Posts from — March 2012

Bahrain security forces clash with youths: witnesses
18 March, 2012 – France 24

AFP – Bahraini security forces clashed with youths on Sunday after the funeral of a protester who allegedly died after inhaling tear gas fired by riot police, witnesses said.

The clashes erupted in the Shiite village of Al-Muqsha, north of the capital Manama, following the funeral of Jaafer Jassem Ridha, 41.

The main Shiite opposition group Al-Wefaq said Ridha died after inhaling tear gas fired at a recent demonstration that was violently dispersed by riot police.

Al-Wefaq also said on Sunday that another Bahraini, 27-year-old Sabri Mahfud, had died after inhaling tear gas, without elaborating on the circumstances or date of the incident.

The interior ministry said on Twitter that a group of people “provoked acts of violence and barricaded the streets” after Ridha’s burial, adding that necessary “lawful measures” were taken to contain the situation, without saying what these were.

The ministry also announced on Sunday the opening of a probe into claims that a policeman had thrown a petrol bomb, as a video posted online appeared to show.

The inquiry could lead to disciplinary measures against the suspect, a senior ministry official said in a statement received by AFP.

Bahrain’s riot police often fire tear gas against demonstrators in the tiny Gulf kingdom, where the Shiite-led opposition is calling for constitutional changes that would reduce the power of the ruling minority Sunni dynasty.

Tensions have remained high since a deadly crackdown last year after a month of Manama street protests.

According to an independent probe, 35 people were killed in last year’s unrest, including five security personnel and five detainees tortured to death while in custody. …source

Israelis agree Iran hasn’t decided on atom bomb
18 March, 2012 – By Amy Teibel – Associated Press – The Daily Star

JERUSALEM: Despite saber-rattling from Jerusalem, Israeli officials now agree with the U.S. assessment that Tehran has not yet decided on the actual construction of a nuclear bomb, according to senior Israeli government and defense figures.

Even so, there is great concern in Israel about leaving Iran “on the cusp” of a bomb – explaining why Israel continues to hint at a military attack on Iran’s nuclear installations before it moves enough of them underground to protect them from Israel’s bombs.

Israel’s leaders have been charging in no uncertain terms for years that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. Though officials say they accept the more nuanced American view, they warn that it is just a matter of semantics, because an Iran on the verge of being able to build a bomb would still be a danger.

The United States is playing up its assessment that Iran has not made its final decision in a public campaign to persuade Israel to call off any attack plan and allow the increasingly harsh sanctions against Iran time to persuade Tehran to back down.

The concern – which is widely shared in Israel as part of a complex calculation – is of an Iranian retaliation that might spark regional conflict and send oil prices soaring, at a time when the world economy is already struggling and U.S. presidential elections loom.

Also in the equation are concerns about the ability of the Israeli home front to withstand a sustained barrage of Iranian missiles fired in retaliation. Iranian surrogates Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip could also bombard Israel with thousands of rockets, and U.S. troops in the Gulf region could also become targets.

Several senior Israeli officials who spoke in recent days to The Associated Press said Israel has come around to the U.S. view that no final decision to build a bomb has been made by Iran. The officials, who are privy to intelligence and to the discussion about the Iranian program, said this is the prevailing view in the intelligence community, but there are also questions about whether Tehran might be hiding specific bomb making operations.
…more

Saudi Govt Providing Ammunition to the terrorists in Syria
Jafria News – 19 March, 2012

JNN 19 Mar 2012 Damascus : A Syria-bound Saudi Arabian shipment of military equipment intended for Syrian armed gangs is on its way to Jordan, an Arab diplomat says.

The high ranking Arab diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity on Saturday that Saudi Arabia’s new military shipment for the terrorist of Syrian Gangs was on its way to Jordan.

The diplomat did not give further information about how the weapons would be delivered.

The announcement came as last week Syrian Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud said that Saudi Arabia and Qatar were backing “armed terrorist gangs” operating in Syria and are therefore responsible for the bloodshed in the country.

“Some of the countries backing armed terrorist gangs, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are accomplices to the terrorism targeting the Syrian people … and bear responsibility for the bloodletting,” the minister said.

