Posts from — February 2012

Friends of Syria?
By As’ad AbuKhalil – 26 February, 2012 – Angry Corner – Al-Akhbar

This was a quintessential American spectacle. You know that this was managed and orchestrated and choreographed by a low-ranking diplomat at the US Department of State. People with longer memories can see parallels with the theatrics that characterized US policies prior to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. International conferences were held and the US sponsored a conference for Ahmad Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress (which reminds one of Syrian National Congress – both are led by highly educated exiled natives whose presence could not conceal the power of religious forces they are dependent on).

But the numbers of the “friends of Syria” who assembled in Tunis is not really known. Assafir newspaper spoke of 50 countries represented. US media spoke of 60 countries. But Saudi and Hariri media can’t accept such lower figures. They insisted that no less than 90 countries attended. Usually, the US brings Micronesia and the Marshal Islands to such fairs to add political weight. Was Micronesia listed also as “friend of Syria?” If the former colonial power of Syria, France, is listed as “friend of Syria,” why not invite Israel as well? Why confine it to 50 or 90? But that would have embarrassed the Syrian National Congress. Chalabi used to promise the US government that once the US topples Saddam, and once he takes over Iraq, he will sign a peace treaty with Israel. Are Ghalioun and his Ikhwan backers making such promises?

But what was achieved at the conference beyond the rhetoric which did not satisfy the “sole representatives of the Syrian people?” To be sure, Saudi Arabia came with a high ceiling of demands. Clearly, Saudi Arabia has decided to push Qatar aside. Saudi Arabia will no longer allow its small neighbor and bitter rival to take over what it sees as a primary Saudi role: leading the GCC and the Arab League – on behalf of the US and the interests of Israel, of course. …more

Israel and Azerbaijan sign weapons deal
26 February, 2012 – Al-Akhbar

Israel has signed a $1.6 billion deal to sell drones, anti-aircraft weapons, and missile defense systems to Azerbaijan, risking further conflict with Iran.

The deal will provide further evidence to Tehran that Baku is becoming a key ally for Israel in the region.

Israel has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran in recent weeks claiming it is seeking nuclear weapons, a claim Tehran has denied.

Israel possesses the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal.

Azerbaijan, which shares a border with the Islamic Republic, has improved its relations with the Jewish state.

A report in The Times of London two weeks ago claimed that Baku was a key base for Israeli Mossad intelligence agents looking to spy on Iran.

It quoted an unnamed Mossad official saying: “our presence here is quiet, but substantial. We have increased our presence in the past year, and it gets us very close to Iran. This is a wonderfully porous country.” Azerbaijan denied the claim.

Israel’s ties with Azerbaijan, a Muslim country that became independent with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, have grown as its once-strong strategic relationship with another Iranian neighbor, Turkey, has deteriorated.

It was not clear whether the arms deal with Azerbaijan was connected to any potential Israeli plans to strike Iran. The Israeli defense officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not at liberty to discuss defense deals. …more

The Security Solution vs The Friends of Syria: Recipe for Deadlock
By: Nicolas Nassif – 26 February, 2012 – Al-Akhbar

There is a complete disconnect between the Friends of Syria conference that was held Friday February 24 in Tunisia and the military solution adopted by the Syrian regime inside Syria.

The dialogue between Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Arab and Western adversaries regarding the bloody crisis in Syria is almost non-existent.

Assad has ignored the pressure and harsh sanctions against his regime and has insisted on pursuing a security solution against the armed opposition in an attempt to create a new balance of power that would guarantee his place at the head of negotiations over the fate of his country under the purview of his regime.

Arab and Western leaders who are against Assad have cut off all direct dialogue with him. Communication is restricted to the media and the strict measures and sanctions taken against his regime.

These leaders rely on two Syrian opposition movements that don’t speak to one another except to highlight their differences, disagreements, and opposing views on foreign military intervention.

Arabs and Western powers distinguish between the first of these groups, the Syrian National Council (SNC) and the rest of the Syrian opposition. They invite the former to the Tunisia conference and the others to dismantle the regime.

As such, the military and political options appear to be moving on parallel tracks that don’t meet anywhere. And there has not been a breakthrough toward a settlement. …more

Committee issues vague recommendations in 11 cases out of nearly 1000, arbitrary arrests and torture continue
26 February, 2012 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

The committee set by the Supreme Judicial Council revealed that 502 persons were convicted by the Military court up until Oct 2011 in 165 different cases, and another 437 cases which were referred from the Military Prosecution to the Public Prosecution in Oct 2011 are still open. Out of nearly a thousand cases, the committee reviewed only 30 cases and issued recommendation in only 11 cases:

Dropping the charges and excluding them from the daily precedents record for 5 defendants, taking into consideration only the penalty executed in relation to the four defendants, the exclusion of the charge in relation to one defendant, and dropping the charge for of the precedents record for one defendant.

