Posts from — February 2012

Bahrain opposition launch week-long rally for reform
05 February, 2012 – Asia Works – Reuters

MANAMA (Reuters) – Bahraini opposition parties, launching a week-long ‘sit-in’ for political reforms at a mass rally, swore on Sunday to take their campaign to the centre of last year’s democracy protest in the capital Manama.

“This is a dress rehearsal for the return. We will return! We will return! Soon our sit-in will not be here but at the Pearl Roundabout,” said poetess Ayat al-Qormozi, who became a face of the Arab Spring movement after she was jailed for reading out a poem criticizing the king at Pearl Roundabout.

She was addressing a crowd of over 10,000 at the rally outside Manama, where anti-government protests last year were crushed by Bahraini forces and troops from neighboring Saudi Arabia.

Pearl Roundabout, a large traffic junction in Manama where the protesters camped out and rallied for a month, has since been closed off by security forces who monitor the area closely.

Bahrain, a key U.S. and Saudi ally in their stand-off with Iran across the Gulf, has been in turmoil since the uprising broke out last year, inspired by revolts in Tunisia and Egypt.

The opposition are trying to sustain pressure on the government, dominated by the Sunni Muslim Al Khalifa family, ahead of the February 14 anniversary of the uprising. The reforms they want include an elected government – the first in the Gulf – and reduced powers for the Al Khalifa family.

Sheikh Ali Salman, leader of the largest opposition party Wefaq, called on activists to keep the protests peaceful but warned that intelligence agencies and pro-government militias would act as agent provocateurs in coming weeks.

He called on activists to use only Bahraini flags over the coming week and to avoid using party or sectarian symbols.

Opposition groups draw wide support from Bahrain’s majority Shi’ite population, which accuses the ruling elite of political and economic marginalization. The government says Shi’ites have a sectarian agenda coordinated with Iran – which they deny.

Salman said the protest movement would continue after February 14 and the country would not return to normal until the ruling elite ended its monopoly on power and the 14 prominent figures convicted for leading the protests, who are on hunger strike this week, were released.

“This people will not calm down and there will be no calm or stability while they are behind bars,” he said.

“These symbolic figures did not call for violence or use violence. They expressed views that you can agree with or not, but that’s part of freedom of expression. The verdicts were based on confessions under torture. The verdicts are void.”

Opposition parties have tried to set themselves apart from youth activists who clash regularly with police by arranging marches and rallies in advance with the authorities. Many youths, angered by what they say is continued harsh policing, say this approach is not bringing results. …more

President Obama: U.S., Israel in ‘lockstep’ on Iran
By JOSH GERSTEIN – 5 February, 2012 – Politico

President Barack Obama said Sunday that he’s committed to working in “lockstep” with Israel to try to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, as concern is rising in the U.S. and overseas about a possible Israeli strike on Iran that could unleash violence across the Middle East.

Obama seemed eager to calm worries that Israel is on the brink of a pre-emptive attack, even as he continued to warn about the danger of Iran becoming a nuclear power.

“I don’t think that Israel has made a decision on what they need to do,” Obama said during a six-minute, live interview from the White House during NBC’s Super Bowl pre-game show. “We are going to make sure that we work in lockstep, as we proceed to try to solve this — hopefully, diplomatically.”

Obama told NBC’s Matt Lauer that he believes expanded international sanctions on Iran are hurting the regime.

“They are feeling the pinch. They are feeling the pressure,” the president said. “But they have not taken the steps that they need to diplomatically to say ‘We will pursue peaceful nuclear power. We will not pursue a nuclear weapon.’ Until they do, I think Israel is going to be very concerned, and we are as well.”

Obama did not directly answer a question from Lauer about whether the U.S. has blessed any military action by Israel, nor would he say whether Israel has promised to warn the U.S. before carrying out a strike against Iran.

“I won’t go into the details of our conversations. I will say that we have closer military and intelligence consultation between our two countries than we ever have. And my number one priority continues to be the security of the United States, but also the security of Israel,” Obama said.

A series of published reports and statements from Israeli officials in the past week have raised concern that the Jewish state may act in the next few months to try to set back Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran insists is peaceful but outside experts believe is aimed at building nuclear weapons.
…more

Shia Muslims and ongoing oppression in Sunni Muslim dominated nations
25th January, 2012 – Murad Makhmudov and Lee Jay Walker – Modern Tokyo Times

Shia Muslims don’t face persecution in mainly Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, and secular nations. However, throughout the Sunni Muslim world the Shia community faces daily discrimination and deadly attacks often erupt in Bahrain, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, and other nations. This reality needs to be debated more openly and international pressure needs to be felt and this applies to a new motion put before the United Nations.

On January 23 in Iraq more Sunni Islamic terrorist attacks killed innocent Shia Muslims and bystanders who happened to be in a mainly Shia part of Baghdad. This threat is constant because of homegrown Sunni Islamic terrorism in Iraq and international angles. This applies to Sunni religious zealots from Saudi Arabia and other nations instigating mass hatred towards the Shia. Of course, Sunni Islamic terrorists in Iraq also target the Christian community and because of this vast numbers have fled to other nations.

