Posts from — February 2012

Bahraini activist goes on hunger strike before anniversary of uprising
9 February 2012 – The Guardian

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, convicted of leading last year’s protests, restarts hunger strike calling for his release

A jailed rights activist in Bahrain has gone back on hunger strike before the anniversary of the country’s pro-democracy uprising on 14 February, the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights has said.

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja was one of 14 prominent figures convicted of leading the protests who took part in an eight-day hunger strike to demand their release. Bahraini authorities said that hunger strike ended last week.

“Al-Khawaja said in a telephone call to his family: ‘Freedom or death,’ which means he started an open hunger strike until his release,” said the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights on its website.

The opposition is trying to put pressure on the government, dominated by the Sunni Muslim al-Khalifa family, before the anniversary of the uprising. The reforms they want include an elected government – the first in the Gulf – and reduced powers for the al-Khalifas.

Bahrain imposed martial law in March last year and asked troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to help crush the month-old uprising.

The government said the island’s majority Shia Muslims had co-ordinated the protests with Iran for sectarian reasons, an accusation the opposition has denied.
…more

Bahrain Women Protesters ‘Tortured by Regime’
9 February, 2012 – By Anissa Haddadi – International Business Times

The Bahraini government has been accused of increasing the use of torture of women activists in prison as it hardens its stand against pro-democracy protesters.

With the first anniversary of protests approaching on 14 February, fresh accusations have surfaced about the government’s treatment of opponents in the small island state. Activists said that the government has failed to implement most of the recommendations set be the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BCIC) into alleged human rights abuses.

Teachers, doctors, athletes and others seens as enemies of the regime continue to be arrested or are banned from work. A media blackout has been enforced ahead of the anniversary with numerous journalists refused visas.

More than 1,000 Bahrainis have been detained – 11 percent of them women – since a state of emergency was declared in March 2011 in response to the protests and stories of the torture of female prisoners continue to emerge.

“The use of torture is ongoing; we are still receiving reports of torture from detainees that are in prison,” Maryam al-Khawaja, a Human right activist working for the BCHR told the IBTimes.

Among the victims are:

Bahiya Abdulrasool al-Aradi, a 51-year-old woman who went missing in March 2011. She was last seen driving her car and was on the phone with her sister when she heard gunshots. Aradi disappeared and her family were called by the authorities a few days later. and told that she was in a Bahrain military hospital on life support. The authorities said she died of “brain injury” but the BCIC said she had been shot from behind.
…more

“People have no alternative — all we have is tires to burn and Molotovs to throw,” one activist said. “As long as the government is not ready to respond, anything is possible.”

Now both government and opposition are preparing for a tense month as the February 14 anniversary of the first pro-democracy protests approaches. …more

Bahrain activists to recreate spirit of Pearl Roundabout
9 February, 2012 – Reuters – World Bulletin

On the Feb. 14 anniversary of the uprising, activists have vowed to march back to the roundabout – now a sealed-off traffic intersection under tight guard by security forces.

Bahraini activists dreaming of a return to the roundabout in Manama at the heart of a popular uprising last year have tried to recreate the electric atmosphere in a makeshift “Freedom Square” ahead of next week’s anniversary of the unrest.

Pearl Roundabout – focal point of a month-long movement that the Gulf Arab state crushed in March 2011 – was reconfigured on a plot of land in an outlying district where the government approved opposition party rallies, while sending police to break up nightly demonstrations by youths in other districts.

Dubbed Freedom Square to evoke the spirit of the now off-limits roundabout, it became the scene of nightly rallies this week, with rousing political speeches, pop songs promising victory, food stalls, flag-waving and children endlessly honking the refrain “Down with (King) Hamad” on toy trumpets.

The rallies were ignored by state media but were licensed by the interior ministry after a request by opposition parties. They were held in an area outside Manama where opposition support is strong.

On the Feb. 14 anniversary of the uprising, activists have vowed to march back to the roundabout – now a sealed-off traffic intersection under tight guard by security forces.

Violence between police and activists has resurged in recent weeks with protesters throwing petrol bombs and blocking some roads with burning tyres. Activists say at least two people died in police custody and others from apparent effects of tear gas. The government disputes the causes of death.