Al-Wefaq issued a statement in which it said the government is trying to to get around the recommendations of Bassiouni regarding the trials.

Mohsen Al Alawi, a lawyer who represents one defendant involved in the 30 cases, said it was not clear how many of the 11 defendants were still in jail or had been freed.

He said the fate of charges in the rest of the 30 cases was not clear.

“It’s very opaque,” he said, adding that in his view all military court verdicts should have been shelved in line with the commission’s recommendations, rather than allowing the cases to continue in civilian courts.

Cases still pending after transfer to civilian courts include controversial trials of medics, teachers and 14 men jailed for leading the protests last year. One of those 14, rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who also has Danish nationality, has been on hunger strike for more than two weeks.
(as reported on chicagotribune.com)

A 24 year old man from Malikeya gets arrested from his house then taken to a nearby checkpoint where he was brutally beaten by security forces using their batons, weapons and wooden sticks, leading to several bones fracture and bruises all over his body. He was then taken back to his area. …more

Campaign: FREE, Human Rights Defenders in Bahrain
23 February, 2012 – Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights

Mr.Abdulhadi Alkhawaja: is the former MENA Coordinator for frontline Defenders, the Previous President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights and the sitting President of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights. He is known as one of most prominent human rights defenders in the regions and a trainer of human right activists. Last April, Mr.Alkhawaja was arrested for his role in the pro-democracy protests and sentenced to life in prison. The activist was subjected to severe torture that was documented by the BICI (Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry). Mr.Alkhawaja began the hungerstrike on Wednesday the 8th of February, and demanded “Freedom or death” as a condition for ending his hungerstrike. He has been taken to hospital more than once in the past days.

Mr.Naji Fateel: is a board member of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) and blogger who has been active in reporting human rights violations in Bahrain.He used his account on Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/najialifateel) for dissemination of human rights information. He was previously detained between Dec 2007 and April 2009, and has been reportedly tortured. His house was stormed in search for him several times last year following the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. He was suffering from damage to his spine and was supposed to travel abroad to get medical treatment.

Mr.Hasan Al-Jaber: is a prominent human rights blogger who is regarded as a reliable source for Bahrain news. He used his account on Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/HasanAljaber) for dissemination of human rights information. He used to report from protests, posting first-hand testimonies of human rights violations to the media and also contributed to support non-violence strategies in cooperation with the BYSHR. …more

Bahraini Opposition Leader Views Talks with Al Khalifa Regime as “Futile”
26 February, 2012 – FARS

TEHRAN (FNA)- A Bahraini revolutionary leader said that the offer of talks with the opposition is a plot hatched by the Manama regime to buy time, and added that negotiation with the Al-Khalifa regime is “futile”.

“The regime’s invitation to talks has always been on the table since long time ago since it actually wants to buy time and is not after results,” Head of Bahrain’s Freedom-Seeking Union Ali Fayez told FNA on Sunday.

“It (the Bahraini regime) wants talks for the sake of talks,” Fayez stated, adding that the type of negotiations desired by the Manama regime is the one in which the opposition merely listens and obeys whatever is dictated by the regime.

He pointed to the regime’s strong opposition to any talks over an elected government, and noted, “What does negotiation mean when they (ruling regime) restrict it.”

The Bahraini opposition says that people in the tiny Persian Gulf country are resolved to continue protests until they see a materialization of their righteous demands and aspirations.

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February 2011, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty’s over-40-year rule.

Violence against the defenseless people escalated after a Saudi-led conglomerate of police, security and military forces from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar – were dispatched to the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom on March 13, 2011, to help Manama crack down on peaceful protestors.

So far, tens of people have been killed, hundreds have gone missing and more than 1,000 others have been injured. …source

Syrian referendum called a ‘sham,’ activists say 29 more killed in crackdown
26 February, 2012 – Zeina Karam – Associated Press

DAMASCUS, SYRIA—Syria’s authoritarian regime held a referendum on a new constitution Sunday, a gesture by embattled President Bashar Assad to placate those seeking his ouster. But the opposition deemed it an empty gesture and the West immediately dismissed the vote as a “sham.”

