US Still Acquiescing in Bahraini Crackdown
by Amitabh Pal – Common Dreams

Two years ago this week, the Bahraini monarchy started cracking down on its people. It’s still at it, with the complicity of the Obama Administration.

On February 14, 2011, Bahrainis embarked on their version of the Arab Spring, running up against official repression immediately. The protests so unnerved the regime that it called upon the Saudis to invade the country. The Saudis did so a month later with the acquiescence, at least, of the Obama Administration, and a long night descended upon the island nation.

Dozens of protesters have been killed at the hands of the security forces over the past two years. Hundreds are in jail. Just last month, the Bahraini appeals court confirmed life sentences for seven prominent activists, including Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who had staged a long hunger strike in protest against his mistreatment.

Over the past year, “the government shifted from talking about reforms to silencing critical voices, banning demonstrations, and restricting access to independent journalists and rights organizations,” Human Rights Watch Deputy Middle East Director Joe Stork recently stated. “These actions thoroughly discredit claims by Bahraini authorities of respecting human rights.”

The demonstrators persevere.

“Protests have taken place every day for the past few weeks,” reports Reese Erlich (a contributor to The Progressive) for NPR. “A group of six traditional opposition parties, headed by the Al Wefaq National Islamic Society, continue to mobilize the largest numbers. But the February 14 Youth Coalition has challenged those parties with more radical demands and militant tactics.”

And the toll continues to rise.

“In Bahrain, a teenage boy has been killed by security forces during protests marking the second anniversary of the country’s pro-democracy uprising,” Democracy Now reports. “Opposition activists said Hussain al-Jaziri died from shotgun wounds. At least eighty-seven people have died at the hands of security forces in the Gulf nation since 2011.”

The United States has played a hypocritical and pernicious role here. A mix of security considerations, Iranophobia, and oil has put the Obama team on the wrong side of democracy. The U.S. Fifth Fleet is stationed in Bahrain. The uprising has acquired a sectarian hue for some due to the Shiite majority confronting the Sunni monarchy. Shiite Iran has been accused (with scant evidence) of fishing in troubled waters. And the United States believes it can’t afford to alienate such a crucial supplier of oil as Saudi Arabia. Hence, its response to the Bahraini crackdown has been coldhearted.

“Even the most basic steps that were taken against other governments during these mass uprisings that the Middle East and North Africa region has witnessed, we haven’t seen those steps taken towards Bahrain,” activist Maryam al-Khawaja (daughter of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja) tells Democracy Now. “We’ve been seeing the selling of arms to Bahrain by the United States and the United Kingdom and others, ongoing business as usual when it comes to economic deals and so on—all in the name of security.”

The cozying up to the Bahraini monarchy seems to be a bipartisan venture. “Met w/ #Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa this weekend,” Senator John McCain tweeted in December.

In all the tumult, Bahraini women have been in the forefront of the uprising.

“I watched one woman singlehandedly organize activities for traumatized children of martyrs and prisoners,” Jen Marlowe wrote in the November issue of The Progressive. “I accompanied two female doctors from Physicians for Human Rights as they went from house to house, documenting the long-term affects of continuous exposure to tear gas. I stood next to a fearless young woman who photographed riot police attacking protestors with tear gas. I interviewed a defiant female university student just hours after her release from prison, where she had been sexually abused.”

Last month, thirty human rights organizations from around the world sent a letter to President Obama urging him to apply pressure to get pro-democracy campaigners released.

“Dear Mr. President,” the letter reads, “The Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), as well as the undersigned human rights organizations, call on you to take substantive action towards securing the immediate release of thirteen activists and human rights defenders who are arbitrarily detained in Bahrain.”

Obama needs to heed their plea, instead of coddling a repressive monarchy. …source

Some of the world’s bravest dissidents are pursuing their fight against injustice with little attention from the outside world. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth knowing about. Here’s a list of remarkable people who rarely make it into the headlines.

