Posts from — March 2013

HUMAN RIGHTS IN BAHRAIN: JOINT STATEMENT BY 44 UN MEMBER STATES
11 March, 2013 – FIDH

28-Feb-2013: A joint statement on the human rights situation in Bahrain was read at the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva during the interactive dialogue with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Presented by Switzerland on behalf of 44 UN member states, including the United Kingdom and United States of America, the statement highlights particular concern “about the continued harassment and imprisonment of persons exercising their right to freedom of opinion and expression, including human rights defenders” and calls for Bahrain to “expedite the implementation of recommendations received from the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry and the recommendations Bahrain agreed to accept through the Universal Periodic Review”.

Following intense and continued advocacy by FIDH pertaining to these measures, FIDH welcomes this important move by a significant number of UN member States and continues to advocate for the immediate release of its deputy secretary general Nabeel Rajab. FIDH reiterates its condemnation of ongoing human rights violations and calls for accountability of perpetrators of violations and justice for victims. Read the full statement by the OHCHR HERE. …source

Saudi rights activists given heavy jail terms
By Agence France-Presse – 9 March, 2013 – The Raw Story

A Saudi court on Saturday dissolved a human rights group and handed down heavy jail terms to two of its members, an AFP correspondent reported.

The judge at the criminal court in Riyadh, in delivering his verdict ordered “the dissolution of the Saudi Association of Civil and Political Rights (ACPRA), for failing to obtain authorisation, and the seizure of its assets.”

He also upheld a six-year prison term for one the group’s members, Abdullah al-Hamed, by a court of first instance, while also handing him a new five-year sentence and an 11-year travel ban to come into force when he leaves jail.

Another rights activist with the ACPRA, Mohammed Gahtani, was jailed for 10 years and banned from travelling for 10 years.

The defendants were convicted of violating a law on cybercriminality by using Twitter to denounce various aspects of political and social life in the ultra-conservative kingdom. They have 30 days to appeal.

The two men reacted calmly to the verdict, saying they planned to continue their “peaceful struggle.”

Gahtani said in June last year that he had been accused, under the law on cybercriminality, of “spreading sedition” and “rebelling against the authority” of the king.

The Saudi rights group claims to have created a file listing “hundreds of human rights violations over the past two years,” and has helped victims seeking justice.

It says the kingdom is holding around 30,000 political prisoners. …source

Bahraini Al-Wefaq association: Imprisoning “Hajji Majid” retaliation for his patriotism
8 March, 2013 – Moqawama

Bahraini opposition al-Wefaq Association described the imprisonment of Hajj Abdelmajid Abdullah, 63, also known as “Hajji Majid” on grounds of freedom of speech and peaceful demonstration an unjust and vengeful sentence for patriotic activities.

In a statement, al-Wefaq reiterated, “These cruel sentences highlight what the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay mentioned of the courts in Bahrain representing political oppression and a fake image of justice.”

Hajji Majid’s arrest comes days after he starred in the artistic production “Mawtini” (My Country) that dealt with the Arab Revolutions, including the Bahraini revolution. The production showed a scene where illegal oppression and crackdowns by security forces were being enforced on Bahraini citizens.

The Hajj had played the role of a man who was beaten, arrested, and tortured more than once by security forces and abducted from his own house with his children and grandchildren, as the hymn of the well-known “Mawtini” (My Country) played in the background. …more

Acquittal in Bahrain Twitter Case Comes as Dooley Denied Access Again
11 March, 2013 – Human Rights First

Washington, D.C. – A Bahraini court has acquitted prominent human rights defender Said Yousif Al-Muhafdah of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) on charges of tweeting false information.

“It’s a great relief that Said Yousif was acquitted today, bringing an end to three months of judicial harassment. Let’s hope this means the courts are beginning to show a better understanding of what freedom of expression means,” said Human Rights First’s Brian Dooley.

Al-Muhafdah was accused of tweeting about police using birdshot against protesters, He was arrested in December 2012 for “spreading false information on Twitter.” He told Human Rights First that he has was not allowed to bring defense witnesses to his trial. His case is one in a string cases stemming from the Kingdom’s ongoing judicial harassment of human rights defenders. It followed last year’s jailing of Nabeel Rajab, President of the BCHR, and of human rights activist Zainab Al Khawaja in February 2013.

“This is a small victory, but unfortunately there are many other cases of judicial harassment that continue to wind their way through Bahrain’s judicial system,” Dooley noted. “The United States has a responsibility to monitor these proceedings and to publicly comment when cases fail to meet basic legal standards.”