Even as some cast ballots for what the government has tried to portray as reform, the military kept up shelling of the opposition stronghold of Homs, which has been under attack for more than three weeks after rebels took control of some neighbourhoods there. Activists and residents report that hundreds have been killed in Homs in the past few weeks, including two Western journalists.

The Red Cross spokesman said the humanitarian group had been unable to enter the besieged Homs neighbourhood of Baba Amr since Friday, describing the humanitarian needs there as “very urgent.”

Activist groups said at least 29 people were killed on Sunday, mostly in Homs. At least 89 were reported killed on Saturday alone, one day before the referendum. Activists estimate close to 7,500 people have been killed in the 11 months since the Assad regime’s brutal crackdown on dissent began.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Sunday’s vote “a cynical ploy.”

“It’s a phoney referendum, and it is going to be used by Assad to justify what he’s doing to other Syrian citizens,” she said in an interview with CBS News in Rabat, Morocco.

Speaking to reporters in Rabat, Clinton called on Syrians in business and the military who still support Assad to turn against him.

“The longer you support the regime’s campaign of violence against your brothers and sisters, the more it will stain your honour,” she said. “If you refuse, however, to prop up the regime or take part in attacks … your countrymen and women will hail you as heroes.”

Other countries also lambasted the vote. …more

Syrians Vote on Constitution; Opposition Boycotts
26 February, 2012 – POMED

The new constitution calls for a multi-party parliamentary election within three months, which the Syrian government has pushed forward as a sign of reform, but that many have rejected as “fraudulent.” The U.S. has dismissed the referendum as “laughable,” while Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu expressed doubt about the timing of the vote: “On one hand you say you are holding a referendum and on the other you are attacking with tank fire on civilian areas.” While Syrian state TV showed polling stations in Damascus to be peaceful, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported new violence around the country that left dozens of civilians and security forces dead. “What should we be voting for, whether to die by bombardment or by bullets? This is the only choice we have,” said Waleed Fares, an activist in the Khalidiyah district of Homs. Prime Minister Adel Safar, when asked about the referendum boycott, said it showed a lack of interest in engaging in dialogue, and added, “If there was a genuine desire for reform, there would have been movement from all groups, especially the opposition, to start dialogue immediately with the government to achieve the reforms and implement them on the ground.”

Meanwhile, the Syrian National Council has reached out to the Alawite community, and in a recent press release announced, “We in the SNC consider members of the Alawite sect to be an essential element of Syria’s cultural and ethnic fabric. It is shameful for us, the people of an undivided nation, to target a community by name instead of calling upon their national citizenship. However, this is the result of the regime’s actions.” Additionally, Jordan has announced that more than 80,000 Syrian refugees have fled the nearly 11 months of violence in their homeland and settled in neighboring Jordan. The unnamed official said the estimate was based on legal entries into Jordan, and that it is a testament to the growing violence in Syria. …source

Palestinian prisoner in isolation on hunger strike: lawyer
26 February, 2012 – Agence France Presse – The Daily Star

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: A Palestinian woman freed in a prisoner swap with Israel but later re-arrested has gone on hunger strike, a Palestinian lawyer said on Sunday.

Hanaa al-Shalabi has been on hunger strike since the day of her arrest on February 16, when she was ordered detained without trial for six months, said lawyer Fawaz al-Shuli who visited her in prison.

“She is determined to carry on her hunger strike even though the Israeli prison authorities decided to isolate her,” he told AFP.

Shalabi “is demanding the end of administrative detention (imprisonment without charge) and that the soldiers who beat her up and undressed her to carry out a body search be put on trial,” he said.

Shalabi was among more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released in October in a trade for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held by Gaza-based militants for more than five years.

Her refusal to be fed comes as Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan on Tuesday ended a 66-day hunger strike in protest at his imprisonment without charge, under a deal that will see him released in April.

Shalabi, from the West Bank village of Burqin village near Jenin, spent 30 months in detention before her release last year.

The Israeli army said she was “a global jihad-affiliated operative” and was re-arrested on suspicion that she “posed a threat to the area.”

The Palestinian Prisoners Club says she is one of five inmates freed in the October swap who have since been re-arrested.

Adnan’s protest, the longest hunger strike carried out by any Palestinian prisoner, attracted international attention and threw a spotlight on Israel’s use of administrative detention, a military procedure which allows suspects to be held without charge indefinitely.