In Pakistan you have many Sunni Islamic terrorist networks which deem the Shia to be infidels and only recently major terrorist attacks killed many Shia Muslims. It matters not if political leaders in Iraq and Pakistan come from the Shia community because elements within the Sunni extremist terrorist networks clearly desire to install fear and instigate sectarianism.

It must be remembered than when Al-Qaeda played a more prominent role in Afghanistan that this Sunni Islamic terrorist network along with the Sunni Taliban movement, targeted and killed Shia Muslims in the tens of thousands. Therefore, many Shia Muslims fled this Sunni onslaught against their beleaguered community.

Bahrain and Yemen are two other nations whereby the Shia are marginalized and betrayed by the dominant Sunni Muslim forces in both nations. More alarming, many Shia villages have been bombed in Yemen whereby women and children have been killed. Also, in Bahrain outside nations like Saudi Arabia have boosted the Sunni ruling leadership with the results being more innocent deaths of Shia Muslims and ongoing persecution of Shia religious leaders.

In Saudi Arabia, a nation which supports killing apostates and whereby not one single Christian church or Buddhist temple is allowed, is also anti-Shia and fanatical Sunni extremists, organizations, and wealthy business individuals, are intent on spreading the anti-Shia theme throughout Saudi Arabia and to other nations. Indeed, the Shia community faces enormous discrimination in this draconian society but of course the oil issue for Western political leaders maintains’ a firm silence. The upshot of this is more oppression of the Shia in regions like Qatif and ongoing restrictions on all non-Muslim religions throughout the nation.

Indeed, while Malaysia is often praised in the “naïve Western media” for being modern and open, the stark reality is that in this nation the Shia faith is illegal. Therefore, Shia Muslims in Malaysia are in constant fear of being arrested and monitored for merely belonging to a different branch within Islam. However, what international pressure is being put on Malaysia internationally and within the Commonwealth nations? …more

Thomas Carothers is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the author of the report “Democracy Promotion Under Obama: Revitalization or Retreat?”

Washington’s bow to Mideast monarchs
By Thomas Carothers – 04 February, 2012 – Washington Post

Just after the first anniversary of the onset of the Arab Spring, the Obama administration announced in December an enormous arms sale to Saudi Arabia, with a price tag greater than the annual gross domestic product of more than half the countries in the world. The administration hailed the sale as a “historic achievement” that “reinforces the strong and enduring relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.” The close juxtaposition of the anniversary and the apparent repair of the temporary rough patch in U.S.-Saudi relations highlights crucial overlooked realities about the Arab Spring and the U.S. response.

Although accounts of the Arab Spring often refer to a wave of political change washing across the Middle East, the reality is otherwise. The wave has bisected the region, swamping one half while leaving the other barely damp. Governments in the majority of the region’s republics, namely Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen, have been toppled or have faced serious domestic siege. In startling contrast, however, all of the region’s monarchies appear secure, with the possible exception of Bahrain. Most have enough oil money to keep their citizens well off, and some have a special religious legitimacy.

We should keep in mind that the various autocrats in the region who fell from power last year also looked to be well-entrenched, for all sorts of solid and frequently elaborated reasons, right up until the moment they no longer were. In this time of political surprises, which often stem from sudden, roiling popular protests, betting on reliable autocrats is more perilous than ever.

President Obama says that he recognizes this reality. He declared in May that “after decades of accepting the world as it is in the region, we have a chance to pursue the world as it should be” and that it will be “the policy of the United States to promote reform across the region.” And it is true that where political upheaval has hit, the United States has usually backed democratic change, sometimes actively, as in Libya; sometimes hesitantly, as in Egypt. But where autocratic stability continues to reign, the administration sticks to the decades-old U.S. policy of uncritical support for friendly dictators who are helpful on matters of security and economics.

When the government of Bahrain cracked down harshly on the massive protest movement within its borders last spring, the administration basically folded. The United States was unwilling to risk jeopardizing the convenient Persian Gulf home of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet for the sake of its commitment to Arab democracy. Saudi Arabia’s military participation in Bahrain’s crackdown and its steadfast opposition to even a glimmer of liberalization within its own borders has not deterred the administration from enthusiastically reaffirming the intimacy of U.S.-Saudi ties. Consider also that, despite having taken no serious steps toward democratic reform in response to popular demands for change, Jordan’s King Abdullah has received only praise and aid from Washington. ...more

Islamic states don’t speak for Muslims
by Syed Ahmad – graduate student – Collegiate Times 1 February, 2012

The events in the last decade have brought a constant stream of negative news from Muslim states. Human rights issues in Muslim-majority Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan are held up as examples of how Islam has held back these societies. After all, these states claim to be staunchly “Islamic,” and hence they must speak for the religion Islam itself. Is this true? Can a religion be gauged by the acts of states?

No historian can deny that Islam emerged as the religion of a severely persecuted, small community in seventh century Arabia and ultimately triumphed against fearsome odds under Prophet Muhammad’s leadership. The reason for their persecution was simple: Islam’s message threatened tribal customs and orthodox practices of existing religions in Arabia.

The first Muslim migration to escape persecution was to Abbysinia, whose Christian ruler, Negus, believed in tolerance and permitted the refugees in his kingdom — an act for which the Prophet expressed his deep gratitude.

