Posts from — April 2012

GRAND PRIX SCANDAL: Bahrain’s Formula For Profits Over Human Rights
by Finian Cunningham – Global Research – 15 April, 2012

“A bunch of rich people having fun while others are being killed,” is how one motor-racing fan voiced his disgust over the decision for the Formula One Grand Prix to go ahead in Bahrain next weekend. For the past several weeks, there has been much speculation in the media about whether the sporting event watched by millions around the world would take place in Bahrain given the kingdom’s lethal crackdown on a pro-democracy movement since February 2011.

The decision by the Paris-based Federation Internationale Automobile (FIA) to give the Bahrain Grand Prix the green light has incensed the mainly Shia population of the Persian Gulf kingdom and many racing fans around the world who see it as putting commercial profits above the value of human life. This weekend saw more street demonstrations against the ruling US-backed Al Khalifa monarchy and predictably more state violence. Over the past year, more than 70 people have been killed by Saudi-backed forces propping up the Bahraini monarchy, which is closely aligned with the Saudi rulers.

Thousands have been injured and hundreds languish in jails, most of them sentenced by military courts simply because they attended pro-democracy protests calling for the Sunni royal family to give way to an elected government that would represent the 70 per cent Shia majority population of the Persian Gulf island. The latest victims of state violence include a 15-year-old boy who was critically wounded this weekend after regime forces opened fire on mourners at a funeral for another victim. So how could the FIA possibly permit the staging of the Bahrain Grand Prix given the evident background of violations? The short answer is: money – lots of it. Plus a noxious cocktail of politics and cronyism. The Formula One Grand Prix is an annual event held in 18 countries, including new venues such as Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the older classics in Britain, Monaco and Italy.

The latest stage was the Chinese Grand Prix held in Shanghai. Next weekend it moves to Bahrain, which is the fourth date in the annual schedule. The event is driven by three interlinked players: the FIA, Formula One Management, whose chief executive is billionaire British magnate Bernie Ecclestone, and the racing teams. The latter include big names, such as McLaren, Williams, Ferrari and Red Bull. All three parties are tied commercially together by the Concorde Agreement. The commercial fate of every party is dependent on the other and that would explain why there is conspiratorial silence in the face of Bahrain’s appalling violence against civilians and the decision to go ahead with the event. Last year, the event in Bahrain was cancelled after individual drivers, such as Damon Hill and Mark Webber, voiced reluctance to participate because of the crackdown against peaceful demonstrators. This year, there has been no repeat of the “driver rebellion”. Any rumblings of dissent have been on an anonymous basis in some media reports – suggesting that the consortium bosses are running their own internal campaign of repression. The Formula One consortium stands to rake in about $450 million in television rights from its two broadcasters, the BBC and Rupert Murdoch’s BskyB. Even more lucrative is the revenue from more than 100 brand names, which sponsor the event with a total bill of around $900 million.

These brand names, such as Marlboro, Benetton, Credit Suisse, Siemens and Sony, claw back some of that cost through monetized “exposure value” from the millions of TV viewers around the world. According to industry monitor Formula Money, the Bahrain Grand Prix is one of the best money spinners for sponsors. In the last event in 2010, Bahrain generated $90 million – twice the race average – for the 103 brand names posted on the circuit boards – higher exposure value than was gained from the five oldest sport venues of Belgium, Britain, Germany, Italy and Monaco. For the Bahraini rulers, staging the Grand Prix brings its own sort of “exposure value”.

The cancellation of last year’s event is reckoned to have cost the kingdom some $400 million in tourism losses after thousands of mainly wealthy foreign spectators bypassed the island. Over the past year, Bahrain’s national economy has been on the slide with investors and financial companies taking fright over the ongoing violence and seeking safer havens in the Gulf, such as Qatar and Dubai. Perhaps even more important for the Bahraini rulers is to try to revamp its tarnished image as a vicious repressive regime. The staging of the Grand Prix is a desperate attempt by the regime to send out an image that “all is well” on the island. Nabeel Rajab of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights says: “The race will give the impression that everything is back to normal when everything is not back to normal. People are dying on a daily basis.”

The Al Khalifa regime has hired several British and American PR companies to project a positive spotlight on the kingdom while playing down violations and violence. One of the rulers’ best unofficial PR assets is the former Scotland Yard police chief John Yates who was brought in to oversee the Bahraini police force last December. Yates has been busy recommending to the international media that the Bahrain Grand Prix goes ahead this year. He has belittled the protesters as “youths throwing Molotov cocktails” and said that he personally “felt safer in Bahrain than in London”. What the British police chief did not disclose is that half of all people who have died from excessive tear gas deployed by state security forces have done so under his watch.

