Posts from — November 2012

State Dept. Concerned over Bahrain Violence, BICI Progress
POMED – 5 Novemebr, 2012

After an explosion claimed two lives in Bahrain, the U.S. State Department condemned the violence, saying, “we remain deeply concerned about the rise of tensions in Bahrain. Recent violence in Bahrain has claimed the lives of protesters, of security forces, of innocent bystanders, and all of this just undercuts the process of national reconciliation that we have strongly been urging on Bahrainis of all stripes for many, many months.”

The State Department spokesperson added, “we’re concerned that a year has gone – almost a year has gone by [since the BICI report was released] and we’ve only seen about half of the recommendations go forward and that dialogue is not going forward between the government and the opposition.” While commenting on the presence of American John Timoney in Bahrain’s police reform efforts, the spokesperson said, “We’ve been concerned that these recommendations of the BICI, particularly in the area of police reform, have not been strongly enough implemented. It is one of the issues that we are continuing to urge on the Bahrainis, in terms of needing to really work on how the police respond to unrest, building a police force that’s representative of all Bahrainis, and taking some of these other steps.”
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Officials call bomb blasts that killed 2 in Bahrain terrorism
Newsist – 5 November, 2012

MANAMA, Bahrain – A series of bomb blasts in Bahrain’s capital killed two people Monday, authorities said, a sign that some factions within the opposition may be increasingly turning to violence in the nearly 21-month uprising against the Gulf nation’s Western-backed rulers.

The apparently coordinated string of five explosions in Manama — described by officials as “terrorism” — comes less than a week after Bahrain banned all protest gatherings in attempts to quell the deepening unrest in the strategic kingdom, which is home the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

Clashes have not eased, including crowds pelting three police stations with firebombs early Sunday. More than 55 people have been killed Bahrain’s unrest since February 2011 as the nation’s majority Shiites press for a greater political voice in the Sunni-ruled island nation.

Officials also suggested three could be crackdowns against Shiite religious leaders, and that could sharply intensify the clashes. Government spokeswoman Sameera Rajab blamed the attacks on statements by some Shiite “religious figures who haven’t ceased inciting violence against civilians and police.”

She said authorities would show “zero tolerance” in its efforts to stamp out unrest.

In Monday’s violence, two Asian men were killed and a third person was injured as at least five homemade explosive devices were detonated, the Interior Ministry said. One man died after kicking a bomb and triggered an explosion, and the other died from injuries in a separate blast, officials said, but they did not immediately give names or nationalities.

Like all Gulf Arab countries, Bahrain has a large South Asian community of expatriate workers. …more

Two Saudi border guards killed in ambush, blasts reported in Bahrain capital
5 November, 2012 – Albawaba

Two Saudi border guards were killed on Monday at dawn in an ambush by armed elements affiliated to Al-Qaeda. The gunmen were trying to cross the southern border to Yemen, the Saudi authorities conveyed.

Eleven attackers were arrested, including one Yemeni, after an exchange of fire with border guards, according to the spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry. Among the attackers are 10 former Saudi prisoners involved in terrorism cases. According to a source quoted by Saudi “Al Arabiya” television, these former terrorists were recently released after being “rehabilitated.”

Simultaneously, five homemade explosive devices were detonated in Manama, Bahrain’s capital, killing two and wounding another. The authorities said it was terrorism. The Shiite majority in the monarchy, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, is supported by Iran. For nearly two years, Bahrain has been the scene of violent demonstrations, acts of sabotage, and repression. …source

The Opposition Tearerist that did this went to Prison

The al Khalifa Terrorist that did this walked free…

UN: Iran not cooperating on nuclear weapons probe
5 November, 2012 – By Edith M. Lederer – Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS: The U.N. nuclear chief said Monday that Iran is not cooperating with an investigation into suspected secret work on nuclear weapons.

Yukio Amano told the U.N. General Assembly that talks between the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran have intensified this year after an IAEA report in November 2011 said it had “credible information that Iran had carried out activities relevant to the development of a

nuclear explosive device,” he said.

“However, no concrete results have been achieved so far,” Amano said.

While the IAEA continues to verify that Iran’s declared nuclear material is not being diverted from peaceful purposes, “Iran is not providing the necessary cooperation to enable us to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities,” Amano said.

“Therefore, we cannot conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities,” he said.

But the IAEA director general said “the agency is firmly committed to intensifying dialogue with Iran.”

“We will continue negotiations with Iran on a structured approach,” he said. “I hope we can reach agreement without further delay.”

Iran has repeatedly denied any interest in possessing nuclear arms, but the international community fears that Tehran may turn its peaceful uranium enrichment program toward weapons making – a concern that is growing as the government expands the number of machines it uses to enrich its stockpile of enriched uranium.

As those fears grow, so does concern that Israel could carry out its threats to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities before that nation reaches the bomb-making threshold.

Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee reiterated his country’s position, that it has a right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and rejected the claims in the IAEA report saying they are “not credible” and based on “forged reports” provided by Israel and the United States.

In his annual report to the world body, Amano said he also remains “seriously concerned” about North Korea’s nuclear program, calling its statements about uranium enrichment activities and the construction of a light water reactor “deeply troubling.”

