Posts from — April 2012

Hijacking Human Rights
By Michael Barker – 03 August, 2007 – ZSpace

In our increasingly public relations-driven world, it is of little surprise that cynical political elites regularly use the rhetoric of democracy, peace, and human rights to disguise their overtly anti-humanist policies. Why should we expect less of our leaders in a world where the corporate media wages a relentless war to manufacture our consent for ruling demagogues? Thus it seems a logical assumption that budding mind managers will attempt to pervert the very concepts that their voters/targets hold most dearly. That this doublespeak is rendered invisible in the mainstream media is a given, but the lack of debate about this process in the alternative media is more worrisome.

Writers in the alternative press, of course, regularly question the rhetoric of our anti-democratic leaders, but the number of researchers investigating their cunningly misnamed (imperial) organizations – like the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) – are few, and the number examining the democratic credentials of what are taken to be progressive organizations are even less still. This is disturbing in many ways, because if say for example I was a neoconservative and had identified this void of critical inquiry, then I would see the obvious utility of infiltrating and hijacking (or even creating) such unaccountable organizations so that I could use them for my own political purposes.[1] Thus if we are truly interested in creating progressive democratically run group’s within society, then it seems like a no-brainer that we should ensure their accountability through undertaking ongoing critiques of their work. While such activities are less necessary for organisations that invite a high degree of local participatory control, it is vital for national or internationally orientated groups that for the most part are privately run, with public involvement usually limited to monetary support.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is one of the latter such organizations, and as a highly regarded and influential international nongovernmental organization (NGO), it is vital that its global work be regularly examined to ensure that it remains true to it’s stated humanitarian mission. Simply put, this is because as Jonathan Cook writes:

“The measure of a human rights organisation is to be found not just in the strides it takes to seek justice for the oppressed and victimised but also in the compromises it makes to keep itself out of trouble. Because of the business that human rights defenders are in, they must be held to a standard higher than we demand of others.”[2] …more

Bahrain Insists it Allows Peaceful Protests
by Naharnet Newsdesk

Bahrain’s foreign ministry has insisted it respects the right to hold peaceful protests in the Gulf state and that its security forces only intervene when demonstrations turn violent.

“The kingdom of Bahrain authorizes the peaceful expression of opinion within the constitution and the law,” it said in a statement late Thursday in response to U.S. State Department concerns.

“The security forces exercise maximum restraint even though they are regularly the target of acts of violence,” the ministry said. “But these forces reserve the right to take necessary measures in the face of any escalation in violence.”

The State Department on Wednesday urged Bahrain to exercise restraint and allow peaceful protests, condemning a new outbreak of unrest in the U.S.-allied Sunni Muslim-led kingdom.

“We are deeply concerned about the increase in violence in Bahrain,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

“We condemn the use of violence in all its forms — whether against peaceful demonstrators or police and government institutions — and urge all parties to reject such actions,” Nuland said in a statement.

“We call on the government of Bahrain to permit peaceful protest and to exercise maximum restraint in maintaining order, just as we call on all those demonstrating to do so peacefully,” she said.

The Gulf state’s Shiite majority holds regular protests against their alleged marginalization and disenfranchisement by the Sunni regime. A crackdown on protests last year left 35 dead, according to an independent probe.

Bahrain cracks down on news around Formula One races
23 April, 2012 – UN Refugee Agency

New York, April 23, 2012 – Bahraini authorities, intent on suppressing coverage of the restive political conditions that were a backdrop to the Formula One Grand Prix in Manama on Sunday, arrested at least seven international journalists who were seeking to report on anti-government demonstrations, according to news reports.

Police check journalist IDs outside the Formula One races on Sunday. Authorities have restricted and suppressed journalists in the run-up to the races. (AP/Hassan Ammar)Police check journalist IDs outside the Formula One races on Sunday. Authorities have restricted and suppressed journalists in the run-up to the races. (AP/Hassan Ammar)

“Bahraini authorities may have wanted to put a positive veneer on the Grand Prix, but their heavy-handed actions in shutting down international news coverage reflect a government determined to silence critical viewpoints,” said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “Until government leaders halt their severe, ongoing crackdown on news coverage, their talk of reform cannot be taken seriously.”