On March 21, the appeal of 23 medics, each sentenced to three months in prison after treating injured protestors in 2011, will continue. A verdict is expected at a date soon after. Dooley, who was in the courtroom when the medics were initially charged, was to have been in Bahrain from March 17-21, but the Bahrain Ministry for Human Rights has reversed its decision to admit him to the Kingdom. Dooley, who has authored four reports about the ongoing crackdown in Bahrain, has been forbidden access to the nation for more than a year.

“This is not how a nation that wants to trumpet its human rights record treats monitors,” said Dooley. “My reporting has been accurate. It’s clear that the Kingdom feels it has something to hide.” …source

Bahrain: The Authorities Celebrate the World Day against Cyber-censorship by Arresting 6 Twitter Users
12 March, 2013 – Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) expresses its deep concern for the Bahraini Authorities arrest of a number of Twitter users on the charge of ‘defaming the King’ Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa. These arrests coincide with the world celebration of countering cyber censorship.

According to the information obtained by the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) from the families of detainees, the Authorities arrested 6 people who have accounts on the electronic website, Twitter:

1.Mr. Ali Faisal Al-Shufa (17 years old): arrested on 12 March at dawn, and the Public Prosecution ordered that he be taken to custody for 7 days, pending trial.

2.Mr. Hassan Abdali Isa (33 years old): arrested on 12 March at dawn, and the Public Prosecution ordered that he be taken to custody for 7 days, pending trial.

3.Mr. Mohsen Abdali Isa (26 years old): arrested on 12 March at dawn, and the Public Prosecution ordered that he be taken to custody for 7 days, pending trial.

4.Mr. Ammar Makki Mohammed Al-Aali (36 years old): arrested on 12 March at dawn, and the Public Prosecution ordered that he be taken to custody for 7 days, pending trial.

5.Mr. Mahmood Abdul-Majeed Abdulla Al-Jamri (34 years old): arrested on 12 March at dawn, and the Public Prosecution ordered that he be taken to custody for 7 days, pending trial.

6.Mr. Mahdi Ebrahim Al-Basri (25 years old): arrested on 11 March at dawn. His relatives confirmed to the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) that the contents of the house were destroyed and they were verbally abused. Mahdi also faced mistreatment in the Criminal Investigations. Mahdi is a practicing lawyer.

The family of detainees confirmed that the Security Forces had confiscated “computers and mobile phones” from their houses.

The Ministry of Interior’s statement, issued after the Public Prosecution had interrogated the detainees, indicated that, “the General Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security stated that within the framework of the Security Apparatuses work in combating violations and crimes that occur through the use of social media, a group of people were detected for abusing those methods to defame the King, and thus an inquiry was launched to identify those involved. Six people accused of committing those acts have been referred to the Public Prosecution to face legal action”. …more

Bahraini Protestors Call for Establishment of Democracy, End of Dictatorship
2 March, 2013 – FARS

TEHRAN (FNA)- A large number of Bahrainis staged a rally in the western part of capital Manama, and condemned the al-Khalifa regime for refusing to hand over the corpse of an activists killed by the security forces to his family.

The participants in the rally which was titled ‘Democracy Is Our Demand’ stressed the necessity for democratic changes and an end to the dictatorship in the country.

They also condemned the al-Khalifa regime for neglecting humane values, including its refusal to hand over the corpse of martyr Mahmoud Issa, who was killed by the security forces one week ago.

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 were dispatched to the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom on March 13, 2011 to help Manama crack down on peaceful protestors.

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

Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammed Sanad “King had sold the country to the Saudi invaders and allowed foreign powers to meddle within Bahrain internal affair for the sake of power”.

“Al-Khalifa sold Bahrain to Saudi Arabia” Ayatollah Sanad
11 March, 2013 – ABNA

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Bahrain prominent and well-respected Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammed Sanad warned al-Khalifa regime against betraying people of Bahrain, saying the King had sold the country to the Saudi invaders and allowed foreign powers to meddle within Bahrain internal affair for the sake of power.

He hailed the courage and bravery of the people of Bahrain, noting how very difficult their struggle had become as they were facing “This is what illuminated the hearts of the rightful, the knowledge their fight is pure and honorable, their devotion to the homeland true.”

He added “The heroic people of Bahrain are facing the evil that is al-Saud, the violators and traitors.” …more

Tear Gas or Lethal Gas?
7 March, 2013 – by irmedeaca – Dogma Geopolitics

Bahraini anti-government protesters run for cover from tear gas during clashes with riot police near the headquarters of the main Shiite opposition group, Al-Wefaq, in Zinj Village, west of Manama, on December 23, 2011. (AFP/Getty Images)

Based on interviews with local physicians and analysis of news reports, the Government of Bahrain’s oppressive use of tear gas in recent months has reportedly killed both young and old civilians in their homes and in the streets of Manama, the Gulf Kingdom’s capital.

