a target for protesters. …more

Mahmood Abdulsaheb: Author and Photographer detained and tortured in the Arab Capital of Culture for 2012
09 Janary, 2012 – BCHR

Charges related to freedom of expression dropped on the media, on reality detainees still in jail

While Bahrain has been selected to be the Arab Capital of Culture for 2012, talented and creative Bahraini individuals who have contributed to the enrichment of Bahraini culture are being subjected to torture and imprisoned for exercising their basic right to freedom of expression. Mahmood Abdulsaheb is a Bahraini writer, photographer, painter and a member of many regional and international organizations concerned with Arabian Horses. He has been detained since March 15 2011, and sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment which has decreased to 3.5 years after an appeal. The accusations against him are of participating in illegal assemblies and fabricating and disseminating photos of injuries.
Representing Bahrain and contributing to the enrichment of the Bahraini culture

Mohmood Abdulsaheb is a Bahraini father of three. He is a man of many talents and an active member of Bahraini society. He works in “Royal Equestrian Federation” and is an international coach and member in many organizations including World Arabian Horse Organization (WAHO), Arabian Horse Registry of America (AHRA) and Arabian Horse Association (LAHA).

Mahmood Abdulsaheb is a researcher interested in History with a high diploma in History from Beirut University. He is a published author with published writings and researches about History in general and the history of Arabian horses in particular. Recently he wrote a book title “ “The Legend: The Story of an Arabian Bahraini Bay Mare: An influence in USA.””[1] , an illustrated book with photos taken by Abdulsaheb on Arabian horses and features the story of Bint El Bahreyn. In addition, he is also a painter and an amateur photographer. He participated in many photography courses and taught photography to his children. …more

Bahrain Sham Trials, Attacks on Defenders Persist
9 January 9, 2012 – Human Rights First

Washington, DC – Today in Bahrain, 20 medics again appeared in court facing baseless charges and their appeal was delayed again until March 19. In September, a military court sentenced the medics to long jail terms based on confessions resulting from torture. They stand accused for treating injured protestors and telling the media about the nature and extent of injuries.

Rick Sollom of the U.S.-based nonprofit organization Physicians for Human Rights traveled to Bahrain to observe the proceeding, but was barred from entering the country.

“The Bahrain Government continues to undermine its stated commitment to human rights reform by holding sham trials, attacking human rights defenders and denying access to international observers,” said Human Rights First’s Brian Dooley. “It’s time they start giving more than lip service to meaningful reform. Otherwise, the rest of the world must take action.”

In addition to the medics, 25-year-old Bahraini Policeman Ali Jasim Al Ghanmi, who was arrested for refusing to join the government in its violent crackdown, was also in court today. He was sentenced to 12 years and 3 months in prison for publicly proclaiming that he would no longer work for the nation’s repressive dictatorship. Al Ghanmi was also tortured in custody and has spent long stretches in solitary confinement after shouting “down, down Hamad” in the prison yard.

On Friday, Bahrain’s most prominent human rights defender, Nabeel Rajab, was hospitalized after being attacked and beaten by Bahrain police. Rajab is president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. He has spoken out against human rights abuses committed by the Bahraini government for years, including the recent spate of mass detentions, disappearances, deaths in custody, widespread torture, military trials, mass firings of Shias and the destruction of their mosques.

“The situation in Bahrain continues to deteriorate,” concluded Dooley. “This regime must be held accountable for these abuses.” …source

Bahrain unrest: policeman jailed for joining protests
9 January 2012 – BBC

A military court in Bahrain has sentenced a policeman to more than 12 years in jail for joining protests against the royal family last year.

Ali al-Ghanami, a 25-year-old junior police officer, had left his guard post and joined protesters on 17 February 2011 after security forces had cleared a major traffic circle in the capital Manama.

On that day police action against peaceful demonstrators at Pearl Roundabout left two protesters dead and more than a hundred injured.

Video footage from the day shows people being fired on with birdshot at point blank range. The footage was supplied by activists.

His brother told the BBC Mr Ghanami witnessed dead and wounded being taken to nearby Salmaniya hospital.

“He was very emotional. He stood in front of people in his uniform and said I cannot work for a killer institution.”

He told the crowd he was leaving the force and joining the anti-government protests that were to convulse the tiny Gulf island kingdom for months.