At least seven international journalists have been detained in Bahrain for covering political unrest in the past five days. British broadcaster Channel 4 news reporter Jonathan Miller, cameraman Joe Sheffer, and producer Dave Fuller were arrested on Sunday while filming a demonstration in a Shiite suburb of Manama, news reports said. The news team had been denied journalist visas and were working without accreditation, the broadcaster reported. They were released after six hours of questioning and deported to the U.K. later that day, according to news reports. Miller wrote on his Twitter account that the authorities had confiscated their equipment and refused to return it. In an interview with Channel 4, Miller also said that their driver, Ali al-A’ali, had been beaten in front of the crew and taken into separate custody. Al-A’ali was later released, news reports said.

Colin Freeman, a correspondent for the London-based The Sunday Telegraph, and an unidentified Dutch reporter were also arrested on Sunday while filming a demonstration, The Telegraph reported. Mohammed Hassan, a stringer and fixer for international news outlets, and an unidentified driver were detained as well, reports said. The four were released after four hours in custody, the newspaper said. In addition, two unidentified Japanese journalists who worked for the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun were arrested in a village outside Manama for filming a demonstration, and were released two hours later, news reports said.

Hassan had been attacked and detained two days earlier. On Friday night, Bahraini riot police hit him with a stun grenade and beat and kicked him as he worked with journalists affiliated with British broadcaster ITN in the village of Al-Bilad al-Qadim, news reports said. Hassan was taken to a local hospital with extensive bleeding and bruising, local journalists said. He was released Saturday after being accused of attending an illegal gathering, his lawyer told CPJ. He was not charged, the lawyer said. …more

Attention all – #OpBahrain : Press Release from #Anonymous with #Formula1 data dump – 04/22/2012

Anonymous has been monitoring the human rights situation in Bahrain and the popular democratic uprising for over a year now, only to see the oppression of its people grow worse. When governments murder peaceful protesters on an ongoing basis, their illegitimacy becomes clear to all who can see. The government of Bahrain has been warned. We will not stop our support of the Bahraini people or our war against your tyranny until the people of Bahrain have true freedom and peace.

This regime – which maintains its power by force and justifies it by birthright – has responded to the protests with a violent crackdown calculated to intimidate those within the country and a sophisticated public relations strategy calculated to deceive those outside of it. The crackdown has left scores dead and thousands in prison; the PR campaign is intended to ensure that such protesters are not only injured and imprisoned, but also libeled and forgotten. The violence is handled in the usual way; the lies come courtesy of an American PR firm called Qorvis. For too long, we have watched this tyrannical government tear gas its own people literally to death, with over 30 fatalities reported so far. We have watched as thousands of innocent protesters and activists have been jailed.

We have watched as human rights advocate Abdulhadi Alkhawaja commits himself to death via a prison hunger strike that as of 22/4/2012 is 74 days in length, simply in the hope that some men somewhere will notice what is being done to other men here. We have witnessed doctors and nurses imprisoned merely for treating those wounded protesters who find themselves brutalized by security forces. And we have become outraged by the ignorance and outright lies of mainstream media regarding what is truly happening in Bahrain – lies concocted in large part by Qorvis, which is more than happy to defend such crimes and even to libel those of Bahrain’s activists who try bring them to the world’s attention at risk to their own lives. …more

Asimbonanga (We have not seen him)
Asimbonang’ uAlkhawaja thina (We have not seen Alkhawaja)
Laph’ekhona (In the place where he is)
Laph’ehleli khona (In the place where he is kept)

Oh the sea is cold and the sky is grey
Look across the Island into the Bay
We are all islands till comes the day
We cross the burning water

Asimbonanga (We have not seen him)
Asimbonang’ uAlkhawaja thina (We have not seen Alkhawaja)
Laph’ekhona (In the place where he is)
Laph’ehleli khona (In the place where he is kept)

A seagull wings across the sea
Broken silence is what I dream
Who has the words to close the distance
Between you and me

Asimbonanga (We have not seen him)
Asimbonang’ uAlkhawaja thina (We have not seen Alkhawaja)
Laph’ekhona (In the place where he is)
Laph’ehleli khona (In the place where he is kept)

Iran successfully decoded the captured US Drone RQ- 170, and now ready to Clone it
Jafria News – 26 April, 2012

JNN 23 Apil 2012 Tehran : Iran has begun building a copy of the US surveillance drone spy drone RQ 170 it captured last year,after breaking its encryption codes, the commander of the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps announced on Saturday, Iranian Mehr news agency reported.

Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh who was speaking on the anniversary of the establishment of the IRGC also said experts are receiving information from the captured spy plane, and revealed what he said were “codes” gleaned from the unmanned aircraft.

“The Americans should be aware to what extent we have infiltrated the plane,” General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, military aerospace chief said.

“I am giving you four codes so the Americans understand just how far we have gone in penetrating the drone’s secrets,” he told state television.

“In October 2010, the aircraft was sent to California for some technical issues, where it was repaired and after flight tests, it was taken to Kandahar (in Afghanistan) in November 2010, when a series of technical problems still prevailed,” he said.

“In December 2010, it was sent to an airport near Los Angeles for repair of its equipment and sensors, and flight tests. The drone was then sent back to Kandahar,” he said.

Hajizadeh did not give further details, saying: “This aircraft is a national treasure for us, and I cannot divulge information about it.”

But he added Iran has “started producing a copy of the RQ-170 drone,” stressing it used the same US technology in stealth fighters and bombers.

He said that Iran had managed to hack the controls of the drone, thus enabling the Iranians to reverse-engineer the aircraft to make its own copy.

The RQ-170 Sentinel was shown on Iranian state television last December.

The unmanned, bat-winged RQ-170 Sentinel drone went down in Iran four months ago, and Iran’s gleeful military proudly displayed it on state television apparently intact. …more

FAMILY, LAWYER AND DIPLOMATS DENIED ACCESS TO ALKHAWAJA – IS HE STILL ALIVE?:
TIMELINE – 26 APRIL, 2012 – Peter Clifford Online

Today, Thursday, would be the 78th day of Abdulhadi AlKhawaja’s “Freedom or Death” hunger strike – if he is still alive. 75 days is normally the limit for surviving without sustenance and AlKhawaja told his family he would even stop drinking water last Sunday.

Where is AlKhawaja?

The Al-Khalifa Government currently has a news blackout on information around AlKhawaja and his family, his lawyer and the Danish Ambassador have all been prevented this week from speaking with him or making visits.

AlKhawaja’s wife says that she phoned the Bahrain Defence Force medical ward where he was being held on Wednesday after he failed to make his regular Tuesday call to her. A nurse is reported to have told her that his room and bed were empty.

Until a few days ago the Ministry of Interior was saying that he is still “in good health” but activists have reported a large increase in police checkpoints around Bahrain in the last 24 hours, which may indicate that some announcement to the contrary is imminent.

There also seems to have been an escalation in night time police raids on houses in the Shia villages and random arrests to “neutralise” those most likely to demonstrate. The village of Duraz was particularly targeted after an explosion there on Tuesday night injured 4 policemen following a fire inside a shop.

Ban Ki Moon, the UN General Secretary, the US State Department and the EU have all once again this week called on the Bahraini Government to use “every available option” to find resolution over the AlKhawaja case. It may be too late or he is in a coma.
httP://www.petercliffordonline.com/bahrain-news

Zanaib AlKhawaja Protesting in the Road – byshr.org

Zainab AlKhawaja, his daughter, who was arrested last weekend for staging a protest sit-in in the middle of the road in the Financial Harbour district, has been remanded in custody for another 7 days.

Her sister, Maryam AlKhawaja, who acts as international spokeswoman for the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, yesterday addressed the EU Parliament in clear, forthright terms about the poor state of human rights, not just in Bahrain, but throughout the Gulf. …more

Bahrain is still rife with human rights abuses, torture and political imprisonments, says Sara Yasin. No wonder the world was “hostile” to its Grand Prix

It’s time to stop dealing with Bahrain
By Sara Yasin – 26 April, 2012 – Telegraph

In the pages of The Daily Telegraph on Monday, John Yates, the former assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police now working in Bahrain advising the government on police reform, claimed that “Bahrainis are bewildered by the world hostility”, and by headlines that suggested a serious safety risk to Formula One teams.

Last weekend, all eyes were on Bahrain, and not for the reason the government had hoped. Coverage of Sebastian Vettel’s victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix was drowned out by a mess of stun grenades, burning tyres, tear gas and Molotov cocktails. Bahrain’s ongoing unrest pushed human rights organisations to call for the race to be cancelled.

Yates says the F1 teams’ safety was never at risk – but in the lead up to the race he claimed that live rounds could be used to make ensure their cars could speed around the Sakhir track. Does Yates seriously expect the world’s press to ignore incidents that included a Force India team mechanic narrowly avoiding being hit by petrol bombs during a clash between protesters and police?

