Posts from — April 2012

Bahrain Court Orders Retrial for Jailed Activists
By KAREEM FAHIM – 30 April, 2012 – NYT

CAIRO — A Bahraini court on Monday ordered retrials for a political activist who has been on a hunger strike for nearly three months and 20 others who were convicted by a military tribunal for their participation in protests last year against Bahrain’s ruling monarchy.

The activists, including some with life sentences, were not released pending the new trials. The official Bahraini news agency said the court that would hear the appeal would reconsider “the proceedings from the beginning.”

Bahrain, a close American ally, promised broad reforms after its harsh crackdown on months of protests last year, protests that focused attention on the ruling dynasty’s stranglehold on political life, torture of dissidents by the authorities and the Sunni majority’s dominance of the country’s Shiite majority. Up to 70 people have been killed since the protests broke out in February 2011.

Despite the promises of reform and some improvements, human rights advocates say the monarchy has resisted fundamental change, failing to hold senior officials to account or to release activists imprisoned on politically motivated charges. In some cases, the authorities have simply adjusted, rather than ended, their abusive tactics, advocates say, and unrest has continued.

In a report released Sunday, Human Rights Watch said that Bahraini police officers were still beating and torturing detainees, months after the kingdom recruited high-profile police officials from London and Miami to reform the security services. The group said it had interviewed 14 males, including several teenagers, who said they were arrested and beaten for participating in protests. …more

Egypt Versus Saudi Arabia: New Rules
By As’ad AbuKhalil – 30 April, 2012 – Angry Corner – Al Akhbar

For months during the Egyptian uprising, Thomas Friedman assured his (Zionist) readers that the Egyptian uprising has no foreign policy goals whatsoever. He probably was trying to allay the fears of Israelis. (Only recently, Thomas Friedman sneakily switched positions and said that the only issue that matters in the next presidential election in Egypt will be foreign policy and the state of relations with Israel).

Yet, it was obvious for all those who followed the Egyptian uprising and its slogans that the Egyptian youth have many foreign policy goals and that they will press for a shift in Egyptian foreign policy. In fact, one of the most oft-repeated slogans in Cairo against Mubarak and his deputy, Omar Sulayman, was that both were “agents of the Americans.”

But the new foreign policy of Egypt – which will take shape over the period of democratization, however long that takes – will also change Egypt’s foreign policies to Arab countries and the role of Egypt in the region.

The Egyptian people have many reasons to be angry with Saudi Arabia’s government. Here are some reasons:

Many Saudi princes favor spending vacations in Egypt and there have been many (suppressed by Mubarak) stories about corruption and thuggery and misconduct by Saudi princes and their entourage.

The Egyptian people have noticed that the Saudi royal family and Israel were the biggest champions of Mubarak until the last hour of his rule. Egyptians have also noticed that Saudi Arabia offered to shelter Mubarak during the revolution and have pressured SCAF to sabotage his trial.

Egyptians have heard for years about stories of mistreatment of Egyptians in Saudi Arabia. Mubarak (like most Arab republican leaders) was receiving cash payments from Gulf rulers and would use his dictatorial rule to suppress any unfavorable stories about the Saudi royal family and its repression. Furthermore, the Saudi injustice system applies only to poor Arabs and Muslims, and many of those rules have been applied to Egyptian workers in Saudi Arabia. …more

Former Head of Israeli Intelligence Service Slams Israel’s Leadership
30 April, 20120 – POMED

Recently retired Yuval Diskin, former head of Israeli intelligence service Shin Bet, called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s leadership “messianic” and accused them of promoting a war on Iran. According to Diskin, attacking Iran would accelerate Iran’s nuclear ambitions, rather than delay them. ”The Israeli public is being spun on Iran, what worries me is that, we are creating a sense that if Israel doesn’t act than Iran will get a nuclear bomb,” said Diskin. He expressed worry that the incompetence of the current leadership could lead “into something of the order of magnitude of a war with Iran or a regional war.” Opposition leader Shaul Mofaz defended Diskin’s criticism of Israeli leadership and said that Diskin was acting out of “deep concern” for the direction in which the leadership was steering the country. Former Mossad Chief Meir Dagan has also has repeatedly made public statements expressing his view that an Israeli strike on Iran “would be a disaster. …more

Report: Bahraini police beat, torture detainees
By CNN – 30 April, 2012

(CNN) — Police in Bahrain regularly resort to beating anti-government protesters, despite officials’ pledges to stop such practices, a human rights group said Sunday.