The charges were renewed on Syrian state television on Saturday after two huge bombs exploded in central Damascus, killing at least 27 people and wounding nearly 100 others.

“Saudi Arabia is sending us terrorists,” said a resident of the bombed region on Syrian television.

The delivery of military equipment to Syrian rebels comes as Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011.

The West and the Syrian opposition blame Damascus for the year-long turmoil, but the government says “terrorists” are responsible for the unrest, which it says is being orchestrated from abroad.

The Syrian president said on February 20 that “some foreign countries” are fueling the turmoil in Syria by supporting and funding “armed terrorist groups fighting against the government.” …source

Activists to track Bahraini rights abuses
17 March, 2012 – Al-Akhbar

Leading human rights activists have established a new website to highlight abuses of power by the Bahraini state.

The website, bahrainwatch.org, tracks and records the government’s promises of reform and highlights when they fail to fulfill them.

Last year the government established the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) to look into allegations of abuse during the crackdown on peaceful protesters in March 2011.

The BICI report made a series of suggestions, including reinstating all those who had been fired for protesting, increasing freedom of speech and establishing an independent commission to monitor the government’s progress.

The government has said it will implement the report but activists responded that it has failed to deliver on many of its promises.

Ala’a Shehabi, one of the site’s creators, said the idea came from frustration with the lack of reform.

“Everyone keeps screaming on about how the government are not doing what they say on Twitter and other places but no one has set up a platform where you go and document these things in a consistent way – one central place where you can get analysis,” she said. …more

Free Ebrahim Sharif
17 March, 2012

Ebrahim Sharif, voice of reason. Ebrahim Sharif is a 53-year old Bahraini politician, businessman, husband, and father — and now, a political prisoner.

He serves as the secretary general of the National Democratic Action Society (also known as Waad), a secular, moderate, and peaceful political opposition group in Bahrain.

At 2 AM, on Thursday, March 17, 2011 Ebrahim was arrested from his home by the Bahrain government. His only crime was calling for genuine democratic reforms in Bahrain.

He was not allowed to contact his family for over a week after his arrest, and even then he was only allowed a few seconds to talk on the phone. His lawyer is called upon by military authorities to attend interrogation sessions only, which has been twice so far since Ebrahim’s arrest. Beyond that there has been no other communication.

To learn more about who Ebrahim Sharif is and why he was arrested, read the about page, and browse through the posts below, which will be updated regularly with new information. Or find out how you can help. …more

The general prosecutor is still involved in hiding the torture of detainees and does not allow their families to meet them till after the disappearance of the effects of torture and the severe beating. Bahrain Center for Human Rights: repression in Bahrain takes new forms and methods and is continuing without stopping through the use of excessive force, torture, sexual harassment and breaking parts of the demonstrators’ bodies.

Bahraini security forces continue to engage in systematic torture in formal detention centers, and others informal
16 March, 2012 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

Bahrain Center for Human Rights started several months ago and continued until the writing of this report documenting the repression and intimidation adopted by Bahraini security forces and which are of new forms and methods and unjustified in order to spread terror among the citizens who participate in marches and peaceful protests; where they recently proceeded to develop a new way of repression by insulting the victims during their arrest, and taking them to isolated places and torturing them [1]; with the aim of getting them injured as much as possible by breaking parts of their bodies. They also continued breaking into homes early mornings and extracting confessions from detainees under torture exactly as stated in the report of the Bahraini Independent Committee of Inquiry.

Bahrain Center for Human Rights has investigated many incidents of assault, which proved that the detainees were subjected to torture, sexual harassment and severe beating in number of places and buildings owned by Bahraini authorities, and that are not official detention centers or police stations. One of those places is the old municipal building located in Karzakan, to which large number of detainees of that area and the neighboring areas were taken after their arrest.

