Posts from — October 2012

Bahraini Activist Mariam Al-Khawaja Withdrew UNESCO Ceremony Over Honor to Israel’s Peres
23 October, 2012 – ABNA

Bahrain human rights defender Maryam Al-Khawaja has pulled out of a UNESCO human rights conference that is honoring her father, political prisoner Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, because the same event is honoring Israeli President Shimon Peres.

Amnesty International considers Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and other Bahrain rights activists held in prison “to be prisoners of conscience, held solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly” and has called for their immediate, unconditional release.

Maryam Al-Khawaja was scheduled to speak in her father’s place at the 13th Annual UNESCO Chair & Institute of Comparative Human Rights Conference at the University of Connecticut on 23 October, titled “Legacies Of Human Rights Leadership And Struggles.”

“Whilst I am honored that you chose my father, I am also utterly disappointed that you would honor him alongside a person who has been responsible for many human rights violations and should be put on trial, not honored,” Al-Khawaja wrote in an open letter to UNESCO, in her personal capacity, announcing her withdrawal.

Among the other handful of human rights “leaders” the conference will recognize is Shimon Peres whom the official program ridiculously claims “is widely regarded as a ‘dove,’ and a strong supporter of peace through economic cooperation.”

The stated purpose of the conference is “to educate ourselves about individuals who contributed to the expansion of the range of human rights we enjoy today by providing enlightened and ecumenical leadership.”

Maryam Al-Khawaja objected strongly to the inclusion of Peres in this category along with her father.

“My father always says that when it comes to human rights, there is no grey area, you both stand for human rights everywhere and against perpetrators of human rights violations or you do not,” Al-Khawaja wrote.

“Without any disrespect intended to your esteemed organization, and the important work you do around the world, as a human rights defender I must respectfully withdraw from this event as I cannot allow myself to take part in legitimizing a person who should be tried for human rights violations, not honored,” Al-Khawaja concluded. …more

Kuwait bans public gatherings following anti-government rallies
23 October, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Kuwait banned gatherings of more than 20 people and gave police more powers to disperse protests, local media reported on Tuesday, in an escalating standoff with the opposition ahead of the December 1 election.

Kuwait has been on edge since the emir ordered changes to the election law in a move condemned by the opposition as an attempt to undermine their chances in the vote. The opposition will boycott the poll and has called for protests.

On Sunday, security forces used tear gas, stun grenades and smoke bombs against thousands of demonstrators as they began marching in downtown Kuwait City to protest against the changes.

At least 29 people were hurt and more than 15, including a former member of parliament, were arrested.

“Citizens are not allowed to hold a gathering of more than 20 individuals on roads or at public locations without obtaining a permit from the concerned governor,” the cabinet said in a statement carried by local newspapers.

“Police are entitled to prevent or disperse any unlicensed grouping.” …source

Clashes continue in Tripoli
23 October, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Updated 2:47pm: The death toll in Lebanon has risen to at least 10 since Saturday as clashes continued overnight in Tripoli, sparked by Friday’s massive car bomb that killed the country’s top security chief.

The army moved in to create a buffer zone between the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen last night after a day of fierce fighting, but sporadic clashes continued overnight raising the death toll in the city to nine. One man was killed yesterday in Beirut during clashes with the army.

Some fighting continued Tuesday afternoon in Tripoli, but the situation has calmed since yesterday, an Al-Akhbar correspondent said. One man from Jabal Mohsen was killed in today’s fighting after being sent to Zgharta Hospital.

Violence in Tripoli has been ongoing for months between the two neighborhoods divided over the Syrian conflict. Tens of people have been killed during confrontations between the neighbors over the past year, usually as a result of gun battles and sniper fire.

Beirut remained calm Tuesday as a series of diplomatic meetings took place to ease tensions after Friday’s explosion that killed brigadier general Wissam Al-Hassan, the head of the Internal Security Forces information branch and an influential March 14 opposition figure.

The European Union’s top representative for foreign affairs Catherine Ashton held talks with Prime Minister Najib Mikati over the country’s security situation and conflict in Syria.

She reportedly offered her support to Mikati, who is facing opposition calls to resign, during a one-hour meeting at the Grand Serail.

“We appreciate the positions of Mr. Mikati to maintain the cohesion and integrity of Lebanon under these difficult circumstances,” Ashton said.

The EU has said it supports the Lebanese government in spite of mounting pressure from the opposition to relinquish power. The opposition, which blames Syria for the killing, says the Lebanese government also also bears responsibility.

Ashton afterwards met with President Michel Sleiman in the Baabdat Palace.

Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora also met with Sleiman Tuesday.

Mikati on Tuesday referred the assassination to Lebanon’s highest judicial authority while foreign branches of the Future Movement, country’s main opposition group, called for an international investigation into the killing.

Meanwhile, preliminary investigations into the attack found that the car used in the bombing has been stolen over a year ago, police chief Ashraf Rifi revealed Tuesday. …more

Syrian conflict part of Mideast ’geopolitical game’ – Lavrov
Voltaire Network – 22 October, 2012

Some countries are apparently interested in fueling violence in Syria as part of a “geopolitical remapping” of the Middle East, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“It appears that every time the hope for progress in the Syrian situation arises, somebody attempts to prevent it from calming down and deliberately fuels the continuation of the bloodshed and civil war in Syria,” Lavrov said in an interview with Rossiiskaya Gazeta on Monday.

Lavrov cited some unspecified opposition groups as telling Russia that Western countries urge them to continue the resistance, “to fight for their rights with arms until [President Bashar al-Assad’s] regime falls.”

The minister was especially critical of the terrorist tactics used by the opposition as a wave of attacks targeting senior government officials and pro-Assad forces had recently swept through the country.