Then there is the web of personal relationships between the Formula One fraternity and the Al Khalifa royal family. The current president of the FIA, Jean Todt, was elected in 2009 with the help of Bahraini royal Shaikh Abdullah Bin Isa Al Khalifa (brother of the king) who is the head of the Automobile Federation of Bahrain. Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who is the chief executive of the Bahrain International Circuit, is a shareholder in the ART Grand Prix team owned by Nicolas Todt, the son of Jean Todt. Crown Prince Salman is also a close friend of Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One supremo.

Indeed, when Ecclestone was quoted recently in the media about the race going to Bahrain he said somewhat absurdly: “All the teams are happy to be there. There’s nothing happening. I know people who live there and it’s all very quiet and peaceful.” And he went to mention that one of his sources for information on what is happening in Bahrain is Crown Prince Salman. A crucial linchpin in the Grand Prix money chain is the Bahraini royal family’s sovereign wealth fund, known as Mumtalakat. The fund has investments worth $9 billion in some 35 commercial international companies. One of those companies is McLaren Group, which owns the McLaren Formula One racing team. …more

Condoms in Bahrain: Sex Workers’ Only Protection Against HIV/AIDS
Suad Hamada – 14 January, 2011 –

Savatri used a condom for the first time in her life when she was forced into prostitution a few months ago. Fortunately, the 34-year-old Indian woman was instructed by the managers of the brothel to insist that her clients wear a condom – the only preventive method against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV, in use by sex workers in Bahrain.

Sex workers’ last hope for proper medical care was lost at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna last July when Bahrain officially declined to provide licenses to sex workers as a measure to reduce HIV/AIDS cases. Although sex work remains one of the risk factors in increasing HIV/AIDS rates, Bahrain rejected the proposal without hesitation out of fear of clashes with our conservative society, Dr. Somaya Al Jowder, head of the National AIDS Program, tells me.

“Condoms were compulsory in my unexpected profession, although I never used them with my husband, who thinks I’m working as a domestic worker at a house in Bahrain,” Savatri recalls from jail while serving a four-month sentence, not for prostitution but for violating residency regulations in Bahrain.

“I was locked inside the brothel after a man convinced me to run away from the family I used to work for as a maid. He promised me better income, but I received nothing for my service and my one-month nightmare of free sex ended when the police raided the house and rescued me with the other females,” Savatri remembers. …more

Bangkok Post : Police launch Bahrain sex probe
WASSAYOS NGAMKHAM

A highly-organised prostitution ring supplying Thai women to the booming market of Bahrain is the first target of the new police Transnational Sex Trafficking Unit. A Thai prostitute in Bahrain said: ”Bahrain is a lucrative destination for us. Many women are said to have made a million in less than a year.”

Though most Thai prostitutes in Bahrain are working there of their own volition, this is still regarded as transnational human trafficking, said Pol Maj-Gen Kamronwit Toopkrachang, chief of the Crimes Against Children, Juveniles and Women Suppression Division, which oversees the unit.

Unit chief Jaruwat Waisaya said there had been complaints from sex workers about slave-like working conditions, with some claiming to have been tricked and forced into prostitution. This prompted his team to head to Bahrain early this month to investigate.

Talks with the Thai ambassador to Manama, the capital, and some sex workers confirmed the illegality of the human trade, said Pol Col Jaruwat. He declined to give details.

A source leaked the unit’s confidential report, which said that of the 8,000 Thais living in Bahrain thousands were women engaged in the thriving flesh trade, which pays 10 times more than the rate they get back home.

Bahrain has become a draw for sex workers from eastern Europe and Africa and Asia _ including Laos, Burma, China, the Philippines, India, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco and Ethiopia.

According to the report, Thai sex workers ply their trade in locations ranging from coffee shops, Thai massage outlets, nightspots and five-star hotels.

Most of them typically solicit customers at massage shops in the so-called Thai town of Adliy.

The source quoted the report as saying: ”Agents, known as ‘Mae Tak,’ oversee Thai sex workers in Bahrain until they earn enough [to pay off their debts].”

After repaying the on-arrival expenses of around 130,000-180,000 baht each to Mae Tak, they can return home or work freelance.