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The S&M Election
by Chris Hedges – Common Dreams – 5 November, 2012

I learned at the age of 10, when I was shipped off to a New England boarding school where the hazing of younger boys was the principal form of recreation, that those who hunger for power are psychopathic bastards. The bullies in the forms above me, the sadistic masters on our dormitory floors, the deans and the headmaster would morph in later life into bishops, newspaper editors, college presidents, politicians, heads of state, business titans and generals. Those who revel in the ability to manipulate and destroy are demented and deformed individuals. These severely diminished and stunted human beings—think Bill and Hillary Clinton—shower themselves, courtesy of elaborate public relations campaigns and an obsequious press, with encomiums of piety, patriotism, devoted public service, honor, courage and vision, not to mention a lot of money. They are at best mediocrities and usually venal. I have met enough of them to know.(Illustration by Mr. Fish)

So it is with some morbid fascination that I watch Barack Obama, who has become the prime “dominatrix” of the liberal class, force us in this election to plead for more humiliation and abuse. Obama has carried out a far more egregious assault on our civil liberties, including signing into law Section 1021(b)(2) of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), than George W. Bush. Section 1021(b)(2), which I challenged in federal court, permits the U.S. military to detain U.S. citizens, strip them of due process and hold them indefinitely in military facilities. U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest struck down the law in September. The Obama administration immediately appealed the decision. The NDAA has been accompanied by use of the Espionage Act, which Obama has turned to six times in silencing whistle-blowers. Obama supported the FISA Amendment Act so government could spy on tens of millions of us without warrants. He has drawn up kill lists to exterminate those, even U.S. citizens, deemed by the ruling elite to be terrorists.

Obama tells us that we better lick his boots or we will face the brute down the hall, Mitt Romney. After all, we wouldn’t want the bad people to get their hands on these newly minted mechanisms of repression. We will, if we do not behave, end up with a more advanced security and surveillance state, the completion of the XL Keystone pipeline, unchecked pillage from Wall Street, environmental catastrophe and even worse health care. Yet we know on some level that once the election is over, Obama will, if he is re-elected, again betray us. This is part of the game. We dutifully assume our position. We cry out in holy terror. We promise to obey. And we are mocked as we watch promises crumble into dust.

As we are steadily stripped of power, we desire with greater and greater fervor to be victims and slaves. Our relationship to corporate power increasingly mirrors that of ancient religious cults. Lucian writes of the priests of Cybele who, whipped into frenzy, castrated themselves to honor the goddess. Women devotees cut off their breasts. We are not far behind.

“Anyone who wants to rule men first tries to humiliate them, to trick them out of their rights and their capacity for resistance, until they are as powerless before him as animals,” wrote Elias Canetti in “Crowds and Power.” “He uses them like animals and, even if he does not tell them so, in himself he always knows quite clearly that they mean just as little to him; when he speaks to his intimates he will call them sheep or cattle. His ultimate aim is to incorporate them into himself and to suck the substance out of them. What remains of them afterwards does not matter to him. The worse he has treated them, the more he despises them. When they are no more use at all, he disposes of them as he does excrement, simply seeing to it that they do not poison the air of his house.”

Our masters rely on our labor to make them wealthy, on our children for cannon fodder in war and on our collective chants for adulation. They would otherwise happily slip us rat poison. When they retreat into their inner sanctums, which they keep hidden from public view, they speak in the cold words of manipulation, power and privilege, words that expose their visions of themselves as entitled and beyond the reach of morality or law.

The elite have produced a few manuals on power. Walter Lippmann’s “Public Opinion,” Leo Strauss’ work and “Atlas Shrugged” by the third-rate novelist Ayn Rand express the elite’s deep contempt for the sans-culottes. These writers posit that the masses are incapable of responding rationally to the complexities of power. They celebrate the role of a tiny, controlling elite that skillfully uses propaganda and symbols to, as Lippmann wrote, “manufacture consent.” They call on the power elite to operate in secrecy. The elite’s systems of propaganda are designed to magnify emotion and destroy the capacity for critical thought. Kafka was right: The modern world has made the irrational rational.

“Crowds have always undergone the influence of illusions,” wrote Gustave Le Bon, one of the first pioneers of the study of mass psychology. “Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.”

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Saudi Arabia confirms 2nd case of SARS-like virus
5 November, 2012 – Associated Press – The Daily Star

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia’s Health Ministry has confirmed that a second person in the kingdom has contracted a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to three the number of those sickened by it in the Gulf region in recent weeks.

The Ministry in a statement Monday said the unidentified patient was hospitalized with “pneumonia caused by the new virus known as novel Coronavirus.” It said the patient has since recovered from his pneumonia, adding that he had not traveled outside Riyadh. It did not say when, where, or how the person contracted the virus.

The germ is a coronavirus, from a family of viruses that cause the common cold, as well as SARS – the severe acute respiratory syndrome that killed some 800 people, mostly in Asia, in a 2003 epidemic.
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David Cameron Under Fire Over Gulf Arms Deals With UAE, Saudi Arabia
The Huffington Post UK – 5 November, 2012

Saudi Arabia, David Cameron, Polls, Campaign Against Arms Trade, Gulf States, Arms Trade, Dubai Arms Deal, UAE, UK NEWS, Uk World, UK Politics News

The Prime Minister has been accused of acting like “a traveling salesman for the arms industry” as he begins a visit to Gulf states aimed at selling British-made jets.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph as he arrived in Dubai as part of a three-day tour of the Gulf and the Middle East, David Cameron said: “We do believe countries have a right to defend themselves.