Unsung Heroes
3 October, 2012 – Tom Malinowski – Foreign Policy

Ibrahim Sharif, Bahrain

The head of the National Democratic Action Society Wa’ad Party in Bahrain, Ibrahim Sharif played a leading role in the pro-democracy protests last year and was imprisoned for the crime of calling for a change in the island monarchy’s system of government. He’s since been sentenced to five years in jail.

Most supporters of the opposition in Bahrain are members of its disenfranchised Shiite Muslim community. But Sharif is a Sunni, as are many members of his pro-reform political party. His existence, as an opposition leader and political prisoner, undermines the Bahraini government narrative that the crisis in the country is purely sectarian, that the protest movement is part of an Iranian/Hezbollah plot to establish a Shia theocracy, and that the country’s Sunni population is unalterably opposed to compromise. That a prominent Sunni, with some support in the Sunni community, is calling for constitutional monarchy in Bahrain appears to have deeply embarrassed the hardliners around the country’s king. Unfortunately, Sharif’s case has not gotten as much attention as that of other prominent Shiite political prisoners in Bahrain. Last month, a civilian appeals court upheld his sentence, along with 19 others, even though Bahrain’s Independent Commission of Inquiry found that the evidence against them consisted of their speeches or confessions extracted through torture. …more

…more PHOTOS

A woman dies due to asphyxiation from regime’s lethal gasses
15 February, 2013 – littlemediatv.com

The regime in Bahrain continues the deliberate killings against citizens in their houses through the use of lethal tear gas deliberately thrown and fired at houses and in neighborhoods in order to cause deaths among the innocent.

Ameena Sayed Mahdi Sayed Abdullha, 36 years old, who lives in Abu Saiba village, died on Wednesday, February 13, as a result of being exposed to lethal tear gas which was heavily thrown in her houses, and led to the deterioration of her health and death later on, as reported by family members.

Her family said that she lived in the east of Abu Saiba where riot police frequently throw gas canisters. After a month she went through severe health deterioration as a result if inhaling the gases. She was admitted to the recovery room in Salmaniya Medical Complex, however, just a few days ago the doctor on duty called her family to inform them on her poor health condition and the complications that impacted her lungs and kidneys alongside other symptoms, which led to the loss of her live as a result.

The residents in the area pointed out that they filed a complaint in the security center and presented their statements to the public prosecution and confirmed that the martyr’s house was very often mainly subjected to lethal gas attacks and that she had died as a result of this.

The regime forces have caused deaths to many due to the use of toxic and lethal gassed, as they deliberately throw these gasses on houses, and this has been documented by cameras and witnesses in their areas. These ongoing practices are within the official terror which aims to undermine the security and target citizens for their pro- democracy stances to end the dictatorship. …source

Russia must beware of West chicanery over Bahrain, Syria
Mon Feb 18, 2013 – By Finian Cunningham

It would be a grave mistake for the Russian government to adopt the premise of Syria and Bahrain as being somehow equivalent and reciprocal. The former is a case of outright criminal aggression by cynical foreign powers; while Bahrain is a clear case of a people genuinely demanding democratic rights. They are separate and non-negotiable.”

Moscow should be careful not to buy into recent cosmetic efforts by the West to revamp its Persian Gulf client monarchy – and to sell the Bahraini people short for the sake of saving its ally in Syria.

As Bahrain marked the second anniversary of its popular uprising on 14 February, the embattled Western-backed monarchy has renewed attempts apparently to seek a negotiated political settlement with various opposition groups to its two-year crisis.

However, many analysts both within and outside the Persian Gulf kingdom see the new push for “national dialogue” as nothing more than a cynical political maneuver by the Sunni regime to buy off a popular, mainly Shia, challenge to its unelected rule. The ulterior agenda of the talks process, which opened on 10 February, is not to produce a genuine democratic political solution, but rather to revamp the corrupt status quo with a sticking-plaster appearance of reform.

This is where Russia’s recent engagement in Bahrain’s political affairs should tread carefully.