Most of the detainees who were held in those places have reported that security forces tortured and beaten them severely, causing many of them having serious injuries, fractures and bruises, before transferring them to official detention centers or throwing them in remote areas. Additionally, some of them had been threatened with rape as well as sexual harassment and other forms of insulting treatment, including attacking their religious beliefs. …more

Martyred today in Bahrain, Jafar Jassim from Almiqshaá, Village. Jafar was 41 Years Old Kill by suffcation in Security Forces deliberate and continued misuse of less-than-lethal weapons in a lethal manner.

Bahraini Medics Trial Halted with Fewer than Half of Witnesses Allowed to Testify
15 March, 2012 – Human Rights First – Brenda Bowser-Soder,

Washington, DC — Eighteen of 20 Bahraini medics who were sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison after a military trial finished their latest court appearance today. Human Rights First’s Brian Dooley, who has been in Bahrain for the past week, concluded his trip today by monitoring the trial.

The series of witnesses testifying in defense of the medics made the government case appear even less tenable. Though only fewer than half of the medic’s witnesses were allowed to testify. The judge halted the proceedings shortly after 7:30 p.m.

“The hearing was adjourned until Tuesday, but it appears the defendants will not be able to call any more witnesses to testify in person. These charges should have never been brought and should now be immediately dropped,” said Dooley.

Rula Al Saffar, a Bahraini nurse sentenced to 15 years for providing medical treatment to democracy protesters last spring, told Human Rights First, “It is solely unfair that we were not allowed to call our remaining witnesses, and the judge prevented those witnesses that he did hear from raising the issue of our torture in custody.” …more

Swift boat to Bahrain
By AuthorPaul Mutter – The Arabist – 17 March, 2012

If it looks like an arms deal, walks like an arms deal and quacks like an arms deals, is it an arms deal? The State Department says no:

“Today, officials from the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs and State’s Legislative Affairs office briefed select congressional offices about their decision to transfer seven rigid-hull inflatable boats and 12 32-foot Boston Whaler boats from the U.S. Navy in Bahrain to the Bahrain government. Offices briefed ahead of the Friday formal notification included aides to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the offices of Sen. Ron Wyden (D-WY) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), two lawmakers who have been leading the congressional opposition to continued U.S. arms sales to Bahrain.”

“This isn’t a new package or policy decision. This is part of what was briefed to Congress in January. We are still maintaining a pause on most security cooperation for Bahrain pending further progress on reform,” a State Department official told The Cable today. “The transfer of these boats are necessary to protect U.S. naval personnel and assets based in Bahrain. None of these items can be used against protestors. The transfer does not include any arms and the boats are intended for patrol missions, which is critical for ensuring a robust and layered defense of Bahrain’s coast and for enhancing Bahrain’s ability to counter maritime threats to U.S. and coalition vessels.”

The real story out of Bahrain these days, though, is not the gift of some old PT boats, but with the vagaries of the dialogue going on between the pro-government camp and the predominantly Shia opposition groups, increasingly splitting between the leading pro-dialogue al-Wifaq group and younger demonstrators opposed to al-Wifaq’s stance.

According to Justin Gengler, the pro-government camp is starting to list some “reformist” demands of its own:

Once again, then, we hear two separate arguments from members of Bahrain’s Sunni political movements: (1) the state should not negotiate with terrorists; and (2) the state needs to take better care of those who are loyal to it, specifically by clamping down on corruption and other wastes of state resources. As I’ve written previously, whereas the first argument is sure to further complicate the search for a solution to Bahrain’s present political impasse, the second is much more worrisome to the country’s rulers. It implies that Sunnis are beginning to connect the state’s percieved leniency with the opposition with its larger (perceived) neglect of the pro-government faction generally.

In other words, they’re asking the Al Khalifas where are their welfare checks?

Gengler continues:

“It is one thing, in other words, for Sunnis to disagree with the government’s approach in dealing with the opposition; it is another if they begin to suspect that this approach is not simply short-sighted but actually belies a coherent government strategy of checking Sunni ambitions through its dealings with the opposition. Put more bluntly, some Sunnis are beginning to feel duped.”

“Notably, one increasingly-prominent feature of this Sunni movement toward greater political participation and influence is the notion that behind the Bahraini government’s manipulation of citizens is a second, even more sinister puppet-master: the United States.”