PHR has compiled a list of 34 reported tear-gas-related deaths in Bahrain since the uprising began a year ago. Based on media and other accounts, most civilians who allegedly died from tear gas reportedly have suffered complications from gas inhalation; at least three civilians reportedly died after security forces fired metal tear gas canisters (nearly the size and half the weight of a can of Coke) from grenade launchers into crowds.

Government forces not only assault unarmed street protesters with tear gas during the day, they also attack innocent women, children, and the elderly with tear gas in their homes at night.

Fourteen-year-old Yaseen Jassim Al Asfoor reportedly died from tear gas inhalation after security forces threw three tear gas canisters into his home.

In another recent incident, an elderly woman named Sakeena Marhoon apparently died from repeated exposure to tear gas in her home.

The Government’s use of tear gas is so widespread and excessive that many families are now forced to stuff towels in doors and cracks in windows to protect them from the toxic clouds of gas outside.

Victims of these indefensible deaths and their families are not receiving the justice they deserve. Not only has the government failed to investigate or prosecute any law enforcement officials for employing such excessive force, but authorities also reportedly prohibit doctors from listing tear gas as a cause of death. Instead, coerced doctors have reportedly cited natural or unknown causes of death for some tear-gas related casualties.

…more

The Memorial of Revolution in Bahrain .. is a Succinctness of Execution in the Roads
Bahrain Network for Human Rights

The organizations and members societies in Bahrain net for human rights watched closely the situation of human rights and the fallout of the protests on 14 th of February which is the memorial of the peaceful protests that out broke to demand democracy in 2011.

The net has called in its constitutive conference the government and its security forces to change its policy and methodology in dealing with these protests.It should also respect the pact and international agreements that they indorsed. But today they are sorry that the security forces didn’t respond to their claims.

In the morning of 14th February which is the memorial of peaceful protest that out broke ,a sixteen years old boy was shot with three police lead fission shotgun that is internationally forbidden and its from not more than three meters distance .Before few hours he was killed ,the young lady Amina Mahdi 35 years old was died effected by the inhalation complication of the tear gas which was the police and the security devices targeting the houses of people.Its also a pursuit the security forces do before Bahrain Independence Commission Inquiry during the emergency state.More than thirty citizens n different ages were victims of it.

Its also worthy to mention that its between 14 till 16 of February only ,three days,the net received 237 injuries varies between suffocation or attacking by the police .Also there were 29 people detained from the protesters or from the arbitrary detention for people who are passing.Or even through the attack on houses after the ministry of interior had declared several of claimed security incidents .As a result of this the police had attacked more than nine houses in less than 48 hours.

INJURED IN SECURTY INCIDENTS ARE AFRAID TO GO TO HOSPITALS.

On Friday 22nd of February another one had been killed .Mahmoud AL Jazeeri 20 years old boy was killed from targeting him through a tear gas on his head.They shot him directly and from a near distance .The video clarified the incident and there were also some eye witness.Mahmoud AL Jazeeri was shot on 14th of February .He wasn’t treated the proper treatment until next day because there were fears to take him to hospital which is controlled by the police security devices and spies since March 2011.They controlled it when they attacked the protests which was against Geneva agreement.
Also four citizens lost their eyes either partially or completely due to police targeting them by lead fission shotgun and due to delay treatment in order not to be detained from the hospital.

Between 13th till 22nd of February of the same month ,the police oppressed violently many protests .Among these protests ,the funeral of the young who was killed ,Hassan Al Jazeeri ,and Amina Mahdi.They used excessive force that doesn’t suit the number of protesters or the ways they protests .Hundreds of protesters or even who were inside their homes were exposed to excessive tear gas .Groups of interior ministry employees damaged numbers of cars which were either passing or parked. …more

Bahrain releases body of slain protester, funeral held
5 March, 2013 – Al Akhbar

Several hundred people called for the king of Bahrain to be held responsible for the killing of protesters during a funeral Tuesday for Mahmoud al-Jaziri, a 20-year-old man shot in the head with a tear gas canister, witnesses said.

“Mourners are chanting ‘Down with King Hamad [al-Khalifa]’ and ‘hold him responsible for all the protesters killed and all the crimes committed,” Yousif al-Muhafda, deputy head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, wrote on Twitter.

The procession took place on the tiny island of Nabi Saleh.

The interior ministry released Jaziri’s body Tuesday after holding him for 12 days despite his family’s pleas to bury him.