It is, therefore, ironic and tragic that powerful clerical Muslim states today use the name of Islam to oppress non-Muslims and also Muslims of other denominations. In fact, early Islamic history contradicts the acts of today’s Muslims. A tradition about Prophet Muhammad states he insisted Christian priests from Najran offer their prayers in his mosque. He also debated religion with them openly and went to the extent of granting them the freedom to practice religion however they wished. This contrasts greatly with leadership in modern Islamic states.

It is impossible to imagine today that someone can publicly question an Ayatollah in Iran or a Mufti in Saudi Arabia. An oft-ignored Quranic verse states, “There is no compulsion in religion.” Even less, however, know of its context. Before the Prophet migrated from Mecca to Medina to escape religious oppression, some people of Medina had dedicated their children to be raised as Jews. The parents, who later converted to Islam, objected when the Jewish guardians kept these children with them.

The Quranic verse pertains to this particular event when Prophet Muhammad forbade the parents from forcibly taking back their children or converting them to Islam. This is ironic given how some states today force Islamic injunctions on non-Muslims.

If such Islamic traditions of noncompulsion are authentic, which they are, then how do clerical states justify their position? It’s simple — by keeping these traditions away from the larger public or by creating imagined enemies to emotionally force the public behind them.

Invoking dogma to hide inconvenient truths is not the exclusive practice of Muslim regimes. Indeed all repressive states — religious or secular — rely on similar tools. In fact, moderate Muslims, such as those in the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, have to face stiff persecution in Muslim states because their interpretation of Islam threatens dogma.

Thus, next time one hears a Muslim state claiming to act in the name of Islam, perhaps several pinches of salt can be added. …source

Hundreds of Saudi Shi’as Protest Against Al Saud Rule in Awamiyah
ABNA.co 02 February, 2012

Hundreds of Anti-government protesters have rallied in the Saudi city of Awamiyah to condemn Riyadh’s brutal crackdown on protests in Eastern Province.

Hundreds of Saudi Shi(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Hundreds of Anti-government protesters have rallied in the Saudi city of Awamiyah to condemn Riyadh’s brutal crackdown on protests in Eastern Province.

Shouting slogans against members of the ruling Al Saud family, including the Crown Prince Nayef, the demonstrators denounced the recent killings of anti-government protesters in the oil-rich region, demanding an end to the suppression of peaceful protests.

They also condemned economic and religious discrimination in the region.

Witnesses say security forces shot into the air to intimidate and disperse protesters, there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Saudis hold peaceful demonstrations since February last year on an almost regular basis in the eastern region, demanding reforms, freedom of expression and the release of political prisoners.

Activists say there are more than 30,000 political prisoners held in jails across Saudi Arabia who, the Saudi-based Human Rights First Society says, are being subjected to both physical and mental torture.

According to rights activists, most of the detained are being held without trial or legitimate charges and have been arrested on grounds of mere suspicion.

Anti-government protests in the Kingdom have intensified since November, when security forces opened fire on protesters in Qatif, killing five people and leaving many more injured.

Riyadh has intensified its crackdown on protesters since the beginning of 2012. …source

The Obama Administration: Ill-Informed on Bahrain
by Morgan Roach – 01 February, 2012

Last Friday, Bahrainis held a peaceful, though spirited, rally in front of the United Nations headquarters in Manama to protest what they consider to be misguided foreign efforts to pressure Bahrain’s government to make dangerous concessions to uncompromising opposition leaders, some of whom are linked to Iran.

Bahrainis, particularly those loyal to the ruling Al-Khalifa family, are outraged by what they consider the Obama Administration’s favoritism for an increasingly violent opposition movement. Dubbed “Hands off Bahrain,” demonstrators delivered a clear message to the United State government: “Back off.”

Since the crisis began last February, sparked by the “Arab Spring,” Bahrain’s government has grappled with the restoration of order. Initiated by a youth movement demanding government reform, demonstrations were quickly hijacked by the opposition party, al-Wefaq, and other actors, including Shia cleric Isa Qassim. Iran, as it has done repeatedly in the past, has also played a significant—though covert—role in inspiring unrest. In response, Bahrain’s security forces quickly issued a brutal crackdown that was later assessed in detail by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI).

Despite the government’s attempts to implement the recommendations of the BICI and political reforms created through the National Dialogue, the opposition demands more. However, these demands are often vague and inconsistent. While al-Wefaq and four other opposition groups have outlined their demands—which include drastic political reforms—its supporters are throwing Molotov cocktails at police and calling for the downfall of the royal family.

The Obama Administration has mistakenly treated Bahrain, which is governed by one of the most liberal governments in the Gulf, the same way it has treated other countries dominated by much more oppressive authoritarian regimes that have been affected by the “Arab Spring.” The Administration has hedged its bets in favor of the opposition. Such moves reveal how uninformed the Administration is to the events on the ground.

Last September, in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly, President Obama effectively legitimized al-Wefaq’s influence when he urged Bahrain’s government to make additional reforms to appease al-Wefaq. Last October, the State Department also blocked a $53 million arms sale to Bahrain, claiming that the sale wouldn’t go through until Washington’s demands for reform were met.