“And we do believe Britain has important defence industries that employ over 300,000 people and so that sort of business is completely legitimate and right.”

Cameron has been open about his desire to sell arms to the Saudis, the UAE and Oman.

But anti-arms campaigners have taken aim at the prime minister for the deals done with states that routinely abuse human rights.

British arms have been in the centre of some of the bloodiest conflicts of the last few years, with weapons exported to Libya under Colonel Gaddafi and to Bahrain, where the government responded with extreme violence against anti-regime demonstrators.

Amnesty International UK’s Head of Policy and Government Affairs Allan Hogarth said: “Selling arms to countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE should only be considered if there are absolutely watertight guarantees over them not being used to commit human rights violations.

“Saudi Arabia has been the recipient of record-breaking arms deals involving the UK, yet these have been highly secretive and there’s been little or no follow-up over how the weaponry was used.

“For example, in 2009 the Saudi air force used UK-supplied Tornado fighter-bombers in attacks in Yemen which killed hundreds – possibly thousands – of civilians.

“In one attack conducted by Saudi forces on the town of al-Nadir in November 2009, so many were killed in just one extended family that witnesses say the family ‘had to create a cemetery for themselves’.

“More than two years ago we called for the UK government to urgently investigate Saudi Arabia’s involvement in this episode and meanwhile suspend any further arms supplies to Saudi Arabia. …more

PNP-NYPD agreement will lead to further US intervention, rights abuses under Aquino regime–CPP
5 November, 20120 – Signal fire

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denounced the memorandum of agreement between the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the New York Police Department (NYPD) signed last Wednesday as “part of heightening US government intervention in the Philippines.” The CPP further said that “the agreement with the US NYPD, one of the most notorious fascist police organizations in the world, can only lead to worse human rights abuses by police operatives under the Aquino regime,” said the CPP. The MoA was signed by PNP Chief Nicanor Bartolome and the head of the NYPD’s Singapore satellite office Lt. Gustavo Gutierrez. It purportedly serves to advance “cooperation in addressing transnational crimes” and “capacity building and training” between the PNP and the NYPD. According to information earlier released by the PNP, the NYPD will open a satellite office inside the PNP’s general headquarters in Camp Crame.

“The PNP-NYPD MoA will only serve as an additional legal cover for the US government’s heightening intervention in the Philippines. It will lead to more extensive and intrusive intelligence and other types of operations by US police and military agents in the country,” said the CPP. “Even before the MoA, US police and federal agents have already been operating in the Philippines clandestinely with the cooperation of the local police.” The CPP pointed out that political prisoners detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame were able to uncover the presence of agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) maintaining their own offices within the camp and in a condominium unit nearby.

Several Indonesian nationals accused of being “terrorists” and arrested by US agents in Indonesia and Malaysia have been renditioned by the US government and given false Filipino identities at the behest of the FBI to justify their detention at Camp Crame. This is in violation of Philippine national sovereignty and the Indonesian detainees’ human rights, added the CPP. “The NYPD is notorious for being a fascist tool of suppression against the American people,” said the CPP. “Recently, the NYPD was employed in the suppression of protest actions at Zucotti Park near Wall St. by American workers, students and ordinary people against the pro-big monopoly policies of the American government.”

“In investigations carried out by human rights and law groups, the NYPD was found to have used excessive police force, and guilty of hundreds of other violations, including unjustified arrests, abuse of journalists, unlawful closure of sidewalks and parks to protesters, and pervasive surveillance of peaceful activists, said the CPP. “Following the pattern of its new partner, the PNP is bound to become even more brutal in dealing with protests, urban poor anti-demolition barricades and other mass actions,” said the CPP.

Communist Party of the Philippines November 04, 2012

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The Irrelevance of Arab-Americans in the US Presidential Election
By: Thabit Al-Arabi – 5 November, 2012 – Al Akhbar

When it comes to the US presidential election, the Arab-American community is completely irrelevant. Yet every four years a small clique of Washington-based, self-appointed representatives of Arab-Americans try to convince people otherwise. They overstate the potential impact of an Arab-American electorate on the results of the US presidential election, hoping to sell this unlikely story to Arabs in the homeland.

The claims these individuals make range from simple exaggerations about the potential of Arab-American voters to influence election results to outlandish assertions that Arab-Americans are the one ethnic group within the US that can determine the outcome of the presidential election.

Each election cycle the ADC declares the Arab-American community has finally reached the stage where it can play a role in determining who will be the next US president.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), a civil rights organization that describes itself as the largest grassroots Arab-American organization in the US, holds meetings prior to each presidential election urging Arab-American participation in the electoral process. The ADC employs common American clichés like, “Every vote counts,” or, “Make your voice heard.” Each election cycle the ADC declares the Arab-American community has finally reached the stage where it can play a role in determining who will be the next US president.

James Zogby, a regular fixture of the Arab-American scene for decades, helped establish the ADC before opening his own one-man shop, the Arab American Institute (AAI), which he describes as a “national leadership organization.” Each election cycle, the omnipresent Zogby gives us a strikingly similar pep talk about Arab-American political empowerment and a community “coming of age” under his guidance and leadership.

Both the ADC and AAI have no significant support base within the Arab-American community, and maintain much closer relations with the embassies of Arab Gulf states, which provide them with generous support.