For the next month, Mr Ghanami spoke openly at rallies against the government of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
‘Official anger’

Bahrain is ruled by the Al Khalifas, a Sunni Muslim royal family. The majority of the indigenous population are Shia Muslims. The Shia, who made up most of the protesters, have complained for years about discrimination in jobs, housing and education.

When GCC forces led by troops from Saudi Arabia entered the kingdom in March, Mr Ghanami, a Shia, went into hiding.

After six weeks on the run, he was arrested. He has been detained in solitary confinement since September. ….more

General Alarm at New Detention Law
By ADAM KLASFELD – 05 January, 2012 – Stop The FBI

Human rights groups and civil libertarians are skeptical of White House assurances that President Obama’s signing of the National Defense Authorization Act will not lead to the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012 writes a $662 billion check to the Pentagon, in a 500-plus-page document that grants the executive branch the power to indefinitely detain any person it accuses of being a terrorist without charge or trial. President Obama signed the bill on New Year’s Eve.

During congressional debate, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who co-sponsored the bill, said the Obama administration instructed him to keep U.S. citizens subject to the detention statutes. In a signing statement on Dec. 31, Obama claimed to oppose these provisions, and expressed “serious reservations” about indefinite detention without trial, an authority he vowed not to enforce on U.S. citizens. “The fact that I support this bill as a whole does not mean I agree with everything in it,” Obama wrote in the signing statement. “In particular, I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists. … Moreover, I want to clarify that my administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation.”

Amnesty International ridiculed his comments, stating that “Trust Me” does not mitigate the law’s “dangerous” expansion of executive power. “Once any government has the authority to hold people indefinitely, the risk is that it can be almost impossible to rein such power in. President Obama has failed to take the one action – a veto – that would have blocked the dangerous provisions in the NDAA,” Amnesty said in a statement. “In so doing, he has allowed human rights to be further undermined and given Al Qaeda a propaganda victory.” In a telephone interview, a senior attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights told Courthouse News that the NDAA will keep Guantanamo detainees already cleared for release behind bars by forcing the Secretary of Defense to “ensure that someone who is released cannot hurt the U.S. at any time in the future.” “You can see how that is a metaphysical impossibility,” said Wells Dixon, who represents Guantanamo detainees. …more

Nevertheless, while obvious disaster appears to have been averted, the huge outpouring of alarm regarding the perceived plan to imprison Americans indefinitely without charge or trial ignores two fundamental issues that still need addressing: firstly, that President Obama has shown himself more than willing to dispose of US citizens he regards as troublesome not by imprisoning them, but by assassinating them in drone strikes; and, secondly, that the foreign victims of the indefinite detention that lawmakers have shown themselves so desperate to revive still need Americans to care about their plight, to bring to an end the unjust situation that has existed for the last ten years, and to cut off the possibility that lawmakers, or the executive branch, can decide in future to revisit these dreadful policies and to revive them again.

A Tired Obsession with Military Detention Plagues American Politics
08 January 08, 2012 – by Andy Worthington – Break The Chains

Before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, there were only two ways of holding prisoners — either they were prisoners of war, protected by the Geneva Conventions, or they were criminal suspects, to be charged and subjected to federal court trials.

That all changed when the Bush administration threw out the Geneva Conventions, equated the Taliban with al-Qaeda, and decided to hold both soldiers and terror suspects as “illegal enemy combatants,” who could be imprisoned indefinitely without charge or trial, and with no rights whatsoever.

The Bush administration’s legal black hole lasted for two and a half years at Guantánamo, until, in Rasul v. Bush in June 2004, the Supreme Court took the unprecedented step of granting habeas corpus rights to prisoners seized in wartime, recognizing — and being appalled by — the fact that the administration had created a system of arbitrary, indefinite detention, and that there was no way out for anyone who, like many of the prisoners, said that they had been seized by mistake.

This was not the end of the story, as the Bush administration fought back, Congress attempted to strip the prisoners of their habeas rights in the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (PDF), and the Supreme Court had to revisit the prisoners’ cases in June 2008, in Boumediene v. Bush, reiterating that they had habeas corpus rights, and that those rights were constitutionally guaranteed.

Unfortunately, although this ruling enabled some of the Guantánamo prisoners to secure their release via the US courts, by having their habeas corpus petitions granted, the appeals court in Washington D.C. (the D.C. Circuit Court) has been fighting back, gutting habeas corpus as a remedy by insisting, ludicrously, that the government’s evidence, however obviously unreliable, should be given the presumption of accuracy.

