Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and Bahrain’s Political Prisoners
Tahiyya Lulu = 11 APril, 2012 – Jadaliyya

There are currently an estimated six hundred political prisoners in Bahrain, as a result of the regime’s ruthless retaliation against a popular uprising that started in February 2011. 397 citizens are thought to be currently serving sentences delivered by military and civilian courts that fall far short of international standards for fair trials.

On Saturday, 7 April 2012, one of these prisoners was transferred to a prison clinic after allegedly losing twenty-five percent of his body weight as the result of a hunger strike begun on 8 February 2012. Fifty-one-year-old human rights defender Abdulhadi al-Khawaja has reportedly said: “My hunger strike is a part of my human rights defense inside jail. It’s very important to focus on all detainees as I’m just a part of them. I will continue with my hunger strike until I reach my demands despite the consequences. I’m aware that freedom is expensive and we must sacrifice to gain it.”

The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), paid for by the government itself and led by Professor Emeritus at De Paul University M. Cherif Bassiouni, found wide-ranging and grave violations of prisoners’ human rights committed by government personnel. These include, but are not limited to, civilian deaths attributed to security forces, arbitrary detention, destruction and theft of property on arrest, prisoner injuries consistent with torture, and a deliberate practice of mistreatment by state agents. What is also notable about the BICI is that it does not call for the release of political prisoners.

Al-Khawaja, a pioneer of human rights work in Bahrain, is serving a life sentence alongside other notable dissidents for “plotting to overthrow the government.” A founding member of the prolific Bahrain Center for Human Rights, al-Khawaja worked most recently as a regional representative for Ireland-based Frontline Defenders and previously as a consultant for Amnesty International.

According to his daughter Zainab al-Khawaja, masked security personnel arrested her father on 8 April 2011 after attacking him and dragging his unconscious body out of her home. As described in the BICI report Case no. 8, Al Khawaja suffered physical abuse and sexual assault in prison, as well as threats of execution and harm to members of his family. He was due to be tried in a civilian court on 2 April, but reports now suggest that the trial has been postponed to 23 April.

As an individual case, al-Khawaja’s hunger strike has led to a resurgence of international media attention in Bahrain at a crucial time: the government is trying desperately to shift focus toward the upcoming Formula 1 Grand Prix in a bid to salvage its reputation. The media spotlight comes partly as a result of al-Khawaja’s public persona as a longtime and high-profile human rights defender, but also due to concerted campaigns on social media networks and an upsurge in street action. Protesters dispersed violently by state security forces last weekend chanted for his release. The majority of media coverage, however, lacks perspective, presenting the issue as one man on a hunger strike without due recognition of the background which led him to take this action. …more

Human rights groups press Obama on Bahrain
By Josh Rogin – 11 April, 2012 – Foreign Policy

Several NGOs have written to U.S. President Barack Obama demanding he weigh in on the case of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, the jailed Bahraini human rights activist who they say may die soon due to an ongoing hunger strike.

“We write to urge you to publicly call on the Government of Bahrain to immediately and unconditionally release from prison Abdulhadi al-Khawaja. Al-Khawaja is a Bahraini human rights defender and democracy activist who may soon die, as he has been on a hunger strike for more than two months,” reads an April 9 letter signed by Amnesty International, 3P Human Security, Physicians for Human Rights, Freedom House, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, Just Foreign Policy, the Project on Middle East Democracy, the Foreign Policy Initiative, the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center, Citizens for Global Solutions, and Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain.

Khawaja has been a human rights and democracy activist in Bahrain for decades, having been exiled to Denmark during most of the 1980s and allowed to return to Bahrain with his family in 1991. His daughter Maryam, who lives in Bahrain, is one of the leaders of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and has actively spoken out against the Bahrain government’s actions against peaceful protesters since the current bout of unrest began in February 2011.

He was arrested in April 2011 and two months later sentenced to life in prison in a group trial with 20 other activists before a military court. The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) later stated that the trials did not meet international standards of due process.

The human rights groups allege that Khawaja was tortured in prison and was subsequently admitted to a military hospital, where he has undergone multiple surgeries due to a broken jaw and a cracked skull. He began his hunger strike in February.