“Our prophet Mohammed, who taught us the true peaceful path, brought us to Pearl Roundabout last year. He leads us now to Freedom Square and brings us together in love and brotherhood,” Ahlam al-Khoza’i boomed on Wednesday, the last of five rally evenings, to a crowd of 10,000 people.

She went on to describe being held up at checkpoints for hours by Pakistani police who spoke to her in English, while foreigners were allowed through. “Have you every heard of someone being a stranger in his own country?” she said.

Assertions, denied by Bahrain, that Sunni Muslim foreigners like Pakistanis have been brought into the Gulf Arab country to offset the demographic strength of Shi’ite Muslims who lead the opposition have been at the centre of demands for political and economic reforms. The government has given parliament more powers to question ministers and scrutinise budgets.

Debating tactics

The “Freedom Square” rallies highlighted a divide in the opposition between parties prepared to coordinate with the authorities and street activists, organising anonymously under the name 14 February Youth Coalition, who skirmish regularly with riot police.

In one tent, youth activists debated the worth of going back to Pearl Roundabout — which the government has renamed Farouq Junction — and staging unlicensed marches. Some argued that too much emphasis was being placed on a dangerous gamble to return.

“We long for Feb. 14 and there is inflamed passion for the Roundabout. But the mind should control our passions,” one woman said. Another said the capabilities of security forces were stronger than the protesters’ will to return.

The pearl monument that stood at the centre of the roundabout was torn down after the government imposed a period of martial law and ushered in Saudi troops to help suppress the revolt. It now features in street graffiti and a model is often carried at marches.

“Feb. 14 put out statements but young people get hurt. I’m ready to sacrifice but not for nothing,” Hussein, a chef from Sitra who had bad memories of detention last year, told Reuters. “I have no problem with going back to the roundabout but it should be more organised.”

An accounting student told the seminar that street mobilisation was better than electronic activism.

“We need to increase our actions so that Feb. 14 is not just a normal day,” he said afterwards, adding police should only be informed of marches rather than approached for permission.

He said activist violence of recent weeks was only in response to police actions. “We don’t want a problem with them (police), they are our brothers, if they don’t want to kill us. We only used Molotovs after honour was violated,” he said. …more

Bahrain refuses journalists seeking to cover protest anniversary
7 February, 2012 – LA Times – Emily Alpert

Bahrain has turned down several journalists for visas to visit the Persian Gulf nation on the one-year anniversary of sweeping antigovernment protests next Tuesday, telling them it has gotten too many requests.

The rejected journalists include New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who was detained in Bahrain while watching protests in December, along with correspondents for the BBC, the Wall Street Journal, the Christian Science Monitor and other outlets. Several took to Twitter, saying they received letters citing the “high volume of requests” as the reason for being turned down.

“This is the hallmark of a repressive regime — not allowing journalists into the country,” said Brian Dooley of the nonprofit Human Rights First. He was turned down for a visa in January. “The government is only fueling suspicions that they don’t want the rest of the world to see what’s going to happen.”

Bahrain, an island state near Saudi Arabia run by a Sunni Muslim monarchy, has been roiled by violent protests during the last year. Protesters have agitated for greater democracy, saying that Shiite Muslims are systematically discriminated against. The demonstrations kicked off Feb. 14, 2011.

Bahrain cracked down on the protests last year with help from Saudi forces. Human rights groups say dissenters were met with arrest and torture. Bahrain’s monarch created new military courts that sentenced more than 250 people to heavy punishments, including death, Human Rights Watch said.

Journalists were targeted too: Bahraini reporters have been arrested, and foreign journalists have been granted visas so limited — some as short as 48 hours — that their work is hampered, according to Reporters Without Borders. The group recently ranked Bahrain 173rd out of 179 countries in press freedom.

The king created an independent commission to investigate allegations of police brutality and other abuses. It found dozens of people were killed in the unrest, including five people who died from torture in police custody, along with many cases of excessive force and using the courts to squelch dissent.