While this continues to be fought over, the bigger problem is that the entire rationale for Guantánamo has never been adequately challenged. The basis for holding prisoners is the Authorization for Use of Military Force, passed the week after the 9/11 attacks, which authorizes the president “to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.” …more

My Guantánamo Nightmare
By LAKHDAR BOUMEDIENE – 8 January, 2012 – NYT

ON Wednesday, America’s detention camp at Guantánamo Bay will have been open for 10 years. For seven of them, I was held there without explanation or charge. During that time my daughters grew up without me. They were toddlers when I was imprisoned, and were never allowed to visit or speak to me by phone. Most of their letters were returned as “undeliverable,” and the few that I received were so thoroughly and thoughtlessly censored that their messages of love and support were lost.

Some American politicians say that people at Guantánamo are terrorists, but I have never been a terrorist. Had I been brought before a court when I was seized, my children’s lives would not have been torn apart, and my family would not have been thrown into poverty. It was only after the United States Supreme Court ordered the government to defend its actions before a federal judge that I was finally able to clear my name and be with them again.

I left Algeria in 1990 to work abroad. In 1997 my family and I moved to Bosnia and Herzegovina at the request of my employer, the Red Crescent Society of the United Arab Emirates. I served in the Sarajevo office as director of humanitarian aid for children who had lost relatives to violence during the Balkan conflicts. In 1998, I became a Bosnian citizen. We had a good life, but all of that changed after 9/11.

When I arrived at work on the morning of Oct. 19, 2001, an intelligence officer was waiting for me. He asked me to accompany him to answer questions. I did so, voluntarily — but afterward I was told that I could not go home. The United States had demanded that local authorities arrest me and five other men. News reports at the time said the United States believed that I was plotting to blow up its embassy in Sarajevo. I had never — for a second — considered this.

The fact that the United States had made a mistake was clear from the beginning. Bosnia’s highest court investigated the American claim, found that there was no evidence against me and ordered my release. But instead, the moment I was released American agents seized me and the five others. We were tied up like animals and flown to Guantánamo, the American naval base in Cuba. I arrived on Jan. 20, 2002. …more

Bahrain resumes retrial of convicted medics
Twenty hospital staff convicted of crimes against state during protests retried after prosecution withdrew confessions.
09 January, 2012 – AlJazeera

Rights groups say the medics were given trumped-up charges for treating protesters wounded by security forces

A civil court in Manama, Bahrain’s capital, has begun a new hearing for a group of 20 medical staff who were convicted of taking part in crimes against the state during anti-government protests that rocked the country last year.

The doctors, nurses and paramedics were handed sentences, ranging from five to 15 years in prison, on September 28, over a raft of charges, including incitement to overthrow the the ruling Al Khalifa family.

But a retrial was initiated on October 23 after prosecutors dropped confessions from the defendants, who had protested that the statements were extracted under torture.

The hearing for the new trial had been adjourned in November.

Most of the staff worked at, or volunteered at, the Salmaniya Medical Centre in Manama that was stormed by security forces in mid-March after they drove protesters out of nearby Pearl Square.

The workers received the heavy jail terms from the military-run National Safety Court, but are now being tried in a civil court.

They are also being charged with occupying the medical centre and possessing weapons, while denying Sunni Muslims access to the hospital as mainly Shia demonstrators camped in the complex’s car park.

The medical professionals also stand accused of spreading false news, particularly concerning the condition of wounded protesters, the illegal acquisition of medicines and medical facilities, and participating in demonstrations.

In November, independent investigators tasked by Bahrain’s king to probe the unrest were highly critical of the special security court that had tried the medics, along with opposition leaders and activists behind closed doors.

A 500-page report by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry said the court has issued harsh sentences -including life in prison and death penalties – and “denied most defendants elementary fair trial guarantees”.

The document also spotlighted abuses at the Salmaniya Medical Centre. …more

Many reports this weekend have identified Rajab as a “Shia”, or as the Telegraph wonderfully puts it, “a Shia Muslim activist”. Firstly, on a point of fact, Rajab is secular and comes from a mixed Shia and Sunni family. Secondly, even if he was a practicing Shia, why would this be a relevant detail? His work is concerned with human rights and the protest on Friday was concerned with the alleged mistreatment and possible torture of political detainees, such as Hassan ‘Oun.