Ahead of the kingdom’s political dialogue, the Russian foreign ministry hosted a delegation from Bahrain’s main extant opposition group, Al Wefaq, in Moscow. The word “extant” is used advisedly here because most of Bahrain’s more critical opposition to the regime is in prison, some of whom are serving life sentences on trumped-up charges of subversion.

The Wefaq delegation to Moscow earlier this month was led by Sheikh Ali Salman, the top figure in the mainly Shia political organization, who held talks with Russia’s deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov.

Bogdanov also met on 8 February with Bahrain’s ambassador to Russia, Hashim Hasan Al Bash. Following the series of meetings, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement: “Russia will continue to hold contacts with the kingdom’s leaders as well as representatives of opposition groups in firm support of efforts to resolve internal problems through a national consensus in the interests of all Bahrainis.”

If we give Russian diplomats the benefit of doubt, one could see their belated efforts as a well-meaning attempt to help resolve the conflict in Bahrain, where over the past two years some 100 people have been killed in clashes with state forces and thousands have been injured and imprisoned – huge numbers relative to the tiny national population of less than 600,000.

From this seemingly benevolent Russian intervention, Moscow stands to gain some kudos in the strategic Persian Gulf Arab region where the Sunni monarchies ruling over the oil-rich sheikhdoms of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates are staunch allies of the Al Khalifa regime in Bahrain. Some 30 per cent of all of the world’s shipped oil trade passes every day out the Persian Gulf, and Saudi Arabia is the world’s top oil exporter, producing 10 million barrels per day.

This strategic factor points to a connection with Syria. Russia’s engagement in Bahrain – an established British and American sphere of influence – comes at the same time that Moscow is stepping up diplomatic efforts with its Soviet-era Syrian ally to find a political solution in that country.

Syria has also been racked by two years of relentless violence, where an armed insurgency against the government of President Bashar Al Assad has been equipped and funded by the Persian Gulf monarchies, as well as by the US, Britain, France and other NATO powers, including Turkey and Germany.

The Russian foreign ministry alluded to Moscow’s joined-up diplomacy when it said: “We are certain that it’s possible, with enough political will, to ease the tensions and resolve the causes of the conflict in Bahrain as well as in other countries in the region.”

Somewhat surprisingly, recent moves towards political negotiations in Syria appear to be bearing fruit. After months of intransigence towards the government in Damascus, Moaz Al Khatib, the leader of the exile opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, suddenly announced that the SNC is ready to negotiate a political transition with President Assad. The Syrian government has reciprocated with senior members meeting opposition groups and saying that it is ready for talks with “no preconditions”.

This rapid change in political gear is best understood in the light of punishing setbacks inflicted by the formidable Syrian national army on the Syrian insurgents and their foreign mercenary networks. It therefore seems now that the West’s military option of removing Assad by force is spent.

After two years of futile skirmishing and some 70-80,000 deaths, the Western powers and their regional Sunni Arab and Turk allies have come to the realization that their desired goal of regime change in Syria is not going to happen under Plan A, namely armed subversion. Plan B – a political process – now seems to be more a feasible route.

An integral part of this trade-off is Bahrain. If Russia can help bolster the Bahraini opposition and inveigle it into accepting political terms with the Western and Saudi-backed Al Khalifa regime, then the West and the Persian Gulf monarchs will reciprocate by easing the pressure on the Assad government in Syria by: a) reducing the supply of arms to the militants in Syria, which recent reports indicate is the case; and b) pushing the SNC group into accepting negotiations with Assad, which up until recently was a non-starter but now appears to be underway.

Despite its relatively small size, Bahrain has huge strategic value. It provides the base for the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet and a Western military projection point across the entire Middle East. Moreover, the democratic uprising in Bahrain threatens the entire Sunni monarchial realm that presides over the Persian Gulf and which is the lynchpin of the American petrodollar global economy. Ongoing political unrest in Bahrain is a mortal threat to these vital Western interests. Therefore, it is imperative that Washington, London and the Sunni oil sheikhdoms find a way of “restoring order” in Bahrain. An implicit deal with Russia over Syria would be more than a worthwhile trade-off.