A Bahraini government spokesman denied that allegation and others made in the Human Rights Watch report.

“The allegations are absurd, and unfortunately, we ask for human rights organizations not to rely on unreliable sources,” said government spokesman Abdul-Aziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa.

Human Rights Watch said interviews revealed at least five instances in the past month in which police severely beat detainees — some of whom were minors, according to a report issued after representatives from the group finished a five-day visit to the island nation.
ITN reporter kicked out of Bahrain

Visible injury marks appeared to confirm details of accounts from former detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch, the organization said.
Bahrain’s Grand Prix finishes
Tensions grow in Bahrain

Treatment of prisoners inside police stations and formal detention facilities has improved, Human Rights Watch said, and Bahrain appears to have made “rapid progress” in eliminating torture inside police stations after a committee last year recommended installing video cameras there.

But now, according to Human Rights Watch, beating and torture of prisoners is continuing at informal facilities and in secluded outdoor areas, where detainees have been taken for up to two hours before they’re transferred to police stations.

“Bahrain’s leaders need to make clear that they will investigate and punish those responsible for abuses when the cameras are off,” Human Rights Watch said. …more

editor: The al Khalifa regime continues to paint itself into a desperate corner. In “freeing” Alkhawaja their egos could not accept what they see as an opposition victory. Rather than make opportunity to open dialogue with the release of Alkhawaja and the rest of the opposition being held. The regime continues with it belligerent position toward the recommendations to release the 14 activists by its own “independent investigation” and the general consensus of legal and humanitarian calls throughout the international community.

The moral crisis Obama is creating through negligent and reprehensible mismanagement of the military and foreign relations tolerance toward “friends” who engage in the these immoral acts will go down in history as one of the United State darkest hours. President Obama is surely emerging as perhaps the most incompetent as Commander and Chief in US history. His inability or unwillingness to assert a moral high-bar in foreign policy or military conduct has become an indictment of his reckless, negligent and contempt for human rights. President Obama is either morally bankrupt or simply being made to appear that way, through a naive ineptitude, as he is tossed about by the “bloody greed” that occupies Washington. Phlipn

Jailed Bahraini hunger striker ‘al-Khawaja’ drugged and force-fed, his wife says Bahrain
30 April, 2012 – Shia Post

Prominent jailed Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja has been “drugged and force-fed” in the military hospital he is being held, his wife says.

“I went to see my husband today and he told me that he was drugged last Monday,” Khadija al-Mousawi said on Sunday.

Mousawi was allowed to visit her husband for the first time in two weeks on Sunday.

“After he woke up he found two IV (intravenous) injections in his arms and a feeding-tube down his nose. It was done against his will,” Mousawi said, adding that Khawaja is “weak but in good spirits.”

However, a spokesperson for the Bahrain Defense Forces Hospital claimed on Sunday the jailed activist “has not been force-fed or treated against his will.”

“At no time was he drugged or restrained,” claimed the Bahraini official, whose name was not mentioned in the news report.

Mousawi also said a doctor had told Khawaja that it was his duty to force-feed him to keep the activist alive, but her husband considered the matter as a violation of his rights.

“My husband told them he will only accept (the intravenous feeding) until his trial on Monday and depending on the outcome will decide what to do next.”

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who holds dual Danish and Bahraini nationality, was given a life sentence in June 2011 over accusations of inciting protests against the Manama regime. …source

Crisis for Royals as King of Bahrain Accepts Jubilee Invite
by Tom Sykes 30 April, 2012 – The Daily Beast

The King of Bahrain has thrown Buckingham palace’s Jubille plans into crisis by reportedly accepting an invitation issued in the name the Queen to attend her Diamond Jubilee ‘Sovereign’s Lunch’ at Windsor Castle next month.

One silver lining, however, is that the King of Bahrain will probably be long forgotten by the time the central weekend of Jubilee celebrations, featuring a thousand-boat flotilla not he Thames, rolls around in early June.

More than 50 civilians have been killed during pro-democracy demonstrations in Bahrain, and thousands more have been arrested in a brutal crackdown in the totalitarian Arab state, as the Shi’ite majority seek to break the power of the Sunni monarchy and political governance.

