More than 150 protesters wounded by Tunisia police
28 November, 2012 – Al Akhbar

More than 150 people were wounded on Wednesday in a second day of clashes between Tunisian security forces and thousands of protesters in a poor southwestern town, a hospital source told AFP.

A doctor at the hospital in Siliana said more than 150 people were being treated for different types of injury, with four of them transferred to Tunis.

The emergency services in Siliana, some 120 kilometers south of Tunis, were visibly overwhelmed, as relatives of the victims gathered and vented their anger, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

“We will burn the town!” shouted a man whose son was among those injured.

Several armored vehicles belonging to the national guard were deployed, while protesters erected barricades in the streets.

By early afternoon the clashes were ongoing, between stone-throwing protesters and police, with thick clouds of tear gas visible in the town.

The interior ministry declined to comment on the unrest.

But the prime minister’s office said it was concerned about “the protests in public places in the Siliana prefecture,” in its first reaction to the unrest.

It also said it regretted “the use of violence against the security forces, aggression at the headquarters of sovereignty, and attempts to damage public property.”

Several thousand protesters had gathered at 0900 GMT in front of the prefecture in Siliana demanding the departure of the regional governor, trade union official Nejib Sebti told AFP earlier.

The security forces then began firing warning shots and tear gas, before using a “strange” type of shot to disperse the crowd, he said.

Similar clashes took place on Tuesday, with the police then using rubber bullets to scatter the protesters.

“The people of Siliana most affected by poverty will never go down on their knees,” Sebti said, warning that they were “ready to die for their rights.”

The protesters are demanding the liberation of 14 people detained during violent unrest in April 2011 and funds to boost economic development in the impoverished region, as well as the governor’s resignation.

Investment in the poor farming region fell by 44.5 percent from January to October, compared with the same period last year.

Much of Tunisia’s interior suffers from a chronic lack of development, and has seen growing social unrest, including protests that often turn violent, amid rising discontent over the Islamist-led government’s failure to improve living standards. …source

ICG: A Way Out of Egypt’s Transitional Quicksand
POMED – 28 November, 2012

A recent article by the International Crisis Group (ICG) addresses Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi‘s declaration of full power. The decree ”removes the unpopular Prosecutor General, a Mubarak-era holdover; paves the way for retrial of recently acquitted officials implicated in violence against demonstrators; protects both the Shura Council and Constituent Assembly from possible court-ordered dissolution; prolongs the Constituent Assembly’s term by two months; and, crucially, immunizes all presidential decisions from judicial review until adoption of a new constitution.”

Morsi’s decree came in reaction to the imminent collapse of the Constituent Assembly and the reinstatement of wide-ranging powers to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), according to the report. This combination of events, the ICG says, would have caused untold damage to the already unstable transition. The report also argues that Morsi’s decree enjoys widespread support among Egyptians, while the unpopular liberal opposition relies on “obstructionist politics” to assert its influence on the process. However, Morsi’s declaration has served to deepen the divisions among political groups, as well as the executive and judicial branches of government. To move forward, the ICG recommends that the “president and Supreme Judicial Council should agree to restore judicial oversight over his decisions with the exception of those pertaining to the maintenance and functioning of representative political institutions, while the courts should refrain from their own overreach. Additionally, members of the Constituent Assembly who have withdrawn in protest ought to rejoin the body, while some Islamist members could resign and be replaced by constitutional law experts.”

Issandr El Amrani criticized the piece, saying the ICG’s assertion that Morsi’s power grab has enjoyed widespread support is not based on substantiated evidence. “There is no reliable information on what the general public thinks of Morsi’s decree, but anecdotal evidence suggests there is quite a bit of opposition to it,” El Amrani said. However, he did agree that the opposition has not articulated a solution to the problems that Morsi’s decrees sought to address. …source

Obama II – the purge and the pact
by Thierry Meyssan – Voltaire Network – Damascus (Syria) – 28, November 2012

Enjoying a legitimacy reinforced by his reelection, President Barack Obama is preparing to launch a new foreign policy – drawing the conclusions from the relative economic weakening of the United States, he has renounced the idea of governing the world on his own. US forces continue their departure from Europe and their partial disengagement from the Middle East in order to take up positions around China. From this perspective, he wants to weaken the developing Russo-Chinese alliance at the same time as sharing the burden of the Middle East with Russia. Consequently, he is ready to apply the agreement on Syria which was reached on the 30th June in Geneva – deployment of a UN peace force, composed mainly of troops from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, and maintenance of Bachar el-Assad in power if he is designated by his people.

This new foreign policy is running into strong resistance in Washington. In July, a series of organised leaks to the Press sank the Geneva agreement and forced Kofi Annan to resign. This sabotage seems to have been hatched by a group of senior officers who are unable to accept the end of their dreams of a global empire.

This problem was never evoked during the Presidential campaign, since the two main candidates were in agreement about the change of policy and only disagreed on the manner in which it should be presented.

So Barack Obama waited no longer than the evening of his victory before giving the signal for the start of a purge which has been in cautious preparation for months. The resignation of General David Petraeus from his functions as head of the CIA has been widely publicized, but it was only the appetizer. The heads of many other senior officers are about to roll in the dust.

The purge first affects the Supreme Commander of NATO and Commander of EuCom (Admiral James G. Stravidis), who is at the end of his term, and his scheduled successor (General John R. Allen). It continues with the ex-Commander of AfriCom (General William E. Ward) and the man who has been his successor for a year (General Carter Ham). It will probably also eliminate the chief of the anti-missile shield (General Patrick J. O’Reilly) and still others of lesser importance.