Government loyalists say the monarchy is addressing its problems, and they allege that some protesters have exaggerated the crackdown and turned violent themselves, attacking police with firebombs and steel pipes. But human rights groups say the country is still pressing unfair cases that originated in military courts, and police are still carrying out brutal crackdowns on protesters.

The violence has put the United States in an awkward position. Bahrain has long been a U.S. ally, seen alongside Saudi Arabia as a bulwark against Iran. But if the U.S. tolerates the violence in Bahrain, it weakens its case against Syria, which has been embroiled in a bloody uprising for nearly a year.

“The international paralysis over Bahrain has, if anything, become more pronounced with the rising tensions over Iran’s nuclear program,” Toby Jones, an expert on Bahraini affairs at Rutgers University, told the Associated Press. “It’s every tough problem in the region funneled into one small place.” …more

U.S. envoy urges renewed Bahrain crisis talks
9 February, 2012 – AP

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — The U.S. State Department’s top human rights envoy is urging Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy and Shiite-led opposition to resume talks aimed at ending yearlong unrest in the strategic Gulf nation.

Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner also raised deep concerns Thursday about possible escalating violence before the uprising’s one-year anniversary next Tuesday.

Protesters are calling for major demonstrations. Bahraini authorities plan a massive deployment of security forces.

Posner made the remarks to reporters after meetings with Bahraini officials, opposition activists and others.

Bahrain’s majority Shiites are seeking to break the strong grip on power by the Western-allied rulers. Bahrain is host to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. …more

Press Briefing by Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner in Bahrain
09 February, 2012 – Department of State – Assistant Secretary of State Michael H. Posner

This is my fourth visit to Bahrain in the last 14 months, and I welcome the opportunity to be here. Bahrain is an important partner of the United States. We have a long-standing alliance based on shared political economic and security interests. Both countries benefit from stability and prosperity here, and from a society where all people here are able to contribute to the political process.

During my three days in Manama, I have met with a number of senior government officials, including the Crown Prince; the Ministers of Justice, Interior, Foreign Affairs, and Human Rights; the Attorney General; and the head of the Shura Council. I also met with lawyers, journalists, medical professionals, human rights advocates, and members of political societies, including the opposition.

My discussions focused on the implementation of the recommendations made in the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry report. As my government has said, it is a great credit to King Hamad that he initiated the BICI process, accepted its recommendations and appointed a national commission to coordinate implementation of those recommendations. It is commendable for any government to invite and participate in an independent examination of its human rights record.

The government of Bahrain has taken many important steps toward the long-term institutional reforms identified in the report, such as removing arrest authority from the national security agency, drafting legislation concerning the investigation and prosecution of torture, and drafting a code of conduct for police based on international best practices. The government also has allowed the International Committee of the Red Cross access to its prisons. It has begun to rebuild religious sites, and engaged a team of qualified experts to advise on policing and legal reforms. These are signs of the government’s commitment to address the underlying cause of last year’s violence.

However, more needs to be done in several key areas. First, there are hundreds of pending criminal cases stemming from the events of February and March, including a substantial number where individuals remain in detention. The BICI report recommends that the government drop charges against all persons accused of offenses involving political expression. The government should fully comply with this recommendation. Also in this area, the government continues to prosecute 20 medical professionals. Though we are not privy to all the evidence in this or other cases, we suggested that alternatives to criminal prosecution be considered in the cases of the medics.

Second, while the Ministry of the Interior is taking steps to enhance the professionalization of the police, it needs to do more. Escalating violence in the streets points to the need for steps that will begin to integrate the police force, as recommended in the BICI report, so that Bahrain can build a police force that reflects the diversity of the communities it serves.

Third, with regard to the issue of dismissed workers, we urge the government, the General Federation of Bahraini Trade Unions and the private sector through the Tripartite Commission to continue to clarify and verify dismissals and reinstatements to the same or comparable positions. All parties should redouble their efforts to reach a resolution through a social dialogue and collaborative approach.

Finally, we call on the government to continue to prosecute those officials responsible for the violations described in the BICI report.

The United States views the BICI report and its follow-up as a bold measure by the government to begin to rebuild confidence with the Bahraini people. Implementing these recommendations is not an easy task, and we commend the efforts undertaken so far to realize the goals of the BICI process. Ultimately, the goal of the BICI and implementation of its recommendations is to create a path toward genuine political dialogue and national reconciliation.