The issue led to fiery exchanges on a much-watched BBC political panel recently when George Galloway, the radical left-wing MP who declared his recent victory in the city of Bradford to be “the Bradford Spring” went head to head with a pro-government peer Baroness Warsi on ‘Question Time’.

Baroness Warsi made herself look foolish when she said the invite was “a decision taken by the Royal Family” and people should “stop being mean” to the Queen on account of the invitation.

Galloway said that the Prime Minister advises on the guest lists for such events (in fact, it’s the Foreign Office, but Galloway’s pont still stands).

Bizarrely, ultra-leftist ‘Gorgeous’ George ended up defending the Queen, insisting the guest list was in the hands of the British government, telling Warsi, ‘You shouldn’t blame the Queen…It’s not the Queen’s fault.’
The king’s son, the Crown Prince of Bahrain, was last year invited to the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton but pulled out at the last minute in a move that spared the couple from potential embarrassment.

Royal writer Katie Nicholl reported in the Mail on Sunday yesterday, “The King of Bahrain has accepted the Queen’s invitation to lunch on May 18 and is therefore expected.” …more

Obama announces new sanctions on Iran and Syria
23 April, 2012 – UNHCR Reform World

U.S. President Barack Obama has announced strict new sanctions against Iran and Syria.

Speaking at the Holocaust Museum in Washington on April 23, Obama said the world must never again allow hatred to take root and spawn the “madness” of mass atrocities.

Obama told Holocaust survivors and their families that “national sovereignty is never a license to slaughter” people.

He said the “work will never be done” in preventing atrocities.

Obama said the United States has placed new sanctions on people and entities in Iran and Syria who use technology to target citizens and erode their human rights.

Obama also announced a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom for former Polish underground officer Jan Karski, who was among the first people to provide accounts of the Holocaust to the world during World War II.

…source

Scottish Health Minister expresses support for democracy in Bahrain
30 April, 2012 – BJDM

The Scottish Health Minister today expressed The Scottish Government’s support for all efforts to promote democracy and human rights in Bahrain.

In a meeting with a delegation of persecuted Bahraini medics and a resigned MP, Nicola Sturgeon MSP listened to the testimonies of the medics, describing their experiences as “harrowing” and “abhorrent”.

She said the Scottish Government and the Scottish National Party would be exploring ways to “build international pressure on Bahrain to make genuine reform”.

Adding, “we have a willingness to put pressure on the UK Government” with regards to democracy and human rights for Bahrain.

In a one hour meeting, The Minster heard first hand experiences of the Government crackdown on democracy protesters in which healthcare was on the frontline.

The medics explained how they fled Bahrain after being summoned for interrogation, and the mistreatment and imprisonment subjected on their colleagues.

They also emphasized the fear of injured protesters in attending both public and private medical facilities, due to the militarization of hospitals in Bahrain.

The Minister heard how tear gas is being used as part of the crackdown to collectively punish whole villages.

Sturgeon added that the Scottish National Party was opposed to the Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix taking place last month.

She told the medics she will go away from this meeting and meet with her colleagues in the Scottish Government to seriously consider what direct support they can provide to the people of Bahrain.

Taking time out from a busy schedule she reasserted, “I am very supportive and want to support you as much as possible”.

Ali Alaswad, resigned MP said, “We are very grateful that The Minister took the time to meet with us and hear about the situation in Bahrain. We appreciate their continued support and look forward to working together to achieve the democratic outcome in Bahrain, that the people are looking for.” …more

UAE: Arrest and on-going detention of human rights defender Sheikh Dr. Sultan Al Qasimi, the Chairman of Islah
24 April, 2012 – Gulf Center for Human Rights

Beirut, 24 April, 2012 — The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) has received information that on 20 April 2012, human rights defender Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Kayed Al-Qasimi was arrested by security authorities in Ras Al Khahima. He is the Chairman of the Society of Reform and Social Guidance (Islah Association), an organization which advocates for reform and whose board of directors was dissolved by the authorities. He is also the cousin of the Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah.

Sheikh Dr. Sultan Al-Qasimi was reportedly arrested without a warrant and brought to the Governor’s Palace where he is being held in solitary confinement. There is a possibility that he will be transferred to Abu Dhabi.

His arrest comes in the context of the targeting of members of the Islah Association by the authorities in the UAE and is believed to be related to his position of Chairman of the association. Over the past four months many members of the Islah Association were stripped of their citizenship and were subsequently arrested for being in the UAE “illegally” as a result.