Given that the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, and the tepid response of the State Department to the Bahraini protests, this suspicion is already well-founded among the demonstrators, but apparently, it is taking a very nasty turn among Sunni critics of the government thanks to the arrival of some very questionable, anti-American firebrands from Kuwait in their forums. …more

The Rhyme of Time
Bobby Sans

There’s an inner thing in every man,
Do you know this thing my friend?
It has withstood the blows of a million years,
And will do so to the end.

It was born when time did not exist,
And it grew up out of life,
It cut down evil’s strangling vines,
Like a slashing searing knife.

It lit fires when fires were not,
And burnt the mind of man,
Tempering leandened hearts to steel,
From the time that time began.

It wept by the waters of Babylon,
And when all men were a loss,
It screeched in writhing agony,
And it hung bleeding from the Cross.

It died in Rome by lion and sword,
And in defiant cruel array,
When the deathly word was ‘Spartacus’
Along the Appian Way.

It marched with Wat the Tyler’s poor,
And frightened lord and king,
And it was emblazoned in their deathly stare,
As e’er a living thing.

It smiled in holy innocence,
Before conquistadors of old,
So meek and tame and unaware,
Of the deathly power of gold.

It burst forth through pitiful Paris streets,
And stormed the old Bastille,
And marched upon the serpent’s head,
And crushed it ‘neath its heel.

It died in blood on Buffalo Plains,
And starved by moons of rain,
Its heart was buried at Wounded Knee,
But it will come to rise again.

It screamed aloud by Kerry lakes,
As it was knelt upon the ground,
And it died in great defiance,
As they coldly shot it down.

It is found in every light of hope,
It knows no bounds nor space
It has risen in red and black and white,
It is there in every race.

It lies in the hearts of heroes dead,
It screams in tyrants’ eyes,
It has reached the peak of mountains high,
It comes searing ‘cross the skies.

It lights the dark of this prison cell,
It thunders forth its might,
It is ‘the undauntable thought’, my friend,
The thought that says ‘I’m right!’

Kingdom of Bahrain Signatory to the 1984 Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment – 6 March, 1998

EUROPEAN UNION
Brussels, 26 June 2011

Declaration by the High Representative, Catherine Ashton, on
behalf of the European Union on the occasion of the United
Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, 26
June 2011

“Today, on the UN International Day in Support of the Victims of Torture, the EU resolves to intensify its efforts to secure a world free from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Torture is an abomination of our humanity, our dignity and our values – wherever and however it happens, torture is wrong.
The universal prohibition of torture is firmly established under international law. It must be eliminated, and – in cases where we find that it still happens – we must do all in our power to restore its victims to health, in body and in mind. States must take persistent, determined and effective measures to prevent and combat all acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

States must also ensure that perpetrators of such acts be brought before justice. The European Union urges all States, worldwide, to follow its own 27 Members in acceding to the 1984 Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. To date, some 50 countries around the world are not yet Parties to the Convention, while almost half of its 150 or so Parties have yet to become full Signatories. It also urges them to accede to the Convention’s ‘Optional Protocol’, which allows for independent visits and verification of torture.

All States have an obligation to make sure that victims of torture obtain redress and fair and adequate compensation, and receive appropriate rehabilitation. The EU also strongly encourages States parties to this protocol to take effective measures in order to establish independent national preventive mechanisms for the prevention of torture in places of detention.

The EU also urges countries to recognize the role and authority of the Committee against Torture, in receiving and considering individual communications. Where States have lodged official reservations on the work of the Committee, the EU calls on them to withdraw them.

The European Union has long put its political weight – and its financial resources – behind combating and preventing torture and rehabilitating torture victims. Through the European
Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, it is the world’s leading source of finance for projects carried out by civil society organisations to rehabilitate the victims of torture,
and to combat torture worldwide. Between 2007 and 2010, it spent nearly 50 million Euros on more than 80 projects around the world. For instance, it has supported a major campaign to enhance the understanding and awareness of the torture and ill-treatment of persons with physical and mental disability.
[Read more →]

Torture – From Guantanamo to Bahrain
November 14, 2011 – By T Kelly – Exposing The Truth

“But the one person from Bahrain who fought for our freedom till the end was Nabeel Rajab from the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.”