F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone and Bahraini officials insisted that the show must go on, saying that sport has nothing to do with politics. Sports journalists were left to cover the violent crackdown on protesters and death of one protester – Salah Abbas Habib – on Saturday. His death and the death earlier in the month of another protester are a testament to the failure of reforms in the country.

Those who defend Bahrain’s government claim it is improving – acting to protect human rights, regulate policing and create more transparency. But as we saw this weekend, the situation on the ground is deteriorating. The country has been plagued by protests, peaceful and violent. The protesters do not believe reform is coming. …more

Increased Concern for Al-Khawaja Amid Disappearance
26 April, 2012 – POMED

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja entered his 78th day of hunger strike today, but his whereabouts is still unconfirmed. His wife recalled their last phone conversation on Monday, saying, “”Something is very wrong. He was talking about accepting death as the path of freedom, he sounded very weak and tired.” Al-Khawaja’s lawyer, Mohamed al-Jishi said he is requesting a court order for visiting rights to his client, whom he has not seen since April 4th. Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs Khalid Bin Ali Al-Khalifa said al-Khawaja can make a voluntary choice to end his hunger strike, and assured the BBC that he is being provided with “optimal health care.” Al-Khawaja’s case and the recent increase in reported cases of violence have prompted an official statement from U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, who called for an end to the violence and urged the Bahraini government to find a solution for al-Khawaja’s case. The State Department also issued a travel warning about Bahrain.

Western media has received some criticism for its coverage of Bahrain. Sarah Hildt says the New York Times falsely characterized al-Khawaja’s daughter, Zainab al-Khawaja. “The American media has failed spectacularly in its coverage of Bahrain,” she writes, “Let us at very least not deepen this failure by now slandering and misrepresenting the stance of someone as principled and courageous as his daughter Zainab.” Jihad El-Khazen, writing for Saudi-owned Al Arabiya, attributes poor Western media coverage of Bahrain to “ignorance.” Sara Yasin says the Bahraini government has been given ample time to implement the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry’s recommendations, and given the lack of substantial reform, “This means that [the international community] shouldn’t be doing business with the regime, and most certainly should not be selling them arms or inviting them to lunch.” …source

Syria faces neo-mujahideen struggle
By Victor Kotsev – 26 April, 2012 – Asia Times

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may have won a battle earlier this year (as the retreat of the Free Syrian Army from the ruined city of Homs testifies), but he is nowhere near winning the war. The uprising is quickly turning into a full-scale insurgency – a foreign-sponsored insurgency, to be more precise, which some analysts term a “neo-mujahideen strategy”.

After Saturday’s unanimous vote, the lines at the United Nations Security Council have blurred somewhat: Resolution 2043, introduced by Russia, authorized the sending of 300 unarmed military observers to supervise the implementation of the latest peace plan spearheaded by United Nations peace envoy and former secretary general Kofi Annan.

By most accounts, however, this is no more than a token gesture, which will not stop the bloodshed, but may win some time for all sides to regroup and to shore up their strategy. The status quo is clearly unsustainable, but an ominous silence, at least as concerns the next big moves, has set in.

On the ground, state lines have blurred as well – although not officially, at least not yet. The powers with the greatest stakes in the Syrian conflict look at the map and increasingly appear to see networks of ethnic and religious groups scattered across a number of countries, rather than the traditional state borders that nominally define the space.

If a regime is too strong militarily to be defeated from the outside, it can be torn apart from the inside – yet this is a game that requires great skill and caution, as well as the micromanagement of an enormously complicated web of regional relationships and rivalries.

Neighboring countries, whose populations have participated in these networks for many years, typically have an edge in this game over distant superpowers, but they also have a lot more at stake in it. A mistake can cost them dearly and can set the fire of identity conflict to their own proverbial houses.

This logic fits the situation Turkey finds itself in with respect to Syria. The two countries were bitter rivals for decades, though in the past years – until last year’s uprising – Ankara sought to reassert itself on the Middle Eastern political scene, and seemingly perceived Assad’s regime as its prized instrument for channeling influence into the Arab world.