…more

Statement by the Press Secretary on the Death of Cuban Activist Wilmar Villar

President Obama’s thoughts and prayers are with the wife, family, and friends of Wilmar Villar, a young and courageous defender of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cuba who launched a hunger strike to protest his incarceration and succumbed to pneumonia.

Villar’s senseless death highlights the ongoing repression of the Cuban people and the plight faced by brave individuals standing up for the universal rights of all Cubans. The United States will not waver in our support for the liberty of the Cuban people. We will remain steadfast in our outreach to the Cuban people through unlimited Cuban American family visits and remittances, purposeful travel, and humanitarian assistance to dissidents and their families in support of their legitimate desire to freely determine Cuba’s future.

Cuban dissident Wilmar Villar dies on hunger strike
20 January, 2012 – Telegraph

Villar, 31, died on Thursday in a prison in Santiago as he was protesting a four-year sentence for “contempt, resistance and assault” on the government.

The father-of-two was one of 60 political prisoners thought to be held by Cuba and is the second to die on a hunger strike in the last two years.

Havana refused to comment but his death drew criticism from governments around the world as well as human rights organisations and Cuban opposition groups.

A White House statement said: “Villar’s senseless death highlights the ongoing repression of the Cuban people and the plight faced by brave individuals standing up for the universal rights of all Cubans.”

Amnesty International said it had been on the verge of designating Mr Villar a prisoner of conscience, a status granted to people believed to be held for no reason other than their political views.

“The Cuban government bears complete moral, political and legal responsibility for the death of Wilmar, because he was in the custody of the authorities,” a spokeswoman for the Cuban Committee for Human Rights and National Reconciliation said. …more

Cuban dissident dies in jail after hunger strike
20 January 2012 – Guardian

A 31-year-old jailed dissident, Wilmar Villar Mendoza, has died in eastern Cuba from the effects of a 56-day hunger strike and what fellow opposition activists believe was mistreatment by the Cuban government, according to a human rights activist.

Villar launched his hunger strike shortly after he was arrested in November, put on trial and sentenced to four years in prison for crimes including disobedience, resistance and crimes against the state, said Elizardo Sanchez of the Cuban Commission of Human Rights.

He said Villar had joined an opposition group called the Cuban Patriotic Union in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba last summer and had been an active dissident since then.

He was placed in solitary confinement, which, combined with his hunger strike, caused serious health problems that led to his death on Thursday, Sanchez told Reuters.

He was taken to a hospital in Santiago de Cuba on 14 January as his condition deteriorated and died there.

“We hold the Cuban government categorically responsible because he died under their care. We consider this another avoidable death,” Sanchez said.

Cuba drew international condemnation when another imprisoned dissident, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, died in February 2010 following an 85-day hunger strike.

The Cuban president, Raúl Castro, said Zapata was a common criminal, but his death is believed to have contributed to Castro’s decision in the summer of 2010 to release 130 political prisoners in a deal brokered by the Roman Catholic church.

Zapata was classified a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International but Villar’s case has drawn little attention.

The Cuban government has not yet commented on Villar’s death, but pro-government blogger Yohandry announced it in his blog, saying “the delinquent Wilmar Villar Mendoza died”.

He predicted the death would bring criticism of Cuba from opponents of the Cuban government in the US.

“The scavengers are beginning to arrive. Another campaign against Cuba starts to take off,” he wrote.

The dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez tweeted the news of Villar’s death and asked “How many more have to die? How many more?” …source

UK recognizes Syrian rebels
24 February, 2012 – ABNA

Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague has said that his country will recognize the Syrian rebels as a “legitimate representative” of the Middle Eastern country.

UK recognizes Syrian rebels

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Hague made the announcement as he arrived in Tunisia to attend the so-called “Friends of Syria” meeting in Tunis, media reports said.

“We, in common with other nations, will now treat them and recognize them as a legitimate representative of the Syrian people”, Hague said, referring to armed terror gangs who have taken arms against the popular government of President Bashar al-Assad in a few towns across the country.

In yet another example of the UK’s double standards on foreign policy issues, William Hague described President Assad’s government as a “criminal regime” and vowed to provide weapons and intelligence to rebels and terrorist snipers fighting the Syrian government forces and civilian population in the country.

Britain and its allies are providing the rebels inside Syria with intelligence and various types of weaponry, while at the same time they are arming the despotic regimes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia against their own people.

In Bahrain, the UK government has continued selling weaponry to the despotic regime of al-Khalifa irrespective of continuing political oppression of the people.

Official figures revealed that Britain approved the sale of military equipment valued at more than £1 million to the Bahraini regime after the violent crackdown on anti-regime protesters a year ago.