“The evidence is clear that Al-Khawaja and others were sentenced in violation of their rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association, which are protected under international law,” they wrote. “We are deeply concerned about the health of human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, and respectfully request that the United States urge the Government of Bahrain to release Al-Khawaja immediately, and allow him to travel abroad, including for medical treatment, if he wishes to do so.” …more

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
11 April, 2012
Statement by the Press Secretary on the Situation in Bahrain

The United States continues to be deeply concerned about the situation in Bahrain, and we urge all parties to reject violence in all its forms. We condemn the violence directed against police and government institutions, including recent incidents that have resulted in serious injuries to police officers. We also call on the police to exercise maximum restraint, and condemn the use of excessive force and indiscriminate use of tear gas against protestors, which has resulted in civilian casualties.

We continue to underscore, both to the government and citizens of Bahrain, the importance of working together to address the underlying causes of mistrust and to promote reconciliation. In this respect, we note our continued concern for the well-being of jailed activist Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and call on the Government of Bahrain to consider urgently all available options to resolve his case. More broadly, we urge the government to redouble its ongoing efforts to implement the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, and renew our call for the government, opposition parties, and all segments of Bahraini society to engage in a genuine dialogue leading to meaningful reforms that address the legitimate aspirations of all Bahrainis.
…source

Bahrain Grand Prix’s future in doubt amid mounting pressure over continued violence and fears for health of hunger striker

Bahrain activists call on BBC and Sky to boycott Formula One race The Guardian – 11 April, 2012

The BBC and Sky have been called upon to boycott the Bahrain Grand Prix as organizers face mounting pressure over the Formula One race due to be staged in the troubled Gulf state on 22 April.

Prominent human rights activists said they want broadcast organizations not to air the race, if it goes ahead, given recent events in the country.

The call comes as sources told BBC Sport that a number of teams have indicated they expect the race to be called off amid safety concerns following a recent spike in violence in Bahrain over calls for democratic reform.

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone said on Tuesday that no teams had expressed concerns to him, but added that if any team did pull out it would be a breach of contract.

But the Formula One Teams’ Association (Fota) has said the decision over whether or not to cancel is one for the sport’s governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). The teams are due to meet Ecclestone in Shanghai at the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend.

Concerns over the fate of an imprisoned anti-government activist, as well as continued demands for reforms from Bahrain’s Shia majority from its Sunni monarchy, have led to calls for the race to be cancelled. Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, 52, has been on hunger strike for 63 days.

His daughter Zainab al-Khawaja, told the Guardian: “If the Formula One does come to Bahrain, despite calls from the Bahraini people and activists for it to be cancelled, then we would like to see that there are people supporting our cause, and who would not broadcast this race.

“Bringing Formula One, putting all these ads everywhere, celebration, celebration, celebration, while people are suffocating in their villages from teargas, while a marcher dies just two weeks ago and while my father is dying in a military hospital is just sending the message to the people of Bahrain that nothing has changed.”

Dr Ala’a Shehabi, an activist who has been in communication with Ecclestone over the race’s future, said she was writing to the BBC and Sky. “Formula One is all about advertising, marketing, it’s more about the commercial side than the actual sport itself.

“So we know that in broadcasting, you’re encouraging all of the commercial interests in the sport which puts finance over human rights. That is what the major moral issue is here. So, if we can target the broadcasters, we can at least cut some of the possibility of profits made from advertising, at least.

“We will be asking them [the broadcasters] to examine their endorsement of Formula One. If they stay unquestioned, they won’t think twice about broadcasting.”

The BBC, which share broadcast rights in the UK with Sky until 2018, said in a statement: “As the race had been officially sanctioned by the FIA we would expect to cover the events as part of our contractual obligations. However, we are in regular communication with the FIA and will be monitoring the situation closely.”

Sky had no comment.

Bahrain has a contract until 2016 to stage the grand prix, but rules state that any race cancelled two years running cannot be put back on the calender. The authorities, which cancelled the race in 2011 owing to political unrest during the Arab spring, show no indication of doing so this year.

This week, Bahrains’ interior ministry said seven policemen were injured by a homemade bomb on Monday in Eker, a village outside the capital, Manama. The government blamed protesters calling for Khawaja’s release, and described the bombing as “an act of terrorism”.