Bahrain Opinion: An Open Letter to Journalists “Get The Story Right”
9 January, EA WorldView

Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, who was attacked by police on Friday

Dear Journalists,

Over the coming days, you might find the need to report on Bahrain. Beyond a quick feature about the Countess of Wessex’s jewels, courtesy of the regime, or the proposed Formula One Grand Prix, you might notice a story which has got the regime worried about its image.

On Friday, Nabeel Rajab, the President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was beaten by police in Manama. The activist was at the head of a peaceful march and had been talking with security forces, moments before they suddenly attacked. This is not an unusual event in Bahrain at the moment (indeed, by current standards, the police were relatively restrained) but it is significant because Rajab is internationally-respected as a champion of human rights.

The Bahraini regime, and presumably its PR consultants, have a series of lines they are advancing to the media to spin both this specific incident and the wider story. Below are four reporting pitfalls into which several media organisations fell this weekend:

1) The Ministry of Interior (MOI) footage is deliberately edited to create a false account

On Saturday, the MOI released a video to support their version of events. They claim that police found Rajab on the floor and then kindly helped him up and escorted him to an ambulance. The video conveniently leaves out much of the incident. Two videos recorded by protesters capture the event much better.

These two videos, featured on EA along with the MOI footage, have been available since Friday night. Therefore there is no good reason for why BBC chooses only to link to the MOI video, and why CNN introduces the footage with the headline, “Bahrain denies it beats activist”. (On a side note to CNN, I can confirm for you that @NabeelRajab is definitely Rajab, so you no longer need to caveat your report with: “writing on a Twitter account with his name and picture, that the Bahrain Center for Human Rights said is his”.)

There are photos of Rajab which establish he was cut under his eye, with bruising on his face. Therefore, saying the information of his wounds was obtained from “a senior U.S. official told Reuters on condition of anonymity”, raises the wholly unnecessary inference that he might not actually have been injured. …more

Ex-Bahrain MP tweets for killing of protesters
9 January, 2012 – Al-Akhbar

Former Bahraini MP Sheikh Mohammed Khalid publicly called for the killing of protesters via Twitter on Monday, lambasting them as “traitors.”

Khalid, one of Bahrain’s most controversial Sunni Islamists, urged authorities to crush protesters in a sign of growing discord between loyalists to the Sunni monarchy and Shia-led protesters.

“If you see a traitor crossing the road, you must run them over and keep going because you are in a country where the law allows you to strike and crush them,” Khalid tweeted.

Khalid, also known as Bu Ammar, was part of a Salafist bloc and has previously launched sectarian tirades against Shia Muslims, slamming the protesters as “traitors” and “agents of Iran.”

He once called Shia activists “monkeys,” and referred to the Pearl Roundabout – site of pro-democracy protests early last year – as a place of “filth” and for “muta’ah”, a temporary marriage custom permitted in Shia Islam.

In a highly charged sectarian speech early last year, Khalid said “the Sunni community have the right to defend themselves against the protesters” in response to the pro-democracy uprising.

His inflammatory remarks are likely to fuel sectarian tension in the tiny Gulf state.

Protests have resurfaced in Bahrain demanding democratic reforms in a state where a Sunni royal family rules over a majority Shia population.

Bahrain witnessed mass pro-democracy protests against the royal family of King Hamad Al-Khalifa in February 2011 before authorities, backed by neighboring countries, crushed the uprising, killing at least 35 people.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf neighbors sent troops into Bahrain in March, reinforcing a crackdown that led to accusations of serious human rights violations.

Bahrain human rights groups, declaring in a report last November, said that “Bahrain committed violations of various international human rights treaties which it has signed and ratified.”

The report documented 45 killings, 1500 cases of arbitrary arrest, and 1866 cases of torture, amongst other figures.

A government-established commission found authorities used systematic torture against detainees, but its findings were met with skepticism from opposition groups due to its affiliation with the monarchy.

The commission found only 35 people had died.

Home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet and on Iran’s doorstep, Bahrain is a crucial US ally in a region as tension between Tehran and Washington heats up.

…source

Bahrain overturns death sentences for 2 protesters
09 January, 2012 – Associated Press

MANAMA: A lawyer in Bahrain says death sentences have been overturned for two protesters convicted of murdering two policemen during a wave of anti-government demonstrations.