On 26 March 2012, Dr. Ahmed Yousef Al-Zaabie, another member of the Islah association was arrested. He was released on bail last Tuesday 17 April 2012 despite a court order calling for his release on 15 April 2012. However, according to information received, he has been kidnapped by the security forces and his family remains unaware of his whereabouts and it is suspected that he has been transferred into the custody of the State Security Apparatus.

Mr. Nabeel Rajab, director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights said: “Human rights defenders who have been arrested recently in UAE find themselves trapped in a security system that abuses their civil and human rights on daily basis.” He added: “The UAE is failing to meet its responsibilities to protect human rights defenders.”

The GCHR believes that the arrest and on-going detention of Sheikh Dr. Sultan Al-Qasimi is directly related to his human rights activities and the legitimate exercise of his right to freedom of association and expression. …more

Family concerned Al-Khawaja may be being force fed
27 April, 2012 – Al-Akhbar

The daughter of Bahraini hunger striker Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja said she fears her father is being force-fed in an undisclosed location, after state media claimed he was taking nutritional supplements.

The state-run newspaper Gulf Daily News on Friday said that human rights leader Abdulhadi, who has been on hunger strike for 79 days, had been drinking a nutritional supplement for the past two days.

The paper also said he was in “high spirits” but Abdulhadi’s daughter Maryam, also a human rights activist, said her father would not be taking the supplements voluntarily.

“They could be just flat-out lying or it could be alluding to something else. I know that my father is not going to willingly drink or eat anything so if they are giving him anything it is by force,” she said.

“If he is awake and he is conscious and they are force-feeding him against his will according to Physicians for Human Rights that is considered torture.”

The Minister of Interior Sheikh Khaled bin Ali Al-Khalifa on Wednesday denied that the regime were not concerned about the prospect of Abdulhadi dying.

“The evidence (against him), the confession among other evidence, is being seen by the highest court in the country. The main issue if you are referring to Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja in particular I think that we have a big concern about his health and we hope that he will enjoy his health,” he told the BBC.

“We would like him, as he took a voluntary decision to take a hunger strike, to take a decision to get out of it,” he added.

The opposition Al-Wefaq party on Thursday condemned the government for refusing to reveal the location at which Abdulhadi is being held.

“The (failure) of security agencies to disclose the place of detention of al-Khawaja is considered a shameful behavior that exposes the claims of civilization and humanity by the authorities,” an Al-Wefaq statement said.

“It is also considered as a challenge to all local and international laws and customs that require the announcement of the place of the prisoner and his health status and allowing his family and his lawyer to meet and talk to him freely,” it added. …more

Carpet Gassing of Bahrainis by Timoney and Yate’s Forces
Bahrain Freedom Movement – 27 April, 2012

Repression has been greatly intensified in the past week, especially after the end of the most controversial F1 race last weekend. The use of what is now termed “Carpet Gassing” of residential areas is causing alarm on international level after more than 30 people were killed as a result of excessive inhalation of chemical gases fired by security forces. In addition to this people are routinely stopped, checked and intimidated at cheque points along the main roads and at entrances of towns and villages.

Reports have suggested that the hated duel; John Timony and John Yates have decided to create a blood bath in the country after they had been accused of failure to stem the protests or bring the situation under control. Demonstrations have been taking place on daily and nightly basis with men and women taking to the streets amid rising tension following the fiasco of the Formula 1 racing. International media has concluded that the Bahrainis Revolution is the winner of the race as it has placed itself back on the international scene. Journalists now speak of “the Forgotten Revolution” after they had witnessed its extent and determination.

The killing of a Bahriani activist on Saturday 21st April by Alkhalifa-run Death Squads has further undermined the regime which had repeatedly claimed to have “reformed” its security forces since the arrival of the torturous duel; Timony and Yates. Salah Abbas Habib, 37, was tortured to death after he was hit with a shotgun which sprayed his body with small pellets causing bleeding and pain. He was then subjected to most horrific treatment; subjected to sadistic torture in which acid was poured on his body; his hands broken at the wrists and his neck and the back of his skull also broken with severe tools. Bernie Ecclestone has also been heavily criticised for mishandling the situation and assuring the world that “all was quiet” thus giving the Alkhalifa an opportunity to take revenge from their adversaries in the middle of the night as the race was underway. The regime’s Death Certificate only mentioned that the cause of death had been shotgun wounds. But independent doctors who examined the body in the mortuary confirmed the administering of the sadistic torture. Both Dr Taha Al Durazi and Dr Ali Al Ekri gave their firm verdict that the victim had been severely tortured before his death. …source

Clashes in Bahrain as police block protest march
REUTERS – Hamad I Mohammed – 27 April, 2012

DUBAI (Reuters) – Protesters trying to march to the heart of Bahrain’s capital clashed with riot police on Friday, witnesses said, hours after a massive show of force by the mainstream Shi’ite Muslim opposition.

