Posts from — March 2012

Bahrain protesters boost pressures on king with huge march; sporadic clashes
By Associated Press – 9 March, 2012 – Washington Post

MANAMA, Bahrain — Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters flooded a major highway in Bahrain on Friday in one of the largest opposition rallies in months against the Gulf nation’s rulers. Security forces fired tear gas at smaller groups attempting to reach a heavily guarded square that was once the hub of the uprising.

The march was called as a show of resolve by a Shiite-led rebellion against Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy more than a year after the Arab Spring-inspired protests began. The main procession was mostly peaceful, but breakaway groups were driven back by tear gas as they headed toward Pearl Square, which was the center of the uprising for weeks last year until it was stormed by security forces.

The demonstration is also a reply to Bahrain’s Sunni leadership, which has portrayed the uprising as losing steam ahead of next month’s lucrative Formula One Grand Prix car race. It was canceled last year because of violence on the tiny island.

The march stretched for miles. Some opposition leaders estimated the crowd at nearly 100,000, which would make it one of the largest protest gatherings since the street rallies erupted in February 2011.

Bahrain’s majority Shiites seek to end the Sunni dynasty’s control of all main posts and policies in the strategic Gulf nation, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. Shiites make up about 70 percent of Bahrain’s 525,000 citizens. …more

Human Rights Defender Abdulhadi AlKhawaja Strike Reaches 29 Days – 9 March Protest in Manama Surge

Imprisoned HRD AlKhawaja: My hunger strike is a part of my human rights defence inside jailAs 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. …more

Security ‘in tune with openness’
Gulf Daily News – 21 February, 2012

MANAMA: Political and economic openness should not be detrimental to Bahrain’s national security. “Regulations enforcing security should be in tune with the requirements of openness,” His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander, yesterday said.

They described national security and economy as inseparable and complimenting each other. Bahrain, they said, will always remain an open country, attracting investments and providing streamlined measures.

They stressed the government’s responsibility to protect residents from any misuse of political openness.

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Don’t look away from Bahrain’s revolution
9 March, 2012 – Egypt Independent

[excerpt] – Over the past year, as cameras turned away, the Bahraini regime carried out some of the worst atrocities in its history. Much like the brutal killing of Khaled Saeed under police torture, an incident that ignited the fury in the Egyptian street leading up to the 25 January revolution, systematic torture in Bahrain has become common place. Many protesters are beaten, jailed, tortured and continue to die in police custody. Two activists, Yousif Almuwali and Muntathar Fakhar, have died in custody this past January alone. Similar to Egyptian state security fabricating Khaled Saeed’s forensic examination report to make the claim that he had died because he swallowed a packet of marijuana, the Bahraini Ministry of Interior claims that those who were tortured to death in custody died of “sickle-cell anemia,” when they were actually healthy prior to their arrests.

Despite the similarities between the state security’s crackdown on protesters in Bahrain and other Arab uprisings, the former is often overlooked. The reason lies in how Arab media, specifically Gulf-owned satellite channels, have justified this crackdown on activists by inaccurately portraying the Bahraini uprising as an Iran-backed Shia insurrection against Sunni rulers. This is, of course, a misrepresentation of the whole story, since the uprising initially called for reforming the system of governance through establishing a constitutional monarchy. It was only after security forces killed and maimed people on the streets that the protesters’ demands naturally rose, as they did everywhere else, to eventually call for the downfall of the regime. But, of course, the foreign conspiracy card, manifested in the claim pertaining to Iran’s tampering in Bahrain’s domestic affairs, has been conveniently used by the regime to delegitimize the uprising. Arab tyrants, Mubarak among them, were quick to resort to this foreign threat propaganda in order to sustain their authoritarian rule.

We, Egyptians and Bahrainis, have both learned that authoritarian rulers will go to no end to stay in power, even if this means igniting anarchy and sectarian discord. Egyptians should be well aware by now that whether it is through bombing churches or igniting football fanaticism, the idea is simple: play on people’s prejudices to turn them against each other and to distract them from the revolution. The Bahraini regime insists on framing the Bahraini uprising in sectarian terms in order to fuel divisions between Sunnis and Shias both inside the kingdom, and also outside by turning Sunnis in the Arab world against the legitimate struggle of the Bahraini protesters. …more

Bahrain prepares for “biggest ever” protest
8 March, 2012 – Al-Akhbar

Thousands of protesters are set to take to the streets of Bahrain’s capital Manama on Friday in what is expected to be the biggest protest against the country’s rulers since last year’s uprising was brutally crushed.

Event organizers estimate that up to half of the country’s 1.2 million people will take to the streets to call for democracy, civil rights, and equal citizenship.

Last February tens of thousands of Bahrainis took to the streets to demand reform from the ruling Khalifa family.

Saudi Arabia and neighboring Gulf states sent in troops to help Bahraini authorities crush the protests, fearing the spread of the pro-democracy Arab Spring.

The crackdown resulted in hundreds of activists being detained and jailed, while at least 35 were killed.

Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, said that Friday’s protests would be a major turning point for the campaign.

“I am hopeful that half of the population will be there. Not less than 300,000 people for sure,” he said.

Activists raised awareness of the protest on Thursday night on the social networking site Twitter using the hashtag #BahrainWantsDemocracy.

Former opposition MP Jawad Fairooz added that the streets for the 5km march are expected to be full.

“We can expect this to be the largest march in the history of Bahrain,” he added.

Al-Akhbar will be running a live blog on the protests from 11 GMT tomorrow. …more

Russia says 15,000 foreign “terrorists” in Syria
8 March, 2012 – Tom Miles – Reuter

GENEVA: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is battling al Qaeda-backed “terrorists” including at least 15,000 foreign fighters who will seize towns across Syria if government troops withdraw, a Russian diplomat said on Thursday.

Russia is a staunch defender of Syria despite international condemnation of the crackdown by Assad’s forces and evidence of human rights abuses against unarmed civilians.

Addressing a one-day humanitarian forum on Syria at the United Nations in Geneva, Russia’s deputy ambassador Mikhail Lebedev said rebels had recently committed large-scale attacks against Syrian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals.

“Rebel groups attack, kill, torture and intimidate the civilian population. The flow of all kind of terrorists from some neighboring countries is always increasing,” Lebedev told the forum.

Asked by Reuters how many foreign fighters were believed to be in Syria, he said: “How many got in through illegal routes? The border there is not demarcated, not delimited, so nobody knows. But at least 15,000.”

On Thursday, Kofi Annan, the U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, said he would urge Assad and his foes to stop fighting and seek a political solution, drawing angry rebukes from dissidents.

Russia wants a ceasefire by all parties and an inclusive political dialogue. Lebedev told the U.N. meeting criticism of Assad was overdone.

“We urge our partners not to yield to temptation to exaggerate things but to expedite a balanced and professional approach to delivering help to all segments of the Syrian population with no exception,” he said.

“Most of the militants are indeed directly or closely affiliated with al Qaeda.”

COUNTERPRODUCTIVE
Lebedev told Reuters the information about al Qaeda links in Syria was an “unambiguous fact” but declined to say if Russia would provide the U.N. with evidence to back its allegation Syrian rebels were committing torture.

“All I know is that all the way through (the wars in the Russian region of) Chechnya nobody believed us when we said the Islamic underground, including terrorist organisations, was developing its operations on our soil,” he said.

“It’s just that five years later there’s a recognition that we did everything right.”

Lebedev said attempts to force Assad to rein in his troops unilaterally would be counterproductive.

…more