Many women did go there voluntarily, but were tricked into working as prostitutes.

Without passports or cash, they were kept in brothels until their on-arrival expenses were covered.

The source said the unit was trying to reach the sex workers to round up their recruiters in Thailand and agents in Bahrain.

The unit was also studying Thai and Bahraini laws and coordinating with its Bahraini counterparts in preparation for a crackdown on the ring, said the source.

Due to the unit’s lack of funding and equipment, the Foreign Affairs Ministry has footed the initial investigation bills. …more

BAHRAIN Regime is classified as “Tier II” on watch list of Human Trafficking

Trafficking-In-Persons Report
Embassy of the United States – Manama

The 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report on 184 nations is the most comprehensive worldwide report on the efforts of governments to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons. Its findings will raise global awareness and spur countries to take effective actions to counter trafficking in persons.

The annual Trafficking in Persons Report serves as the primary diplomatic tool through which the U.S. Government encourages partnership and increased determination in the fight against forced labor, sexual exploitation, and modern-day slavery.

Bahrain is a destination country for men and women subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Men and women from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and Eritrea migrate voluntarily to Bahrain to work as domestic workers or as unskilled laborers in the construction and service industries. Some, however, face conditions of forced labor after arriving in Bahrain, through use of such practices as unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, contract substitution, nonpayment of wages, threats, and physical or sexual abuse. A study by the Bahrain government’s Labor Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) found that 65 percent of migrant workers had not seen their employment contract, and that 89 percent were unaware of their terms of employment upon arrival in Bahrain. Many labor recruitment agencies in Bahrain and source countries require workers to pay high recruitment fees – a practice that makes workers highly vulnerable to forced labor once in Bahrain. The LMRA study found that 70 percent of foreign workers borrowed money or sold property in their home countries in order to secure a job in Bahrain. Some Bahraini employers illegally charge workers exorbitant fees to remain in Bahrain working for third-party employers (under the “free visa” arrangement). The LMRA estimates that approximately 10 percent of migrant workers were in Bahrain under illegal “free visa” arrangements – a practice that can contribute to debt bondage – while the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry puts the figure at 25 percent. Women from Thailand, the Philippines, Morocco, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Russia, China, Vietnam, and Eastern European states are subjected to forced prostitution in Bahrain.

The Government of Bahrain does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The government continued to investigate and prosecute forced prostitution cases and convicted nine trafficking offenders during the reporting period. In addition, the government assisted 17 victims of forced prostitution. Nonetheless, there were no reports of government efforts to punish forced labor crimes nor any indication that the Government of Bahrain took steps to institute a formal victim identification procedure or otherwise improve victim protection efforts during the reporting period. The government’s lack of efforts to acknowledge and address forced labor remains a key gap in its anti-trafficking response. …more

Pattaya Daily News : THAI SEX WORKER IN BAHRAIN SEEKS TO EXTRICATE FRIENDS CAUGHT IN CATCH 22 SITUATION

20 January, 2011 – BCHR

A Thai woman, Uoom, 36, lured to Bahrain as a sex worker, managed to escape back to Thailand, recently, vowing to have her 2 friends still there repatriated with the help of the Pavena Foundation.

The 3 women, Uoom from Sa Kaeo, Bao from Ubon Ratchathani and Tong from Loei had originally been recruited in Pattaya by a Bahrain mamasan, P’Oai, aka Sofia.

Uoom told the reporter “I want to warn other women. If you were convinced by someone who promised you a well-paid job in Bahrain, don’t trust them. They will tell you of a dream-like city, but what you’ll face is like a hell.”

The three women had met at the Thai Embassy in Manama, Bahrain after escaping a life of sex-slavery having to service 5+ men a day.

The women were taking refuge at the embassy, but had to pay daily living expenses and were told by Thai officials that they would have to request the plane fare and the overstay fine of 4,000 Baht a month from their families back home. This was somewhat difficult as the families were ignorant of the women’s occupation. Their plight was further exacerbated by Ms Bao having detected a lump in her breast, while Ms Tong experienced sinus problems and frequent nose bleeds. Although they had visited a doctor outside, any further attempt may have put them at the mercy of vengeful mamasans out for their blood. Consequently, they were in a Catch 22 situation.

However, with the help of a Bahraini friend, Uoom managed to return to Thailand, where she sought the help of the Pavena Foundation to solve her friends’ plight.

