Bahrain regime urged to free prisoners
21 December, 2012 – PressTV

The head of a European Parliament human rights delegation has called on the Bahraini regime to free political prisoners.

During a Thursday visit to the Bahraini capital Manama, Inese Vaidere called on Bahraini officials to release all “prisoners of conscience” to soothe political tensions in the country.

Vaidere further said the European delegation paid a visit to imprisoned opposition leaders, including Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been sentenced to life in prison.

The European team’s visit to Bahrain comes nearly a week after the Bahraini prince called for dialogue with the opposition on December 5, saying only talks could solve the political unrest in Bahrain.

The uprising in Bahrain began in mid-February 2011.

The Manama regime promptly launched a brutal crackdown on peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring states.

Dozens of people have lost their lives in the crackdown, and the security forces have arrested hundreds, including rights activists, doctors and nurses.

Bahraini demonstrators say they will continue holding anti-regime protests until their demand for the establishment of a democratically elected government is met. …source

The crackdown has, in turn, hardened the opposition, which increasingly turns to Molotov cocktails, rocks and other weapons to confront the authorities. Moderates on both sides are being marginalized.

Nick, I think you have it wrong about the Molotovs increasing and a dualist extremism evolving. This is the scenario the regime has sought but it has failed to produce the desired result; dialogue unto reform advantageous and preserving of the brutal monarchy.

What preceded the “extremism” from the streets was the systematic elimination of ‘non-reformist’ leaders through imprisonment. Since 14 Feb. it has been clear the regime has worked to create and environment of “reform” that will preserve their rule and thwart a move toward real democracy. In the early days of the recent uprising the regime tried to “buy-off” the “majority opposition” by “power sharing arrangement” but the underlying popular support of the majority opposition wasn’t having any of it.

The Molotov throwing youth are being exploited as “extremists” in a pretentious bid to build a “middle ground of reform” advantageous to preservation of the brutal kingdom. Your missing the urgent need to free the opposition leaders from al Khalifa’s prisons in order to have a meaningful dialogue for the sake of the future of Bahrain. Without them the al Khalifa’s rule will simply die from a slow bleed of the unquenchable flames of street rebellion… …either way the al Khalifa’s are finished. Phlipn Out.

When Bahrain Said: Get Lost
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF – 22 December, 2012 – NYT

BAHRAIN, one of America’s more repressive allies, tries to keep many journalists and human rights monitors out. I recently tried to slip in anyway.

The jig was up at the Bahrain airport when an immigration officer typed my name into his computer and then snapped to attention. “Go back over there and sit down,” he said, looking at me in horror and keeping my passport. “We’ll call you.”

The Sunni monarchy in Bahrain doesn’t want witnesses as it tightens its choke hold over a largely Shiite population. Almost every evening, there are clashes between the police and protesters, with both sides growing more enraged and violent.

Around 100 people have been killed since Arab Spring protests began in Bahrain in February 2011. I was in Bahrain then as troops opened fire without warning on unarmed protesters who were chanting “peaceful, peaceful.”

The oppression has sometimes been nothing short of savage. Police clubbed a distinguished surgeon, Sadiq al-Ekri, into a coma — because he tried to provide medical aid to injured protesters. By all accounts, torture has been common.

In the larger scheme of things, Bahrain is a tiny country and maybe doesn’t matter much to the United States. What nags at me is that this is a close American ally — assaulting people in some cases with American equipment — yet the Obama administration mostly averts its eyes. This is a case not just of brutal repression, but also of American hypocrisy.

After that initial crackdown in 2011, the king commissioned a blunt outside report, and the Obama administration hoped that the country would ease up under the more open-minded crown prince. That hope is collapsing, and Bahrain is now clamping down more tightly.

“The human rights situation in Bahrain has markedly deteriorated over recent months, with repressive practices increasingly entrenched,” Amnesty International noted in a recent report on Bahrain. It concluded: “the reform process has been shelved and repression unleashed.”