The question is: does the Bahraini pro-democracy movement stand to lose out in any grubby political quid pro quo? Or as a member of the 14th February Coalition – a revolutionary opposition group that has repudiated dialogue with the regime – put it disdainfully: “Are we being sacrificed in the bigger picture of regional geopolitics?”

For a start, the supposed “Arab Spring” comparisons between Syria and Bahrain are invalid. In Syria, the Assad government has a democratic mandate and retains popular support. The so-called uprising, championed by Western governments and news media with romantic, heroic prose, is in reality an externally driven terrorist insurgency that has no legitimacy among the mass of Syrians. This systematic violence has been fomented covertly and criminally by foreign powers.

While there is cause for political reforms in Syria – in what country is there not? – it is completely fallacious to ascribe the turmoil over the past two years to an Arab-Spring-style popular uprising for democracy. The upheavals in Syria are the manifestation of an illegal policy of regime change by Western powers and their Sunni Arab and Turk allies – all of which see the removal of Assad as an opportune blow against Shia Iran.

By contrast, for the past two years Bahrain has indeed witnessed a genuine popular uprising that conforms to the normative meaning of the Arab Spring pro-democracy movement, which swept the Middle East and North African region from Tunisia to Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Yemen in early 2011 and continues to reverberate. (Libya is another anomaly of the Arab Spring, as with Syria, which was less about genuine popular uprising and more about opportunistic NATO regime change.)

The majority of Bahrainis are demanding the right to have an elected government. The people, who are mainly Shia, want an end to the autocratic rule of the Sunni Al Khalifa monarchy that was imposed on them when the old colonial power, Britain, granted nominal independence in 1971. Tellingly, the Western governments and their subservient news media have largely ignored the plight of the Bahraini people, which by normal reasoning is a righteous cause deserving full support and media coverage.

Saudi Arabia and the other Persian Gulf absolute monarchs have sat nervously and parlously throughout these seismic regional shocks. Popular protests and any signs of incipient dissent within the Persian Gulf enclave have been ruthlessly suppressed in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. These monarchs’ fears of a pro-democracy contagion is why they supported the invasion of Bahrain in March 2011 by the Saudi-led Peninsula Shield Defence Force to try to crush the Bahraini uprising. Yet, ironically and somewhat hilariously, these same Arab despots have lent copious diplomatic and material support to alleged pro-democracy uprisings in Libya and Syria.

Despite the ruthless repression in Bahrain, with Western acquiescence, the pro-democracy movement continues unabated. Indeed this past week, which marked the second anniversary of the uprising, has seen even greater numbers of demonstrations across the island. A 16-year-old youth, Hussein Al Jaziri, was shot dead in the village of Daih by regime forces, bringing even more protesters on to the streets. The previous week saw the deaths of 87-year-old Habib Ebrahim and eight-year-old Qassim Habib who both died after Al Khalifa uniformed police thugs saturated the villages of Malikiya and Karbabad with toxic chemical gas.

Popular outrage and demand for the downfall of the Khalifa regime has thus become even more determined and strident. The majority of the people do not want negotiations with the despised regime nor a “constitutional monarchy” – the people want the Khalifa dynasty to simply get the hell out of their lives and to make way for an elected government. “Freedom with dignity” is one of the people’s chants.

Saeed Shehabi of the Bahrain Freedom Movement said there should be no political dialogue with the Bahraini regime because it has shown itself to be illegitimate over years of systematic brutal repression and corruption at the expense of the majority of the Bahraini people. Shehabi said that the Bahraini people are well aware of the congenital Al Khalifa political maneuvers and sham political processes down through the decades in order to preserve its hold on power and privilege. He said: “It is clear from the insistence of the people of Bahrain that they believe that reform is not possible with this regime.”