Ms Pavena Hongsakula, the founder of the Pavena Foundation, is intending to sort out the 2 remaining women’s problems by enlisting the aid of the Thai ambassador to Bahrain, Phitak Phrombubpha, who is currently in Thailand. Failing this, Ms Pavena intends to approach the Social Development and Human Security Ministry to extricate the unfortunates. …source

Bahrain Grand Prix faces new threats of pro-democracy demonstrations – Formula 1 news
Kash Kahn – 16 April, 2012 – Auto Racing News

Bahrain Grand Prix finds yet another hurdle as Pro-democracy protestors in the country are looking to capitalise on the media attention they will receive from the race to demonstrate week-long protests ahead of the race.

Bahrain GP has been a constant subject of debate since 2011 when the race was called off due to civil disobedience in the country. The media pressure in the previous year led Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone to go against his will to cancel the race.

This year the Bahrain GP organisers and Ecclestone have remained strict that the race will go on as planned. FIA has also said that the race will go as planned but still the Shiite opposition party in the country known as Al-Wefaq, has said that they will be organising protests over the next seven days to take advantage of the media attention.

Al-Wefaq has maintained that the protests are going to be peaceful and the sit-ins will be away from the circuit.

“Holding the grand prix in Bahrain in 2012 risks being interpreted by the government of Bahrain as symbolising a return to business as usual,” Amnesty said on Friday. “The international community must not turn a blind eye to the ongoing human rights crisis in the country. The government must understand that its half-hearted measures are not sufficient – sustained progress on real human rights reform remains essential.”

“Despite the authorities’ claims to the contrary, state violence against those who oppose the Al Khalifa family rule continues, and in practice, not much has changed in the country since the brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters in February and March 2011,” it said.

The Human Rights Center in Bahrain requested Teams and drivers to boycott the race, but the teams have shown willingness to race contrary to last year’s build up which saw some players and teams reluctant to go. Mark Webber was a player who publicly expressed that he does not want to go to Bahrain amid tensions though he was remained quiet for this year’s race.

Formula 1 supremo Ecclestone also told reporters that the teams are happy to tour the country for the race. The country does not have any issues that will pose any threat to F1. …source

Carlos Latuff

NSW parliament backs Bahrain uprising
15 April, 2012 – Paul Benedek – Sydney

The NSW Parliament passed a motion on April 4 in support of pro-democracy protests in Bahrain.

The motion condemned the Bahrain government’s repression of protesters, attacks on doctors, killing of 60 protesters by security forces, destruction of 40 Shi’a mosques, expulsion of journalists, and widespread use of torture.

Bahraini democracy supporters ― including a doctor abducted for treating pro-democracy protesters and a former opposition MP ― were present for the vote. A forum organised by the Bahrain Australian Youth Movement was held in the parliament’s theatrette later the same day.

Doctor Nabeel Ali gave a moving account of going from health worker to tortured prisoner.

“When the protests began we received patients flooding the hospital with gun wounds, with horrendous injuries we had never seen before,” Ali said. “We did our duty, the doctors tried to save several patients, unfortunately some we could not.

“Because we tried to save them, and tried to voice our concern at what was happening, we were targeted.

“They came to our houses in the middle of the night. Some were jailed, others were persecuted professionally, they were laid off. A total of 500 medical staff were targeted, 200 were stopped from working, more than 80 were thrown in prison.

“Of those, nearly 30 doctors were tortured, also ambulance drivers, paramedics, nurses.

“Torture was humiliation. They make you stand for three or four days without allowing you to sit. A colleague was forced to stand for 13 days, continuously, without sleep.

The faces of the prisoners were full of fear when the cell doors opened. Every time guards opened the door, it’s torture time ― time to be insulted, time to be beaten.

“We lived like that for nearly three months. Not just me ― 3000 prisoners suffered the same or worse treatment, and there are still 600 in prisons now.”

Former Shia Opposition MP Matar Matar, who was the country’s youngest parliamentarian before resigning early last year to protest the regime’s crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, revealed the repression in Bahrain has increased one year on from the uprising.

“The death rate is higher than before,” said Matar, who was jailed and tortured after resigning from parliament. “But the level of violence always depends on the level of international attention. Australians can play a major role in isolating the Bahrain government.”

SBS Dateline journalist Yaara Bou Melhem, who compiled a feature investigation on the violent repression of the democracy movement in Bahrain, spoke on the struggle for journalists trying to get the truth out about the uprising.