The Syrian conflict has claimed up to 30,000 lives since March 2011, according to latest US estimates.

The West and some Arab countries are pushing for Assad’s ouster while Russia and China are trying to prevent outside interference in Syria, saying that the Assad regime and the opposition are both to blame for the bloodshed.

According to Lavrov, the Syrian conflict is “part of geopolitical remapping of the Middle East, where various players attempt to safeguard their interests.”

Assad, who is widely viewed as a close ally of Iran, has been unfairly made “a scapegoat” in this “big geopolitical game,” Lavrov said.

He defended Assad by calling him “a guarantor of the security of national minorities, among them Christians, who have been living in Syria for centuries.”

“By the most conservative estimates our Western partners quote in confidential contacts, he still enjoys support of at least a third of citizens as a man who vowed to prevent Syria’s transformation into a state where minorities will be simply unable to live and exist,” the Russian minister said.

Lavrov reiterated that foreign “recipes” would never provide a long-lasting and reliable solution to the Syrian conflict, and expressed hope that the visit of UN peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to Russia next week would help outline steps toward dialogue between warring parties in Syria.

Brahimi, who held talks with Assad in Damascus on Sunday, has urged the Syrian government and the opposition to cease fire for the duration of the Eid al-Adha holiday, which starts on Friday. …more

Over the last 30 years, no U.S. presidential election has signaled a change in Washington’s foreign policy of Washington. Important decisions have been made outside this time frame. It is quite obvious that the president is the superintendent of a policy of which he is not the architect. Will Yankee imperialism perform better under Obama’s or Romney’s smile?

Currently showing : The U.S. Election Spectacle
by Thierry Meyssan – Voltaire Network – Damascus (Syria) – 22 October, 2012

President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney sharing a hearty laugh at charity gala held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on October 18, 2012 in New York City.

Every four years the U.S. presidential election becomes a planetary spectacle. The dominant press attempts to convince international public opinion that the American people are democratically designating the leader who will direct the affairs of the world.

In certain countries, notably in Europe, the media coverage is at least as saturated as the election of their own leader. Implicitly, the press is indicating that while these states may also be called democracies, their citizens have no real voice in determining their own future, a future subject to the good graces of the occupant of the White House. So how can it be said that these states are really democracies?

The problem is that voting has been conflated with democracy. This remark also applies to the United States. The electoral spectacle is supposed to be the proof that they are living under a vibrant democracy, but this is all smoke and mirrors. Despite the widespread conviction that the president of the United States is elected directly by the people, he is not, not even secondarily. In the United States the people are not sovereign and the citizens are not electors. The choice of President and Vice-President is determined in a winner-take-all process by an electoral college of 538 people where electors are designated by voters’ and party choices at the state level. To win, the candidate must have at least 270 electoral votes, a number based on the population of each state. States are the true locus for presidential selection because they are subject to the politics of choosing electors. The national popular vote does not count; if no candidate reaches 270, the choice is made in Congress. The Gore vs. Bush election of 2000 and the Kerry vs. Bush election of 2004 were potent reminders that the voice of the people can be out-manoeuvred. In 2000, the Supreme Court decided that it was not going to wait for a recount of votes in Florida before proclaiming the winner. All that mattered was the Court’s decision that in turn confirmed the Electoral College numbers despite anything the voters had said.

The illusion doesn’t stop there. When George W. Bush resided in the White House, no one seriously imagined that so uneducated and incompetent a man was actually exercising power. It was thought that a team of advisors discretely exercised it for him. When Barack Obama succeeded him, and since he was thought to be more intelligent it was believed that he was truly in charge. But how can it be assumed that the team that exercised power under Bush would spontaneously renounce it under Obama?

The daily agenda of a U.S. president consists of ceaseless audience appearances, speeches and ceremonies. How can this individual find the time to really familiarize himself with the topics of his speeches? He is no more president than the newscasters on TV are journalists. They share in fact the same profession: teleprompter reading.

We may sense that, as in previous contests, there is more to the Obama-Romney Show than meets the eye, that something really is being decided. And it is. In the constitutional system of the U.S., the primary function of the president, in addition to his role as putative Commander in Chief, is to name over 6000 appointees to public office. This political rotation effectively entails a vast migration of elites. In the current context, thousands of high-level functionaries and tens of thousands of assistants and advisors could possibly be discharged and largely replaced by appointees from the Bush era. The presidential election determines the personal careers of all these people and brings with it the corrupt bidding process that favors this or that multinational. Indeed, there are real reasons for investing money, a whole lot of money, in this contest.

Where is international politics in all this? Over the last two decades, major campaign promises made during electoral campaigns became something fundamentally different during the president’s term in office. Bill Clinton (1993-2008) pledged to reduce military budgets following the disappearance of the USSR and bring about economic prosperity. Instead, in 1995 he commenced an expanded program of military rearmament. George W. Bush (2001-2008) was going to rationalize the Pentagon and wage “war without end” but by the end of 2006 he had stopped the privatization of the military and begun the pull-out from Afghanistan and Iraq. Barack Obama (2009-2012) was going to continue the retreat and “reset” relations with Russia and the Muslim world. What occurred instead was the continued construction of the missile shield around Russia, U.S. support for the color revolution in Egypt and wars on Libya and Syria. Each time that these teleprompter readers did such an about-face, they betrayed their constituents and did so without qualm or hesitation. …more

All is not what it seems: Bahrain and U.S. strategic interests
23 October, 2012 – by Anders Strindberg – Informed Comment

On the last Friday night of September, Bahraini police shot seventeen-year old Ali Ne’amah in the back with bird shot, in the village of Sadad. He died on site. Ali’s family insists that he was engaged in peaceful pro-democracy protest – the now almost daily demonstrations in the Shi’a villages surrounding the capital Manama. The Ministry of Interior, meanwhile, claimed that he had been part of a “domestic terror attack” and that the “policemen defended themselves according to legal procedure.” During the massive protests that followed, crowds blamed Ali’s death on King Hamad bin ‘Issa Al Khalifah personally, and on the political system over which he presides. The slogan “may God burn your heart, oh Hamad, as you have burned the heart of a martyr’s family” gave a sense of the frustration and desperation.