In the days leading up to February 14, we call on all Bahraini citizens to refrain from violence. We also urge the government to permit peaceful demonstrations and the right of all citizens to express their political views.

We condemn the violent street actions that have escalated in recent months and that have included attacks on police with Molotov cocktails, metal projectiles and other instruments of harm. Such violence undermines public safety and further divides society.

At the same time, we continue to receive credible reports of excessive force by police, including widespread and sometimes indiscriminate use of tear gas. We urge Bahraini authorities to ensure compliance with international doctrines of necessity and proportionality.

Next Tuesday will mark the one-year anniversary of the first demonstrations in Bahrain. The days and weeks surrounding the anniversary are a moment for all Bahrainis in all segments of society to come together to move beyond the pain of last year and begin to forge a more peaceful, prosperous future through genuine dialogue.

We renew our call on all parties, including the government, political societies and others to engage in dialogue and negotiation in which all elements of society have a real voice. This must be a process led by Bahrainis themselves. It will not be easy. And it can only succeed by building a greater degree of mutual respect and mutual trust.

As a longtime friend of Bahrain, my government stands ready to support you.
[Read more →]

Syria: Stop Shelling of Residential Areas
Hundreds Killed, Wounded in Homs, Denied Medical Care
9 February, 2012 – Human Rights Watch

(New York) – The Syrian government should immediately stop its shelling of residential neighborhoods in the city of Homs, Human Rights Watch said today. Since February 3, 2012, the attacks have killed more than 300 persons in the city, according to Syrian monitoring groups, and wounded hundreds others, including women and children. No adequate medical assistance is available to the victims due to a blockade of the city by government forces and fear of arrest if treated at government-controlled hospitals, Human Rights Watch said.

Eight witnesses to the attacks interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that government troops have fired hundreds of “shells and mortars” into populated neighborhoods. Videos and photos of the attacks, reviewed by Human Rights Watch’s military experts, and accounts from international journalists on the ground, confirm that government forces launched long-range indirect fire attacks into densely populated areas.

“This brutal assault on residential neighborhoods shows the Syrian authorities’ contempt for the lives of their citizens in Homs,” said Anna Neistat, associate emergencies director at Human Rights Watch. “Those responsible for such horrific attacks will have to answer for them.”

Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that government forces launched large-scale attacks, involving shelling and rockets, on several neighborhoods in Homs on the evening of February 3. “Hani,” a witness from the Bab `Amro neighborhood, said that security forces manning nearby checkpoints and positioned on rooftops first opened fire on a protest near Al-Zahire mosque at around 6 pm, and shortly thereafter started shelling the neighborhood. Hani, who sustained bullet wounds to his left shoulder and right leg in the attack, said that Syrian forces fired rockets from the west and from the direction of Homs University dorms located to the south-east of Bab `Amro.

Another witness, “Wasim,” who spoke to Human Rights Watch from Tel al-Shoghour area, located close to Bab `Amro, said that the shelling of Bab `Amro originated from neighboring areas considered to support the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The fire, according to Wasim, also came from the Homs University dorms, about 1,500 meters south-east of Bab `Amro; and Insha’at neighborhood, north of Bab `Amro.

“Samer,” a witness to the attack on the Khalidiyya neighborhood in the evening of February 3, told Human Rights Watch that the attack started after the Free Syrian Army attacked and took over a security checkpoint connecting Khalidiyya and Bayyada neighborhoods in Homs and residents of Khalidiyya went to the streets to celebrate. “Samer” said that around 9.30 pm government forces started intensive shelling of the neighborhood that lasted for several hours. According to the witness, the fire came from the direction of the Air Force Intelligence facility located on the highway leading to Hama, some 500 meters from Khalidiyya. The security forces, according to the witness, used mortars to attack the neighborhood. …more