“Two local journalists died last year in detention…foreign journalists were beaten up, arrested, attacked at protests,” Melhem said.

NSW Greens MLC David Shoebridge, who hosted the forum and sponsored the parliamentary motion, told the forum: “This is a genuinely grassroots movement for democracy in Bahrain, being met by those in power brutally repressing.

“Bahrain has been forgotten, in the Western media, in Australia, and this is a crime of omission … it is complicity with torture.”

The meeting also expressed solidarity with Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, a co-founder of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, who has been on a hunger strike for over 62 days and is reportedly close to death. …source

ATTENTION! King Hamad’s regime reacts about my cartoons on #Bahrain
15April, 2012 – Latuff Cartoons

Street Art in Bahrain adapted from Carlos Latuff Political Cartoon

According to a Twitter account supposedly held by the Information Affairs Authority (IAA) of Bahrain, of the regime of King Hamad, they are concerned about the “journalistic integrity” displayed in my cartoons. In the messages, IAA states that my drawings “tip over the limits” of what is considered freedom of speech. It’s curious that a government institution of Bahrain uses words like “integrity” and “freedom of speech”, which are values definitely not applied by Hamad’s regime.

According to a report by Amnesty International, an organization accorded a great deal of integrity, Bahraini authorities “had committed gross human rights violations with impunity, including the excessive use of force against protesters, widespread torture and other ill-treatment of protesters, unfair trials and unlawful killings.“ …more

Conflict Risk Alert: Bahrain
Brussels – 16 April, 2012 -International Crisis Group

Beneath a façade of normalisation, Bahrain is sliding toward another dangerous eruption of violence. The government acts as if partial implementation of recommendations from the November 2011 Independent Commission of Inquiry (the Bassiouni Report) will suffice to restore tranquillity, but there is every reason to believe it is wrong. Political talks – without which the crisis cannot be resolved – have ground to a halt, and sectarian tensions are mounting. A genuine dialogue between the regime and the opposition and a decision to fully carry out the Bassiouni Report – not half-hearted measures and not a policy of denial – are needed to halt this deterioration.

Clashes between young protesters and security forces occur nightly, marked by the former’s use of Molotov cocktails and the latter’s resort to tear gas. Several have died, in most cases reportedly due to tear gas inhalation. The 9 April explosion of a handmade bomb in al-Akar, a Shiite village in the east of the Kingdom, which injured seven policemen, crossed a significant threshold and could be followed by worse. Already, even before authorities could investigate, pro-government Sunni vigilante groups retaliated, vandalising two cars and a supermarket owned by a Shiite firm accused of supporting the February 2011 protests.

Amid these and other violent events – including the death of a young protester apparently shot from a civilian car – there are two potential time bombs. The first concerns Bahrain’s scheduled hosting of a Formula 1 race on 22 April. On 8 April, the Coalition of the Youth of the February 14 Revolution, an umbrella for an array of opposition groups that commands the loyalty of Shiite neighbourhoods, warned that it would consider participants, sponsors and spectators as regime allies and declared that it would not accept blame for “any violent reaction” during the event. The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights has pledged to use the expected presence of foreign tourists and journalists to highlight human rights violations; the government’s 15 April arrest of human rights activists shows that it will try hard to prevent this.

Despite internal disagreements over the wisdom of proceeding with the Grand Prix, and amid repeated opposition calls to cancel, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the Formula 1 governing body, gave its definitive go-ahead on 13 April. The regime is trying to make the competition a symbol of national unity and is banking on it symbolising a return to stability. Instead it is underscoring deep divides and risks further inflaming the situation.

The second time bomb relates to the fate of Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, a well-known human rights activist. Charged with attempting to overthrow the regime due to his participation in last year’s demonstrations, he has been on a hunger strike since 8 February to protest his conviction and obtain his release. Despite a groundswell of support for his cause in Bahrain and around the world, the regime has not relented. His death likely would spark a serious intensification in anti-regime activism.

The only path out of the current crisis is a return to dialogue and negotiations over real political reforms, much as the Bassiouni Report suggested. The regime has shown little enthusiasm for talks – not least because its Sunni supporters oppose them, fearing that any accommodation of the opposition’s proposals could jeopardise their privileged status. Both of them insist that violence must end before dialogue can begin. The opposition argues in turn that the regime is unserious about resuming talks, let alone reforms; that it torpedoed secret negotiations held in February by leaking them to the public; and that it failed to follow up on demands put forward by the opposition a month later at the government’s request.