On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that mobs with iron rods and sticks ransacked a supermarket belonging to a major Shia-owned business group. The agency said the attack appeared linked to a series of reprisals and intimidation by suspected Sunni groups angered by the 14-month-old uprising.

Fears for the health of Khawaja, a Bahrain-Danish human rights activist and co-founder of the Bahrain Human Rights Centre who was imprisoned a year ago, grew after his family and lawyer said they had been denied contact for three days earlier this week. Amnesty International has called for his release, and UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, has urged Bahrain to re-consider its refusal to allow Denmark to take custody of him.

His daughter said she “got a very short call” from her father on Wednesday, after he agreed to “drink some water” if they allowed him to “let us know he was still alive”.

“He sounded very weak. We are happy we heard his voice, but we don’t know where it is going to go from here. Today is the 63rd day of his hunger strike,” she said. ..source

Robert Fisk: Why no outcry over these torturing tyrants?
14 May, 2011 – The Indpendent

Christopher Hill, a former US secretary of state for east Asia who was ambassador to Iraq – and usually a very obedient and un-eloquent American diplomat – wrote the other day that “the notion that a dictator can claim the sovereign right to abuse his people has become unacceptable”.

Unless, of course – and Mr Hill did not mention this – you happen to live in Bahrain. On this tiny island, a Sunni monarchy, the al-Khalifas, rule a majority Shia population and have responded to democratic protests with death sentences, mass arrests, the imprisonment of doctors for letting patients die after protests and an “invitation” to Saudi forces to enter the country. They have also destroyed dozens of Shia mosques with all the thoroughness of a 9/11 pilot. But then, let’s remember that most of the 9/11 killers were indeed Saudis.

And what do we get for it? Silence. Silence in the US media, largely silence in the European press, silence from our own beloved CamerClegg and of course from the White House. And – shame of shame – silence from the Arabs who know where their bread is buttered. That means, of course, also silence from al-Jazeera. I often appear on their otherwise excellent Arabic and English editions, but their failure to mention Bahrain is shameful, a dollop of shit in the dignity that they have brought to reporting in the Middle East. The Emir of Qatar – I know him and like him very much – does not need to belittle his television empire in this way.

CamerClegg is silent, of course, because Bahrain is one of our “friends” in the Gulf, an eager arms buyer, home to thousands of Brit expatriates who – during the mini-revolution by Bahrain’s Shia – spent their time writing vicious letters to the local pro-Khalifa press denouncing Western journalists. And as for the demonstrators, I recall a young Shia woman telling me that if only the Crown Prince would come to the Pearl Roundabout and talk with the protesters, they would carry him on their shoulders around the square. I believed her. But he didn’t come. Instead, he destroyed their mosques and claimed the protests were an Iranian plot – which was never the case – and destroyed the statue of the pearl at the roundabout, thus deforming the very history of his own country.

Obama, needless to say, has his own reasons for silence. Bahrain hosts the US Fifth Fleet and the Americans don’t want to be shoved out of their happy little port (albeit that they could up-sticks and move to the UAE or Qatar anytime they wish) and want to defend Bahrain from mythical Iranian aggression. So you won’t find La Clinton, so keen to abuse the Assad family, saying anything bad about the al-Khalifas. Why on earth not? Are we all in debt to the Gulf Arabs? They are honourable people and understand when criticism is said with good faith. But no, we are silent. Even when Bahraini students in Britain are deprived of their grants because they protested outside their London embassy, we are silent. CamerClegg, shame on you. …more

editor: Please note the Bahrain News Agency is a State Apparatus. It is notorious for distortion and lies and has a history of misstatements that have been flatly denied by those it quoted and has been in numerous scandals over information it has released. Since we have not other source of information regarding AlKhawaja’s health at this hour its “the best available information”. Phlipn.

Preliminary medical report of Al Khawaja
10 April, 2102 – Bahrain News Agency

Manama, April 10 (BNA) — Chief Prosecutor and Attorney General Abdulrahman Al Sayed stated today that within the Public Prosecution’s efforts in safeguarding all defendants of different cases, as soon as it was notified of Abdulhadi Al Khawaja’s hunger strike, an official was referred to discuss reasons of the defendant’s strike and assigned the supervising doctor to follow-up on his case and reviewed all his medical report.