Such grandiose claims are more about this elite subset of organizations seeking acceptance within mainstream American politics than providing any objective assessment of the electoral influence of Arab-Americans. Considering this agenda, it becomes impossible for these organizations to challenge any of the basic assumptions of the American political system. These career driven individuals operate within an American political system that leaves no room for any deviation from the strictly defined parameters of acceptable political discourse. What we are left with is a small group of “activists” driven by personal interests.

American presidential elections are quite a spectacle, but American democracy is a fiction. Even before a corporation was granted personhood and huge corporate campaign contributions became protected speech, the corporate elite had gained effective control of the economic and political institutions. Americans were left with a democratic façade. US presidential elections functioned more as a public ritual designed to perpetuate the illusion of democracy.

Despite this corporate domination of all economic and political life in the US, every four years we find a few Arab-Americans eager to participate in the carefully choreographed election charade.

Let’s assume that the US presidential elections are indeed meaningful and the victory of one candidate over the other will lead to implementing different policies. Let’s further assume that Arab-Americans represent a collective political unit that has coalesced around a set of common concerns. What potential impact can an Arab-American electorate have on the election? To answer this question we need to quickly review Arab-American demographics.

According to the US Census Bureau there are at least 1.9 million Americans of Arab descent out of a population of nearly 313 million people. They live in all 50 states but heavily concentrated in New York, Michigan, and California with smaller clusters in Florida, Texas, and Ohio. One million of the 1.9 million Americans of Arab descent are third and fourth generation descendants of earlier waves of Arab immigration to the US beginning in the late 19th century. Although included in the 1.9 million, many of these people do not identify as Arab-American. Their ethnic heritage, if they’re aware of it, doesn’t play any role in their political socialization or consciousness.

According to the official immigration data, about 900,000 Arab-Americans arrived in the US as immigrants over the last two decades. This group does indeed maintain its Arab identity and, despite its diversity of opinions, shares a common set of concerns, such as growing Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism within the US, as well as a barbaric US foreign policy towards the Middle East. Of this group of less than one million living in a country of almost 313 million people, many are ineligible to vote due to age or immigration status. With such a tiny percentage of the population dispersed across different states, one simply has to overlay this Arab-American demographic map atop the US Electoral College map to understand the insignificance of the Arab-American electorate.

Despite this corporate domination of all economic and political life in the US, every four years we find a few Arab-Americans eager to participate in the carefully choreographed election charade.
In this year’s US presidential election, for example, New York, Texas, and California, three states with a relatively high concentration of Arab-Americans, will play no role in determining the outcome of the election.

Of the few swing states, Michigan is one in which there is a relatively large Arab-American presence. However, in order for this community to have even a minor impact in Michigan, it must be mobilized around a common set of issues. This has not happened.

To say that Arab-Americans are irrelevant in the US presidential election is not to say the irrelevance of Arab-Americans to the election results is necessarily a bad thing or that the election results themselves are relevant.

The remarkable consistency of the American regime’s domestic and foreign policy makes clear it isn’t. For Americans, real change on the domestic level will not come from within the electoral process. A change of US foreign policy towards the Arab world can only be forced by revolutionary change from within the Arab world itself. In the meantime the results of the US presidential election, much like Arab-American voters, will remain irrelevant. …source

Wrong fatwas trigger terror attacks in Bahrain
5 November, 2012 – twentyfoursevennews.com

The Minister of State for Information Affairs and Government Spokesperson, Sameera Ebrahim bin Rajab, said that the new spate of attacks in Bahrain were result of inciting religious hatred by some religious fatwas delivered by some disgruntled elements in the society.

She condemned five terrorist explosions on Monday in Gudaibiya and Adliya areas of the Capital, Manama, by homemade bombs, killing two Asian residents and injuring another, currently in a serious condition.

The minister condemned those terrorist acts aiming to terrorize citizens and residents, and to destabilize the country, pointing out that these terrorist operations are due to religious fatwas issued by some religious figures who haven’t shunned inciting violence against civilians and policemen.

Rajab confirmed that international law requires countries to protect the security of citizens and residents on its territory, and called for zero tolerance in the application of the law, to control the religious speech of religious figures, and hold accountable anyone involved with those terrorist acts directly or indirectly, noting that this is the core duty of the government bodies in all countries of the world.

The minister said it was unfortunate that those actions targeted residents in the Kingdom of Bahrain, who have helped, and are still helping to enhance the economic development in Bahrain for decades. …source

Bahrain: Arbitrary detention of human rights defender Mr Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafdha
5 Novemebr, 2012 – Frontline Defenders

On 2 November 2012, prominent human rights defender Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafdha was arrested in the village of Diraz on charges of rioting and participating in illegal gathering.

The charges were brought in connection to a protest that took place the same day in Diraz and to which the human rights defender denied participating. He is currently detained in Hooth Al-Jaff Prison, in the Governorate of Muharraq. Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafdha is the acting vice president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR). BCHR is one of the three shortlisted nominees for the 2012 Martin Ennals Award.

On 2 November 2012, Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafdha went to the village of Diraz following reports of the violent dispersal of a protest by security forces. Once in Diraz, he was arrested outside the home of a man who had sustained injuries during the protest’s dispersal and whose case he intended to document. Following the arrest, Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafdha was questioned at Al-Badee police station about the purpose of his presence there. When fellow human rights defender Zainab Al-Khawaja arrived to the police station to collect him, later that day, she was told that he was not permitted to leave yet. He was then informed that he would be held overnight and would be taken to the Public Prosecution office the next morning. On 3 November, the Public Prosecution office ordered his detention for a period of seven days to allow completion of the investigation.

Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafdha’s arrest occurred three days after the BCHR published a report highlighting the climate of impunity for grave human rights violations committed by security officials. …source

Bomb Blast in Bahrain, al-Muhafda Detention Extended
5 November, 2012 – POMED

Two foreign workers were killed in the capitol Manama after five explosions went of November 5. Bahrain’s Prime Minister described the acts as “heinous” crimes, while the country’s top police officer called them “acts of terror.” Matar Matar, a representative for the opposition al-Wefaq party, expressed doubt that opposition activists were behind the attacks. “This incident is strange – why would anyone target workers?” Matar said. Michael Stephens, researcher with the Royal United Services Institute in Qatar, highlighted “increasing evidence that extreme anti-government elements have become radicalized as a result of the slow pace of economic reforms, and political stagnation.”

Meanwhile, Bahrain extended the detention of human rights activist Sayed Yousif al-Muhafda for participating in a demonstration. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, in collaboration with International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organization Against Torture released a letter urging the release of al-Muhafda. Additionally, two activists were sentenced after posting remarks on Twitter “defaming” King Hamad bin Isa al-Thani. One defendant was given a one-month jail term, the other was given a four-month sentence, and a third defendant was sentenced to six months last week on the same charges. …source

Backing up rhetoric with action in Bahrain
By Stephen McInerney – 4 November, 2012 – Washington Post

Stephen McInerney is executive director of the Project on Middle East Democracy.

“Our challenge in a country like Bahrain,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last November, is that the United States “has many complex interests. We’ll always have to walk and chew gum at the same time.” The growing problem is that the United States does plenty of “walking” — maintaining our strategic alliance with the Gulf kingdom in the short term — but little or no “chewing,” or taking meaningful steps to spur the political reforms needed to preserve Bahrain as an ally in the long term.

A late September vote on Bahrain’s nominee for the advisory committee of the U.N. Human Rights Council gave Washington an easy opening. In a letter to Clinton early that month, 14 nongovernmental organizations, including the Project on Middle East Democracy, Human Rights Watch and Freedom House, urged the United States to oppose the candidacy in light of Bahrain’s egregious record on human rights.

The nominee, Saeed Mohamed al-Faihani, has been a career official in Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry whose recent tenure as undersecretary for human rights coincided with the government’s brutal suppression of the country’s civilian uprising. Faihani repeatedly denied the government’s countless human rights violations, including torture of political prisoners and violent crackdowns on peaceful protests. His statements directly contradicted the findings of the government’s own Commission of Inquiry and well-documented reports by international human rights organizations.

Although Faihani resigned from his government post — days before the U.N. committee vote to meet eligibility requirements — his previous statements and blatant disregard for human rights in Bahrain gave the United States reason to question his qualifications.

Instead, the U.S. delegation was silent, and Faihani was elected by acclamation.

Bahrain quickly pointed to the election as an endorsement of the kingdom’s human rights record. King Hamad called the vote a “recognition of [Bahrain’s] democratic and political record” and evidence that Bahrain is “an oasis of human rights, co-existence, tolerance and love.” Human Rights Minister Salah Ali — Faihani’s former boss — called the unanimous total “a vote of confidence for the kingdom’s serious steps and positive role in protecting human rights.” Washington did nothing to dispute these interpretations.

The United States joined the Human Rights Council in 2009 promising to fight against “the pernicious machinations of countries seeking to obscure and deny their abuses” through the council. When Washington helped eject Libya from the council in 2011, Clinton said it was “clear that governments that turn their guns on their own people have no place on the Human Rights Council.”

More recently, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice highlighted successful U.S. “efforts to prevent human rights abusers, such as Iran, Syria and Sudan from winning election to the Human Rights Council.” Faihani’s position on the council’s advisory committee compromises the increased legitimacy that this work has bestowed on the council and encourages the widespread perception that the United States will confront human rights violations by Iran or Syria while ignoring the abuses of allies such as Bahrain.

A single vote against Faihani may not have kept him off the committee, nor changed the human rights situation in Bahrain overnight, but it would have demonstrated U.S. seriousness toward both the council and accountability in Bahrain.

In recent weeks, Bahrain’s government has banned demonstrations of any size and upheld lengthy prison sentences given to teachers and medics for expressing their political views. It continues to crack down violently against daily protests. Washington has repeatedly expressed “concern” about the state of human rights in Bahrain, but it is increasingly clear that such statements have little or no impact.

While the Faihani vote was Washington’s latest missed opportunity to take a stand, other openings remain. The U.S. administration could limit military assistance and training to Bahrain; sanction Bahraini officials responsible for gross human rights violations; more strictly enforce the rights requirements of the U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement; or call for a special session on Bahrain at the U.N. Human Rights Council. Any of these steps would signal that Washington is finally willing to walk and chew gum, backing up its rhetoric with action.

…source

Two Bahrainis jailed for ‘defaming’ king on Twitter
5 November, 2012 – Agence France Presse

DUBAI: A Bahraini criminal court on Monday sentenced to jail two Bahraini activists for posting on Twitter remarks deemed insulting to the king, their lawyers said.

The two defendants appeared in court and one was handed a one-month jail sentence while the other was given a four-month sentence for allegedly “defaming” King Hamad bin Isa Al-Thani, the lawyers said on condition of anonymity.