This was part of an interview with Juma Mohammed Al Dossary, a former Guantanamo prisoner from Bahrain, after his release in 2007.

Mohammed Khalid, a pro-gov and Salafist MP, who campaigned for release of the detainees and compensating them, asked in 2005: “What about the Guantanamo prison, which is out of the sight of all rights and humanitarian organizations, where the matter could be worse than Abu Ghraib or Afghanistan?”. He said that many released prisoners “had talked about being submitted to human suffering and sexual abuse during interrogation”.

Some of the torture and abuse described by AlDossary through his lawyer included: religious abuse like cursing and insulting beliefs, being urinated on and spat on by GI’s, being burnt by cigarettes, severe beating while in extreme positions, and being sexually assaulted by female interrogators. The sexual assault was mainly to offend the men or lure them to talk.

Fast forwarding and on the other side of the Atlantic in another island hosting a US base. This is basically some of what’s happening and has been happening in Bahrain for the past 30 years. Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, a lawyer and consultant with HRW, worked with Rajab to secure the release of Bahraini Guantanamo prisoners.

He describes how the same Bahraini MPs who gave him a standing ovation rejected HRW’s findings when it came to their citizens’ claims and evidence of torture in Bahraini jails.

MP Mohammed Khalid, who stood firmly with Guantanamo’s detainees on the basis of universality of human rights, was instrumental in igniting sectarian hatred against Shia when protests erupted, and is now in the front-line campaign supporting government’s measures of mass detentions and military courts calling the protesters traitors and Iranian agents and using the most offensive anti-Shia language.

Nabeel Rajab, on the other hand, is facing a fierce propaganda campaign in an attempt to discredit him and assassinate his character accusing him of being an Iranian agent.

From a 1997 special report on torture in Bahrain to the UN Human Rights Commission:

“The methods of torture reported include: falaqa (beatings on the soles of the feet); severe beatings, sometimes with hose-pipes; suspension of the limbs in contorted positions accompanied by blows to the body; enforced prolonged standing; sleep deprivation; preventing victims from relieving themselves; immersion in water to the point of near drowning; burnings with cigarettes; piercing the skin with a drill; sexual assault, including the insertion of objects into the penis or anus; threats of execution or of harm to family members; and placing detainees suffering from sickle cell anemia (said to be prevalent in the country) in air-conditioned rooms in the winter, which can lead to injury to internal organs.”

These exact methods are being used now. Since Feb 14, 2011, four people have died in Bahraini prisons as a result of torture. The total number is more than 20 since 1971. Those recently killed in prison were: Hassan Maki, Ali Saqer, Zakaria Al-Asheeri (Journalist), & Kareem Fakhrawi (Businessman). Among the hundreds of prisoners are politicians, MPs, human rights activists, doctors, nurses, students, lawyers, journalists, news photographers, and bloggers. Severe torture and sexual abuse have been widely reported.

In an April 14 Time’s article, Joe Stork, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch, expressed his concern: ”I very much fear there will be more death because there is no transparency in all this,”. He adds: “We’re not seeing where they’re being held, or their names, and it’s these kinds of conditions that make for torture and brutality and death.”

Bush’s administration was in a “war against terrorism”, in which alleged foreign fighters were flown to Guantanamo; the Bahraini Government on the other hand is in a war against its unarmed population. The situation in Bahraini prisons might be way worse than Guantanamo as Obama announced an end to torture. However, as the information in the previous report suggests or rather proves, the US government, along with that of the UK and other countries, is morally and historically responsible for what happened and what’s happening in Bahraini prisons.

On May 16th, NY Times reporter Nick Kristof tweeted: “Our close ally, Bahrain, has a consistent record of using sexual abuse of male and female detainees as a form of torture.”