According to the figures, the sale included licenses for weapon sights, rifles, artillery and parts for military training aircraft. …more

Saudi forces open fire on Qatif protest
25 February, 2012 – IRIB

Saudi security forces have opened fire on anti-government protesters in the eastern city of Qatif, injuring at least three demonstrators.

Witnesses say regime forces attacked demonstrators in the eastern city on Friday after they chanted slogans against the government and called for the downfall of the ruling Al Saud family.

The demonstrators also condemned Riyadh’s crackdown on protests and demand the immediate release of political prisoners.

They also expressed solidarity with anti-regime protesters in neighboring Bahrain, where Saudi troops are helping the Manama government quell peaceful protests.

Similar anti-Al Saud rally was also held on Tarut Island.

Saudis have held peaceful demonstrations in Eastern Province, mostly in the cities of Qatif and Awamiyah since February last year on an almost regular basis, demanding reforms, freedom of expression and the release of political prisoners. …source

Saudi Arabia call for arming Syria Opposition
By ZEINA KARAM and BASSEM MROUE – 25 February, 2012 – The Associated Press

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria lashed out at Saudi Arabia on Saturday, a day after the kingdom’s foreign minister backed the idea of arming the rebels fighting President Bashar Assad’s regime, accusing Riyadh of becoming “a partner” in the bloodshed in Syria.

The sharp riposte from Damascus, which was published in a state-run newspaper, came as activists said at least 77 people were killed across the country and regime forces pounded rebel-held neighborhoods in the central city of Homs.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had failed Saturday to gain access to the besieged neighborhood of Baba Amr in the city of Homs for a second day to evacuate more wounded civilians, including at least two foreign journalists who were wounded in government shelling on Wednesday.

Saturday “yielded no concrete results.”

He said the ICRC would keep trying and that the Syrian Red Crescent carried out evacuations elsewhere in Syria, including in other neighborhoods of Homs.

Along with wounded Syrians, two foreign journalists injured in the rocket attack remain in the neighborhood. They are French journalist Edith Bouvier of Le Figaro and British photographer Paul Conroy of the Sunday Times.

The bodies of American Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik, who were killed in the same attack, are also still in the area.

The Syrian uprising began in March with mostly peaceful protests in a number of the country’s impoverished provinces. As security forces violently suppressed them, killing thousands, the protest grew and escalated into an increasingly armed insurrection.
…more

Respect Existence or Expect Resistance

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah says ‘foreign hands’ behind unrest in the Arab world
Associated Press – 25 February, 2012 – Washington Post

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah says that “unnamed hands” targeting Islam and the Arabs are behind recent events in the region.

The king, who delivered a televised address Friday night to a conference of prominent Saudis, did not name any country. But Saudi officials have used similar terms to suggest a connection with Shiite Iran.

“There were hands that are known to you all … behind what has happened in the Arab world, regrettably targeting Islam and the Arabs,” he said.

Sunni Saudi Arabia is wary of the wave of Arab Spring uprisings, particularly in nearby Bahrain, where a Shiite majority is demanding greater rights from its Sunni rulers.

However, the kingdom strongly backs the largely Sunni uprising in Syria against Iran’s ally, President Bashar Assad. …more

Open appeal to the king of Bahrain and the Bahraini government to release human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja
25 February, 2012 – Gulf Center for Human Rights

Beirut, 25 February 2012 — The Gulf Centre for Human Rights appeals to the King of Bahrain and the Bahraini government to intervene rapidly to release the founder of our centre, human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja immediately and without any restriction or condition and to grant him the full freedom to travel to the country of his choice in order to receive the medical treatment that he is in desperate need for at the present time.

Human rights defender Al-Khawaja was subject to gross violations of his civil and human rights as a peaceful citizen, starting with the brutal way in which he was arrested, and the torture that followed which resulted in broken jaws, and the unfair trials that sentenced him, the known and distinguished international activist he is, to life in prison where he suffers a lot of ill-treatment. He has gone through several hunger strikes along with his colleagues again and again demanding their release and a better treatment, and on February 8, 2012 he began his current hunger strike to get freedom for himself and hundreds other detainees, that led him to a serious medical condition that requires your immediate intervention for his release which is the demand of the international human rights movement.

We hope that you will respond to our sincere call immediately in order to make it possible for human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja to travel to any country in which he will be able to receive the required treatment as soon as possible.