To break this stalemate and move forward, the government should fully implement the Bassiouni Report’s recommendations, releasing all political prisoners (including Alkhawaja) and holding senior officials accountable for excessive force and torture. It also must begin reforming the security forces, ensuring they fully reflect Bahrain’s make-up by integrating members of all communities. For its part, the opposition should abjure violence more explicitly than in the past and declare its readiness to participate in a dialogue on reform without preconditions.

The alternative is a serious escalation in violence and the empowerment of hardliners on both sides. It is quite clear where such a process would begin. It is far less clear where it might end. …source

A Bahraini-Danish citizen nears death
by Lotte Leicht – European Voice – 13 April, 2012

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a long-time human-rights defender and a citizen of Denmark and Bahrain, is on the verge of death in a prison hospital in Bahrain. He has been on a hunger strike since 8 February in protest at the government’s unlawful detention of peaceful activists, like himself, who dared to challenge the al-Khalifa family’s monopoly on political and economic power in Bahrain.

Late last month, Bahrain’s King Hamad said that the government had implemented the recommendations of the independent commission headed by Cherif Bassiouni, a renowned Egyptian law professor, that looked into serious rights violations in the government’s crackdown against pro-democracy protesters last year.

If that were true, al-Khawaja would be free today. The commission said the government should annul all military-court convictions for exercising the rights to free speech and peaceful assembly. The government refuses, in part because it would mean freeing al-Khawaja and others like him.

He is dying alone because powerful international actors such as the United States and the EU are not speaking out against Bahrain’s serious human-rights violations. While Denmark has mounted a very public effort to have its citizen returned on humanitarian grounds, the rest of the international community has remained shamefully silent.

Al-Khawaja lived in Denmark for many years in political exile and became a citizen there before returning to Bahrain in 2001. Bahrain’s Supreme Judicial Council – a body chaired by the king and part of the institutional shell game that passes for rule of law in Bahrain – declared that al-Khawaja’s case did not meet the “specific conditions” required by Bahraini law for fulfilling Denmark’s request to let him leave on humanitarian grounds. It did not say what those conditions were.

Unfair trial

Al-Khawaja was sentenced to life in prison by military-appointed judges in the service of the ruling al-Khalifa family. His grossly unfair trial violated Bahraini law, as well as international standards of due process.

When arrested he was beaten so severely that his jaw and face were fractured in four places. In court, he said he was subjected to additional torture in detention and threats of sexual assault.

Where is the collective outrage when an EU citizen is left to die for peacefully advocating for respect for human rights, democracy, and the rule of law? The EU’s commitment to support human-rights defenders is an established element of the EU’s external relations policy.

It is beginning to look like Bahrain’s ruling family has calculated correctly that its close allies in Washington, London, and Brussels do not care enough about al-Khawaja to risk challenging al-Khalifa hard-liners and their Saudi allies by publicly pushing for his release or by making clear that Bahrain’s continued stonewalling will have a price. …more

Bahrain arrests protest leaders as Grand Prix nears
16 April, 2012 – Al-Akhbar

Bahraini forces are arresting protest leaders across the country and detaining them without charge in a bid to prevent disruption at the Formula One Grand Prix next weekend, senior human rights activists have said.

The country is due to host the race on Sunday, but has been hit by pro-democracy protests calling for it to be cancelled.

Dozens of protesters have been arrested, with many expected to be held without charge until the race is over, activists have said.

Two American representatives of Human Rights Watch were detained on Sunday whilst attending a protest against the race.

They were held for four hours along with Said Yousif, the deputy head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), before being released.

Yousif said they had fled the protests after the arrival of heavily-armed riot police, but had been targeted by the security services.

“I took the Americans to a close house and they came to us inside the home and sprayed something on our face – one of them beat me on my back and after that they took us to a police car,” he told Al-Akhbar. …source

F1: No one in F1 wants to go to Bahrain
motorsport.com – 16 April, 2012

Kevin Eason has admitted he was harangued by the low-profile FIA president Jean Todt in Shanghai last weekend, after a series of articles criticizing the decision to plough ahead with the grand prix.

“Todt admitted that he will have to live with his decision,” wrote Eason, “and he will be in Bahrain to oversee events at the grand prix.”

The British journalist insisted, however, that he has “talked at length to team personnel, team principals, secretaries, motor home catering staff, public relations men — and I cannot find anyone who truly wants to go to Bahrain.”