A third defendant facing the same charges was sentenced to sixth months in prison last Thursday, the lawyers added.

They were part of a group of four men arrested on October 17 on charges of “defaming” the king — an accusation which they staunchly denied when the trial opened on October 22.

The verdict against the fourth member is expected later this month.

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

Bahraini Forces Firing Peaceful Protesters with Poisonous Tear Gas, a Woman Martyred
5 November, 2012 – Shia Post

Poisonous tear gas used by Bahraini al-Khalifa forces against peaceful anti-government protesters has martyred 43 years old woman in Jid Hafas.

The victim, identified as Asiyeh al Madih, 43, martyred on Sunday after a tear gas canister hit her when walking in a street during an overnight attack by regime forces in Jid Hafas.

According to reports, she moved to hospital and after hours of remaining under treatment, Asiyeh al Madih could not bear and hence doctors confirmed her martyrdom.

Bahraini troops heavily rely on tear gas and stun grenades to disperse peaceful anti-government protesters. Several Bahraini civilians, mostly senior citizens and kids, have died from asphyxia after regime troops fired tear gas in residential areas and into homes in violation of international standards that Bahrain is a signatory to.

Bahrainis have been staging demonstrations since mid-February 2011, demanding political reform and a constitutional monarchy, a demand that later changed to an outright call for the ouster of the ruling Al Khalifa family following its brutal crackdown on popular protests.

96 people have been killed and many others injured in the Saudi-backed crackdown on peaceful protesters in Bahrain. …source

Five indiscriminate bombings targeting civilians is completely inconsistent with stated aims of reformist and revolutionary elements in Bahrain society. In short it simply does not make sense. The attacks and fabrication of charges consistent with the practice of fabrication, disinformation and false flag operations by the regime. These desperate actions by the regime are “made necessary” to force the opposition to its “table of reconciliation”. The result reveals a desperate regime that is incapable of ceding power in any significant or meaningful way toward a free and just society in Bahrain. If King Hamad is genuinely interested in “national unity” he must step down. These desperate action demonstrate the pursuit of a “scored earth” policy by the regime. They are willing to agitate a civil war to finish its genocidal mission against the Shiites in Bahrain if they cannot subordinate the opposition through the pretense of a “reconciliation process”. What will follow in the aftermath of these bombings staged by the regime is a virtual siege of the Villages and widespread arrests of those who resist in the streets. Phlipn.

Explosions kill two workers in Bahrain
5 November, 2012 – Reuters – Al Akhbar

Five homemade bombs went off in the Bahraini capital Manama on Monday, killing two foreign street cleaners and wounding another worker, the state news agency said, describing the explosions as “terrorist acts.”

The attacks come as two Bahraini activists were sentenced Monday to prison for “defaming” the king on Twitter. One activist received a one-month sentence and the other is to serve four months in prison, their lawyer said.

Another activist was sentenced to six months in prison last week over the same charge.

Police have been targeted by explosions several times this year in what is seen as retaliation for dozens of killings of protesters at the hands of security forces since the massive anti-government uprising erupted in February 2011.

But bombs targeting civilians are rare in the kingdom, raising suspicions over responsibility and motives at a time when the government is coming under heightened international scrutiny over its persecution of human rights activists.

“As always, we condemn all acts of violence and call for an independent investigation into the bombings,” Maryam al-Khawaja, acting head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, told Al-Akhbar. “There has been so much lying that we cannot trust anything this government says.”

The explosions on Monday took place in the Qudaibiya and Adliya districts of Manama, the BNA agency said, citing a police official.

An Interior Ministry statement on Twitter said the two dead men and the wounded man were Asian workers.

BNA gave no more details on the backgrounds of those affected or the incidents, which come after the government last week banned all rallies and gatherings, drawing international condemnation from human rights groups and the United Nations.

Amnesty International described the ban as a violation of the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

Anti-government protests have continued throughout the country despite the ban.

A prominent human rights activist was arrested on Friday while documenting police attacks on peaceful protesters in the village of Diraz.

Said Yousif, BCHR deputy head, may be charged with participating in an “illegal gathering” within a week pending an investigation.

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.

Continuous Suppression of Protests and Detained Activists; What Direction is the Human Rights Situation in Bahrain Going?

Bern, Switzerland – 3rd November 2012 – Ahmed Al-haddad

On Friday, 2/November/2012 and after the decision issued by the Bahraini Ministry of Interior to prevent marches and any manifestations of protest, rallies in several different areas in Bahrain went out protesting the decision of the Ministry of Interior, and to demand the immediate release of Mr. Hassan Mushaima, a political activist sentenced to life of imprisonment and accused in the case known as the “Alliance for the Republic” and whom health was worsened recently because of the torture he suffered from and lack of necessary health care provided to him in prison. Especially that he was suffering from cancer, which now seems and as reported has returned to him after it was cured.

(Mr. Hassan Mushaima)

One of those protests went out in Diraz, western of the Bahraini capital Manama and it was attended by some human rights activists to monitor the course of its progress. It was only minutes until the protest was excessively suppressed by the Bahraini security forces of the Ministry of Interior, using shotguns and tear gas, resulting in several injuries of pro-democracy activists. As well as the arrest of Mr. Yousif Al Muhafda, the Head of Monitoring and Documentation of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, who was present for the monitoring and documentation purposes on charges of illegal gathering in Diraz.