And here is the following content of the medical report:

The Government of Bahrain Commissioned two international independent experts to conduct an evaluation of the medical condition of Abulhadi Al Khawaja of who has been on hunger strike for more than 55 days at the time of their request, and this was the reason for this medical assignment.

The undersigned medical experts visited Abdulhadi Al Khawja on 8th as well as the 9th April 2012 on the premises of the Bahrain Defence Force Royal Medical Services hospital. Where he was hospitalised on the second floor of the new hospital since April 5th around 11.00 pm. He stated he did not want to be hospitalised in this hospital because he did have some bad memories of the previous hospitalisation approximately one yeara ago.

Clinical examination :
During the clinical examination we saw a cachectiv somewhat pale man. His weight was 51.5 kg and his height 172 cm, his blood pressure 100 / 68 mm HG, pulse 64, respiration rate 21/min and body temprature 36.8c.

He seemed well and ws cooperative, quite coherent, well oriented in time, place and person. He was able to move around and stand normally for some time , and able to move around and stand normally for some time, and able to read and write.

He was also able to comprehend and respond to our conversation in a normal way. He stated that he had lost approximately 10 kg since he started his current hunger strike. Compared to his wight prior to his detention in 2011 he stated it to be 7 kg more, as at that time his regular weight was 67 kilograms , however neither in medical file of the Bahrain Defence Force Royal Medica Service hospital in April 2011, nor in the medical file of the prison his weight was recorded at the time of his admission.

Al Khawaja has commenced this hunger strike on Janaury 30th 2012 (so it is lasting now more than 60 days) During the current hospitalisation he has been accepting to receive intravenous fluids as well as medication to increase his pottasium level. he has not been continuously on a total fast. During this hospitalisation both orally taken fluids as well as the fluids given intravenously are recorded in his files.

Previously he was also taking oral rehydration solutions prescribed by his treating physician Dr. Kamal.
He did not complain of any symptoms related to the upper or lower gastro – intenstinal tract, and he had neither vertigo (dizziness)nor diplopia (double vision) or blurring vision. His hand writing was also normal.

His clinical examination showed fairly normal vial signs, with no signs of skin lesion, his fat tissue (which is normally present under the skin) was totally disappeared. There were no signs of the pedal oedema. Local cardiopulmonary and abdominal examinations were also undermarkable.

His mental health examination showed signs and symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder.
Laboratory assessments and investigations The blood tests taken during our examination showed normal renal function and blood electrolytes, and a normal serum uric acid level.

his red cell blood count showed a mild normacytic normochromic anaemia decrease. His white cell showed blood count showed a decrease. His serum bilirubin showed a mild elevation , with the indirect fraction being higher however , the patients supervisor clinician stated that this is related to Gilbert syndrome which is fmilial inherited disease . He gave on history of sickle cell disease .

The computerised tomography of the brain, chest X-rays as well as sonography of his heart, his abdonmen (including liver and kidneys) were all normal , except for the liver which was described as a fatty liver.

The report concluded the health condition of Al Khawaja has been severely deteriorated since his detention last year.

Since he started this hunger strike he has lost between 10 to 11 kg of body weight as documented in his files compared to the 62 kg when he started the hunger strike on Janaury 30th 2012.

his laboratory results over the period prior to this examination showed specially verly low blood sugars and low pottasium which might be dangerous when no proper medical assessment or treatment is available.

Moreover, he is prone to infections due to his low white blood cell count. his current medical satus is stable , after he has been stabilised over the past week.

If he countinues to a hunger strike and does not allow any medical interference his life will be in serious danger.

If he is transferred will back to the prison, he would need daily monitoring of his health and clinical status and the same specialist treatment as he currently receives in the Bahrain Defence Force Royal medical Services hospital.