While the sale of some military equipment was announced last week, some Members of Congress are furious at what they perceive as rewarding Bahrain’s government for too little progress, despite the fact that the arms sale is for Bahrain’s external military use and in support of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet. The U.S. embassy in Bahrain has also come under heavy criticism after it was revealed that State Department officials met with al-Wefaq leaders.

Giving such credence to al-Wefaq, the Administration fails to consider what would happen to Bahrain if the monarchy falls to the opposition. Al-Wefaq has made no secret that, if it comes to power, the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, a major bulwark in containing Iran, would have a limited future. Iran, which considers Bahrain its lost 14th province, would also expand its influence and destabilize the region. …more

Bahrain under the spotlight as protest inspector returns
Reuters – 2 February, 2012

MANAMA // The academic who investigated abuses during Bahrain’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests last year returned yesterday to assess how far the government has followed through on the reforms he recommended.

Cherif Bassiouni, an Egyptian-American professor at DePaul University in Chicago, met members of the royal family as he prepared to begin his new mission at King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s invitation. The mission is expected to last until March.

Riot police still clash daily with young, mainly Shiite, protesters, who complain that they continue to be marginalised by Bahrain’s Sunni rulers. Clashes have become more violent in the run-up to the February 14 anniversary of the start of the protests.

In November, Mr Bassiouni detailed incidents of torture including sexual abuse and electric shocks that occurred during last year’s crackdown.

This time, Mr Bassiouni and his team will assess whether Bahrain has reformed its policing, reinstated sacked employees, and investigated torture claims and military trials in line with the recommendations by his independent commission.

Mr Bassiouni told DePaul students before he left that Bahrain was not moving fast enough to calm street protests.

“I think the public is going to come at the end and say ‘you know what, you’re holding all of these investigations behind closed doors – this is a whitewash’ and I think they would be perfectly justified in saying so,” he said.

Keen to demonstrate that it has acted on the report, the Bahrain government has chronicled the steps it has implemented on a dedicated website.

He suggested to his DePaul students that disputes within the royal family were holding up political and economic reforms.

“You have to choose between maintaining the unity of the family or the regime, or the unity of the country,” he said.

The Bici [Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry] report stated that 35 people had died in the protests up to June, when martial law was lifted, but activists said the continuing violence has taken the total to more than 60, including 14 since Mr Bassiouni was last in the country in November. The government disputes the causes of death.

Opposition parties said they would meet Mr Bassiouni today.

One western diplomat said the government needed time to implement reforms.

“There is a will at the top but the challenge is to ensure that the bureaucracy is as serious and to follow up with mechanisms,” the diplomat said. ..more

King Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain: End the Sham Trials Now!
By Brian Dooley = 2 February, 2012

Twenty Bahraini medics tortured into making false confessions faced court on Monday to find out that the charges against them still haven’t been dropped.

The Bahrain government continues to pursue this baseless prosecution and others against people who are being targeted for exercising their freedom of expression. It’s time to stop.

Tell King Hamad of Bahrain: end the sham trials and drop baseless charges against the medics and other Bahrainis!

The Bahraini dictatorship targeted medics last year for treating wounded protestors and for telling the international media the truth about the regime’s violent crackdown. They joined other Bahrainis who were detained, tortured into false confessions, and subjected to sham trials for practicing their right to free expression and calling for democratic reforms. Military courts have sentenced many of them to between five and fifteen years in prison each.

Months after the Commission appointed by King Hamad issued its recommendations for reform, the monarchy continues its violent crackdown and sham trials. The anniversary of the start of Bahrain’s Arab Spring falls on February 14. If the Bahrain monarchy is truly serious about human rights reforms, it must stop the baseless prosecutions and drop charges against medics and peaceful protestors!

Tell King Al Khalifa to end the sham trials and show that his government is serious about human rights reforms. …more

Breaking the Silence – A Bahraini protester speaks…
by MaianewleyFollow 02 February, 2012 – Daily KOS

The 14th February sees the first anniversary of the Bahraini protests and yet, despite the ongoing nature of these protests and despite the increasing reports of violence, torture and random imprisonment of the protesters, we still see relatively little about it in our mainstream media.

The U.S. has made a lot of noise this week when talking about the situation in Syria, Secretary Clinton has made a personal pledge to do ‘more’ to ensure the rights of the protesters in that country. Indeed, she even went so far as to say

“Every member of the Council has to make a decision: Whose side are you on? Are you on the side of the Syrian people? Are you on the side of the Arab League? Are you on the side of the people of the Middle East and North Africa who have during this past year spoken out courageously and often for their rights? Or are you on the side of a brutal, dictatorial regime? It is absolutely imperative that we all be on the right side of history.”

And yet, she remains strangely reticent when it comes to Bahrain. True, she has made statements in the past urging the Bahraini Government to display restraint but, in comparison to the strength of her words this week about Syria, Bahrain does not appear to be at the top of her agenda. In fact, to be honest, I sometimes wonder if it figures at all on the agenda in the U.S. I don’t go much for conspiracy theories, neither do I believe in hidden agendas in this case as I think the ‘agenda’ is so blatantly obvious! The U.S. has massive military investment in Bahrain, along with similar levels of investment in Saudi Arabia who, for the record, have assisted the Bahraini regime in attempting to put an end to the protests. In the above-linked article they claim that the Saudi-led military force crossed into Bahrain with the express purpose of “propping up the monarchy against widening demonstrations”.