The next report will deal in more detail with Sexual Abuse in Bahraini prisons. Testimonies of tens of prisoners and detainees will be presented. This is what lies beneath the fake and promoted liberal posture of Bahrain.
Bahrain: The Systematic Use of Sexual Abuse

Bahrain’s security apparatus and secret police were established by the British, and were headed by Ian Henderson, “The Butcher of Bahrain” for 30 years. The rationale is that the people of Bahrain are basically the subjects of their (the British’s) subjects (the Khalifas). Add to that, the mentality of the ruling “conquering” family who believe Bahrain is their private property (owning 30% of its land) and its people are their slaves. With naturalization of foreigners to work in the security forces, things became messier for Bahrainis. The people were not only subjected to a colonial power, and a non-compromising ruling family; but also subjected to an uneducated and ruthless foreign mercenary force. …more

Scenes From a Bahraini “Courtroom”
16 March, 2012 – Huffington Post – Brian Dooley

There they sit, squeezed onto two benches in Bahrain’s criminal court: the 20 medics who were tortured into making false confessions. They were arrested last year after treating protestors at the Salmaniya Medical Complex and telling the world the truth about what had happened.

Their ordeal began a year ago when the government seized them from their workplaces and homes and subjected them to severe beatings, sexual assault, electrocution, and other forms of torture for perceived association with the democracy protests which began in February 14, 2011.

Then in military trials almost six months ago, 20 were sentenced to between five and 15 years in prison. This is their appeal session. There they sit, 20 respected medical professionals, accused of carrying weapons to organize the overthrow of the government and other trumped-up charges.

The courtroom is small and triangular. The judge sits on a dais in one corner below a portrait of King Hamad, whose cabinet is unelected, its key posts filled with members of the royal family. His uncle has been the country’s unelected prime minister since 1971. Dressed in clothes identical to the king’s in the portrait and with the same mustache, the judge looks like an older, mini-me version of the monarch.

When the session opens in the morning, the atmosphere is an odd mix of menace and farce. The lawyers are immediately summoned to be briefed in the back room, and some of the medics shout out “Hurrah, we’re innocent, just release us!” and “Don’t forget Younis Ashoori” — a hospital administrator who has been in prison for a year and is being tried separately.

The 20 include six women. Rula al Saffar, who trained and worked as a nurse in the United States for 18 years, is sitting in a sharp grey business suit chatting to the glamorous Dr. Fatima Haji. They sit on benches to right of Court Room 11 while the rest of us — relatives, lawyers, and observers from the U.S., UK, and German embassies — sit on the three benches to the left. …more

Bahrain opposition supporters rally to mark anniversary of army raid on Pearl Square
Associated Press – 16 March, 2012 – Washington Post

MANAMA, Bahrain — Thousands of opposition supporters rallied in Bahrain on Friday to mark the one-year anniversary of the military raid on the capital’s Pearl Square, the epicenter of last year’s Shiite uprising in the Gulf kingdom.

Thousands of protesters waved Bahraini flags, chanted anti-government slogans and demanded the release of political prisoners during the opposition rally in Mahooz, a western suburb of Manama.

Pearl Square in central Manama had served as the opposition’s headquarters during the first weeks of the Shiite majority’s campaign to loosen the Sunni dynasty’s grip on power in the strategic island that is the home of the U.S. Navy 5th Fleet.

Security forces stormed the protesters’ encampment at the landmark square, after authorities imposed martial law last March and tore down the pearl sculpture that marked the site of unprecedented political upheaval in the island nation.

The protests were inspired by other Arab revolts in Tunisia and Egypt against autocratic rulers.

At least 45 people have been killed in the Bahrain unrest, and hundreds have been arrested and tried on anti-state crimes.

The now heavily-guarded Pearl Square holds great symbolic value for Bahrain’s opposition movement, and protesters have repeatedly tried to retake it. But the capital has largely been off limits to demonstrators in the past year.

Street battles between security forces and protesters still flare up almost every day in the predominantly Shiite villages around the capital.

Shiites account for about 70 percent of Bahrain’s population of some 525,000 people, but say they have faced decades of discrimination and are blocked from top political and security posts.