One female member of Williams’ catering staff has had her contract terminated for refusing to go to Bahrain on moral grounds.

But the Austrian legend Niki Lauda said he has no qualms.

When asked if he’s travelling from Shanghai to Bahrain to work as usual as a pundit for German television RTL, he insisted: “Yes of course.

“The FIA and Ecclestone have made a decision, as they believe it is safe enough to go. So we go.”

On Monday, a photo emerged on the internet showing protesters burning down the largest F1 billboard on capital Manama’s main highway.

It is also reported that a teenage boy is lying in intensive care after being shot by Bahrain police at a funeral.

“Nobody has been shot,” F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone snapped at a reporter for AFP news agency in China. “What are you talking about?”

The reporter said: “He (Ecclestone) then swore and stormed off.”

…source

Bahrain’s slow burn
13 April, 2012 – By Editorial Board – Washington Post

Between an autocratic Arab regime and a popular opposition is slowly worsening. Violence in Bahrain, a Persian Gulf emirate, has killed only a few score in the last year, compared with more than 9,000killed in Syria. But in many respects its uprising resembles that of Syria: The ruling al-Khalifa family, from the Sunni minority, has repeatedly promised, and failed to deliver, political reforms to empower the long-repressed Shiite majority.

Between them, Syria and Bahrain are revealing about Middle East politics. Saudi Arabia, which has led the calls for democratic regime change in Sunni-majority Syria, sent troops to back up the Bahraini autocracy last year. Shiite Iran, which is the strongest defender of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, is calling for democracy in Bahrain.

The United States ought to provide the exception to this sectarian cynicism. President Obama has pledged to support democratic transitions across the region and, in several speeches, has called for reform in Bahrain as well as in Syria. But the administration also has its pragmatic interests: Bahrain is a close military ally, the host of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet and a key partner in the U.S. strategy for repelling potential Iranian aggression in the Persian Gulf.

The administration has consequently soft-pedaled its calls for change in Bahrain, supporting not regime change nor democracy but “a genuine dialogue leading to meaningful reforms,” as a White House statement on Wednesday put it. Washington’s leverage probably explains some of the regime’s more conciliatory actions, such as the appointment of an independent commission last year that reported on abuses by the security forces and recommended reforms. Still, the regime’s slowness to enact meaningful change and continued persecution of opponents have led the political situation to worsen, rather than improve. In two alarming episodes this week, an improvised explosive device attack on a police checkpoint was followed by the ransacking of a Shiite-owned shopping center by a Sunni mob. …more

editor: As “Three Days of Rage” ensue one can only hope the F1 teams that naively chose to attend the Bahrain “race of shame”, will come to realize the pack of lies fed them by the FIA, Eccleston and King Hamad. Complicit in the lies and greed are the media who have become the great enabler of such lies by their silence about the situation of torture, murder, rape and abuse by MOI polices and other hired security personnel. Bahrain is rapidly becoming the stain on the US State Department and UK Foreign Ministry. So shameful and egregious are the crimes and abuse against the Bahrainis that Western complicity as enablers of such abuse can longer be ignored or tolerated. Either the Western governments goal is to agitate violence from a restrained and largely peaceful opposition or in its ineptitude it is creating an environment and condition the preceded the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979.

One has to wonder if there is something more sinister aloft in Bahrain, perhaps agitation of a Gulf Crisis as a provocation for more aggressive response from Iran? What is even more curious is the lay-down, subservient behavior from the Western liberals and left. Aside from some seemly obligatory articles of support in the more progressive blogs, they seem to be cowed in some sort of “Fearful Stupor” or the less paralyzed seem caught-up as cheerleaders in the prelude to a civil-war in Syria being agitated by “friendly” Al Qaeda wings, that were restored after the killing of Osama Bin Laden and are working again at the employ of their previous Masters in the CIA. Phlipn.

Bahraini security forces have frequently shown a reckless disregard for human life during crackdowns on protesters. Firing birdshot pellets at close range is not crowd control – it can be murder. Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch

Bahrain: Investigate Deaths Linked to Crackdown
29 March, 2011 – Human Rights Watch

(Manama) – The Bahraini government should urgently investigate the killing of at least 18 people during violent crackdowns since protests began on February 14, 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. Most were killed by security forces using excessive force, namely crowd-control equipment at extremely close range and live gunfire, Human Rights Watch said. Four government security officers were also killed, according to the Interior Ministry.