The Arab Spring put paid to that, but Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan adjusted quickly and tried to champion the cause of Syrian freedom, ostensibly in hopes of winning even greater clout among the Arabs in this way than his relationship with Assad could ever have afforded him. …more

Alkhawja’s other daughter, Zainab is currently detained by Bahrain government after being arrested during Stop Grand Grand Prix protest – below

Cyber security is stepped up
By SANDEEP SINGH GREWAL- 25 April, 2012 – Gulf Daily News

BAHRAIN has beefed up Internet security after several government websites were attacked by a global hacking network.

The Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowment Ministry, General Directorate for Traffic and Licensing, Custom Affairs, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Civil Service Bureau and Northern Governorate were among those targeted.

The international hacking group Anonymous, which has previously attacked the Chinese, British and Polish governments, the FBI, US Justice Department and Interpol, claimed responsibility.

Most of the websites in Bahrain were targeted during the F1 weekend and have returned to normal.

However, some continued to be inaccessible yesterday.

It is understood some of the sites were taken offline by a distributed denial-of-service attack that floods a server with so many requests that it cannot respond to legitimate users.

“The Information Technology Directorate and officials have been warned of increasing attacks on government websites and asked to ensure their servers are not affected,” sources told the GDN.

Anonymous claimed responsibility for the Bahrain attacks on the website anoncentral.tumblr.com, describing it as #OpBahrain and warned of further attacks.

Anonymous also targeted the Formula One fan site F1-Racers.net and posted anti-government messages and video clippings on its home page.

The personal details of F1 spectators such as their passport numbers and e-mail addresses were also displayed.

“We will also jam your phone lines, bomb your e-mail inboxes and wreck anything else of yours we can find on the Internet. Good luck generating ad revenues with your servers down!,” stated Anonymous.

Last year, hackers, mainly from Iran, targeted websites belonging to the Interior Ministry, Bahrain News Agency and Housing Ministry as part of a campaign to spread anti-government propaganda.

Following the spate of hacking incidents, Bahrain decided to shift its servers based in the US home with the help of the Central Informatics Organisation.

Gulf Air’s Facebook page was also hacked earlier this month by criminals demanding the release of political activist Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, who is among 21 men serving life sentences for being part of a plot to overthrow the monarchy last year. …source

Khawaja’s wife, Khadija al-Mousawi, said her husband had failed to call on Tuesday from the military hospital. “Something is very wrong,” Mousawi said. “He was talking about accepting death as the path of freedom, he sounded very weak and tired,” she added, referring to her last conversation with Khawaja on Monday.

Fears for Bahrain hunger striker, minister defends police
25 April, 2012 – Reuters – Andrew Hammond

DUBAI, April 25 (Reuters) – The wife of a jailed Bahraini activist said on Wednesday she was worried for the health of her husband after more than two months of hunger strike.

Bahrain’s interior minister, speaking after weeks of protests against a Formula One Grand Prix here, described as a terrorist act an explosion in a village near Manama on Tuesday night that wounded four policemen. It said security forces had the right to protect themselves.

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, one of 14 men in prison for leading an uprising last year, is serving a life sentence for expressing support last year for Bahrain becoming a republic. He has been fasting for 77 days.

Bahrainis won no major concessions on reducing the powers of the Sunni ruling Al Khalifa family in the protests, but one year later the uprising has not gone away.

In response to queries on Khawaja’s health, the interior ministry said to refer to its Twitter feed. There was no new information on Wednesday.

Khawaja’s wife, Khadija al-Mousawi, said her husband had failed to call on Tuesday from the military hospital where he is being monitored during his hunger strike and she was unable to obtain any information on his health on Wednesday.

“Something is very wrong,” Mousawi said. “He was talking about accepting death as the path of freedom, he sounded very weak and tired,” she added, referring to her last conversation with Khawaja on Monday. …source

Ex-Iran negotiator: “historic” chance for nuke talks
25 April, 2012 – By Fredrik Dahl – Reuters

VIENNA: Iran and major nations have a “historic opportunity” to settle their decade-old nuclear dispute, but requiring the Islamic state to stop higher-grade uranium enrichment would be discriminatory, Tehran’s former chief nuclear negotiator said.

Hossein Mousavian, now a visiting scholar at Princeton University in the United States, voiced optimism before next month’s talks between Iran and the six major powers following a first meeting in Istanbul earlier this month.

They should set out their respective “red lines” regarding Iran’s nuclear program and negotiate on the basis of those when they meet in the Iraqi capital on May 23, he told Reuters.