American Middle East political analyst Dr Colin Cavell, who formerly taught at the University of Bahrain, shared this assessment. He said: “I agree with Saeed Shehabi that the people of Bahrain should not engage in political talks with the Al Khalifa junta, as their offer of dialogue is disingenuous and merely a show for the international media and a complete ruse.”

As already noted, Bahrain’s more radical opposition leadership has been imprisoned. They include redoubtable figures like Hasan Mushaima, Abduljalil Al Singace, Adbulhadi Al Khawaja and Nabeel Rajab, who have the respect and loyalty of the wider population. Some of these leaders are serving sentences of life imprisonment simply because they called for the unelected Khalifa regime to stand down and to be replaced by a republican form of government. This viewpoint resonates with the majority of the people who are continuing to protest on the streets calling for the downfall of the regime despite the recent opening of dialogue.

It is highly significant that the Wefaq opposition bloc, which met with the Russian foreign ministry, has given notice that it is willing to accept a political settlement with the Khalifa regime that would involve the coexistence of “constitutional monarchy” alongside an elected government. This is not what the majority of Bahrainis want. For the majority of Bahrainis, the continuance of the Khalifa regime in any shape or form in the public life of Bahrain is unacceptable. The violence and violations that the regime has committed makes any tolerance of a remnant anathema to the vast majority of the people.

It is also significant that Washington and London, the primary sponsors of the Khalifa rulers, have assiduously courted the participation of Wefaq in the latest political dialogue with the regime.

Writing in the Washington-based publication, The Hill, on 12 February, former director of US National Intelligence Dennis C Blair said that the US goal “should encourage moderate leaders within the Bahraini government and moderate leaders in the opposition… a gradual transition to a constitutional democratic monarchy is in Bahrain’s best long-term interest.”

Blair was, of course, too coy and cynical to say that this arrangement was also in Washington’s best interest. And, mischievously, he went on to describe Bahraini opponents of the Khalifa regime and its dialogue process as “hardliners”. That is a deft way of delegitimizing political voices that are outside the realm of tolerance to those in power and their patrons.

This is typical top-down political engineering. Washington, London and the Saudi patrons of the completely unacceptable regime in Bahrain are trying to force a political “compromise” on the Bahraini people – a compromise that leaves the regime intact and is far short of what the people want or deserve. By way of making this squalid solution palatable, the Western powers are trying to bestow legitimacy on any such ostensible “deal” by involving the participation of the Wefaq opposition bloc, thus providing a veneer of popular participation and consent.

But this is the politics of expedience and deception, not the politics of democratic freedom, rights and principle. It is the politics of extending cover to the selfish geopolitical interests of Washington, London and the Persian Gulf monarchs, not the politics of supporting the Bahraini people who have been denied their natural rights for more than four decades.

It would be a grave mistake for the Russian government to adopt the premise of Syria and Bahrain as being somehow equivalent and reciprocal. The former is a case of outright criminal aggression by cynical foreign powers; while Bahrain is a clear case of a people genuinely demanding democratic rights. They are separate and non-negotiable.

In the long term, Russia’s foreign policy would be more sustainable, ethical and rewarding if it was based on defending, absolutely, the national sovereign rights of Syrians, that is, without any contingent quid pro quo; while at the same time supporting, separately, the sovereign aspirations of the Bahraini people – and not on affording political cover to self-serving Western imperialist intrigues and collusion with Arab despots. …source

The National opposition forces in Bahrain stressed that it is important to respond to the demands of the political majority of the people of Bahrain and to stop turning a blind eye on the clear demands that have been raised by the people two years ago for change and transition to democracy.

Bahrain opposition parties: no legitimacy for any solution without the people’s say
14 February, 2013 – ABNA

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – The opposition parties said that the use of violence and force against peaceful demonstrations for the people’s legitimate demands has resulted in the death of many, while hundreds are still in detention and are tried for charges relating to freedom of opinion and expression. With all mentioned, there’s no indication for a serious desire for change as arrests and unfair trials continue.