The authorities admitted holding four missing persons in the Bahrain Defense Force hospital only after they had succumbed to their injuries. This raises serious concerns regarding the missing persons’ treatment and whether authorities are holding other people without notifying their families, Human Rights Watch said.

“Bahraini security forces have frequently shown a reckless disregard for human life during crackdowns on protesters,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Firing birdshot pellets at close range is not crowd control – it can be murder.”

At least 15 people have died since riot police and troops initiated a second round of offensives against anti-government protesters on March 15, Human Rights Watch said. They include Ahmed Farhan, age 24, and Mohammed Eklas, a 50 year-old Bangladeshi citizen, who died in Sitra on March 15. Photographs of Farhan’s body show the back of his head blown open and an empty brain cavity, suggesting that he had been shot at close range. According to media reports, Eklas was run over by a vehicle while trying to help some women during the crackdown, but Human Rights Watch could not independently verify this account. …more

Bahrain: Ongoing repression against political prisoners
2 February, 2012 – UNHCR

FIDH expresses its utmost concern about acts of continued repression on political prisoners that have entered in a hunger strike to protest their continued arbitrary detention as well as the deteriorating human rights situation in the country.

FIDH has been informed that around 250 political prisoners started a widespread national hunger strike on January 29, 2012, after the prominent 14 political and human rights activists, who were arbitrarily detained since March 2011 [1], announced they will begin a hunger strike in the central Jaw prison.

According to the information received, as a response to the hunger strike, part number 4 of the central Jaw prison where the above-mentioned detainees are kept, was reportedly teargassed. A number of them were severely beaten and others were put in solitary confinement. Moreover, those detainees are no longer allowed to make any phone calls, and continue to be denied access to the designated outdoors areas of the prison.

After detainees from the Dry Docks prison announced that they would join the hunger strike, a number of prisoners from different areas in Bahrain were reportedly told that they would be released if they plead for the King’s forgiveness, in addition to saying that they are against the strike and the protests. A number of those who had refused to do so were reportedly beaten severely to the extent that they had to be transferred to the hospital. Some of them called their families informing they were forced to give apologies on camera.

FIDH calls upon the Bahraini authorities to take all necessary measures to put an end to these acts of repression and to order a prompt, effective, thorough, independent and impartial investigation into the above-mentioned acts, where as the result of which must be made public, and those responsible of such acts must be held accountable.

Those political activists and human rights defenders were condemned before military courts in the context of the repression against peaceful protesters. They were handed down harsh sentences including life imprisonment. FIDH, along with other international human rights organisations, has repeatedly denounced the violations of fair trial guarantees during these proceedings. Furthermore, FIDH recalls that pursuant to recommendation N°1720 of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report [2] , “all convictions and sentences rendered by the National Security Courts where fundamental principles of a fair trial […] were not respected” must be reviewed in ordinary courts.

Moreover, FIDH is deeply concerned by the deteriorating situation in the country since the release last November of the BICI report and in particular regarding the ongoing disproportionate use of force and the excessive use of tear gas by the security forces which has led to several deaths over the past weeks. …more

Censorship in pole position
13 April, 2012 – Reporters without Borders

Reporters Without Borders is launching a campaign and a petition condemning the appallingly repressive policies of King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa’s government since the start of the Arab spring and its current propaganda focus on the Formula One Grand Prix that is to be held in Bahrain from 20 to 22 April.

Foreign reporters have been banned from entering the country since pro-democracy protests began in February 2011. Netizens and journalists, especially photographers, are systematically harassed when they go to demonstrations. There have been countless cases of violence, imprisonment, prosecutions and convictions targeting journalists.

According to the London-based Bahrain Press Association, there have been more than 140 cases of arrests, torture or dismissals of journalists since February 2011. Torture of detainees is widely practiced. Smear campaigns are waged against human rights activists. Two netizens and a media owner have died for defending the right to report the news.

Website filtering has been widened in order to block all content linked to the street demonstrations. Streaming websites that allow video to be streamed in real-time have been blocked. Suppressing photos and video of the unrest has become a question of survival for the regime. It does not want any information about the protests and its brutal crackdown to get out. Nothing must be allowed to alert the international community.

With the direct help of several Gulf neighbours and thanks to the international community’s astonishing silence, the regime is at the same time trying to improve its image and is stepping up diplomatic and public relations initiatives designed to portray Bahrain as a model of political stability and social progress. Let’s prevent any victory for censorship. …source