The crackdown has, in turn, hardened the opposition, which increasingly turns to Molotov cocktails, rocks and other weapons to confront the authorities. Moderates on both sides are being marginalized. …more

Third week of Bahraini child in detention under “terrorism law”
24 December, 2012 – ABNA

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – The Bahrain Center for Human Rights is gravely concerned about the continuous violations against children’s rights in Bahrain. The authorities’ arrest, detention and ill treatment of children is on-going, with children as young as 13 getting arrested.

In a recent case, security forces held children aged 6 to 16 on a school bus. While the Bahraini authorities’ actions are a clear violation of the Convention of the Right of the Child, Bahrain was awarded a seat in the United Nations committee of the Right of the Child.

On 7 Dec 2012, Hussain Ali Al Saqqai (13 years old), Mohammed Abdulghani Al Shawaikh (13 years old) and Hussain Abduljalil Alhawaj (15 years old) were arrested from Manama following clashes between protesters and police, although to-date no evidence has been presented of them being part of it. According to information received by the BCHR, the children reportedly beaten and kicked in the head at the time of arrest. They were accused of attacking a police patrol and were taken to the public prosecution office. Mohammed Al Shawaikh and Hussain Al Saqqai were taken to the Juvenile prison in Isa Town while Hussain was detained for fifteen days at the Dry Dock prison with adults. Mohammed Al Shawaikh and Hussain Al Saqqai’s detention was extended twice to this day, as they are to be held in detention until December 27, 2012.

Ebrahim Al Muqdad, 15 years old, and Jehad Sadeq, 16 years old, were arrested on 23 July, 2012. The two young boys were subjected to ill treatment and their families did not know anything about their whereabouts for 24 hours. They have been in detention for more than four months to this day. Their last court hearing was yet again postponed to December 25 because of the absence of the Ministry of Interior’s witnesses, prolonging the process while they unlawfully remain in detention. The two boys are detained in an adult prison while being tried under Bahrain’s terrorism law. This law is condemned by many international groups including UN experts, as the definition of “terrorism” is very vague, and punishment under it is very harsh.

Qasim Juma Al Kuwait, 15 years old, was arrested on 12 December 2012, reportedly during a house raid. According to his family he was taken to the public prosecution and interrogated without the presence of a lawyer. He is currently held in Dry Dock prison.

Bahraini authorities continue to spread terror amongst children, as seen in the case which occurred on the on the 18th of December. Security forces stopped a school bus when it passed by Sitra police station. Children from Al Yarmook Elementary and Intermediate school (ages 6-16 years old) were forced off the bus and held at the police station. The children were held in the police station until their parents came to sign a pledge, and then were allowed to go. It was reported that one of the children argued with a policewoman and she yelled at him threatening him with imprisonment. The parents were notified that those of them who were “wanted” or had a prior record would be contacted by the police station[1]. …more

1000s of Bahrainis hold Anti-government Demonstration
24 December, 2012 – Tehran News

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Bahrain in fresh protest rallies against the decades-long rule of the Al Khalifa royal family.

The demonstrators on Saturday called for the resignation of the prime minister, Sheikh Khalifah bin Salman Al Khalifah, who has held his office since the early 1970s.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have staged numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain.

On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.

However, opposition rallies have continued in Bahrain in defiance of a government ban on public gatherings. The government’s harsh crackdown on demonstrations has also failed to keep protesters off the streets.

Scores have been killed, many of them under torture while in custody, and thousands more have been detained since the popular uprising in Bahrain began. …source

Europe MP and Journalist Denied Entry in Bahrain to Conceal Human Rights Abuses
24 Decemebr, 2012 – ABNA

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Member of the European Parliament, Ms. Marietje Schaake, was denied an entry visa into Bahrain for her planned travel on December 18th as part of a delegation of Members of the European Parliament with a program focused on human rights. On December 4th, Ms. Schakke co-hosted a round table discussion with FIDH entitled “Bahrain: How to step-up the EU’s response to ongoing Human Rights violations?”, and Bahraini activists were among the participants on it. She has also worked extensively in other areas concerning EU relationships with Bahrain. The BCHR believes that it is this work which led to the denial of her visa. …source

President Obama Might Be Time’s Person of the Year, But Not the Middle-East’s
By Ali Younes – 24 December, 2012 – FPIF

The biggest disappointment of Obama’s presidency, from an Arab perspective, was his lackluster support for Arabs revolting in Egypt and Syria.