In the words of Elie Wiesel

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

The U.S. moors its 5th fleet in Bahrain and, as Lamees Dhaif noted in the interview I conducted with her last week, the Bahraini people have welcomed the American forces into their country and have never had any kind of problem with them. …more

US is set to transfer the future Afghan Government to Taliban
2 February, 2012 – Jafria News

JNN 02 Feb 2012 Kabul : The Taliban are set to retake control of Afghanistan after NATO-led forces withdraw from the country, according to reports citing a classified assessment by U.S. forces.

The Times described the report as secret and “highly classified”, saying it was put together last month by the U.S. military at Bagram air base in Afghanistan for top NATO officers. The BBC also carried a report on the leaked document.

“Many Afghans are already bracing themselves for an eventual return of the Taliban,” the report was quoted as saying. “Once ISAF (NATO-led forces) is no longer a factor, Taliban consider their victory inevitable.”

The document stated that Pakistan’s security agency was helping the Taliban in directing attacks against foreign forces – a charge long denied by Islamabad.

The findings were based on interrogations of more than 4,000 Taliban and Al-Qaeda detainees, the Times said, adding the document was scarce on identifying individual insurgents.

A U.S. state department spokesman and Britain’s Foreign Office both declined comment on the report. NATO and Pakistani officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

Despite the presence of more than 100,000 foreign troops, the UN has said violence in Afghanistan is at its worst since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed forces in 2001.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) says levels of violence are falling.

Citing the same report, the BBC reported on its website that Pakistan and its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency knew the locations of senior Taliban leaders and supported the expulsion of “foreign invaders from Afghanistan”.

“Senior Taliban leaders meet regularly with ISI personnel, who advise on strategy and relay any pertinent concerns of the government of Pakistan.”

The Times said the document suggested the Taliban were gaining in popularity, partly because the severe Islamist movement was becoming more tolerant.

The report was quoted as stating: “It remains to be seen whether a revitalized, more progressive Taliban will endure if they continue to gain power and popularity. Regardless, at least within the Taliban the refurbished image is already having a positive effect on morale.” …more

US sponsored UN resolution on Syria will create civil war not peace
2 February, 2012 – Jafria News

JNN 02 Feb 2012 Washington : A senior Russian diplomat Tuesday said a draft UN resolution demanding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad step aside is a “path to civil war.”

“The Western draft Security Council resolution on Syria does not lead to a search for compromise,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov wrote Tuesday on Twitter, The Associated Press reported.

“Pushing this resolution is a path to civil war.”

Russia has been one of Syrian people’s strongest supporters. In October, Moscow, along with and Beijing, vetoed the first Security Council attempt to condemn Damascus.

Russia fears the new measure could open the door to eventual military intervention, the way an Arab-backed UN resolution led to NATO airstrikes in Libya.

Syria has been experiencing unrest ever since mid-March, with demonstrations being held both against and in support of President Assad’s government.

On October 7, Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad said around 1,100 members of the security forces and ordinary citizens had been killed by armed groups in the first seven months of the unrest, which began on March 15.

The United Nations says 5,000 people, many of them members of the security forces, have been killed during the unrest.

The Syrian government says outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are the driving factor behind the unrest and deadly violence while the opposition accuses the security forces of being behind the killings.

Damascus also says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country and the security forces have been given clear instructions not to harm civilians.

In addition, Syrian state TV has broadcast reports showing seized weapons caches and confessions by terrorist elements describing how they obtained arms from foreign sources. ..source

Ongoing repression against political prisoners
2 February, 2012 – FIDH

FIDH expresses its utmost concern about acts of continued repression on political prisoners that have entered in a hunger strike to protest their continued arbitrary detention as well as the deteriorating human rights situation in the country.
FIDH has been informed that around 250 political prisoners started a widespread national hunger strike on January 29, 2012, after the prominent 14 political and human rights activists, who were arbitrarily detained since March 2011 [1], announced they will begin a hunger strike in the central Jaw prison.

According to the information received, as a response to the hunger strike, part number 4 of the central Jaw prison where the above-mentioned detainees are kept, was reportedly teargassed. A number of them were severely beaten and others were put in solitary confinement. Moreover, those detainees are no longer allowed to make any phone calls, and continue to be denied access to the designated outdoors areas of the prison.

After detainees from the Dry Docks prison announced that they would join the hunger strike, a number of prisoners from different areas in Bahrain were reportedly told that they would be released if they plead for the King’s forgiveness, in addition to saying that they are against the strike and the protests. A number of those who had refused to do so were reportedly beaten severely to the extent that they had to be transferred to the hospital. Some of them called their families informing they were forced to give apologies on camera.

FIDH calls upon the Bahraini authorities to take all necessary measures to put an end to these acts of repression and to order a prompt, effective, thorough, independent and impartial investigation into the above-mentioned acts, where as the result of which must be made public, and those responsible of such acts must be held accountable.