(The moment of arrest of Mr. Al Muhafda)

Mr. Al Muhafda was presented at the Public Prosecution today Saturday 3/November/2012 for interrogation after 7 hours of waiting. He was arrested for seven days pending for investigation and transferred to Hamad Town Police Station to be transferred on Sunday to Dry Dock Prison northern of Bahrain.

Another protest was organized in Bilad AlQadim western of the Bahraini capital Manama on Friday and it was also subjected to violent repression by security forces, and a serious head injury of a 12-year-old child was monitored and documented.

The security forces of the Bahraini Ministry of Interior continues to use excessive force in facing these peaceful protests which contains participants of all ages, men and women. These security forces are still deliberately directing their shootings of firearms at protesters toward the heads and sensitive areas of the body causing serious injuries without any consideration or proper justification.

The European-Bahraini Organisation for Human Rights EBOHR condemns the use of excessive violence in dealing with peaceful protesters demanding their legitimate rights, as it would not provide any solutions to the crisis taking place in the country, but will worsen it more and more. We also demand the Bahraini authorities to show restraint and to provide health care for the injured in pro-democracy rallies without any fear of arrest, torture or prosecution.

The EBOHR urges the Bahraini authorities for the immediate release of the Head Monitoring and Documentation at the Bahrain Human Rights Mr. Yousif Al Muhafda without any restrictions or conditions, and to stop harassing human rights activists who work in order to develop an integrated human rights culture in the country.

…source

Ahmed Al-haddad
Head of Information & Media Relations
European-Bahraini Organization for Human Rights (EBOHR)
www.ebohr.org – Twitter: @Diablohaddad

House raids and mass arrests: the Black Scare is well under way
28 July, 2012 – Cautiously Pessimistic –

[excerpt] – This week[28 July 2012], three houses were raided in Portland, and subpoenas served to a number of individuals in Portland, Olympia and Seattle, summoning them to appear at a grand jury on Thursday August 2nd. This follows on from more house raids in Seattle earlier in July, and is clearly one aspect of the broader project of repression that’s seen the FBI setting up fake terror plots. The FBI’s search warrant states that they are looking to seize items which may be evidence regarding the crimes of conspiracy to destroy government property, interstate travel with intent to riot, and conspiracy to travel interstate with intent to riot. Those items include: Clothing and related items worn during commission of offenses; paint; sticks and flags similar to those used or carried during the commission of the offenses, and material for making flags; anti-government or anarchist literature, documentation or communications related to the offenses, flares, computers or electronic storage media of any kind.

So, anti-government or anarchist literature, paint, black hoodies, and material for making flags are all evidence of crimes now. For those of you who aren’t aware what a grand jury is, they’re pretty serious shit. The famous Fifth Amendment, which gives you the right to silence, doesn’t apply to them; in fact, it starts “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury…” If someone who’s been subpoenaed for a Grand Jury refuses to testify, they can be jailed for contempt of court. …more and HERE

URGENT – FAST FORWARD – 2 November, 2012

Dear Capr supporter,

On October 25, 2012 a fifth subpoena was served to Matthew “Maddy” Pfeiffer to appear before the federal grand jury on November 7, 2012. Early this week, they declared their intent to resist the grand jury. You can read their statement at our website: HERE. We are preparing to support Maddy as they go in front of the grand jury next week. Check our website for updates on what you can do.

Matt Duran and Kteeo Olejink are still being held in contempt of court at Seatac Federal Prison and continue to need your support. Please consider writing or sending them books, donating money so we can fill up their commissary or having a solidarity action in your community. We recently received a letter from Kteeo and wanted to pass it on to you. Thank you for your continued support.

Kteeo’s letter:

“I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for the incredible and constant support that I have been receiving since being locked up at the FDC over a month ago.

I want to thank my family for their unwavering support, pride, and love—throughout this situation and throughout my life.

I want to thank my closest friends for supporting me out of love, regardless of political beliefs; for your constant letters, for keeping my life on the outs in order, for spreading the word of my incarceration, and for reminding me daily that I am never alone.

I want to thank all the incredible support team for getting the word out there; through the internet, through word of mouth, radical media, anarchist media, lefty media, and mainstream media. I want to thank you all for all the fundraising you have been doing; and for your constant reminder of solidarity and friendship.

I want to thank my wonderful attorney; you are such a badass!

I want to thank all of my old friends from across the States and the world who are spreading the word to their friends and networks both through the use of technology and face to face communication (which I have to say is pretty rad).

To all of the rad people organizing on our behalf, I thank you for dedicating your precious time, energy, and love to our release and well-being.

I want to thank all of my new friends who have heard about our case from mutual friends, the internet, political groups; any number of forms of media; ya’ll have been consistently writing letters and spreading the word since day one. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

To a whole lot of anarchists who have written me every day, thank you!

To a whole lot of people who are not anarchists, who have written to me every day, thank you!

To those who have made it their life’s work to write prisoners, thank you!

To those who are writing me because they have experienced the red scare, and said never again, thank you!

To all of you who have inquired about donating (I hope I gave you the info), those who donated, and those who are planning benefits, thank you!

To my community of downtowners, thank you for having my back. Thank you for not forgetting me, thank you for loving me, thank you for proving that communities can be strong regardless of political beliefs, and for proving that all of this is about so much more than political affiliations.

So, to all of you; I know I did not do anyone any favors by staying out of the public eye until my incarceration, but every single one of you has done so much to bring light to what is going on.
Every single one of you has done so much to bring light to what is going on. Every single one of you helps me to grow stronger every day.