Indeed, Ali Ne’amah was only one of over eighty individuals who have been killed as a result of the ongoing repression of Bahrain’s pro-democracy movement, which began with the assault on peaceful demonstrators at Pearl Roundabout in mid-February 2011. The government’s abuses of human rights and civil liberties in the course of these nineteen months have been carefully documented by foreign governments, journalists, and human rights watchdogs. Arbitrary arrests, false charges, torture, forced confessions, draconian jail sentences, denial of medical care to prisoners, intimidation, use of live ammunition against unarmed demonstrators, tear gas “flooding” of entire villages, collective punishment and individual harassment – the use of these practices is beyond empirical dispute. “The problem is not that no one knows about this,” I was told by one grassroots activist during a visit to Bahrain in July, “the problem is that Al Khalifah excel at stalling and making excuses.”

Indeed, the Al Khalifah government has been masterful in its implementation of a reformist “bait-and-switch” aimed at maintaining the status quo at any cost. Holding out the prospect of reform while repressing critics and tarnishing them as malcontents, foreign agents, or even terrorists, the Bahraini government has shown no signs of serious intent to implement reform. The purpose is to buy time in the international arena while systematically and decisively breaking the back of the pro-democracy movement on the ground.

Since the beginning of September, Bahraini courts have upheld lengthy prison sentences against nine medics whose crime had been to treat wounded protestors, and against thirteen leading opposition activists, who had simply called for democratic reform; seventeen-year old Ali Ne’amah was killed, Muhammad Mushaima (age 23) died due to denial of appropriate care in prison, and Hassan Abdul Ali (age 59), Haj Mahdi Ali Marhoun (age 65 plus) and baby Huda Sayyed Nima Sayyed Hassan (age 11 months) died from inhaling tear gas; Sadiq Rabe’a, a member of the Central Municipal Council, was one of at least a dozen individuals injured by police firing birdshot at unarmed demonstrators, and human rights activist Zeinab al-Khawaja was sentenced to two months in prison – for tearing up a picture of the king. This in addition to the several dozen peaceful demonstrators, including children, who have been attacked or detained by security forces for merely chanting slogans in the street. All within the past month and a half.

On October 14, at an open meeting in Ma’ameer, Shaykh Ali Salman, Secretary General of Bahrain’s largest legally chartered opposition party, the National Islamic Society (al-Wefaq), stated plainly what has been obvious for quite some time: “The national struggle in Bahrain has gone beyond the phase where it is possible to stop or retreat. The situation in Bahrain will not be restored to the pre-revolution situation. The choice to subjugate the people is no longer available.” In this he is absolutely right, and there is an urgent need for Washington to understand the relationship between the abuses of the Al Khalifah government, on the one hand, and the strategic value of Bahrain to the United States, on the other. If the abrupt end to U.S. relationships with Ben Ali in Tunisia, Mubarak in Egypt and Saleh in Yemen taught us anything, it was that reliance on repressive regimes for political tranquility is not only morally deficient, but strategically unwise. By opting for sustained repression rather than reform and dialogue, the Al Khalifah government is actively and systematically undermining the country’s stability, which constitutes a direct threat to U.S. strategic interests. This state of affairs has reached a point where Washington needs to put its foot down, informing Al Khalifah that Bahrain may no longer meet the standards for a safe port for the U.S. navy.

Bahrain has hosted an ever-expanding U.S. naval presence for over six decades, and is currently the site of Naval Support Activity Bahrain (NSA Bahrain), a naval base in Juffair, Manama, that is home to the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) as well as the U.S. Navy’s Fifth fleet. The strategic importance of the naval facilities hosted by Bahrain cannot be exaggerated. For Bahrain’s rulers, the U.S. naval presence brings investments, status and, above all, political protection. However, it cannot be enough to simply lease out fortified realty: there have to be guarantees that the neighborhood is sustainably safe – which Bahrain no longer is.

Speaking at a recent meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Michael Posner, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, noted that “Bahrain is at a crossroads” and that “a stable, democratic healthy Bahrain, one where human rights issues are dealt with appropriately, is a country that’s going to be a strong ally and we need that.” Indeed. It is the historic stability and tranquility of Bahrain, not the bloodline of its rulers, that has been the island’s primary selling point as the host of the U.S. Navy. “The Bahrainis give us anything we want” is a phrase that has been heard on more than one occasion off the record, from U.S. diplomats and military personnel. True enough, but they are not giving the United States what is actually needed, and repeatedly (if all too gingerly) requested: sustainable domestic stability through robust political reform.

Conversely, there is nothing threatening to the United States, either in terms of geopolitics or domestic stability, about the clearly stated demands of Bahrain’s legally chartered opposition parties. Their demands center on a representative elected parliament under an Al Khalifah constitutional monarchy. In fact, in a show of extraordinary steadfastness and patience, this has been the opposition demand ever since the current ruler’s father, Amir ‘Issa, abolished the country’s fledgling, yet functioning and democratic National Assembly in 1975. Moreover, Bahrain’s legal opposition parties, including the Islamists, are known democratic entities. Their leaders (some of whom are currently in prison) are known to be among the most long-standing and consistent pro-democracy activists in the region – including the Islamists. …more

23 October 2012 – By Anonymous

The government of Bahrain is laying siege upon the small village of Al-Eker, preventing food, water and medical supplies from entering it. This unprecedented attempt to choke a whole village from basic life nececssities comes as a reaction to an alleged killing of a policeman in an explosion in the village – a charge the people of the village have reportedly denied. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights reports that the police has raided the village a number of times, leaving a Shi’a mosque vandalized and seven citizens arrested. Three human rights activists who have attempted to break the siege have also been arrested. Ten Bahraini civil society groups, including secular and Islamist political organizations, have urgently appealed to Ban-Ki Moon at the United Nations.