The final communiqué issued by the opposition parties following the protests which took place in many areas across Bahrain Wednesday (13th Feb 2013) stated that what Bahrain needs is an inclusive political solution which hands power to the people, ending the state of dictatorship, authoritarianism and monopoly in order to start a new phase in which the people are the source of sovereignty and decision in all issues.

The opposition parties stressed that any political solution must be referred to the people through a referendum or a constituent council to obtain the voice of the majority. Any solution that is not approved by the people will be of no legitimacy and will be considered incomplete, and will not be able to achieve long-term stability for Bahrain, they stated.

The opposition also stressed that the suppressive security method cannot end the national demands of the political majority of the people. Such fantasy is impossible because these demands go back to more than a century ago.

The opposition parties praised the citizens in Bahrain for their adherence to the peaceful approach in the pro-democracy movement despite the huge sacrifices and official violence and terror, the nonviolence of the people has defeated the official tyranny and proved to the world how the people of Bahrain are civilized. …source

Bahrain: Still paying a heavy price for freedom
14 February, 2013 – Amnesty

Prisoners of conscience remain behind bars two years on from 2011 protests, said Amnesty International today.

Amnesty International supporters demand the release of prisoners of conscience in Bahrain.More people have been imprisoned since then for peacefully expressing their views, whether on social media or by participating in protest marches, a new briefing reveals.

“The government of Bahrain cannot carry on imprisoning people simply because it can’t take criticism,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme Deputy Director.

“It’s time that people detained simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression be released and for the harassment of other activists to desist.”

Last month, Amnesty International conducted a mission to Bahrain where it met with seven prisoners of conscience detained in Jaw prison. All of them reported they had been jailed on false charges or under laws that repress basic rights.

Mahdi’ Issa Mahdi Abu Deeb, a teacher’s trade union leader who has been in jail since his arrest in 2011, told Amnesty International: “As for the charges against me and Jalila [Jalila al-Salman, a fellow teachers’ union leader and mother of three], no one thinks they are right: we did not call for the fall of the regime – we are people in the education system.”

Mahdi’s daughter, Maryam, recently made this appeal for her father.

In a series of meetings with government officials, Amnesty International urged the authorities to release all prisoners of conscience, lift restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly and bring those who committed human rights abuses against protestors to justice.

“No convincing evidence had been submitted to justify these convictions,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

“It appears that all of those involved were targeted for their anti-government views and for having participated in peaceful protests”.

Many of the prisoners of conscience were allegedly tortured in the first weeks of arrests.

Some complained about the medical treatment they are receiving. Hassan Mshaima’ said:
“It is harassment as when I go to the hospital for treatment that last up to six hours, my face is covered and cannot see the doctor or the medical staff.”

“Many of the allegations put forward by the prisoners of conscience have still not been investigated by the authorities,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui. “The question remains whether the government will ensure justice is served and uphold the rights of the people.” …source

Funeral Procession for Aminah Mahdi in Bahrain
15 February, 2013 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

Mourners came out in huge numbers today to commemorate the death of Aminah S. Mahdi, 38 years old, who died yesterday in the Abu Saiba area of Bahrain. Many groups have attributed this death to tear gas inhalation. However, the BCHR recognizes that Mahdi had some preexisting medical conditions, and is unable to say with absolute certainty that this resulted in her death. The BCHR is working with doctors, and further examination of medical records is ongoing.

However, what is certain, is that the BCHR has documented 34 deaths in the last two years as a direct result of tear gas. The large numbers of mourners present in the funeral procession represent a nation’s frustration with their government, which continues to indiscriminately fill their communities with toxic gasses. The BCHR asks how many people will die before the government abandons this abusive and illegal form of collective punishment?

The funeral procession was not attacked with tear gas, which is highly unusual in Bahrain. In recent months, the government has attacked victims’ families with more rounds of tear gas while they mourn. See here for two examples, and here for one more.
…source