Those political activists and human rights defenders were condemned before military courts in the context of the repression against peaceful protesters. They were handed down harsh sentences including life imprisonment. FIDH, along with other international human rights organisations, has repeatedly denounced the violations of fair trial guarantees during these proceedings. Furthermore, FIDH recalls that pursuant to recommendation N°1720 of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report [2] , “all convictions and sentences rendered by the National Security Courts where fundamental principles of a fair trial […] were not respected” must be reviewed in ordinary courts. …more

War

Until the philosophy which hold one race superior
And another
Inferior
Is finally
And permanently
Discredited
And abandoned –
Everywhere is war –
Me say war.

That until there no longer
First class and second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man’s skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes –
Me say war.

That until the basic human rights
Are equally guaranteed to all,
Without regard to race –
Dis a war.

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace,
World citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued,
But never attained –
Now everywhere is war – war.

And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
that hold our brothers in Angola,
In Mozambique,
South Africa
Sub-human bondage
Have been toppled,
Utterly destroyed –
Well, everywhere is war –
Me say war.

War in the east,
War in the west,
War up north,
War down south –
War – war –
Rumours of war.
And until that day,
The African continent
Will not know peace,
We Africans will fight – we find it necessary –
And we know we shall win
As we are confident
In the victory

Of good over evil –
Good over evil, yeah!

Marley

So what the hell, exactly, are we doing rushing around the world, acting as if we were under siege from an alien race living at the Earth’s core, popping up in a new hot spot every 15 months? Why have we seen the need to remake our national character and Constitutional principles to bring democracy to Libya? The issue is not “withdrawing from the world”—a solid, reliable, credible, alliance-defending America could still stiffen the global community’s spine at key points without making every new chaotic outbreak its business, and without allowing presidents to claim the right to parachute into any war that struck their fancy.

The Republic of War
by Mike M – 1 February, 2012 – Paradigm Cure

Of all the potential Problems with our Republic that Desperately Need Solving—you know the list; Debt, Deficit, Runaway Entitlements, Runaway Inequality, Economic Crisis Hangover, Infrastructure Collapse, Energy Transition, Education, the God-awful state of popular music—very few analyses focus on the dismal reality that we have become a Push-Button Warmaking State.

The Conventional Wisdomites sigh and roll their eyes every time the likes of Andrew Bacevich give another talk about America’s global ambitions and the wrecking of Constitutional restraints in presidential war powers. Respectable foreign policy journals and magazines hardly publish such irresponsible dreck. But the fact is, we’re now “at war” hither and yon, with no end in sight; and what it means for the Nation, few care to investigate in serious ways. And the issue now is that the problem looks ready to run utterly out of control.

“It’s time to think seriously about intervening in Syria,” writes Steven Cook in a piece at the Atlantic. Which, regardless of the substance of this terrifying article, is a useful title, anyway, because you can shave off the last word, insert a blank, and get a pretty good sense of where we’re at as a nation.

“It’s time to think seriously about intervening in ______.” Shop around at your favorite magazines, op-ed pages, think tank web sites, and blogs, and I dare you to find too many troubled or troublesome states that don’t get nominated to be shoved in there. Cross off Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya; those are our most recently done deals (for now, but perhaps not forever; as Exhibit A in Recurrent Interventionism, I give you Our Good Friend Mr. Haiti). You’ll easily discover Syria, Iran, Yemen, and Somalia, for starters, as long as you are willing to take the term “intervening” in a broad sense (but then, when we start bombing people, engaging in targeted killings in their finer neighborhoods, and helicoptering teams of elite troops to wreak havoc on their society, I would tend to consider that intervention—and, more to the Constitutional and Republican point, “war”).

Other, more radical possibilities, but surely a gleam in some adventurist’s eye: Nigeria, Egypt (chaos demands a response!), Pakistan (lay off, conspiracists, it’s only a provocation); Mexico; and the list goes on. Endless lists, in fact; endless wars, all on one man’s say-so. Not to blame the current occupant, mind you, more than any other—at least for the origins of the trend, though its persistence, and indeed its perfection, is another matter. In a world of persistent war, it’s the state of our Republic. …more

No Exit in the Persian Gulf?
by Michael T. Klare and Tom Engelhardt – 01 February, 2012 – AntiWar.com

When it comes to U.S. policy toward Iran, irony is the name of the game. Where to begin? The increasingly fierce sanctions that the Obama administration is seeking to impose on that country’s oil business will undoubtedly cause further problems for its economy and further pain to ordinary Iranians. But they are likely to be splendid news for a few other countries that Washington might not be quite so eager to favor.

Take China, which already buys 22% of Iran’s oil. With its energy-ravenous economy, it is likely, in the long run, to buy more, not less Iranian oil, and — thanks to the new sanctions — at what might turn out to be bargain basement prices. Or consider Russia once the Eurozone is without Iranian oil. That giant energy producer is likely to find itself with a larger market share of European energy needs at higher prices. The Saudis, who want high oil prices to fund an expensive payoff to their people to avoid an Arab Spring, are likely to be delighted. And Iraq, with its porous border, its thriving black market in Iranian oil, and its Shi’ite government in Baghdad, will be pleased to help Iran avoid sanctions. (And thank you, America, for that invasion!)