The government of Bahrain has attempted to ridicule the village’s claims of besiegement by running a video footage in its media outlets showing a Kentucky Fried Chicken delivery motorbike driving through the security checkpoint. The state-controlled media has also reported a statement by Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the world’s longest serving Prime Minister with a reputation for corruption and ruthlessness, condemning the alleged killing of the policeman and warning Bahraini citizens who carry out the political agenda of a foreign country – a reference to Iran.

Western media outlets have so far not reported this developing story. Bahrain hosts the US Fifth Fleet, has signed a Free Trade Agreement with the United States and is considered a strategic ally by the Obama administration. The United Kingdom, which had once controlled Bahrain as a protectorate, has recently signed a “Defense Cooperation Agreement”whereby the two states “promote cooperation in all fields, including exchanging intelligence and visits, training, education, scientific and technical cooperation and joint training.”

Bahrain protesters blocked outside tense village
AP – October 22, 2012

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Authorities in Bahrain have fired tear gas to disperse more than 200 protesters trying to enter a village under a security clampdown following a bombing last week that killed a policeman.

Monday’s confrontation marks the second consecutive day that demonstrators have tried to enter Eker, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the capital Manama. Authorities say a policeman died in Eker from wounds after a homemade explosive was detonated late Thursday.

An Associated Press photographer says the marchers fled when the tear gas was fired.

On Sunday, police outside Eker detained three activists, including the daughter of jailed opposition figure Abdulhadi al-Khawaja.

Authorities say seven suspects are held for last week’s blast. A government statement says checkpoints have been set up in the search for other possible suspects. …source

Bahrain ‘acquits policewoman in journalist torture case’
22 October, 2012 – by Muhammad Iqbal – AFP

DUBAI: A Bahrain court on Monday acquitted a policewoman who was charged with torturing a female journalist during last year’s crackdown on anti-regime protests in the Gulf kingdom, the claimant said.

“The court has ruled that Sara al-Musa was not guilty in the case of torturing me,” wrote Naziha Saeed, who is Manama’s correspondent for France 24 and Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya, on her Twitter page.

Local daily newspaper Alayam also reported the verdict on its website, but no further details on the verdict were provided.

Musa was accused of torturing Saeed when the journalist was in custody on May 22 last year.

The prosecution said in May it had referred the case to the “high criminal court because the defendant is a public servant in the ministry of interior and has used force against the victim to make her confess to a crime.”

“She beat her and caused her the harm described in a medical report,” a prosecution statement said.

The officer was charged with “attacking the body” of Saeed, by “slapping her, beating her with plastic tubing, kicking her in all parts of her body, in addition to insulting her,” the statement said.

Saeed, who reported on last year’s deadly crackdown on the Shiite-led pro-democracy protests, was summoned by police on May 22 last year, without any idea of what awaited her, said media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

Saeed said she was badly beaten and humiliated by several policewomen after she was accused of lying in her reports. She was released after midnight, and days later the interior ministry announced proceedings against those accused of mistreating her.

An international probe commissioned by King Hamad accused police of using excessive force and torture in last year’s crackdown, which was backed by troops from Bahrain’s Gulf neighbours. …source

Activists (from left) Zainab al-Khawaja, Said Yousif and Naji Fateel attempt to break the siege of al-Ekar to deliver food and medicine before being arrested on 21 October 2012. (Photo: Reuters – Hamad Mohammed)

Bahrain village under siege, prisoners claim torture
22 October, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Four men arrested over a roadside bombing in a Bahraini village that killed one policeman Thursday say they were beaten and tortured in prison to force confessions, an activist who met them while custody, said today.

“They were then taken to the public prosecution office without a lawyer to try and convince them they were guilty,” Said Yousif, deputy head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, told Al-Akhbar.

The village of al-Eker has been under siege since the bomb was detonated overnight Thursday. Bahrain yesterday announced that it had arrested seven people it suspected of the bombing.

Yousif was arrested yesterday along with two other activists, Zainab al-Khawaja and Naji Fateel, after trying to break the siege.

The three marched from the neighboring village of Sitra to deliver bread and medicine to residents when they were detained at a checkpoint at about 2:00pm. They were released around midnight, Yousif said.

Activists (from left) Zainab al-Khawaja, Said Yousif and Naji Fateel attempt to break the siege of al-Ekar to deliver food and medicine before being arrested on 21 October 2012. (Photo: Reuters – Hamad Mohammed)

“No one has been allowed in or out of al-Eker in three days. They are not allowed to go to the hospital, they can’t go to school, and there is not enough food,” he said, adding that security forces also attacked a Shia mosque in the village.

“This is collective punishment, so we we decided to break the siege peacefully,” Yousif added.

The activists were refused entry into the village one day earlier, but were not arrested.

Dozens of other activists protesting the siege outside the village were attacked with tear gas and sound bombs today, witnesses said.

Separately on Monday, four Bahrainis arrested last week for “defaming” the king told a court they were innocent.

There has been mounting pressure on the kingdom to release the four detainees, who allegedly used Twitter to criticize the monarch, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah.

The arrests are part of an ongoing crackdown on dissent in Bahrain.