They said dozens of youths threw stones at police who used teargas and stun grenades to block the planned march to the Pearl roundabout, the centre of an uprising last year which the government suppressed with the help of troops from neighbors, including Saudi Arabia.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Bahrain, where the Sunni Muslim Al Khalifa family rules over a majority Shi’ite Muslim population, has been in turmoil since an uprising erupted last year demanding reforms after successful revolts in Egypt and Tunisia.

The protests escalated ahead of last week’s Formula One Grand Prix, drawing criticism of Bahrain from some governments, rights groups and media watchdogs who say police use excessive force and the government should find a political solution.

Earlier on Friday, tens of thousands of people attended a rally in nearby Jidhafs, a village west of the capital Manama, called by the main Shi’ite opposition group Wefaq.

The demonstration was peaceful, with protesters demanding the release of opposition leader, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike for more than two months, and the dismissal of the prime minister who has held his post for more than four decades. …more

editor: This incredibly out of touch interview provides a valuable insight into the paradigm that has “silenced” the Obama administration regarding Bahrain. It might prove a useful tool for those who seek to sway the Administration from its failed “quiet diplomacy” that serves as an enabler to the brutal al Khalifa regime. While this seems a false narrative, if for no other reason than there is a pluralist base of opposition that is leading the revolution beyond Al Wefaq, it helps identify what seems to be prevailing thought throughout the US State Department, the DoD and the Obama Administration at large. Phlipn.

Bahrain’s Unsettling Standoff
Bernard Gwertzman – Interviewee: Ed Husain – Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies
Council on Foreign Relations – 27 April, 2012

Bahrain has been in political turmoil since February 2011, shortly after the start of pro-democracy uprisings in other Arab countries. But Ed Husain, a Middle East expert for CFR, says the situation in Bahrain is more complicated than “just a straightforward demand for democracy.” The monarchy of King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, Husain says, is willing to open a dialogue for changes sought by Shiites, who make up a majority of the population. But the protestors–led by Ayatollah Isa Qassem, a supporter of Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini–are refusing dialogue and using violence to try to unseat the government, Husain says, which would only strengthen Iranian influence in the region, and would be met with opposition from Saudi Arabia. “If it is democracy the protestors want, then that can only be achieved by returning to the negotiating table and seeking a political settlement,” Husain says.

BG: You’ve just come back from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. In Bahrain, there has been considerable controversy over the long-simmering dispute between the Shiites and the ruling government of King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa. What’s the situation on the ground?

The situation on the ground is one that’s radically different from the predominant narrative here in the West about Bahrain. What struck me in Bahrain was [that] the fine line between demonstrations and riots had been blurred. There were nightly riots in many of the villages, some of which I visited; attacks on police officers in Bahrain, who incidentally are for the most part unarmed. The officers use tear gas canisters for crowd control purposes–granted, many have argued that their use of tear gas is questionable. So what we are seeing on the ground is people who are increasingly using violence, and are responding to the regime’s attempts to open dialogue by a) ignoring it, b) not condemning the violence by the activists on the ground, and c), trying to derail the government. It’s important for the international community, especially the United States and the United Kingdom, to realize that what’s going on here is not just a straightforward demand for democracy.

BG: These demonstrations started in February 2011, in the wake of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. Originally it seemed that it was the majority Shiites seeking to get more of a voice in the ruling of the government, not necessarily to overthrow the monarchy. Are there different protesters, and have the parliamentary protesters been eclipsed?

The main opposition party is called al-Wefaq. When they walked out of parliament last year and then boycotted by-elections in September and October, al-Wefaq chose to walk away from dialogue with the government and with the strongest reforming voice in the royal family, Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa. Since pulling out of the parliament, the face of the opposition has been almost entirely restricted to the protesters, whose tactics have become increasingly violent. They must return to the negotiating table and empower the Crown Prince’s liberal, pluralist initiative for Bahrain. ….more

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