Who may suffer, other than Iranians? In the long run, the shaky economies of Italy, Greece, and Spain, long dependent on Iranian oil, potentially raising further problems for an already roiling Eurozone. And don’t forget the U.S. economy, or your own pocketbook, if gas prices go up, or even President Obama, if his bet on oil sanctions turns out to be an economic disaster in an election year. …more

Israels seeks to fill its quiver of Arrows
by Staff Writers – Tel Aviv, Israel (UPI) – 31 January, 2012

Israel has test-fired its new Arrow-3 anti-ballistic missile system, the country’s main defense against Iran’s Shehab-3 missiles, as it drives to boost its arsenal of about 120 of the weapons amid rising tension in the Persian Gulf.

The tests, conducted at the Palmachim Air Base on the Mediterranean south of Tel Aviv, were carried out to check the propulsion system and tracking sensors and were apparently successful, the Arutz Sheva news agency reported.
…more

US Confirms Possible Release of Taliban From Gitmo
01 February, 2012 – Associated Press -by Anne Gearan and Kimberly Dozier

WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence officials acknowledged Tuesday that the United States may release several Afghan Taliban prisoners from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as an incentive to bring the Taliban to peace talks.

Meanwhile, Afghan officials told The Associated Press that a plan to give Afghanistan a form of legal custody over the men if they are released satisfied their earlier objection to sending the prisoners to a third country.

Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper told Congress Tuesday that no decision had been made on whether to trade the five Taliban prisoners, now held at Guantanamo Bay as part of nascent peace talks with the Taliban. He and CIA Director David Petraeus did not dispute that the Obama administration is considering transferring the five to a third country.

U.S. officials and others had previously spoken only vaguely, and usually anonymously, about the proposal to send the prisoners to Qatar, a Persian Gulf country that has asserted a central role in framing talks that might end the 10-year war in Afghanistan. The lead U.S. negotiator trying to coax the Taliban into talks had also publicly acknowledged the possibility of a release, but said there was no final decision.

The prisoners proposed for transfer include some of the detainees brought to Guantanamo during the initial days and weeks of the U.S. invasion that toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2001. At least one has been accused in the massacre of thousands of Shiite Muslims in Afghanistan, according to U.S. and other assessments, but none is accused of directly killing Americans. …more

Torture in Libya: The ugly reality of imperialist “liberation”
1 February 2012 – wsws

Multiple reports of widespread torture in the detention centers run by the new imperialist-backed Libyan regime and NATO’s “rebels” give the lie to all those who justified last year’s war in the name of human rights and “liberation.”

It is just over 100 days since the lynch-mob murder of Libya’s former ruler Muammar Gaddafi, a grisly act that marked the culmination of the eight-month US-NATO war. At the time, President Barack Obama took to the White House Rose Garden to hail the assassination as the advent of “a new and democratic Libya.”

The evidence and testimony provided by aid groups and human rights organizations over the past week paint a very different picture. A criminal imperialist war that ended with a brutal murder has, unsurprisingly, yielded a regime of terror, torture and repression.

According to a report released by Amnesty International (AI), “torture is being carried out by officially recognized military and security entities as well as by a multitude of armed militias operating outside of any legal framework.”

The organization reported numerous cases of detainees having been tortured to death. It also reported meeting with others who bore “visible marks indicating torture in recent days and weeks.” AI continued: “Their injuries included open wounds on the head, limbs, back and other parts of the body.”

Prisoners are “suspended in contorted positions, beaten for hours with whips, cables, plastic hoses, metal chains and bars and wooden sticks, and given electric shocks with live wires and Taser-like electro-shock weapons,” according to the Amnesty report. A spokesperson for the organization described the failure of the US- and NATO-backed National Transitional Council (NTC) to conduct any investigation, much less take any action against the torture, as “horrifying.”

Amnesty’s findings were corroborated by UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, who told the Security Council recently that torture is widespread. “There’s torture, extrajudicial executions, rape of both men and women,” she said. …more

Solidarity With The Prisoners in Oakland!
31 January, 2012 – anarchistnews.org

The Workers Solidarity Alliance stands in solidarity with all of the people brutalized, kidnapped, and put in cages by the police in Oakland, California—and around the world—as more and more people defy the sanctity of private property and capital and put human life before the profit margins of the people who own and operate our world.

On January 28, 2012, people from Oakland and beyond bravely attempted to take an abandoned building to build a community center for living space, organizing infrastructure, medical facilities, and so on. It is absurd that huge buildings lay empty while families live in the streets and are denied basic access to shelter, food, and the necessities of human life. But such is the logic of capitalism.
[Since I’m in such a rush just do what the WSA tell you what to do]

Police in Oakland, acting in the interests of the owners of society, guarded this empty building by beating people, throwing flash grenades, tear-gassing, kidnapping, caging people—showing everyone that private property and the starvation and homelessness that it guarantees can only be maintained through violence. And part of changing these kinds of social relations means taking those things that have been denied to us through this violence.

More than statements, solidarity is also action. We’ll meet you in the streets with hopes of spreading rebellion into our workplaces, our communities, and our homes! Mad respect to everyone languishing in cages as a result of their bravery, standing up to police bullies and, by extension, a system that is decaying and dying in front of our eyes.

