Manama regime to mount clampdown on anti-government protests
9 May, 2012 –

Bahrain’s ruling monarchy has warned of an escalation in its ongoing crackdown on protests as a leading opposition figure says the government has put a stop to the so-called national dialogue.

Bahraini media reported on Tuesday that the ruling Al Khalifah regime has vowed to invoke a new action plan against anti-government protesters.

Bahraini government spokesman Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa said, “Because of the escalation in violence, we are looking into the perpetrators and people who use print, broadcast and social media to encourage illegal protest and violence around the country.”

“If applying the law means tougher action, then so be it,” he added.

Referring to the regime’s report on mounting the crackdown on protesters, a senior member of the country’s largest opposition party, Al Wefaq, said, “This escalation is not good for the country, it will take us back to square one.”

“The talks have stopped, so the authorities are really moving to another phase of the security approach,” he said. “I don’t know if it was the hardliners in the family or from outside, but at any rate the outcome now is that everything has stopped.”

The talks, which discuss political, economic, social and legal matters, constitute the latest move by the Bahraini king to defuse the crisis in the country.

According to local sources, dozens of people have been killed and hundreds arrested so far during the government clampdown on peaceful demonstrations. …source

Anonymous hacks UN site for “ignoring” Palestinian hunger strikers
9 May, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Hacktivist group Anonymous took down the main website of the UN on Wednesday after accusing the world body of “ignoring” the plight of several Palestinian hunger strikers protesting their detention without trial by Israel.

Anonymous announced on Twitter that they had taken down the site, which had returned to full operation as this article was written.

The group said the attack was aimed at raising international awareness on the fate of the hunger strikers, some of whom are nearing death, “because ignorance is not a bliss!”

The growing campaign for the hunger strikers came as Aziz Halahleh, father of 72-day hunger striker Thaer, condemned international organizations purporting to support the detained Palestinians as a “propaganda” stunt.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Tuesday called on Israel to transfer six Palestinians hunger strikers to hospital and allow visits from their families, while the EU “expressed concern” over their fate.

“The calls of the EU and the Red Cross – their demands to allow them to visit the families – are just a plot with the occupation,” he told Al-Akhbar.

“It is propaganda more than actual action to help the strikers, it is only a media game. Europe and all the other countries are interfering to help Israel and not to help Palestinians,” he added.

Over 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails began an open-ended hunger strike on 17 April 2012, in solidarity with Thaer, Bilal Thiab and other hunger strikers.

Aziz dismissed Israeli accusations his son, who is protesting against his detention without charge under Israel’s draconian administrative detention laws, was a criminal.

The medical condition of Thaer – who has a one-year-old daughter he has never seen outside of prison – is rapidly deteriorating and he could suffer organ failure in the coming days, according to Physicians for Human Rightsl.

“Our children (on hunger strike) are fighting for the freedom of our country and for the freedom of our children, they are not criminals,” Aziz said.

“We are very concerned about his health and we are not allowed to visit them. They are not allowed to get any treatment or freedom whatsoever,” he added. …more

No Media Reform in Bahrain
6 May, 2012 – Marc Owen Jones blog

Back in October Bahrain announced that it would be opening a brand new media city, complete with new buildings, technological stuff, and an attractive investment climate. The purpose, ‘to entice companies operating in the media arena‘. Like middle-aged men who buy expensive sport cars, one can’t help thinking that this move was one of overcompensation – a poor attempt to mask inadequacies through a grandiose and expensive gesture. Indeed, the idea of building a ‘media city’ in a country deemed by Reporters Without Borders to be an ‘enemy of the internet’ is so ironic that it’s almost self-satirizing. A bit like the fake Ed Husain account, where does reality end and the joke begin?