EM …source

Kuwait: Writer imprisoned
11 April, 2012 – Xindex

Kuwaiti writer Mohamed al-Melify was jailed for seven years on Monday on charges of spreading false statements via Twitter. He was arrested last February, and the Kuwait Criminal Court found him guilty of spreading false news about sectarian divisions in the country and publishing insults about Shiism, in addition to charges of libel and defaming a member of the Kuwaiti National Assembly, Ahmed Lari. …source

A poem by antimilitarist writer Gunter Grass, published in the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, has sparked a storm of controversy in the Western world. Yet the author only limited himself to stating the facts: Iran has no nuclear bombs while Israel is in possession of an illegal nuclear arsenal. The virulence of the attacks unleashed against the Nobel Prize laureate would appear to bear no relation to the text, which merely repeats what has already been stated by U.S. intelligence chiefs: that Iran is not developing a nuclear weapons program. In reality, such virulence reflects the edginess of the political-media system, now that the extent of their involvement in the industry of lies and war is out in the open. …source

What Must Be Said

Why do I stay silent, conceal for too long
What clearly is and has been
Practiced in war games, at the end of which we as survivors
Are at best footnotes.

It is the alleged right to first strike
That could annihilate the Iranian people–
Enslaved by a loud-mouth
And guided to organized jubilation–
Because in their territory,
It is suspected, a bomb is being built.

Yet why do I forbid myself
To name that other country
In which, for years, even if secretly,
There has been a growing nuclear potential at hand
But beyond control, because no inspection is available?

The universal concealment of these facts,
To which my silence subordinated itself,
I sense as incriminating lies
And force–the punishment is promised
As soon as it is ignored;
The verdict of “anti-Semitism” is familiar.

Now, though, because in my country
Which from time to time has sought and confronted
Its very own crime
That is without compare
In turn on a purely commercial basis, if also
With nimble lips calling it a reparation, declares
A further U-boat should be delivered to Israel,
Whose specialty consists of guiding all-destroying warheads to where the existence
Of a single atomic bomb is unproven,
But as a fear wishes to be conclusive,
I say what must be said.

Why though have I stayed silent until now?
Because I thought my origin,
Afflicted by a stain never to be expunged
Kept the state of Israel, to which I am bound
And wish to stay bound,
From accepting this fact as pronounced truth.

Why do I say only now,
Aged and with my last ink,
That the nuclear power of Israel endangers
The already fragile world peace?
Because it must be said
What even tomorrow may be too late to say;
Also because we–as Germans burdened enough–
Could be the suppliers to a crime
That is foreseeable, wherefore our complicity
Could not be redeemed through any of the usual excuses.

And granted: I am silent no longer
Because I am tired of the hypocrisy
Of the West; in addition to which it is to be hoped
That this will free many from silence,
That they may prompt the perpetrator of the recognized danger
To renounce violence and
Likewise insist
That an unhindered and permanent control
Of the Israeli nuclear potential
And the Iranian nuclear sites
Be authorized through an international agency
By the governments of both countries.

Only this way are all, the Israelis and Palestinians,
Even more, all people, that in this
Region occupied by mania
Live cheek by jowl among enemies,
And also us, to be helped.

“Those who said that the Egyptian revolution was peaceful did not see the horrors that police visited upon us, nor did they see the resistance and even force that revolutionaries used against the police to defend their tentative occupations and spaces: by the government’s own admission, 99 police stations were put to the torch, thousands of police cars were destroyed, and all of the ruling party’s offices around Egypt were burned down. Barricades were erected, officers were beaten back and pelted with rocks even as they fired tear gas and live ammunition on us . . . if the state had given up immediately we would have been overjoyed, but as they sought to abuse us, beat us, kill us, we knew that there was no other option than to fight back.” – Solidarity statement from Cairo to Occupy Wall Street, October 24, 2011

The Illegitimacy of Violence, the Violence of Legitimacy
CrimethInc. Ex-workers Collective

What is violence? Who gets to define it? Does it have a place in the pursuit of liberation? These age-old questions have returned to the fore during the Occupy movement. But this discussion never takes place on a level playing field; while some delegitimize violence, the language of legitimacy itself paves the way for the authorities to employ it.

“Though lines of police on horses, and with dogs, charged the main street outside the police station to push rioters back, there were significant pockets of violence which they could not reach.” – The New York Times, on the UK riots of August 2011

During the 2001 FTAA summit in Quebec City, one newspaper famously reported that violence erupted when protesters began throwing tear gas canisters back at the lines of riot police. When the authorities are perceived to have a monopoly on the legitimate use of force, “violence” is often used to denote illegitimate use of force—anything that interrupts or escapes their control. This makes the term something of a floating signifier, since it is also understood to mean “harm or threat that violates consent.”