Time Magazine’s selection of President Barack Obama as Person of the Year for 2012 should not come as a surprise, after all, Obama’s presidency is by all measures a historic one.
From an American perspective, Obama’s rise to power as a man of color and a minority represents deep social, cultural and demographic changes in American society without which Obama’s presidency would still be a dream.

As Time editors noted in their report, Mr. Obama garnered the majority of the minority vote which was the decisive factor that put him back in the White House for four more years. President Obama’s might deserve his new title for many reasons here at home, but from an Arab perspective, he does not deserve the title. For his perceived negative inaction exceeds his positive actions.

Until two years ago, change in the Arab World seemed almost impossible if it wasn’t for a street vendor in Tunisia named Mohammad Bouazizi who, by setting himself alight, ignited a revolution that swept several countries in the Arab world. It is true, moreover, that Bouazizi was the catalyst for the Arab Spring, but it was, much like Obama’s America, the deep social, economic changes that occurred in the Arab world that were its true causes. It was mainly economic deprivation, lack of freedom and hope that needed Bouazizi’s spark to set the Arab Spring in motion.

The election of president Obama in 2008 was perceived as a sign of relief and great hope in the Arab World. The idea, it was thought then, was that a man with Obama’s background might be able to right America’s historic tilt against the Arab causes as far as its support for Arab dictators and its bias toward Israel. This was especially true after eight long years of the President George W. Bush administration that embarked on a foolish mission of “nation-building” in the Middle East but ended up destroying one of its most ancient and its most modern nations, Iraq.

Obama’s record in the Arab world is mixed at best. This is despite that he started off his first presidency with high hopes that he would achieve a breakthrough in the Arab Israeli conflict. But his efforts in that direction did not pan out after he realized that, when it comes to pressuring Israel, even the president of the United States might find himself with very limited power.

But the biggest disappointment in Obama’s presidency, from an Arab perspective, was his lackluster support for the revolting Arab citizens particularly in Egypt and Syria. At the beginning of the Egyptian revolution, Obama’s administration seemed hesitant as to whether it should support the demonstrators or back America’s long-time ally and dictator Hosni Mubarak. Even though Obama eventually supported the Egyptian revolution, it was viewed then as a disingenuous move that was made only to support U.S. interests.

The same dynamics exist today as many Egyptians suspect that the Obama administration is backing the Muslim Brotherhood government of President Mohammad Mursi, who is the first ever democratically elected president of Egypt. Much like Obama’s first term, President Mursi is presiding over a divided country in transition, but without the benefits of the strengths and stability of the American political system. Ironically, President Mursi made Time’s short list of the person of the year, but his inability to steer Egypt to safety after his election and his perceived divisive decisions cost him the venerable title. …more

“New coalitions and promises are being formed in Bahrain named ‘Ahd al-Shohada’ (Martyrs Convention) in which all the political groups have concluded that the Bahraini nation has no way but to get rid of the al-Khalifa suppressive regime,” Abdulrao’uf al-Shaeb told us on Sunday.

Bahraini Revolutionaries See No Way but Getting Rid of Al-Khalifa Regime
24 December, 2012 – ABNA

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – He said that the Bahraini people are also now aware that they should save their country from the Saudi occupation and should be able to decide about their fate and political path after toppling the ruling system.

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February 2011, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty’s over-40-year rule.

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.

So far, tens of protesters have been killed, hundreds have gone missing and thousands of others have been injured. …source