“The positive trend has started from Istanbul. It is important to keep up the positive trend in Baghdad and to go on,” Mousavian, who was seen as a moderate when in the Iranian government, said by telephone on Tuesday.

He was Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005 before conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took over from his reformist predecessor Mohammad Khatami. According to Western envoys familiar with Mousavian, he appeared at the time to be genuinely interested in reaching a deal with the West.

The six powers – the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia – want to make sure Iran does not develop nuclear bombs. The Islamic Republic wants a lifting of sanctions and recognition of what it says are its rights to peaceful nuclear energy, including enriching uranium.

“The principles should be based on addressing the red lines of each party,” Mousavian said, advocating a step-by-step approach with confidence-building actions by both sides.

If the red line for the powers is nuclear bombs, “then they should discuss the ways and means for Iran to cooperate with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) on transparency measures.”

Both sides said they were content with progress made in the April 14 meeting in Istanbul which did not go into detail but, unlike earlier rounds of negotiations, stayed on the subject of Iran’s nuclear program.
…more

Fears for Bahrain hunger striker, minister defends police
By Andrew Hammond – 25 April, 2012 – Reuters

DUBAI (Reuters) – The wife of a jailed Bahraini activist said on Wednesday she was worried for the health of her husband after more than two months of hunger strike.

Bahrain’s interior minister, speaking after weeks of protests against a Formula One Grand Prix here, described as a terrorist act an explosion in a village near Manama on Tuesday night that wounded four policemen. It said security forces had the right to protect themselves.

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, one of 14 men in prison for leading an uprising last year, is serving a life sentence for expressing support last year for Bahrain becoming a republic. He has been fasting for 77 days.

Bahrainis won no major concessions on reducing the powers of the Sunni ruling Al Khalifa family in the protests, but one year later the uprising has not gone away.

In response to queries on Khawaja’s health, the interior ministry said to refer to its Twitter feed. There was no new information on Wednesday.

Khawaja’s wife, Khadija al-Mousawi, said her husband had failed to call on Tuesday from the military hospital where he is being monitored during his hunger strike and she was unable to obtain any information on his health on Wednesday.

“Something is very wrong,” Mousawi said. “He was talking about accepting death as the path of freedom, he sounded very weak and tired,” she added, referring to her last conversation with Khawaja on Monday.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday expressed concern about the activist, respected by international rights groups as a rights defender but seen by some Bahrainis as a Shi’ite Islamist activist, and called on Bahrain to respect human rights.

“The Secretary-General once again urges the Bahraini authorities to resolve Mr. Al-Khawaja’s case based on due process and humanitarian considerations without any further delay,” Ban Ki-moon’s office said. …more

Analysis: Bahrain hardliners in driving seat after F1 fiasco
21 April, 2012 – By Andrew Hammond – Reuters

DUBAI (Reuters) – Hardliners in Bahrain’s Saudi-backed Sunni Muslim ruling family may dig in their heels after a Formula One Grand Prix debacle that spotlighted a frustrated pro-democracy uprising instead of projecting an image of stability.

Western leaders joined rights groups and media watchdogs in criticizing Bahrain before Sunday’s race, which was cancelled last year due to the unrest. Officials hailed its reinstatement as proof of a return to calm, but billowing smoke from tires set alight by protesters on race day told a different story.

“I suspect now that those in the ruling family who argued that this is more trouble than it’s worth will be saying ‘I told you so’,” said Justin Gengler, a Qatar-based researcher on Bahrain, singling out the royal court and defense ministers.

Those ministers, full brothers from a family branch often known as the Khawalids, are widely viewed as masterminds of last year’s crackdown, which cut short a dialogue Crown Prince Salman had begun with the opposition on democratic reforms.

Bahrainis took to the streets in February 2011, inspired by successful revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, but won no concessions. The government broke up the Pearl Roundabout protest camp a month later, imposed martial law and brought in Saudi troops.

The Sunni Al Khalifa monarchy branded the protesters as Shi’ite subversives with Iranian backing and Bahrain slipped off the Saudi- and Qatari-dominated pan-Arab news agenda.

Western allies such as Britain and the United States, whose Fifth Fleet is moored in Manama, muted criticism of Bahrain for fear of alienating a trusted friend – or its Saudi big brother.

Yet turmoil still convulses the tiny Gulf island, where riot police clash daily with demonstrators, mostly from the Shi’ite majority, and opposition parties stage mass marches.