The country has witnessed persistent opposition protests since February, 2011. It began with protesters calling for more civic freedoms, but many are now calling for the overthrow of the monarchy after it responded by launching a bloody crackdown.

Saudi troops were ushered into Bahrain in March, 2011 to help crush the movement, but they failed to end protests.

At least 80 people have been killed since the uprising began, according to activists.

Medics have also been targeted for treating injured protesters.

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch and a group of US congressmen separately called on the country’s monarch to release nine medics who treated activists injured during the uprising.

The medics were all charged earlier this year and released on bail, but re-arrested after an October 1 court decision upheld their charges.

Bahrain’s royal family, which has maintained a tight grip over the country for more than a century, is a strategic US ally and hosts the US Fifth Fleet. …source

Al-Khalifa Forces Lay Siege on Protesting Town, Prevent Access to Food Stuff
21 October, 2012 – FARS

TEHRAN (FNA)- Bahrain’s police and security forces surrounded al-Akar town, South of Manama, and cut the roads and transfer of food supplies to the town after a bomb attack on Thursday killed one policeman and injured another following clashes between protesters and the Saudi-backed security services.

“The Al-Khalifa regime has imposed a siege on the al-Akar town and prevents its people’s access to food supplies under the pretext of the killing of one of its elements who was involved in the suppression of people’s peaceful protests in the town,” Secretary-General of Bahrain’s National Democrat Society Fazzel Abbas said on Sunday.

He stressed the necessity for an end to the al-Akar siege and investigations into the killing of the policeman in the city, and told the Iran-based al-Alam news network that the killed person was a foreign national.

Bahrain’s al-Vafa al-Islami stream also on Sunday condemned the al-Akar siege, and underlined, “The Bahraini regime’s story about the killing of a policemen in al-Akar village is an excuse to assume the extensive deracination of people as permitted.”

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February 2011, calling for an end to the al-Khalifa dynasty.

Violence against the defenseless people escalated after a Saudi-led conglomerate of police, security and military forces from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar – were dispatched to the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom on March 13, 2011, to help Manama crack down on peaceful protestors.

In a latest development a bomb attack on Thursday killed one policeman and injured another after clashes between protesters and the security services in a village near the capital which provided the government with a pretext to further arrest the Bahraini people. Bahraini security forces surrounded the village and increased their suppressive measures in the region.

After the escalation of uprisings in Bahrain, tens of protesters have been killed by al-Khalifa’s security forces, hundreds have gone missing and thousands of others have been injured. …source

Bahrain: Two martyrs as UK Government is criticised for pro-Alkhalifa stands
By davidswanson – 19 October, 2012 – War is a Crime.org

Two martyrs fell during the week. First was Huda, eleven year-old girl who was suffocated by chemical gases that has become the main tool of repression against the people. She developed breathing difficulties leading to the deterioration of her health until she succumbed to painful death. The second was Hajji Mahdi Ali Al Marhoon, 60. Few months ago he was subjected to intense inhalation of chemical gases deployed by regime’s forces against the people of Ma’amir Town. He was hospitalised but his condition deteriorated until he passed away on Wednesday 17th October. His funeral yesterday was attended by thousands of people who chanted anti-regime slogans calling for an end to the Alkhalifa hereditary dictatorship.

The repression has continued unabated. The security apparatus, commanded by John Timoney and John Yates has intensified its attempts to suppress dissenting voices or anyone attempting to uncover the truth. It is now illegal to tweet anti-Alkhalifa news. Anyone who criticises the dictatorship or its human rights abuses is liable for arrest, torture and imprisonment. Four people have now been targeted for tweeting anti-regime news. The situation has now deteriorated to levels far worse than in previous times. Instead of opening up freedoms, the Alkhalifa, encouraged by the Saudi occupation, Anglo-American military and security support, has become notorious for its human rights violations. It has made mockery of the recommendations by the Bissioni Commission and the Human Rights Council.

While Nabeel Rajab’s trial earlier this week was postponed other human rights activists have been targeted and warned of severe consequences if they continued criticism of the Alkhalifa bleak record of human rights. Mohammad Al Masqati, the President of Bahrain Youth for Human Rights was arrested, threatened and ill-treated for criticising the Alkhalifa. No word of condemnation has come from the UN bodies responsible for protection of human rights defenders. Nabeel Rajab’s ill-treatment has stained the human rights world which has failed to protect the most prominent human rights activist in the Gulf region from arbitrary arrest, torture and imprisonment. Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr Rajab. AI has confirmed that at least one international observer was denied entry to Bahrain to observe the appeal against Mr Rajab’s conviction. Since John Timoney and John Yates were seconded by USA and UK to support the the Alkhalifa criminal regime last year international human rights activists were banned from entering the country. The Alkhalifa have kept an iron-fist policy against Bahrainis with tight grip on police, intelligence, army, judiciary and media. …more

Repression in Bahrain is continuing to alienate the Shia majority

How the police recruit radicals
13 October, 2012 – The Economist

Let’s make them really radical – ASIDE from corruption, the lack of democracy and a dearth of jobs, one of the things young Arabs have been protesting against most vigorously has been brutal policemen. The well-staffed, big-budgeted internal security forces in most Arab countries perform many tasks other than protecting citizens; they create jobs, form personal bases of support for powerful ministers, and of course spy on and intimidate potential troublemakers. Their behaviour often turns potential dissidents into real ones.

Many of the Arab uprisings started small and swelled after heavy-handed responses by the police. Some Syrians close to the regime still wonder if the bloodshed and chaos could have been averted if only President Bashar Assad had sacked his cousin, the secret-police chief in Deraa, where Syria’s rebellion began, after local security men shot young protesters there.