This is further complicated by the ways our society is based on and permeated by harm or threat that violates consent. In this sense, isn’t it violent to live on colonized territory, destroying ecosystems through our daily consumption and benefitting from economic relations that are forced on others at gunpoint? Isn’t it violent for armed guards to keep food and land, once a commons shared by all, from those who need them? Is it more violent to resist the police who evict people from their homes, or to stand aside while people are made homeless? Is it more violent to throw tear gas canisters back at police, or to denounce those who throw them back as “violent,” giving police a free hand to do worse?

In this state of affairs, there is no such thing as nonviolence—the closest we can hope to come is to negate the harm or threat posed by the proponents of top-down violence. And when so many people are invested in the privileges this violence affords them, it’s naïve to think that we could defend ourselves and others among the dispossessed without violating the wishes of at least a few bankers and landlords. So instead of asking whether an action is violent, we might do better to ask simply: does it counteract power disparities, or reinforce them?

This is the fundamental anarchist question. We can ask it in every situation; every further question about values, tactics, and strategy proceeds from it. When the question can be framed thus, why would anyone want to drag the debate back to the dichotomy of violence and nonviolence?

The discourse of violence and nonviolence is attractive above all because it offers an easy way to claim the higher moral ground. This makes it seductive both for criticizing the state and for competing against other activists for influence. But in a hierarchical society, gaining the higher ground often reinforces hierarchy itself. …more

Thugs or Groupies? Highlighting Issues of Police Discrimination in Bahrain
11 April, 2012 – Marc Owen Jones – marcowenjones.wordpress.com

In what was apparently a display of solidarity with Bahrain’s security forces, hundreds of pro-regime Sunnis ended up at Alba roundabout to protest against what the Ministry of Interior described as a ‘terrorist blast’ in the village of Al-Eker. The explosion, which injured 7 policeman, has already resulted in the arrest of 4 people following a dawn raid on the village. Al-Wefaq reported that the sister of one of those arrested had her shoulder broken when security forces attacked the family during the raid.

Such reports of heavy-handed policing are of course commonplace in Bahrain, but to what extent are they selective, and to what extent are the security forces just an instrument used to prop up ‘Sunni hegemony’ in Bahrain (Strobl, 2011). Although the answer to that question is self evident for many, the events of last night and the past week provide a very good snapshot of how the police in Bahrain operate, for they illustrate how the MOI deal with crime when it is carried out by those who support the regime.

Firstly, despite the presence of hundreds of pro-regime supporters at a roundabout, the security forces seemed reluctant to commit the same excessive force they employ when dealing with anti-government protests. The video shows civilians overturning and smashing up the car of a man who reportedly honked ‘down with Hamad’. It is sometime before the security forces intervene, despite the considerable amount of time it would have taken to damage the car. This photo even shows a man standing on the upturned vehicle.

A number of people then proceeded to attack 24 Hour Supermarket, a property owned by Jawads Group, a company frequently targeted by some pro-regime elements after they were accused of giving out free food to those at the Pearl Roundabout. Indeed, this report from the 2nd April 2012 states that Jawads owned properties had suffered 54 attacks on their premises since March last year. Some of the attackers even appeared to have firearms. …more

Several villages attacked; Bahraini dies after inhaling toxic gas
11 April, 2012 – Shia Post

Pro-government thugs in Bahrain have attacked several villages near the capital, Manama, and Bahraini has died due to asphyxia after inhaling poisonous tear gas fired by Saudi-backed regime forces as Manama’s brutal crackdown on protests continue.

The victim, identified as Abdul Rasoul Hassan Ismail, died after inhaling toxic gas fired on his house in the village of Karbabad last week.

Several Bahraini civilians, mostly senior citizens and kids, have died due to the misuse of tear gas against protesters by regime forces.

Meanwhile, Bahraini authorities continue to defy national and international calls to release prominent rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike for over two months and is feared to be on the verge of death.

Witnesses said on Wednesday that hundreds of regime thugs wielding knives and sticks attacked a number of Shia villages overnight, beating residents and damaging their properties.