Another funeral today
Another murder
Another martyr
Another mourner
Another burial
Another procession
Another march
Another thoughtless thug
Another attack by so called riot police
Another injustice against the innocent
Another jailed
Another tortured
Another gassed
Another shot
Another bleeding
Another crying
Another wounded
Another mother pained
Another father pained
Another brother pained
Another sister pained
Another child lost their father
Another child lost their mother
Another child lost
Another friend gone forever
Another wondered prayer
Another meditation
Another confession
Another humiliation
Another repentance
Another call for mercy
Another call for rescue
Another call for freedom
Another call for liberation
Another call for justice
Another call for protest
Another call for demonstration
Another call for revolution
Another call to God who is good but leaves us to our confusion
Another anxious moment
Another tear
Another angry hour
Another trampling of humanity
Another human right thrown in the dust
Another compliant falling on deaf ears
Another night falls
Another day breaks

…more at rebellious walls

Bahraini mother freed after months in jail for revolutionary music
6 February, 2012 – alakhbar

Prominent Bahraini activist Fadheela Al-Mubarak was freed on Monday, nearly a year after being arrested for listening to revolutionary music, as pro-democracy protests continue.

Mubarak was among the first female activists to have been arrested in Bahrain when she was taken into custody at a checkpoint in March.

She was sentenced to 18 months in jail by Bahraini authorities for listening to music that is common among many of the protesters, but is deemed revolutionary by the authorities.

Mubarak was the first female to be tried in a military court in Bahrain.

Her plight became a key talking point on social networking sites after her nine-year-old son Mahdi and her brother Ali posted an emotional video appeal for her release online.

In the video, Mahdi appealed for the authorities to release her, saying “I don’t like to live without my mother.”

On Monday, activist Ahlam Alkuzaie tweeted a picture showing Mubarak free and smiling.

Also released on Monday was Naser Al-Raas, a Canadian citizen who had been jailed last Wednesday for breaking the country’s illegal-assembly laws during pro-democracy protests.

Elsewhere in the state activists continued their week of protests against the government.

On Sunday, thousands of people took to the streets in Manama, including families of the women detained calling for their release outside the central police station. …more

Time to Act on Companies Selling Mass Spy Gear to Authoritarian Regimes
February 7, 2012 – By Trevor Timm – EFF

On Wednesday, EFF will give recommendations to the European Parliament for how to combat one of the most troubling problems facing democracy activists around the world: the fact that European and American companies are providing key surveillance technology to authoritarian governments that is then being used to aid repression.

Recent reports by the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News have exposed the shadowy but growing industry that sells electronic spy gear to governments known for violating human rights. The technology’s reach is very broad: governments can listen in on cell phone calls, use voice recognition to scan mobile networks, read emails and text messages, censor web pages, track one’s every movement using GPS, and can even change email contents while en route to a recipient. Some tools are installed using the same type of malicious malware and spyware used by online criminals to steal credit card and banking information. They can secretly turn on webcams built into personal laptops and microphones in unused cell phones. And all of this information is filtered and organized on such a massive scale that it can be used to spy on every person in an entire country.

Ordinary citizens, journalists, human rights campaigners and democracy advocates have all been targeted, eviscerating privacy rights and chilling free speech. Ample evidence suggests information acquired through this spy gear appears has played a role in the harassment, threats, and even torture of journalists, human rights campaigners, and democracy activists. Yet dozens of companies from the U.S. and E.U continue to sell this technology, including to authoritarian regimes. The market for surveillance equipment has grown to a staggering $5 billion a year.

Dutch member of the EU Parliament Marietje Schaake has been trying to spearhead an effort to curb sales of this type of technology to repressive regimes. In September, the EU parliament passed a resolution proposed by Ms. Schaake which called on European countries to regulate sales of this dangerous surveillance tools if they can be used in human rights violations. She has also asked the European Commission to investigate sales by these companies to the governments of Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Tunisia and Egypt. On Wednesday, EFF will be testifying at a workshop for Committee of International Trade and Committee on Foreign Affairs, co-chaired by Ms. Schaake. Here is part of what we will say:

Transparency

First, transparency is key. The mass surveillance industry as a whole has been notoriously secretive and that has, in turn, allowed it to proliferate without meaningful safeguards. But we know that just having this information in the public eye can, by itself, force change. Companies have pulled out of countries and created official human rights policies thanks to news reports. The world program director of I.S.S. Tatiana Lucas even complained that shining a spotlight on these practices “makes U.S. manufacturers gun shy about developing, and eventually exporting, anything that can remotely be used to support government surveillance.” We want to turn up the heat on these companies even more to be accountable for selling to authoritarian regimes. …more

The GCC and NATO lose their leadership
by Thierry Meyssan -Voltaire Network – 5 February, 2012

Contrary to her position at the time of the attack on Iraq, in the case of Syria France failed to defend the principles of international law, rallying instead the imperial camp and its lies. Together with the United Kingdom and the United States, she has suffered a diplomatic defeat of historic proportions, while Russia and China have become the champions of the sovereignty of peoples and peace. The new international balance of power is not only a consequence of the United States’ military decline, it is also a penalty for their falling prestige. Ultimately, Western powers have lost the leadership they enjoyed throughout the twentieth century, having forsaken all legitimacy by betraying their own values​​.

On two occasions, 4 October 2011 and 4 February 2012, permanent members of the UN Security rebuffed draft resolutions on the situation in Syria. This showdown has pitted members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) against those of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

The end of the unipolar world

This quadruple veto seals the end of a period of international relations that began with the collapse of the Soviet Union and witnessed the undivided domination of the United States over the rest of the world. It does not signify a return to the previous bipolar system, but the emergence of a new model whose contours are yet to be defined. None of the New World Order projects have been achieved. Washington and Tel Aviv have failed to institutionalize the unipolar governance they intended to impose as an inviolable paradigm, while the BRICS fell short of creating a multipolar system that would have enabled its members to rise to the highest level.

As Syrian strategist Imad Fawzi Shueibi had rightly anticipated, the Syrian crisis has crystallized a new balance of power, and from there a redistribution of power that no one had foreseen or wanted, but which must be accepted as an inescapable reality. [1]

In retrospect, Hillary Clinton’s “leadership from behind” doctrine appears as an attempt by the United States to test their limits, while shifting the responsibility on their British and, especially, French allies. Yet, it was they who burst on the scene imposing themselves as political and military leaders during the overthrow of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, something they hoped to live through again by toppling the Syrian Arab Republic, even if they did so as vassals and sub-contractors of the U.S. empire. So it is London and Paris, even more than Washington, that suffered a diplomatic defeat and bear the consequences in terms of loss of influence. …more

ALBA countries join chorus condemning “Contras” interference in Syria
Voltaire Network – 7 February 2012

In a statement issued during the eleventh summit of the organization, the nine members of the ALBA bloc (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America) rejected on Sunday the “systematic policy of interference and destabilization” that seeks to “impose by force on the Syrian people a regime change.”

The ALBA resolution condemns the “acts of armed violence that paramilitary groups supported by foreign powers have unleashed against the Syrian people.”

The heads of States members of the organization for Latin American integration have further lent support to the “national reform process initiated by the government of President Bashar al-Assad,” who seeks a “political solution to the current crisis respectful of the Syrian people’s sovereignty and the territorial integrity of that Arab country.”

The Atlanticist and Gulf States, and their communication relays, accuse the Syrian government of brutally quelling peaceful protests. On the other hand, the Syrian government maintains that these same countries have been sponsoring the armed groups responsible for the sabotage operations occurring in the country, which have killed several thousand citizens, both civilian and military. The Arab League monitors have disqualified their own governments’s accusations and to a large extent validated the Syrian’s Governments version of events.

While the cynicism underpinning the destabilization strategy underway may leave many Europeans incredulous, the same does not apply in the case of Latin America. There, the role of the “Contras” is still fresh people’s minds, and the parallel with the Syrian situation is made immediately.

These armed groups (in Spanish: “Counter-Revolutionary”) were sponsored and trained first by the Argentinian dictatorship, acting as a sub-contractor, then directly by the Carter and Reagan administrations to overthrow the socialist government of Nicaragua during the 1980’s. They launched raids targeting the economy and the population of Nicaragua from rear bases located in Honduras.

This phony civil war, orchestrated by the United States against a sovereign state and a people, is estimated to have caused 57 000 casualties, including 29,000 dead. …more