The director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, Nabeel Rajab said:

“Al-Khawaja is a noble fighter and an advocate of justice, freedom and human rights in the Arab world. He has taught hundreds of human rights defenders, especially here in Bahrain, where he has struggled to promote the culture of human rights and the empowerment of victims of injustice and tyranny to defend their usurped rights.” …more

Updates: Imprisoned HRD AlKhawaja: My hunger strike is a part of my human rights defence inside jail
23 February, 2012 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

As Received from AlKhawaja’s lawyer, Mr Mohamed AlJishi:

In a one-hour private visit, I met Abdulhadi Al Khawaja today in Jaw Central Prison. Signs of fatigue were clearly shown on Al Khawaja. He was pale and lost lots of weight. I sent him all the people’s plea to stop the strike as they need him alive to struggle for Bahrain, and for his own risk.

Abdulhadi Al Khawaja told the lawyer: “I thank who ever stand in solidarity with me and people of Bahrain outside and inside the country. The case is not only about me. It’s about all wrongfully detainees in Bahrain. My hungerstrike is a part of my Human rights defence inside jail. It’s very important to focus on all detainees as I’m just a part of them. I will continue with my hunger strike till I reach my demands despite the consequences. I’m aware that freedom is expensive and we must sacrifice to gain it.”

According to the lawyer, although Al Khawaja is really tired after 2 weeks of hunger strike, he is still holding his head high and smiling.

His wife, Mrs Khadija AlMousawi said that after a urine checkup to Abdulhadi, there was blood in his urine. The doctor asked him to drink juice and he does now to avoid kidney failure.

AlKhawaja is now on his 15th day of Hunger strike for Freedom or death.

During a sit-in protest in front of the UN office organized by the political societies on Feb 22, 2012 to condemn the international community’s silence towards the human rights violations in Bahrain, a group of youth wore T-shirts with photo of Abdulhadi on it in support to his strike. At the night, a number of protests took place in solidarity with Alkhawaja. …more

US aide tells Israel sanctions on Iran need time
21 February, 2012 – Maan News Agency

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — A top aide to US President Barack Obama told Israel’s leaders this weekend that there is still time for diplomacy to keep Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon, the White House said on Tuesday, amid growing concerns that Israel might resort to a preemptive strike.

National security adviser Tom Donilon told Israeli officials that Washington shares their concern about Iran’s nuclear push but also stressed the need to let sanctions work, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

“We certainly understand the heightened concern that Israel has given its geographic location and other circumstances that are involved here for Israel,” Carney told reporters, discussing Donilon’s visit and the White House view on Iran’s ambitions.

“Having said that, we believe that the approach this administration has taken has resulted in a level of consensus within the international community regarding Iranian behavior that has never been attained before that’s resulted in a level of punitive sanctions that have never been attained before … and that that has had an impact,” he said.

“We believe that there is time and space to attempt to resolve this peacefully.”

Iran says its nuclear program is meant to develop energy, not weapons.

But its recent shift of uranium enrichment to a mountain bunker and refusal to negotiate guarantees that the program is peaceful have raised security fears — particularly in Israel — and also stoked concerns about Gulf oil supplies.

Donilon was the latest in a series of high-level US officials who have traveled to Israel in recent weeks to impress US concerns over any attack on Iran.

James Clapper, the US Director of National Intelligence, said last week he would soon visit Israel to discuss intelligence sharing.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who traveled to Israel last month, acknowledged in a weekend television interview that the two long-time allies have divergent views of the best course of action on Iran.

“I’m confident that (Israel’s leaders) understand our concerns that a strike at this time would be destabilizing and wouldn’t achieve their long-term objectives,” Dempsey told CNN.

“I also understand that Israel has national interests that are unique to them. And, of course, they consider Iran to be an existential threat in a way that we have not concluded that Iran is an existential threat.”

Speculation has been growing that Israel may attack Iran’s nuclear facilities to set back the Islamic Republic’s weapons progress. …more

Slanting the Case on Iran’s Nukes
23 February, 2012 – Consortium News – By Robert Parry

As Washington’s political/media class rises up in arms over new WMD allegations against Iran, it might be worth recalling how a similar process played out nearly a decade ago when the U.S. public was drawn into a war with Iraq. It wasn’t just that George W. Bush told some lies; it was more complicated than that.

In 2002-2003, Official Washington professed a deep faith in the professionalism of the CIA’s analytical division, which accepted enough of the bogus intelligence being pushed by neocon war hawks to create a basis for Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Only later did it become clear how politicized the CIA’s analysis had become.