Some reports suggest that the attackers were responding to messages posted online to avenge a bomb attack that injured seven policemen in the area two days earlier.

Activists, however, say the bombing was orchestrated by the regime itself to justify its brutality against protest areas.

Bahrain’s largest opposition group al-Wefaq says security forces did nothing to stop the attackers, who were in civilian clothes.

“The security forces did not carry out their duty, they did not disperse the (assailants) or prevent them from attacking citizens,” al-Wefaq statement said, adding that authorities must “deal with these militias.”

The latest development comes amid escalating tensions in the Persian Gulf country over the deteriorating health of jailed prominent human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who is on hunger strike to protest against the life sentence handed to him and Manama’s ongoing crackdown on protests.

Bahrainis have held several demonstrations in support of Khawaja after he started his strike in February, urging the government to release him.

Amnesty International has also called for the ‘immediate and unconditional release’ of al-Khawaja, considering him a ‘prisoner of conscience, detained solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression’. …source

Iranian Scientist Produces Smart Anti-Cancer Medicine
Jafria News – 11 April, 2012

JNN: Iranian researcher Dr. Omid Farrokhzad of Harvard Medical School has produced a smart cancer drug that is capable of targeting cancer cells in animals.

Farrokhzad and his colleagues made the drug in nano scale which enables it to distinguish and target cancer cells without causing common side effects of chemotherapy.

In popular cancer treatment with chemotherapy, both cancer cells and healthy ones are damaged.

“The method does not include chemotherapy side effects and the animal tests show that it can reach cancer cells 500-1000 percent more than chemotherapy,” Farrokhzad explained.

He also noted that the medicine will be ready to be used after the clinical studies are finished within the next five years.

Harvard has called the drug a ‘paradigm shift’ in cancer treatment. …source

The Impact of Police Brutality: OWS and the Arab Spring
10 April, 2012 by llaurenfrank – OWS Analysis

Police brutality has occurred in both the OWS movement and in response to each Arab Spring Revolution. Though the response to the Arab Spring Revolutions has generally been more brutal than the response to OWS demonstrations, the brutality indicates a similar state attitude toward these revolutionary demonstrations: that they will not be tolerated. If the actions of police are any indication, it seems that democracies (as evidenced by the US) are no more thrilled with such revolutionary demonstrations than were the dictatorships which responded to protests in Bahrain, Egypt, and Libya.

One protester described the actions of the police as reminiscent of what one might expect in a fascist state, saying, “I’m here because I’m incredibly sad and incredibly angry; I’m hoping our city government comes to their senses and stops dealing with us like a fascist state” (The Guardian). That particular protestor was referring to the brutal force used by police to break up protests in Oakland. The methods employed included teargas, stun grenades, and blows with batons.

In contrast, police in Egypt have shown considerably less regard for the lives of those protesting. Reports of just exactly what police are doing vary widely, but reported death tolls are staggering. One March in protest of the government consisted of the relatives of approximately 850 people who had been killed while participating in sit-ins (The Daily Beast). Similar to protesters in the US, those marching were met with teargas and blows from police, but the damage done was far more extensive. Nearly 1,000 people were reported to have been injured, due to police action in that one incident alone. Police also employed verbal assaults and threatening family members of protesters. …more

editor: The methods used by MOI Police has demonstrated a “skillful” and deliberate use of chemical aerosols to transform Bahrain homes into lethal “gas chambers”. There should be no confusion, these are not harmless “tear gas” these are lethal chemical aerosols designed and used for combat scenarios. The regime is engaged in Chemical Warfare against its citizens. Phlipn.

Another Bahraini killed by poisonous tear gas
11 April, 2012 – PressTV

Another Bahraini has died due to asphyxia after inhaling poisonous tear gas fired by Saudi-backed regime forces as Manama’s brutal crackdown on protests continue.

The victim, identified as Abdul Rasoul Hassan Ismail, died after inhaling toxic gas fired on his house in the village of Karbabad last week.

Several Bahraini civilians, mostly senior citizens and kids, have died due to the misuse of tear gas against protesters by regime forces.

Meanwhile, Bahraini authorities continue to defy national and international calls to release prominent rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike for over two months and is feared to be on the verge of death.