Graphic photos taken at a morgue earlier Tuesday showed marks of the skull fracture that led to Jaziri’s death.

Riot police shot the projectile directly at his head at close range during a protest on 14 February 2013 marking the two year anniversary of Bahrain’s uprising. He succumbed to his wounds one week later, on February 21.

…more

Washington, London tyrants unmasked in Bahrain
3 March, 2013 – Finian Cunningham – PressTV

Cartoon by Carlos Latuff

The Bahraini regime has managed to survive against the democratic odds because of unwavering support from Washington and London. Trade, commerce, diplomacy and the supply of weapons have continued unabated despite the abundant record of repression and violations. The American and British governments have backed the Khalifa murderers and torturers to the hilt, indulging in a cynical charade purporting that the regime is engaging in “reform and dialogue” with the popular opposition.”

The Bahraini regime last week issued a new law that shows just how wobbly-scared it is of its own people. Anyone found in possession of a false face mask is liable to be jailed.

The mask in question is the stylized face of Guy Fawkes – the 17th Century English revolutionary who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in the failed gunpowder plot. The 2005 film ‘V for Vendetta’ used the Guy Fawkes’ image in a modern-day fictional setting of revolution in Britain. And in recent years, the mask has become a global symbol of popular protest, donned by members of the Occupy Movement in the US and during countless similar demonstrations across Europe against capitalism and militarism.

Those who wear the plastic bearded face hardly look sinister. If anything, it makes people appear corny and smug, not dangerous revolutionaries. But this Guy Fawkes disguise has the Al Khalifa regime in Bahrain quaking in their boots, and hence it has moved to banish the offending article from the island.

The irony is that it is the regime and its Western government backers who are wearing a mask, and the ongoing brutal repression in Bahrain serves to expose their collective ugly face.

This zero tolerance by the Al Khalifa so-called king towards a comical mask is itself comical. Fittingly, given the history of Guy Fawkes, it betrays a Medieval mindset of a retarded and reactionary regime. The “royal decree” shows just how rattled and nervous the monarchial rulers of Bahrain are towards the slightest display of popular dissent. It is the response of a megalomaniac who cannot bear to have his vain tyranny disobeyed or mocked.

And the people of Bahrain have every right to show the Al Khalifa regime their utmost contempt and derision. This family of murderers and brigands has lorded over the indigenous population ever since it was imposed on the island by the British Empire some 230 years ago. The imposter Khalifas were originally a Bedouin tribe of bandits that came out of central Arabia, whose cut-throat barbarity was recognized by the British government as an expeditious way of controlling Bahrain and the strategic Persian Gulf trading route. The self-styled acquisition of royal titles and finery over the ensuing decades does not alter the fact that this regime still is a band of low-life bandits, thieves and killers.

Like a parasite and a host, the Khalifa thugs have sucked the lifeblood of the Bahraini people ever since. The majority of the island is Shia while the unelected Khalifa regime is professedly Sunni Muslim and closely aligned with the extremist Wahabbi House of Saud, which has a pathological hatred towards Shism. Before the discovery of oil in the 1930s, the Khalifa potentates financed their indolent existence by extorting the Bahrain fishermen, pearl divers and date farmers. They murdered and raped with impunity the subject, captive people of Bahrain. The British colonial office administered the occasional rebuke to their Khalifa henchmen, but in general colluded in the barbarity by turning a blind eye. Nothing much has changed to this day, as we shall see.

After the discovery of oil, the fate of the Bahraini people became even more blighted. They have endured poverty, unemployment, ill health, pollution and squalid housing while the Khalifa bandits and their entourage have made themselves some of the wealthiest individuals in the world. The oil wealth of Bahrain was siphoned off to enrich one family while the nation of Bahrain became ground down and made to feel strangers in their own homeland. This is literally true. The Khalifas have feared the majority Shia people so much that the regime deliberately imported droves of foreign workers from the Indian subcontinent and the Far East in order to marginalize and exclude the native people from social development. More than half of Bahrain’s total resident population of 1.2 million is made up of expatriate workers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines.

The process of importing Asian workers and naturalizing Sunni Arabs from neighbouring countries is a concerted policy of gerrymandering the population in order to dilute the natural democratic strength of the indigenous people. This huge project in social engineering – one could call it low-intensity genocide – accelerated after Britain gave formal independence to Bahrain in 1971. It was financed by the oil wealth of Bahrain, which adds to the bitterness of the oppression against the indigenous population. Their unjust estrangement and marginalisation by the imposter Khalifa has been financed by the natural resources of their own country that have been so extorted by the invader regime.