Police in most of the Gulf countries are usually subtler. Surveillance is high-tech and violence is exacted in prisons, away from the public view. But in Bahrain police are still engaged in near-daily fights with protesters, mainly in the rundown Shia villages that surround the wealthy commercial hub of Manama, the capital. Images of “martyrs” who died in the uprising are still being stencilled on village walls.

The latest is of 17-year-old Ali Hussein al-Nima, who died at the end of September. Opposition groups say police shot him in the back, nearly six weeks after a 16-year-old died in another clash with police. The authorities say both were killed when police responded to terrorist attacks from rioters with home-made petrol bombs.

Nearly a year after the publication of a report commissioned by the ruling royal family, which found that the security forces were responsible for killings and systematic torture, only a handful of police and no senior officials have lost their jobs. Since then police have been filmed looting Shia-owned shops and smashing parked cars with apparent impunity. By contrast, recent court rulings have upheld sentences against opposition leaders, human-rights activists, and nine doctors and medical workers accused, among other things, of “inciting hatred” against the government.

Bahrain’s Western-backed government has been trumpeting its reforms. British barristers have helped advise on new legal codes, while former police chiefs from London and Miami have been advising Bahrain’s growing police force, whose bosses prefer to bring Sunnis from overseas (including Pakistan) into its ranks rather than recruit from among local Shias.

The punishment of peaceful activists is making Bahrain’s opposition more radical. Some activists share jokes about the police, tweeting photos of broken-down doors and battered bodies with hashtags such as #bahrainstylereforms. Others swap recipes for Molotov cocktails, as protests evolve from peaceful calls for human rights and a proper parliament to angrier demands for the police to be bashed back, the closure of the American naval base and the end of the monarchy. …more

Western policy on Syria is failing on a monumental scale
Peter Hain – The Guardian – 21 October 2012

If Russia and Iran have been culpable, there has been a catastrophic failure of diplomacy by the west and its allies. UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon’s call for a ceasefire and an arms embargo is a welcome challenge to the west’s floundering policy. Britain, France and the US, as well as their allies, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, need to recognise that neither side is going to win the civil war engulfing Syria. Nor will the Turkey’s call for western military intervention to halt the humanitarian disaster resolve the crisis. A political solution has to be the priority.

The Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad, is reported to be willing to consider the proposal by the UN-Arab League envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, for a ceasefire for the four-day Eid al-Adha holiday on 26 October. The western powers and the Arab arms suppliers should urge their friends in the opposition to declare they will reciprocate if Assad makes good on his tentative promise.

Western demands for regime change were never going to work because this isn’t simply a conflict between a savage regime and the Syrian people. Assad and the ruling Shia-aligned Alawite minority form a tenth of the population and fear being oppressed by the Sunni majority. Christians and other minorities are similarly nervous. Together, those behind Assad constitute nearly a third of Syrians.

The war has also become a wider proxy for Sunni versus Shia, and Saudi Arabia versus Iran. There is also bitter suspicion at the west’s real intentions from Russia and China and their allies. They insist that they never authorised UN backing for military force to depose Muammar Gaddafi last year, and refuse to be “tricked” again. The Iraq invasion also poisons trust of the west. Libya today – its people at the mercy of warring militias and jihadist opportunists, the US ambassador assassinated – is hardly a good advertisement for repeating that regime-change recipe in more complex Syria.

David Cameron’s recent high-minded rhetoric at the UN general assembly ignored the presence of al-Qaida fighters among the west’s favoured rebels.Assad and the minorities and other popular forces that support him fear becoming victims of genocide, so will fight on. If the Syrian regime was somehow toppled without a settlement being in place, the country would descend into even greater chaos.

Russia is determined not to allow that anarchy, mainly because Syria provides its only Mediterranean port in the region. Iran also has key interests, malevolent or otherwise. Syrian refugees have already flooded into Turkey and Lebanon, the latter destabilised, with its police chief assassinated, and now plunged into a political crisis. …more

Mossad behind latest Beirut bombing
Voltaire Network – 21 October, 2012

On October 19, Israeli Mossad car bombing killed Lebanese internal security chief Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan near Sassine Square in Beirut’s predominantly Christian district of Ashrafiya. Wissam al-Hassan, a close Sunni ally of President Michel Sulaiman, had recently earthed an Israeli spy cell in Lebanon. The deadly blast killed 8 people and injured another 78, mostly Lebanese Christians.

American Jewish film-maker, political commentator and former personal secretary of Bertrand Russell, Ralph Schoeman 77, told Iranian Press TV that the bombing has all marks of Israeli Mossad.

“As 1992 to today in the day bombing of Beirut the identical scenario, who benefits from attempting to divide Lebanon and spread the turmoil, who benefits destabilizing the government in Damascus, who states to destabilize Beirut and subject Lebanon to civil war, the Zionist regime, the Mossad. It is a classical operation of Mossad,” he said.

Lebanese Islamic Resistance, Hizballah, has condemned the bombing. The pro-USrael opposition group March 14 lead by Sa’ad Hariri called for the resignation of Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati, which he did – but Lebanese president Michel Sulaiman refused to accept it saying that Mikati cannot be blamed for the security breach. Both Hariri and Mikati are Sunni billionaires and are not connected to Hizballah in any way. Hizballah is member of the ruling March 8 Alliance.

It seems, the Zionist regime is playing its old covert operations to pit Lebanese against each other. It carried a similar car bombing to assassinate Rafik Hariri in February 2005. It was part of Israeli soft revolution before its invasion of Lebanon in Summer 2006. However, to western powers’ great surprise – the Jewish army met its first major military defeat at the hands of Hizballah fighters.