Police deploy armored vehicles, teargas, sound bombs and birdshot to lock protesters down and prevent a critical mass from re-forming and winning world attention. As a result, activists say the death toll has risen to 80 from 35, including five security personnel, when martial law was lifted in June.

SECTARIAN FEARS

Bahrain’s government says it remains open to limited reform, but unease at the prospect of any power shift from the Sunni royal family to the Shi’ite majority has stifled progress.

The hardline royal court minister, Khaled bin Ahmed, initiated contacts with the leading Shi’ite party Wefaq in January, but pro-government Sunni radicals objected strongly and the chance of renewed dialogue appears to have evaporated.

Nevertheless, King Hamad responded to the Grand Prix furore on Sunday by stating his “personal commitment to reform and reconciliation”.

Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Mubarak al-Khalifa, adviser to the Information Affairs Authority, said many Bahrainis wanted reforms but did not want them dictated by one party or sect.

“All the political societies want to fight corruption, efficient government, an empowered parliament,” he said. “As long as there are no preconditions, mutual respect and no raising the bar too high, then there is hope.”

Sheikh Abdulaziz declined to comment on any potential rifts within the government over the question of reform. Crown Prince Salman has long been seen as its keenest royal advocate.

He brought Formula One to Manama in 2004 as part of what analysts say was a vision for political and economic change that would reduce reliance on receipts from an oilfield shared with Saudi Arabia – and the influence that the arrangement gives a powerful neighbor with no interest in a democratic Bahrain. …more

Three policemen wounded in Bahrain explosion
24 April, 2012 – Reuters – by Firouz Sedarat

(Reuters) – Three policemen were wounded by an explosion in a village in western Bahrain on Tuesday that the government said was a “terrorist” act after weeks of protests against a Formula One Grand Prix held in the Gulf Arab state.

The Interior Ministry said in a Twitter message that two of the three policemen were seriously wounded by the blast late on Tuesday. Residents earlier said four officers had been hurt.

“A terrorist … bombing targeted policemen in the Diraz area and led to the injury of three policemen, two of them seriously,” it said.

Diraz is one of the villages outside the capital Manama where there have been frequent pro-democracy protests by majority Shi’ites against the Sunni-Muslim led monarchy.

On April 9, seven policemen were wounded, three of them seriously, when a home-made bomb exploded during a protest near Manama calling for the release of an activist on a two-month hunger strike.

Bahrain, a U.S. ally that hosts Washington’s Fifth Fleet, has been in turmoil since protests inspired by “Arab Spring” uprisings began in February 2011.

Though martial law and Saudi troops were brought in to crush them after one month, the strife has continued with regular mass marches by opposition parties and violent clashes with riot police.

The daughter of the jailed hunger striker was remanded in custody for seven days for protesting during last week’s Formula One race, her lawyer said on Tuesday.

Zainab al-Khawaja was arrested on Saturday after she sat on the highway running past Bahrain’s financial district during days of Shi’ite protests held to embarrass the kingdom’s rulers at a time when the race drew international media attention.
…source

Read more about Sheikh Almahfoodh HERE

The ’spoiled’ son of the King: Nasser.. The torturer
25 April, 2012 – Bahrain Mirror

Bahrain mirror (Exclusive): Nabeel Rajab, President of the Center of Human Rights in Bahrain, Vice President of International Confederation of Human Rights, keeps challenging the authorities in Bahrain to prosecute those involved in the abuses and torture perpetrated on the people of Bahrain for a year.

Rajab has recently revealed an attention-grabbing step that translated into determined and continuous efforts to escalate the issue of the torture practiced, in person, by the “spoiled” son of the King Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa against a group of prisoners. One of these prisoners is the well known religious cleric Shaikh Mohammed Habib Al-Miqdad, who suffered from a nonstop torture, beatings and verbal abuse.

Rajab – on his Twitter account – mentioned that he will soon move to highlight the issues of torture practiced by Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa on the detainees and athletes for the British media and social networking, taking advantage of the presence of the King’s son in England next summer where he will attend the Olympics Games to be hosted by London’s Metropolitan in the period between July 27 to August 12 this year. The King’s son is attending the games as the President of the Bahrain Olympic Committee.

Rajab has never stopped announcing his plan to escalate this subject in the British media. Not only that, Rajab has taken further step beyond that by demanding to legally prosecute the King’s son or at the very least preventing him from entering the UK. Rajab is taking the subject extremely seriously. …more