Hassan Radhi, a lawyer for one of the defendants, says the Cassation Court struck down the sentences, which had been handed down by a special security court set up under a period of emergency law last year.

International rights groups have criticized Bahrain for trying protesters, opposition leaders and activists in the military-linked tribunal.

Independent investigators tasked by Bahrain’s king with probing the unrest recommended authorities review convictions and sentences handed down by the special court.

Monday’s decision sends the case of the two protesters to the supreme court for an appeal.

…source

Bahrain Interview: Nabeel Rajab – How Police Attacked the Manama March and Beat Me
By shiapost – 8 January, 2012

On Friday night Nabeel Rajab, the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, was at the front of a march in the capital Manama. Minutes after police spoke to him, trying to halt the rally, security forces charged the demonstrators. Rajab was knocked down and beaten before he was put into an ambulance and taken to hospital. He was released later in the evening.

Rajab talks to EA about the episode:

For Nabeel Rajab, last Friday night — like most of his nights when he is in Bahrain — was supposed to be an evening of visits to the homes of families who have lost loved ones in the violence or have had members detained since the beginning of February’s protests.

This Friday was different. “I thought I should go visit some families in Manama,” he said, but then he decided that he might join a family member in the protests over killings and detentions.

Even before Rajab and his companions reached Manama, the city had been flooded with hundreds of security forces. At 7:30 PM, he and activist friends Zainab Alkhawaja and Said Yousif Almuhafda started to walk near Alkhawaja Mosque. ”As we walked, more people showed up and started walking with us, but the location where the protesters were supposed to gather had a heavy presence of riot police.”

So instead of gathering, the crowd kept walking and growing. At some point, they turned back and walked back to where they had started their journey. By 8:20, there were more than a thousand marchers, holding banners and calling for the release of political prisoners, in an area roughly a square kilometer (0.37 square miles). But before they could complete their round-trip journey on Babul Bahrain Road, they saw a dozens of riot police blocking their path.

Fearing a confrontation was imminent, the marchers stopped 15 metres from where the riot police had stopped. For five minutes, nobody made a move. Then, the riot police started to lose patience. An officer walked towards the marchers and told Rajab to tell the protesters to go back home or they would be attacked in five minute.

“I told them there was no reason for an attack. I told him that the marchers were just men and women who’d peacefully gathered and had a right under international law to be here.”

The officer told him they needed permission for a protest.

“I told him that we wouldn’t be granted permission. We’ve asked for a permission; other political societies have asked for one, but the government rejected them all.”

The officer would not listen.

“I told him we were close to the end of our march, back to where we started, and we just wanted to complete the round trip and it would just take 10 minutes.”

The officer still would not budge form his demand for the gathering to go home.

“I said it was up to him and that he should not use violence, but if he does, the marchers wouldn’t react because violence wasn’t the solution.”

The officer gave them five minutes to disperse. In fact, the attack began 90 seconds later.

Riot police started beating people with batons. Tear gas canisters started flying all over the place, spewing what many protesters have started to call “toxic gas”, because the new gas being used by security forces has effects far stronger than that employed earlier in the protest. Rajab saw some canisters; none had any company names or other labels.

Rajab tried to get to his car as other protesters sought shelter in houses from the continuous baton charges and tear gas smoke. He only made it 500 metres. Several riot policemen cornered him in an alley. He felt two hard baton blows on his back, then one of the officers punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. The riot police then started to kick him as he hid his face in his hands. As they verbally abused him, he shouted his name and said that he was a human rights activist.

That altered the riot police’s behaviour immediately — the kicks and punches started to fall harder and more frequently.

But then an officer who was not taking part in the beating, possibly overhearing Rajab’s identity, came to his ‘”rescue”. He asked the others to stop beating Rajab and reached out to the activist.

“He insisted on holding my hand and walking with me to an ambulance. I asked him how soon this ‘gesture of kindness’ might appear on Bahrain’s state TV.” Rajab did not get a reply.

As they walked towards the ambulance, Rajab sized up the riot police accompanying him. He recognised several were of South Asian background, verifying the large number of foreigners from Pakistan, India and Arab states in the security forces.

“I asked the officer in English why I was being beaten? Why he had come to Bahrain to beat a Bahraini and how he would feel someone came to his country to beat him in front of his children? I told him, ‘You are from India. You have a democracy. Why do you come here to repress our movement for democracy?’”

The officer denied he was Indian and insisted he was Bahraini. …more