With a new world in our hearts,

Workers Solidarity Alliance
…source

Bahrain and the Arab Spring
1 February, 2012 – Socialist Worker

The small island nation of Bahrain sits in the Persian Gulf, between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. When the Tunisian and Egyptian uprising toppled U.S.-backed dictators last year, all of the region’s dictatorships trembled, including Bahrain. The winds of change inspired Bahrain’s downtrodden, and the country’s monarchy barely managed to maintain its grip on power.

Ahmed Mohammed, a Bahraini activist visiting the U.S., spoke with Zach Zill about Bahrain’s rebellion, and what the future holds.

A protester wounded during a Bahraini military assault against protesters in February 2011A protester wounded during a Bahraini military assault against protesters in February 2011

CAN YOU talk about how the movement in Bahrain unfolded last February? Why did thousands of people come out to Pearl Square in Bahrain’s capital of Manama?

THE PROTESTS had originally aimed to make the government fulfill the promises of the king. These promises were made in a referendum the king put to the people in 2001. The referendum offered us a bargain–turn Bahrain into a kingdom and the emir into a king, and in return, the dreaded state of emergency law would be ended, and a parliament with full legislative powers set up. He basically offered what the opposition had been demanding throughout the uprising of the 1990s. The referendum was widely welcomed and approved.

Then the king reneged on his promise. On February 14, 2002, the king announced a new constitution in which he concentrated power in his own hands. The parliament has virtually no legislative powers.

As the years went by, the regime plotted to permanently disempower the opposition and ensure the regime’s power in the long term. It all fell apart as their conspiracies began to leak to the public, just as WikiLeaks did with U.S. embassy cables.

Probably the most scandalous leak of all is a document that reveals a transaction between a businessman and the king’s uncle, the prime minister. The latter, who is the world’s longest-serving prime minister and a universally hated figure in Bahrain, bought a state-of-the-art financial development project called the Bahrain Financial Harbor for one dinar. That’s $2.65 for skyscrapers in the capital’s busiest district.

As all of this became public knowledge, and as it became increasingly clear that the regime had no intentions to reform the rigged political system, a lot of anger and resentment began building up. People within the opposition had been warning that this situation is not tenable, that it would explode at some point.

The departure of Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January set Bahraini activists’ imagination on fire. A Facebook group was set up to mark the 10th anniversary of the hated constitution with Bahrain’s own day of rage. There was about a month-long gap between Ben Ali’s departure and February 14. What happened during that period was even more exciting.
[Read more →]

‘I saw death’: Canadian in Bahrain says he’s hiding to escape his torturers
By Thandi Fletcher – 26 January, 2012 – Vancouver Sun

Terrified that he will be beaten to death if he is dragged back to prison, a Kuwait-born Canadian citizen says he has gone into hiding in Bahrain after losing his appeal of his conviction for breaking the country’s illegal assembly laws.

Naser Al-Raas told Postmedia News on Thursday that he is afraid he will be arrested If he shows his face in public.

“My greatest fear is being tortured again,” he said. “I experienced it once before and it was like hell. This is my fear.”

On Tuesday, Al-Raas lost his appeal against a previous conviction on charges related to participating in pro-democracy protests.

Bahrain’s Third Superior Court upheld Al-Raas’ five-year prison sentence.

A former Ottawa resident, Al-Raas was sentenced in late October last year along with 12 others for having links to the demonstrations.

Of the 13 convicted on charges of illegal assembly, rioting and incitement, Al-Raas said he was the only one not acquitted on Tuesday.

Believing his phone line is likely tapped, Al-Raas spoke with Postmedia News from an undisclosed location via Skype.

During the interview, gunfire could be heard in the distance.

“(The police) are attacking every village, every place to oppress the protesters,” said Al-Raas, occasionally coughing — something he blamed on tear gas fumes wafting into his hiding place from the street.

“When I smell it, I feel some kind of, like I want to vomit. I’m sick,” he said. “(The tear gas) makes a big cloud which covers the whole village.”

But Al-Raas said the sting of the gas was nothing compared to what he has endured over the past year in Bahrain.

His ordeal began when he was visiting his five sisters there last March, he said. Al-Raas was working as an IT specialist in Kuwait at the time.
…more

Prisoners of conscience face infectious diseases due to medical negligence
January 28th, 2012 – Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights

Women’s prison Administration-Isa Town Police Station- has refused to give vaccinations against the disease “hepatitis” to prisoners of conscience.

Prisoners of Conscience:

1-Leila Kadhim – 47 years old
2-Fatima Alnaniyon – 16 years old
3-Khadija Hubail – 17 years old
4-Zainab Dehim – 20 years old
5-Ibtisam Aziz Dehim – 35 years old
6-Munira Dehim – 39 years old
7-Huda Dehim – 40 years old
8-Zainab Salman – 40 years old
9-Aqeela Almqabi – 24 years old
10-Fatima Al-Jishi – 21 years old
11-Fadheela Almabark – 37 years old

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) considers medical negligence as physical and psychological punishment of prisoners of conscience.

The BYSHR demanding the Bahraini authorities to provide emergency medical care to prisoners of conscience. …source