Yukiya Amano, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, speaking to the United Nations

Today, a similar role is being played by the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency, which – during the run-up to war with Iraq and under different management – was one of the few international bodies with the courage to reject some of Bush’s claims about Iraq.

However, in the past two years, the IAEA has become deeply politicized under its new director general, Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano. Yet, you wouldn’t know that from how the U.S. news media is accepting what the IAEA says about Iran, much as the U.S. press corps avoided questioning the CIA’s assessments on Iraq.

The evidence of the IAEA’s politicization can be found in confidential U.S. diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks and published last year by the Guardian newspaper in the U.K. In those cables, the IAEA’s new leadership indicated it was willing to give Washington what it wanted on Iran, just as the CIA’s hierarchy bent to Bush’s needs on Iraq last decade.

According to the U.S. embassy cables from Vienna, Austria, the IAEA’s headquarters, Americans diplomats in 2009 were cheering the prospect that Amano would advance American interests in ways that outgoing IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei wouldn’t.

In a July 9, 2009, cable, American chargé Geoffrey Pyatt said Amano was thankful for U.S. support of his election. “Amano attributed his election to support from the U.S., Australia and France, and cited U.S. intervention with Argentina as particularly decisive,” the cable said.

The appreciative Amano informed Pyatt that as IAEA director general, he would take a different “approach on Iran from that of ElBaradei” and he “saw his primary role as implementing safeguards and UNSC [United Nations Security Council]/Board resolutions,” i.e. U.S.-driven sanctions and demands against Iran. …more

Obama: No Option Off The Table Except Snatching Iran’s Leaders With Hook Lowered From Plane And Flying Them To Washington
22 February, 2012 – The Onion

WASHINGTON—A resolute President Obama warned Tuesday that if Iran remained unwilling to halt its nuclear program, the United States would consider any and all options at its disposal short of whisking away the Islamic republic’s leaders using a hook lowered from an airplane. “We are dealing with a grave threat and we will not hesitate to use any available recourse, with the exception of flying one of our stealth fighter jets into the heart of Tehran, having the pilot shoot some sort of grappling device 500 feet to the ground, dragging the steel hook in such a way that it remains inconspicuous, and then suddenly snatching up key officials when they least expect it,” said Obama, adding that diplomatic pressure, economic sanctions, and military force were still on the table, given that those options did not involve using a curved metal implement at the end of a long retractable cable to ensnare members of the ruling Guardian Council. “Our message to Iran’s leaders is clear: If you do not choose peace, we will take whatever steps are necessary aside from swooping in, snagging the back of your shirt collar with the tip of a large hook, and then flying you across the ocean to be our prisoners.” Regardless of U.S. policy, many experts predict Israel will begin capturing Iranians with hooks lowered from planes as early as this summer. …source

The Growing Rebellion in Saudi Arabia
By Jess Hill – 24 February, 2012 – The Global Mail

Saudi Arabia’s King has been unusually outspoken against Syria’s regime. But what about the rebellion in his own Kingdom? And what kind of ruler will his heir apparent be?

On Saudi Arabia’s much-anticipated ‘Day of Rage’ last year, government minders drove a BBC crew into the centre of the capital, Riyadh, to film the ‘no-show’. Police had locked down the capital, and they were confident nobody would show up.

Imagine their shock, then, when Khaled al-Johani, a teacher and father of five, walked straight up to the BBC crew, and said: “The royal family don’t own us! We have a right to speak.” As government minders closed in on the group, he grew more emphatic: “If you speak, they will put you in jail after five minutes!” When the BBC reporter asked him what would happen to him, he replied, “I will go in the jail with a big smile – because I am already in a jail!”(Al-Johani was arrested that day, and has been in prison since March. He stood trial in a closed court on February 22; the verdict has not been made public.)

Al-Johani was outspoken, but he was just one man. The world’s investment community breathed a sigh of relief. Why were we so worried about this ‘day of rage’? Saudis don’t protest. Most of them are too comfortable, and internal security is too effective. The Arab Spring won’t come to Saudi Arabia.

But they were wrong.

Saudis are protesting. They’ve been protesting for over a year. Their numbers are growing. And there’s no sign of them stopping.

It’s all happening in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, home to most of the Kingdom’s Shia minority, and 90 per cent of its oil. Seven people have been shot dead by Saudi security forces since October 2011, two in the past month alone. The Saudi Interior Ministry says these deaths resulted from gun battles between protesters and police. But in all amateur videos that show protesters being shot, there is no evidence that protesters were shooting back.