Israel and western Arab puppet rulers are trying to influence the June 2013 parliamentary election by the western-sponsored armed insurgency in neighboring Syria. In March 2012, United Nations’ envoy for the Middle East, Israel-Firster Jew Jeffrey Feltman told pro-Israel-Saudi, ‘Lebanese American Organization’ that Hizballah and its allies will be defeated in June 2013 election.

However, the recent Hizballah’s successful launching of a spy drone over Israel proves that the Jewish army is to face worse surprises than it faced in 2006. …source

Detained Bahrainis deny defaming king on Twitter
22 October, 2012 – Agence France Presse

DUBAI, United States of America: Four Bahrainis arrested last week on charges of “defaming” the king on Twitter denied the accusations in court on Monday, saying they were innocent, their lawyers said.

The defendants, who appeared before a criminal court judge for posting on Twitter insulting comments about King Hamad bin Isa Al-Thani, “denied the accusations against them,” said one of their lawyers on condition of anonymity.

The lawyer said the defence team requested that the defendants be released pending further investigation, but so far it has not received any response.

The next hearing is scheduled for October 31.

On October 17, the government announced the arrest of the four defendants, promising a swift and “urgent trial before a criminal court.”

After the arrest, Bahrain’s public prosecution announced it had “interrogated the accused and ordered them to be held in custody for seven days pending trial.”

Regular demonstrations have shaken Bahrain since it crushed a Shiite-led uprising against the ruling Sunni regime in March last year.

The kingdom came under strong criticism from international rights groups over the deadly crackdown.

Bahrain, home to the US Fifth Fleet and strategically situated across the Gulf from Shiite Iran, has continued to see sporadic demonstrations, though mostly outside the capital Manama.

According to the International Federation for Human Rights, a total of 80 people have been killed in Bahrain since the violence began on February 14, 2011.
…source

Bahrain court cuts jail terms of two Shiite teachers
21 October, 2012 – France 24

AFP – Bahrain’s appeals court on Sunday cut the jail terms of two Shiite leading members of the teacher’s union, charged with calling to topple the Sunni monarchy during last year’s protests, lawyers said.

The court halved the 10-year jail sentence against the head of the teachers union, Mahdi Abu Deeb, and reduced the three-year imprisonment sentence meted out against his deputy Jalila al-Salman to six months, lawyers said.

Abu Deeb, who has been behind bar since April last year, appeared in court, while Salman did not show up. She has been out on bail since August last year after spending around five months in jail.

The earlier sentences were issued by a special quasi-military court set up after security forces backed by a Saudi-led Gulf contingent quelled a month-long protest in mid-March last year.

The duo were charged with exploiting their union positions to instigate protests, calling for teachers’ strikes and shutting down of schools, as well as calling to topple the regime by force.

Scores of Shiites, including medics, have been tried and jailed for taking part in protests that demanded democratic change in the Shiite-majority Gulf state.

Bahrain came under strong criticism from international rights groups over last year’s crackdown on protests.

An international panel commissioned by King Hamad to probe the clampdown found that excessive force and torture had been used against protesters and detainees.

According to the International Federation for Human Rights, a total of 80 people have been killed in Bahrain since the violence began on February 14, 2011.

Bahrain, home to the US Fifth Fleet and strategically situated across the Gulf from Iran, has continued to witness sporadic demonstrations, mostly outside the capital Manama. …more

Bahrain says it has identified suspects in police bomb attack
Reuters – 20 October, 2012

DUBAI (Reuters) – Bahrain’s interior minister said on Saturday that the country had identified several suspects in a bomb attack on Thursday that killed one policeman and injured another following clashes between protesters and the security services in the U.S. ally.

The tiny Gulf Arab kingdom has been convulsed by unrest since February last year after mass demonstrations led by majority Shi’ites demanding democratic change in the Sunni-led monarchy.

Thursday’s explosion, which the government called a “terrorist attack” and which followed clashes in a village south of the capital, was the latest such bombing this year. Four policemen were injured in a similar incident in May.

“We have identified a number of suspects in the case,” said Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa in a statement distributed by the government’s Information Affairs Authority.

Bahraini authorities have accused Shi’ite power Iran, which once ruled the Gulf island, of instigating the protests, a charge Tehran has denied, and have promised a tough response to violent demonstrations after talks with the opposition stalled.

“We won’t stop at just determining who committed the crime, but we will also determine who orchestrated the explosion and who trained the individuals in their bomb-making skills,” Al Khalifa said.

Shi’ites complain of discrimination in the electoral system, jobs, housing and education and say they are mistreated by government departments, the police and the army. Government promises of action to address their concerns have come to nothing, they say. …source

Dramatic footage of deadly attack
By Sandeep Singh Grewal- 21 October, 2012

SEVEN suspects have been arrested in connection with a bomb explosion in Eker that killed a policeman and left another critically injured. The Interior Ministry Crime Detection and Forensic Science directorate yesterday confirmed “legal procedures” were being taken against the suspects.

The arrests came as police released video footage of Friday’s explosion, which killed 19-year-old Imran Ahmed Mohammed, an officer of the Interior Ministry’s Special Security Force Command.

One of his colleagues, a Yemeni, suffered serious injuries in the attack and remains in a critical condition in hospital.

It happened at around 1am as they were on routine patrol.

The video shows a group of youths gathering to attack police and shining laser guns at a police helicopter. A Molotov cocktail is thrown at Mr Mohammed but misses and seconds later what appears to be a homemade explosive thrown in his direction blows up on a set of football goalposts.

Mr Mohammed then bends down as if he is trying to pick something up and the explosion erupts. Several of his colleagues then run towards him to try and help him.

Mr Mohammed is survived by his parents and four sisters, Afshan, 22, Batool, 17, Zainab, 15, and Fatima, 14.