This is the background for why the people of Bahrain rose up so defiantly against the parasite regime in February 2011 – an uprising that continues to this day despite systematic violence and repression.

The unwieldy corrupt Bahraini regime would not survive one day more against the popular will for democratic freedom only for the fact of crucial external support. Firstly, Saudi Arabia and the other Sunni monarchs of the Persian Gulf have propped up the teetering Al Khalifa despots by sending their military police to back up the Bahraini mercenary security forces and by injecting millions of dollars in aid over the past two years to keep the Bahraini economy afloat.

Secondly, and more importantly, the Bahraini regime has managed to survive against the democratic odds because of unwavering support from Washington and London. Trade, commerce, diplomacy and the supply of weapons have continued unabated despite the abundant record of repression and violations. The American and British governments have backed the Khalifa murderers and torturers to the hilt, indulging in a cynical charade purporting that the regime is engaging in “reform and dialogue” with the popular opposition.

“The [British] government insists that Bahrain’s judicial system is fair and transparent,” wrote the BBC’s correspondent in the Persian Gulf, Bill Law, last week.

This was in the same week that Bahraini judge Mohammed bin Ali Al Khalifa – a member of the ruling elite no less – sentenced seven youths to 10 years in prison for allegedly attempting to murder police officers. As with hundreds of other Bahrainis languishing in the island’s jails, the defendants were convicted by a Khalifa judge solely on confessions extracted under torture. Meanwhile, in another case, two police officers were acquitted last week over the killing of a protester, despite glaring evidence of guilt.

The British government’s sanguine view was in the same week that the Bahraini rulers refused to hand over the body of a protester to his family for burial – more than a week after his death. Mahmood Al Jaziri (20) was shot in the head at point-blank range by police last month on 14 February during protests to mark the second anniversary of the uprising. The regime’s torturous wrangling over the body is its depraved way of keeping secret the horrific head injuries of the victim.

But these violations, injustices and appalling sufferings in Bahrain provide a searing moment of truth and revelation. Western mainstream media is a fog machine that can often cloud popular perception and understanding of how Western governments operate in the world, for example with regard to claims of supporting democracy and international obligations in Syria, Mali, Iran and elsewhere. However, thanks to the Bahraini people’s struggle for freedom, it is like a crucible where truth is separated from the morass of Western government lies and disinformation.

While the Al Khalifa regime is trying to ban the wearing of a Guy Fawkes mask, it is they who are wearing the most grotesque mask. And it is not just the Khalifa thugs who are seen to be wearing this false face. In their cringing support for these despicable despots, the masks worn by Washington and London are blown away. Their plastic, false faces are ripped clear from their heads and people around the world are able to see the true nature of the American and British governments. Their claims of championing human rights, democracy and international law around the world are exposed beyond doubt as twisted, vile distortions. Thanks to Bahrain, these so-called Western “governments” are proven to be regimes run by and for liars, hypocrites, criminals and tyrants who have nothing but contempt for democratic freedom. And as people are increasingly realizing under the diktat of capitalist austerity, this contempt for democracy applies equally to the citizens of the US, Britain and Europe as in other parts of the world.
…source

UK: Bahrain our ally; despite crackdown
22 February, 2013 – PressTV

British Foreign Minister for the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia Alistair Burt reiterated Britain’s support for the Bahraini regime and its “reforms” during a phone conversation with Bahrain Foreign Affairs Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa on Wednesday.

Burt later said on his Twitter account that he “spoke to Bahraini FM @khalidalkhalifa earlier to affirm UK support for National Consensus Dialogue in #Bahrain”.

To Burt’s post, Shaikh Khalid replied: “Thanks for your continued support .. The UK is a true and solid friend”.

The Bahraini regime, backed by Saudi Arabian forces and western governments, has killed scores of people and injure many more since the beginning of the Bahraini revolution in February 2011 against Al-Khalifa.

Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry did confirm in its report in November 2011 that the regime had used excessive force against peaceful protests and blasted Manama for torturing political activists, politicians, and protesters.

This comes as Physicians for Human Rights has also slammed the Bahraini regime saying doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, or disappeared because they had “evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces, and riot police” in the crackdown on anti-government protests.

The Al-Khalifa regime began the new round of the so-called reform talks, dubbed the National Consensus Dialogue, with the participation of representatives of protesters on Sunday but there is next to no hope of results as protesters want an elected government rather than the hereditary rule of the current dictators.

The last round of talks in 2011 collapsed almost immediately after their launch with one of the main opposition groups, Al Wefaq, saying the government was not willing to discuss political reform.
…source