The kingdom’s ruling dynasty has promised reforms to end the upheaval, although it refuses to make the far-reaching changes the protesters and the country’s biggest opposition movement, Al Wefaq, have demanded. These include ending the monarchy’s ability to select the government, set key state policies and appoint most of the parliament members. …more

Bahrain Activists: Manama Ignoring Human Rights Reform
By Anissa Haddadi – 16 March, 2012 – IBT

More than eight months since the Bahraini Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) was established, the government has failed to implement most of the recommendations, activists say.

The kingdom’s leader, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, ordered that an Independent Commission of Inquiry be set up.

The commission was tasked with determining “whether the events of February and March 2011 (and thereafter) involved violations of international human rights law and norms, and to make the recommendations that it deems appropriate,” according to its website.

Months after the publication of the BICI’s report, however, activists and opposition leaders say the government has failed to implement most of the recommendations.

A new website and organisation called Bahrain Watch has even set up an “implementation tracker” explaining which recommendations the government has failed to carry through.

Some of them include the authority’s failure to establish an impartial, national independent mechanism to punish those responsible for death, torture, and mistreatment, to provide audio-visual recordings of all official interviews with detainees and to conduct effective investigations of all deaths attributed to security forces, as well as all allegations of torture and similar mistreatment. …more

MEPs reiterate their call for the immediate and unconditional release of all peaceful demonstrators, political activists and human rights defenders, in particular Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, and Mahdi Abu Dheeb, President of the Bahrain Teachers’ Association.

Human rights: Bahrain, Sinai and Israeli raids on Palestinian TV stations
EU Human Rights News – Plenary Session Human rights − 15 March, 2012

Parliament urges the Egyptian authorities to investigate and put an end to human smuggling and trafficking in Sinai, in a resolution adopted on Thursday. In two further resolutions, MEPs express their deep concern over the raids by Israeli forces on Palestinian TV stations and condemn human rights violations in Bahrain.

Human trafficking in Sinai

In a resolution on human trafficking in Sinai, the European Parliament urges the Egyptian authorities to intervene rapidly to protect the life of Solomon, a 25 year-old Eritrean man who escaped from human organ traffickers in the area of Rafah (Sinai Mahadya, Egypt). Solomon’s life is in danger, as he knows where another 125 prisoners from Eritrea, Sudan and Ethiopia are located, and the human organ traffickers have put a price of USD 50,000 on his head.

MEPs call on the Egyptian authorities to intervene rapidly to ensure that these refugees are rescued and to investigate this case “full of murders, tortures and rapes, where women were battered and mistreated and some killed and their bodies thrown into the desert”.

Torture, extortion and human trafficking of Eritrean and other refugees in Egypt must be stopped, says the resolution, which calls for full access by UN agencies and human rights organisations to the areas affected by human smuggling and trafficking in Sinai.

MEPs also urge the EU foreign policy High Representative to raise this as a matter of high priority on the agenda for political dialogue with Egypt.

An average of 2,000 people enter Israel through Sinai each month; many with the assistance of smugglers who have established a sizable network in this area.

Raids by Israeli forces on Palestinian TV stations

In a separate resolution, Parliament voices deep concern about raids by Israeli security forces on the Palestinian television stations Wattan TV and Al Quds Educational TV in Ramallah On 29 February 2012, Israel Defence Forces soldiers and officials of the Israeli Ministry of Communication confiscated broadcasting equipment and documents belonging to both TV stations and held employees for hours.

MEPs support the efforts of the Palestinian authorities to restore equipment and continue interrupted broadcasting and urge the Israeli authorities to immediately return the confiscated equipment and allow resumption of activity by the two TV stations.