To all of those who have written me; I have received about 100 letters every week since I have been in here (over 400 letters so far), and I am so sorry to all of those I have not written back yet. All of your words, artwork, and photos have inspired me and I can not thank you enough. Again, I’m really very sorry if I have not written you back yet; postage is a bit of an issue. Also to all of you who have sent me books, most of them have not contained return addresses, but I still want to let ya’ll know that they are loved by myself and my new friends on the inside. To the friend that sent me Soledad Brother and the beautiful letter within days of being here, I do not have an address for you, but I love you and your words have helped to strengthen my resolve.

Anywho…to all of you again, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!

Keep smiling, keep struggling; in solidarity, gratitude, and love,

Kteeo

PS: ….to another old friend, I got your postcard. Live to eat.”
Katherine Olejnik #42592-086
FDC SeaTac,
P.O. Box 13900
Seattle, WA 9819

Bahrain: One year after security forces killed his child, father arrested while the killers enjoy full impunity
Bahrain Center for Human Rights

Instead of Arresting Policemen Involved in Killing His 14-year-old Son, Authorities Detain the Father for Peacefully Protesting

The Bahrain center for Human rights expresses its concern over the arrest and act of intimidation practiced by the Bahraini regime toward the relatives of the victims killed by the security forces to stop them from demanding justice.

On 26 Oct 2012, Jawad Al-Shaikh was arrested from a peaceful protest in Manama that demanded self-determination and breaking the siege of Aleker village which was living under high security restrictions for the past few days before the protest (More details: bahrainrights.hopto.org/en/node/5487); dozens of people were attacked and a number of peaceful protestors were arrested among them Jawad Al-Shaikh.

Jawad was kept in police custody for over 48 hours before he was finally presented to the Public Prosecution on Monday 29 Oct 2012, in a violation of the Bahrain Law, which states that the decision of the Public Prosecutor should be made within 24 hours to keep or release the detainee. The Public Prosecution ordered detaining him for 15 days pending investigation on charges of “illegal gathering”. He was not allowed the presence of a lawyer during the interrogation. Such acts are “business-as-usual” for the Judiciary and Public Prosecution in Bahrain, the BCHR recently have issued a detailed statement. (Read More : The Judiciary and Public Prosecution in Bahrain are Tools to Oppress the Human Rights Activists and Political Opponents)

Jawad is the father of a 14 year old boy Ali Al-Shaikh who was killed with a shot to his neck from behind last year on 31 Aug 2011, the morning of Eid Al-Fiter. Jawad Al-Shaikh, says that the government tried to force him to sign documents stating that Ali was not killed by regime forces. A few months later he was summoned by police for interrogation. Security forces have numerously raided the family’s home and ripped pictures of Ali off the wall. They constantly smash the pictures on his grave as well as throwing away any flowers which the family leaves on their son’s grave. Ahmed Al-Shaikh, the cousin of Ali Al-Shaikh, who is a witness of his killing was arrested on January 5 2012. Ahmed has been charged with illegal gathering. Until this day, no official of any rank has been held accountable for the death of Ali.

Jawad, like many other fathers and relatives of the killed victims, has been participating in protests, peacefully demanding justice for his killed son.

The BCHR believes that Jawad Al-Shaikh has been arrested for practicing his legitimate right in peacefully assembly to raise awareness about the case of his killed son, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The BCHR also believes that this arrest is an act of intimidation directed at all other relatives of killed victims who continue to accuse the regime with the killing of their sons and continues to participate in peaceful protests to demand justice. …more

Bahrain activist sentenced for anti-king web posts
Associated Press – 1 November, 2012 – The Olympian

MANAMA, Bahrain – A civil court has sentenced an online activist to six months in prison on charges of insulting the Gulf nation’s king in Twitter posts, the official news agency said Thursday.

The activist, whose name was not released, was among four people arrested last month for allegedly defaming Bahrain’s monarch in cases that mirror other social media crackdowns by Gulf Arab rulers. Court rulings on the three other Twitter activists are expected next week.

The official Bahrain News Agency said that in addition to the sentence, the court on Thursday ordered the activist’s laptop and mobile phone confiscated.

Bahrain has been hit by unrest for nearly 21 months as the island’s Shiite Muslim majority seeks a greater political voice in the Sunni-ruled kingdom that hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

The prosecutions have brought strong criticism from media freedom groups – as has the government’s announcement Tuesday banning public demonstrations.

The ban is the most sweeping attempt to quash the kingdom’s anti-government uprising since martial law rules went into effect during the early months of unrest last year. It sharply increases pressure on political groups from the Shiite majority.

Shiites comprise about 70 percent of Bahrain’s 525,000 citizens, but claim they face systematic discrimination such as being denied top political and security posts. The Sunni monarchy has made a series of concessions – including giving more powers to the elected parliament – but opposition groups say the reforms do little to loosen the ruling family’s hold on power.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday joined the U.S. government in criticizing the move by Bahrain’s rulers.

The U.N. chief said the restrictions violate international human rights standards, including respect for freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, U.N. deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey said.

“The secretary-general believes these restrictions could aggravate the situation in the country and urges the government of Bahrain to lift them without delay,” he said.

Ban reaffirmed that the only way towards greater stability and prosperity is an inclusive national dialogue that addresses the legitimate aspirations of all Bahrainis, del Buey said.

…source