There have been remarkable scenes of rebellion. One photograph, taken on February 10 this year, shows a young man hurling an effigy of Crown Prince Nayef at a row of armoured anti-riot tanks. It’s an extraordinary provocation. Prince Nayef is not only the head of the Interior Ministry – he’s also the heir to the throne.

But it’s not just a few people defying the

Prince. On February 13, at a funeral for the most recent ‘martyr’, 21-year-old Zuhair al Said, tens of thousands of people marched through the streets, chanting “No Sunna, No Shia, but Islamic unity! We’re not afraid, down with Nayef! You’re the terrorist, you’re the criminal, you’re the butcher, ya Nayef!”

“We will never rest, country of oppressors! Son of Saud [royal family], hear the voice! We will never give up ’til death!”

Prince Nayef responded with his own threat. On February 20, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said these protests were the ‘new terrorism’, and were being ‘manipulated from abroad’ (read: Iran). The Ministry would confront them with ‘an iron fist’, he said, just like it confronted Al Qaeda.

Toby Jones, an expert on Saudi Arabia at Rutgers University, says this statement is emblematic of Prince Nayef’s ruling style, and his worldview. “He is a hardliner: he believes in the use of repression, he is sectarian, he is ideologically anti-Shiite,” says Jones. The incumbent, King Abdullah “was practical, and would talk to Shias.”

Eighty-seven-year-old King Abdullah is widely admired – even by many dissenters – but he’s ailing. It’s expected that Prince Nayef will soon inherit his throne. “Nayef is a scary guy, and a move towards crushing communities has to have his fingerprints all over it,” says Jones, “because nobody else in the royal family thinks that’s a smart move.”

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Saudi Arabia Ponders Its Syrian Conundrum
Joshua Teitelbaum – 23 February, 2012 – Hoover Institution

The Arab awakenings and assertive international role of Russia and China at the expense of the United States have created a new strategic situation for the rulers of Riyadh. Seen from Saudi Arabia, the US stood idly by at the ignominious toppling of its erstwhile allies, the dictators of Tunisia and Egypt. Its rival across the Gulf, Iran, is on its way to having a nuclear weapon and has attempted to assassinate its ambassador to Washington. Although the US has ratcheted up pressure on Tehran, the mullahs seem to be running circles around Washington with the connivance of Moscow and Beijing. Even though Riyadh has been successful in limiting the contagion at home through a combination of the stick of its security forces and the carrot of financial munificence, its satellite kingdom in nearby Bahrain is ablaze, with majority Shiites protesting against the Saudi-supported minority Sunni Al Khalifa family. The US appears confounded, and as a result the Saudis believe they need to take up a larger role in the region.

Onto this strategic playing field — enter Syria and the insurrection currently under way. Iran looms large in the background as Riyadh calculates its moves toward Damascus. The Al Saud rulers would dearly love to see the destruction of the pro-Iranian Assad regime. Iran, through its proxies Syria and Hezballah, have undermined the stability of Lebanon since 2005, when they connived to murder the staunchly pro-Saudi former prime minister of Lebanon, Rafiq al-Hariri, in February 2005. His successor and son, Saad, was undermined by a coalition of pro-Iranian forces and forced to resign as prime minister in January 2011. The result has been an increase in Syrian, Iranian and Hezballah control over Lebanon and the stymieing of Saudi (and US) efforts to bring about a stable and independent Lebanon. Riyadh would have no problem with Bashar Assad receiving his comeuppance.

The longer the Syrian stalemate continues, the greater the possibility that regional powers will be sucked into the maelstrom. Saudi Arabia sees itself as the protector of the world’s Sunnis as they face Shiite Iran. Tehran is giving money, military aid, and military advisors to prop up the minority Alawite regime as it battles Syria’s Sunni majority. In an impassioned speech on February 10, King Abdullah took Russia and China to task for vetoing a UN Security Council condemnation of Assad’s atrocities against Syrian civilians. Saudi papers have called for boycotting Russian and Chinese goods.

Saudi Arabia knows that the Arab League is powerless. The UN is stymied by China and Russia. There does not seem to be a way to get Assad to step down peacefully. The Saudis appear to already be funneling aid to the Syrian National Council, and led the Arab League in supporting a resolution calling for providing support to the Syrian opposition. What Saudi Arabia will now likely do is seek an alliance of Sunni states led by the Gulf Cooperation Council to funnel aid, perhaps via Turkey, to the rebels. Whether the US will help in this regard is still an open question. …more