Khawaja, the co-founder and former president of the Bahrain Center for Human Right, began a hunger strike in early February to protest against the life sentence he received last year and Manama’s ongoing crackdown on peaceful protests.

Bahrainis have held several demonstrations in support of him after his refused to eat, urging the government to release him.

Amnesty International has also called for the ‘immediate and unconditional release’ of al-Khawaja, considering him a ‘prisoner of conscience, detained solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression’. …source

Letter to President Barack Obama calling for release of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja
9 April, 2012

Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama,

We write to urge you to publicly call on the Government of Bahrain to immediately and unconditionally release from prison Abdulhadi al-Khawaja. Al-Khawaja is a Bahraini human rights defender and democracy activist who may soon die, as he has been on a hunger strike for more than two months.

Al-Khawaja was arrested one year ago in the wake of popular protests against the Bahraini government, and sentenced to life in prison. While in detention, al-Khawaja suffered from torture and severe ill-treatment. As a result, he was admitted to the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital in April last year with a cracked jaw and skull requiring several operations on his head and face.

To protest his ongoing detention and mistreatment, al-Khawaja began a hunger strike on February 8. In an open letter to the King of Bahrain, al-Khawaja pledged to stay on hunger strike until “freedom or death.”

After being arrested in April 2011, al-Khawaja was sentenced to life in prison in June 2011 as part of a group trial of 21 activists and human rights defenders. This group was charged with a range of offenses related to their role in peaceful demonstrations in Bahrain in February and March 2011. International human rights organizations and the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) have stated that the trials did not comply with international standards of due process,
nor even Bahrain’s own criminal code, because the 21 civilians were tried before National Safety Courts, which are military courts.

The evidence is clear that al-Khawaja and others were sentenced in violation of their rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association, which are protected under international law. We are deeply concerned about the health of human rights defender Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, and respectfully request that the United States urge the Government of Bahrain to release al-Khawaja immediately and allow him to travel abroad, including for medical treatment, if he wishes to do so.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

3P Human Security
AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO Solidarity Center
Open Society Foundations
Physicians for Human Rights
Project on Middle East Democracy
Universal Muslim Association of America
Freedom House
Human Rights First
Human Rights Watch
Just Foreign Policy
Amnesty International
Citizens for Global Solutions
Foreign Policy Initiative
Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain

…source

Bahrain violence grows with mob attacks
REEM KHALIFA – Associated Press – 11 April, 2012

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Mobs with iron rods and sticks ransacked a supermarket belonging to a major Shiite-owned business group Wednesday, a company official said, as part of a spike in violence in the Gulf nation in retaliation for a bomb attack on police.

The attack appeared linked to a wave of reprisals and intimidation by suspected Sunni groups angered by the 14-month-old uprising by Bahrain’s Shiite majority seeking to weaken the powers of the kingdom’s Sunni monarchy.

The growing unrest, which has included vigilante-style attacks in some Shiite areas, also could escalate worries by Formula One teams about whether to participate in the April 22 Bahrain Grand Prix. The race was called off last year amid security fears and Bahrain’s leaders are pushing hard to bring back the event as a sign of stability in the island nation.

Amir Jawad, a board member for the Jawad Business Group, said the mob smashed windows and caused other damage to the supermarket in what he called a “systematic” series of attacks. The crowds also roamed outside the headquarters of the company, which owns supermarkets, cafes and fast-food outlets.

Jawad said company security guards detained at least two suspected attackers. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

“The vigilantes used iron, steel and wood sticks,” he said.

Jawad sites have faced sporadic vandalism since the uprising began in February 2011 in the strategic Gulf nation, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. Bahrain’s Shiites account for about 70 percent of the population, but they claim they face widespread discrimination and are kept from top government or military posts.

Nearly 50 people have died in the Arab Spring’s longest-running street battles. Apparent Sunni mobs have stepped up reprisals following a blast Monday that injured seven policemen. On Tuesday, Bahrain said four suspects had been arrested in connection with the blast.

In some Shiite areas, apparent Sunni hard-liners carrying knives and sticks staged hit-and-run attacks late Tuesday and set up roadblocks, said witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity in fear of receiving pressures from authorities.

The largest Shiite political group, Al Wefaq, claimed that security forces failed to confront the “militias.”

…more