Each time, the senior officers are accused either of sexual misconduct or embezzlement. The US Press has feasted on the sordid details of the sexual triangle which implicates Petraeus, Allen and Petraeus’ biographer, Paula Broadwell, while avoiding any mention of the fact that she is a Lieutenant-Colonel in Military Intelligence. It seems abundantly clear that she was infiltrated into the entourage of the two Generals in order to bring them down.

The purge in Washington was preceded in July by the elimination of the foreign executives who oppose this new policy and who were implicated in the battle of Damascus. Everything went down as if Obama had allowed the clean-up to happen. For example, the premature death of General Omar Suleiman (Egypt), who had come to undergo treatment at a US hospital, or the attack on Prince Bandar ben Sultan (Saudi Arabia), seven days later. …more

Israel carries out ground incursion into Lebanon
28 November, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Eleven Israeli soldiers carried out a ground incursion into Lebanon Wednesday morning, breaking the border’s barbed wire fence near the village of Wazzani and mounting a sandbag barrier roughly 15 meters past the demarcation line.

The soldiers reached a Lebanese military zone, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

Ground and air incursions into Lebanon are a direct breach of UN resolution 1701 which ended Israel’s war on Lebanon in 2006. Israel has carried out more than 20,000 illegal surveillance flights over Lebanon since that ceasefire.

The Lebanese Army and the UN’s international peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL are on high alert. …source

Trial of two boys starts in Bahrain
Amnesty International – 28 November, 2012

Children with roses Young boys hold roses while sitting at the base of the Pearl Monument, Bahrain. © Al Jazeera English

Two 15 year old boys, Jehad Sadeq Aziz Salman and Ebrahim Ahmed Radi al-Moqdad were arrested with two adults during an anti-government protest in Manama, the capital of Bahrain.

They have since been held in detention and appeared for the first time before the High Criminal Court in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, on October 16, together with Sadeq Jalil Ibrahim al-Haiki.

Their charges under articles of the Bahrain Penal Code and the 2006 anti-terrorist law include ‘’intending to murder”, “burning a police car”, “illegal gathering and rioting”, “throwing Molotov cocktails”, and “attempting to steal a police car”. One of the defendants told the court he had been tortured in detention. Their lawyers are still waiting for the results of a forensic examination and their case has been adjourned to 3 December. All five are still held in the Dry Dock prison in Manama.

The age of criminal responsibility in Bahraini law is 15 years old. However, as Jehad Sadeq Aziz Salman and Ebrahim Ahmed Radi al-Moqdad are under 18, they are children and should be treated in accordance with the rules and principles of juvenile justice.
…more

Bahrain – time for Britain to take a lead
By Eric Avebury – 23 November, 2012 – Liberal Democrat Voice

On November 5, thirty-one Bahrainis were deprived of their citizenship arbitrarily, without notice and without judicial process, contrary to customary international law. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that everyone has the right to a nationality and no-one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality. The victims can appeal these decision, but there is no point. The king has absolute power to grant or rescind citizenship, and the courts wouldn’t dream of overturning his decisions.

No wonder that hundreds of Bahrainis demonstrate against the government every day. Even after a total ban on meetings they continue to turn out after Friday prayers. The ruling family’s assault on the rights of the people provokes their hatred, and they are calling for regime change.

The ancestors of the royal family came from Zebara in the 18th century, so the chant on the streets is;

Your visit is finished – go back to Zebara

In Arabic it rhymes:

Intahat Ziyara, Oodoo illa Zebara

The US State Department repeat their call to the government of Bahrain to create a climate that is conducive to reconciliation, to meaningful dialogue, to reform, to bring peaceful change. Britain also calls for peaceful dialogue, but many of the leaders of the opposition are serving life sentences in prison, among them Hassan Mushaima, leader of the Haq movement and Abduljalil al-Singace, the head of its human rights bureau; Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a leading human rights activist.

Nabeel Rajab, head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, is imprisoned for three years for a remark he made on Twitter.

The Bassiouni Commission, which examined hundreds of human rights abuses following the uprising that began in February 2011, recommended that political prisoners should be freed and compensated for the torture they suffered.

Prince Salman, the Crown Prince, gave the Foreign Secretary William Hague a personal commitment to an inclusive political dialogue. This can’t happen while most of opposition are behind bars. Now the provocative and unlawful deprivation of these people’s citizenship, with the threat of more to come, makes it harder than ever to start a dialogue.

Our Government needs to tell the hereditary autocrats of Bahrain that the long-term peace and stability of Bahrain can’t be achieved by killing, torturing and arbitrarily imprisoning human rights and political activists. Bahrain and the other Gulf monarchies need fundamental reforms that transfer power from permanent autocrats to the people, as in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and soon we hope, Syria.

Britain should line itself up with the future, and not with anachronistic family oligarchies. …source

Saudi forces disperse protesters
28 November, 2012 – UPI.com

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 28 (UPI) — A human rights activist in Saudi Arabia said security forces descended on protesters who were demonstrating for more judicial rights.

Mohammed al-Qahtani, a member of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association, told CNN that security forces broke up a protest in front of the country’s human rights commission in Riyadh. Several prisoners have remained behind bars without trial, he said.

“These are ongoing protests about political prisoners,” he said. “The government is not willing to take them to court and issue verdicts.”

CNN said it was unable to verify Qahtani’s claims. The activist is on trial for running an unlicensed organization.

Calls by CNN to the Saudi Interior Minister went unanswered. The official Saudi Press Agency reports Wednesday the ruling monarch issued a decree reliving Interior Minister Ahmad bin Abdulaziz of his post. A royal decree, meanwhile, related to “amnesty for prisoners of public rights according to certain conditions,” the official news agency reports.

Demonstrations in Saudi Arabia are exceptionally rare.

…source