It is the second tragedy for his family in four months as the policeman’s elder brother Mohammed Azhar, 26, also a policeman, was killed in an accident near Safra as he drove to work in June. The teenager’s cousin Kashif Ahmed Mandhour, another policeman, was also killed by anti-government protesters after being run over by a car near the former Pearl (GCC) Roundabout.

Minister of State for Human Rights Affairs Dr Salah Ali yesterday condemned the terrorist attack on policemen while they were performing their duties.

He said violence and terrorism have nothing to do with democratic practices used by some sides as a pretext to achieve demands, stressing that vandalism, blocking of roads and intimidation of citizens lead nowhere and achieve no agenda, and those who stage them will be brought to justice and held accountable, since “we live in a state of law and institutions”.

The US State Department condemned the attack during a daily Press briefing in Washington.

“We obviously strongly condemn the attack with an explosive device that killed one police officer and critically injured another in Bahrain,” said spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. …more

Bahraini Human Rights Group Urges Trial of Al-Khalifa Interior Minister
21 October, 2012 – Shia Post

Bahrain’s human rights association called on the International Court of Justice to try Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa for his direct involvement in the massacre of peaceful protestors in the tiny Persian Gulf country.

The human rights group’s demand came as anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February 2011, calling for an end to the al-Khalifa dynasty.

Violence against the defenseless people escalated after a Saudi-led conglomerate of police, security and military forces from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar – were dispatched to the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom on March 13, 2011, to help Manama crack down on peaceful protestors.

In a latest development a bomb attack on Thursday killed one policeman and injured another after clashes between protesters and the security services in a village near the capital which provided the government with a pretext to further arrest the Bahraini people. Bahraini security forces surrounded the village and increased their suppressive measures in the region.

Bahrain’s al-Vafa al-Islami stream condemned the move, and underlined, “The Bahraini regime’s story about the killing of a policemen in al-Akar village is an excuse to assume the extensive deracination of people as permitted.”

After the escalation of uprisings in Bahrain, tens of protesters have been killed by al-Khalifa’s security forces, hundreds have gone missing and thousands of others have been injured. …source

Urgent appeal: Medical supplies and food needed in AlEker, three human rights defenders arrested
21 October, 2012 – Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) and the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) issue an urgent appeal regarding the siege which has been ongoing for more than 2 days now on the village of AlEker. President of BYSHR, Mohammed AlMaskati, was able to get into the village despite the siege at approximately 9 am local time. A gathering of more than 100 people outside the entrance of AlEker which included medics, members of political societies and activists was dispersed by excessive force using sonic bombs and teargas and another gathering of AlEker residents inside the village was also attacked with excessive use of tear gas. Human rights defenders Zainab Al Khawaja, BCHR’s Said Yousif AlMuhafdhah and BYSHR’s Naji Fateel were arrested after peacefully matching towards Al Eker holding symbolic amount of food and medical supply to break the siege. According to the lawyer they are being charged with obstructing traffic despite walking on the pavement. Please refer to the last BCHR urgent appeal about the situation in AlEker: HERE .

According to AlMaskati’s testimony of what he witnessed, all entrances to AlEker are blocked. When people are allowed to leave (only from the main entrance), they are harassed and verbally attacked, in addition to getting thoroughly searched. AlMaskati stated that during the past two days, security forces have imposed an ongoing curfew, informing residents through loud speakers that they are not allowed to leave their homes. Security forces also used loud speakers to threaten the residents and used insults and sectarian derogatory terms.

Security forces have reportedly forbidden mosque caretakers from opening mosques for prayers for the past two days, and in one instance they raided a mosque breaking furniture inside. In addition, the village’s elementary school was closed today (Sunday 21st October) and it was surrounded by security forces who refused to allow students into the school. The residents of AlEker are suffering from food shortage, as the usual food deliveries from outside the village were prohibited from entering. Some residents have been attempting to bring food into the village on foot from other areas.

Residents of AlEker confirmed to AlMaskati that more than 36 their homes had been subject to arbitrary house raids without warrants. The raids were reportedly very violent, insides of their homes were broken and electronic belongings were confiscated. People inside the homes were subjected to physical and verbal assault demanding they disclose whereabouts of relatives.

The Residents who were in constant need of access to medical care were prohibited from exiting AlEker to go to the hospital. Ambulances have not been allowed into the area. Two people were arrested and later released after reported ill treatment and torture. Family of one of those arbitrarily arrested, namely Aqeel Hassan Jassim, informed AlMaskati that their son has Epilepsy and constantly needs medical care to avoid seizures.

The area claimed to be the “crime scene” by the ministry of interior is a deep area covered in water which has now been covered with sand. Many were arbitrarily arrested as part of the “AlEker case” and were reportedly brought to the “crime scene” and videotaped there according to local residents.

According to lawyer Manar Maki, a group of lawyers made a request to be present during the interrogations of those arbitrarily arrested in what is now being called “AlEker case”, but their request was rejected.

There were many attempts to break the siege on Al Eker village. A group of members of political societies, doctors and activists was dispersed with the use of excessive force this morning. Activists, Said Yousif, Zainab Al Khawaja and Naji Fateel walked to Al Eker holding only symbolic amount of food and medical supply, however, denied entry and arrested. According to witnesses Zainab Al Khawaja was beaten and dragged by male policemen and men in civilian clothing. The three activists are being charged with obstructing traffic. ( Video shows that they were peacefully walking not obstructing the traffic)

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) calls on the international community to put pressure on the government of Bahrain to respect and guarantee human rights for all people under all conditions. It calls on the authorities to stop subjecting the citizens of Bahrain to acts of ill-treatment and collective punishment during the process of investigation of the death of the policeman. The BYSHR and the BCHR believe that an independent, fair and transparent investigation has to be carried out to look into the causes behind the death of the policeman as well as the death of dozens of civilians. …Source