What this media city represents is an attempt to deflect criticisms of Bahrain’s media industry through marketing Bahrain as a beacon of media modernity. The reality of course is much different, for despite these technological developments, Bahrain’s media industry seems to be regressing. This is highlighted by the appointment of Sameera Rajab as Minister of State for Information Affairs, a move that illustrates the regime’s habit of rewarding people for loyalty instead of competence. The fact that the post was created especially for Sameera Rajab is particularly galling, not least because the title has no correlation to the reality of what Sameera does. As the Prime Minister stated, (ok the parody account of the Prime Minister), ‘Miss Information’ is perhaps a more appropriate name. …more

More than 30 journalists assaulted and detained during 4 May Cairo protest
9 May, 2012 – Reporters without Borders

After deadly clashes on 2 May near the defence ministry, thousands of Egyptians took to the streets of Cairo and Alexandria two days later to protest against the army’s hold on power.

In Cairo, demonstrators gathered, mostly in the Abbassiya district, near the defence ministry, despite warnings the day before from the army against any threat to military premises, and the deployment of large numbers of security forces.

The overall toll among the demonstrators was heavy — two dead and more than 130 injured. Those working in the media suffered similarly.

Reporters Without Borders recorded at least 32 assaults and detentions of journalists on 4 May alone. Many cameras and mobile phones were seized, some of which have not been returned to their owners. (Read: http://almesryoon.com/permalink/658…)

The press freedom organization strongly condemns such brutal treatment of media workers and demands that those responsible be identified and brought to justice. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is deservedly a new entry in the list of Predators of Freedom of Information published by Reporters Without Borders on World Press Freedom Day, 3 May.

Toll of 4 May

Of at least 32 journalists targeted:

20 were assaulted or beaten
11 were injured
19 were arrested
5 were detained
1 was abducted
7 had equipment seized

Cases in detail

A five-member crew from the satellite station Misr 25, comprising reporters Ahmed Abdel Alim, Ahmed Fadl, Musa’ab Hamed and Hassan Khodary (injured that morning in the Abbassiya clashes), and photographer Ahmad Lutfi, were doing a live broadcast near the Al-Nour mosque when they were arrested, taken into the mosque and asked for identification. According to Lutfi, they were all subjected to violence and humiliation by the military police. After seizing all their equipment, troops took them to a military control unit.

Musa’ad El-Barbari, deputy director of the Misr 25 station, said the five men appeared before the public prosecutor on 5th May and faced five charges each:

Association with a group intent on disturbing public order and preventing an institution of the state from performing its duties.
Use of force and violence against agents of the security forces responsible for protecting state institutions.
Blocking public and private transport, blocking streets in the area around the defence ministry.
Illegal assembly
Entering a prohibited military zone.

Although the station produced documents proving that it employed the five men as journalists and showing they were there purely in a professional capacity, El-Barbari said the prosecutor refused to take this into account. …more

Saudi tycoon to move Rotana to Bahrain
9 May, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Saudi tycoon Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has signed agreements with Bahrain to move his Rotana news and entertainment company from Cairo to boost the economy of its protest-hit ally, the official BNA agency said on Wednesday.

The move comes as Prince Alwaleed plans to launch a 24-hour news channel, Alarab, in the first half of 2013 to compete with Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, and the newly-launched Sky News Arabia satellite news channels.

Prince Alwaleed said shifting Rotana to Manama from Cairo and selecting the Gulf state’s capital as the headquarters of his Alarab news channel is an “important strategic decision with many important consequences.”

The move comes after thorough studies of several Arab capitals and cities, he said.

Bahrain is enjoying considerable freedom of expression and wide-open dialogue despite attempts by a minority to prove the opposite, the prince was quoted as saying by BNA in an apparent reference to anti-government protests.

The small Gulf state has been hit by mass pro-democracy demonstrations since February last year, which have been violently crushed by Manama, drawing criticism from international rights groups.

Bahraini authorities continue to carry out serious human rights abuses against protesters, leading activists and journalists, according to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Gulf Center for Human Rights, as well as Amnesty International.

Bahrain’s economy has been hit by the unrest as the autocratic ruling family, a key ally of Saudi’s royal family, continues to resist calls for democratic reform. …more