Israel should fully respect the existing agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority when dealing with Palestinian media, says Parliament, calling on the High Representative to place this issue on the agenda of the EU-Israel Association Council.
….more

editor: given Bahrain’s rich history of lies, deceit and betrayal of reform. Is there anyone out there who seriously thinks the al Khalifa’s have the desire or capacity to “reform” their torture state. Promises on paper and Royal Decrees that can be change on a whim make it an impossibility no matter the power brokering that goes on behind closed door. Just take a look at the regime’s rich history of torture. Phlipn

Bahrain! Helping Torturers Go Free Since 1975
16 March, 2012 – Marc Owen Jones

Torture has been a systemic problem in Bahrain since at least 1975. Since that time, however, not one state security employee or government official has ever been convicted of torture. On the other hand, it took the Lower National Safety Court just 2 months to convict 9 civilians of ‘torturing’ a policeman. Some hoped that after the release of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry’s report, state officials who were complicit in torture against civilians would be brought to justice. This has failed to happen. Furthermore, the highest rank of those even put before the courts appears to be a lieutenant, and that case doesn’t even relate to ‘torture’. Naturally this has done nothing to appease those in Bahrain who want justice, as many believe that government officials are either directly responsible for issuing the torture order, or at least complicit through negligence.

In many cases, it is not even clear how many policeman are being tried and what charges are being leveled against them. Today, a pro-regime newspaper reported that 50 policeman were being prosecuted for ‘mistreatment of protesters during last year’s unrest’. It is unclear whether these 50 policeman are the same 48 policeman who were questioned in relation to 107 cases of death and ‘alleged’ torture. It also appears that there has been no further news (BICI, 905) on the policemen who were taken into custody following the deaths of Fadhel Salman Matrook and Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima back in February 2011. …more

“This time the sacrifice may be too high”
Mary.Lawlor’s blog – Front Line Defenders – 16 March, 2012

It is so difficult trying to keep thinking of new things we can do to secure the release of our friend and ex employee Abdulhadi now on his 36th day of hunger strike. Dealing with the Bahraini authorities and those designated to talk to us is so frustrating. We both politely go through the motions . But this is not a game – we care deeply about our friend Abdulhadi – and his health and life are at stake. We are waiting for a crack of light to appear.

I try and extract some hope that they will allow Abdulhadi go to Denmark for medical treatment. I try to emphasise how much damage allowing Abdulhadi to die in prison will do to Bahrain – for starters they can say goodbye to Formula 1 if Abdulhadi dies before then . Bahrain’s economy has suffered significantly due to the impact of the uprising on the financial sector, and the Economist Intelligence Unit “forecasts growth of just 2.4 percent, compared to nearly four percent in 2010″ More importantly continued instability will further damage Bahrain’s reputation as a financial hub and as we’ve seen in Ireland lead investors to move operations.

Abdulhadi is naturally thin, he was brutally tortured, he is not a good candidate for a hunger strike. He has never used violence. He was sentenced to life imprisonment after an unfair trial before a military court.

I cannot imagine the stress and fear that Khadija, his wife and 4 daughters, Maryam, Zainab, Fatima and Batool are going through. I know that Abdulhadi asked Khadija the night before he went on hunger strike was she ready because ” this time the sacrifice may be too high”. …more

Beat the Blockade on WikiLeaks on April 5
16 March, 2012 – Greenleft

Today marks the launch of “Beat the Blockade” — a day of action on April 5 to protest the extrajudicial financial blockade of WikiLeaks and raise vital funds for its work to continue.

While Julian Assange continues to fight legal battles under the serious threat of extradition to the United States to face secretly drawn up espionage charges, WikiLeaks continues to analyse and publish information that reveals truths about the world, its power relationships and injustices, most recently the Stratfor release, the “Global Intelligence Files”.

And yet they struggle to continue under an extended ban processing on payments to them by US corporate giants Visa, MasterCard, Western Union, PayPal and Bank of America.

Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam today called on the Australian government to act: “It’s time our government pushed back on companies including Visa, Mastercard and Paypal, and demanded to know why they are continuing the crippling financial blockade of WikiLeaks.

“If it turns out the blockade is legal under Australian trade practices law, then that’s a problem the Australian Parliament should fix. In the meantime, it’s up to each of us to beat the blockade in our own way.” …more

By logging on to beattheblockade.org on April 5 and donating at least $5 by one of the easy payment methods, people around the world can send a message to the companies engaged in the blockade — and the governments that regulate them — that censorship of a free press publisher and denying consumers their rights will not be tolerated.

Since December 7, 2010 an arbitrary and unlawful financial blockade has been imposed by Bank of America, Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union on WikiLeaks. …more