Bahraini Human Rights Activist Nabeel Rajab Suffering Abuse in Prison
22 April, 2013 – World Movement for Democracy

The BBC News reports that leading Bahraini democracy and human rights activist Nabeel Rajab has been denied medical treatment at Jaw Prison, where he is currently serving a two-year prison sentence. According to his wife, Sumaya, Mr. Rajab suffers from a back injury he sustained in 2005 when he was beaten by police. The injury requires him to see a doctor regularly for treatment. Sumaya has asked the prison to provide him with a specialized doctor so he can receive treatment for pain that is “so severe that sometimes he cannot move,” but her requests have been repeatedly denied.

The World Movement for Democracy has written numerous alerts about Mr. Rajab, who serves as the director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) and the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). Mr. Rajab was originally sentenced to three months in prison for a tweet, and then to three years in prison for participating in and calling for a peaceful protest. That sentence was later reduced to two years.

According to a statement released on April 22 regarding Mr. Rajab’s ill-treatment and continued imprisonment, the GCHR “believes that these actions are directly related to his human rights work in Bahrain.” The World Movement for Democracy strongly urges the Bahraini Government to grant Nabeel Rajab immediate access to medical treatment, and joins the GCHR in calling for his immediate release and that of all of his fellow prisoners of conscience and activists. …more

Bahrain blocks visit of UN torture rapporteur
By Bill Law – BBC News – 23 April, 2013

The Bahraini government has postponed indefinitely a visit by Juan Mendez the UN special rapporteur on torture.

According to the country’s official news agency the trip has been called off “until further notice”.

This comes just days after the release of a US State Department report on human rights in Bahrain which spoke of “significant” violations including torture in detention.

The Gulf kingdom has been wracked by civil unrest for two years.

The violence has left at least 50 people dead.

An independent enquiry established by King Hamad al-Khalifa in 2011 found that there had been numerous abuses. The king accepted the report and promised accountability and reform.

But human rights organisations in Bahrain and outside the country say that the promised reforms are happening either too slowly or not at all. And they allege that human rights abuses are continuing.

The US State Department Bahrain 2012 Human Rights Report spoke of “serious human rights problems,” including “citizens’ inability to change their government peacefully; arrest and detention of protesters on vague charges, in some cases leading to their torture in detention; and lack of due process in trials of political and human rights activists”.

Mr Mendez had originally intended to visit Bahrain in 2012 but that too was called off. Pointing to this second postponement Brian Dooley of US based Human Rights First called the decision “a huge blow to the credibility of Bahrain’s reform process”.

“It seems like the Bahrain regime is frightened of what more international scrutiny might reveal. It’s very telling that they’ve shut Mendez out again,” said Mr Dooley.

A spokesperson in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) described the decision as “disappointing” and noted that Alistair Burt, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State had raised the issue with the Bahraini government “stressing the importance we and the international community place on the visit”.

The FCO said: “We hope that a new date for this visit can be found soon.” …more

Bahrain: Protests for democracy defy the ‘Formula of Blood’
23 April, 2013 – Socialist Worker

Yusur Al Bahrani looks how the arrival of the Formula One Grand Prix in Bahrain has sparked off a new round of protests

Thousands of outraged protesters could not stop the controversial Formula One Grand Prix in Bahrain.

But they have exposed the brutality of the regime and attracted global attention.

The Bahraini government tried to use the race to paper over grave ongoing human rights abuses.

Thousands took to the streets in a series of protests a week prior to the race and during it, under the slogan “democracy is our right”.

Bahraini security forces killed one peaceful protester, Salah Abbas, during last year’s Formula One race.

Since then the government has increased its crackdown on peaceful protesters, activists and ordinary people.

People in Bahrain call the race “Formula of Blood”.

Many protested peacefully. Formula One organisers have shamelessly ignored the concerns of people in Bahrain.

Ali Salman, secretary general of the Al-Wefaq opposition party, agreed to meet Formula One’s boss, Bernie Ecclestone.

But the meeting never took place.

The opposition wanted to explain the rightful demands of the people in Bahrain that Formula One organisers ignored.

On 20 April, protesters tried to march to the Pearl Roundabout, which is known as Martyrs’ Roundabout.

Tens were arrested and injured. Government forces then raided homes hunting for activists.

Alaa Shehabi is a Bahraini woman activist who posted on Twitter about her horrific experience during the day.

She wrote, “Police have locked us up in a room. Women beaten up. Used CSS Spray (tear gas). Can hear screams upstairs. Shooting from upstairs.”

Revolutionary youths bought Formula One tickets and burnt them during protests.

Some youths burned tyres and filled the skies with black smoke that was captured by the cameras during the race.

The government of Bahrain considers burning tyres a terrorist act.

Yet it is the one of the few means of peaceful resistance for angry young protesters.

Minors have been detained, tried, and given harsh sentences under an anti-terrorism law that criminalises young protesters who burn tyres or block roads.

Nabeel Rajab, the president of Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, said during last year’s Formula One, “We would prefer if it they didn’t take part.

“I am sure the drivers and teams respect human rights.”

He is now serving a two?year sentence for peacefully exercising his right of freedom of expression.

Shockingly, Ecclestone said to journalists last Saturday, “I keep asking people, ‘What human rights?’ I don’t know what they are… The rights are that people who live in the country abide by the laws of the country, whatever they are.”

Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman Al-Khalifa refused to address the issue of systematic human rights abuses escalating during the race.

He said, “This weekend is really about sport”.

Now the “sport” weekend is over, but people in Bahrain continue their battle for democracy.

Hundreds have been imprisoned, while major opposition figures had their citizenships stripped.

We can help ordinary people in Bahrain by exposing the hypocrisy of the Western governments that back Al-Khalifa regime.

Bahrain: Two Girls Arrested for ‘Terror Plot’ on Formula 1 Race
By Gianluca Mezzofiore – 23 April, 2013 – IB Times

Bahraini authorities have arrested two girls for allegedly planning to attack the Sakhir race circuit during the controversial Formula 1 grand prix which took place last weekend.

AFP has named the two girls as Nafisa al-Asfur and Rihanna al-Musawi (ages unknown), and claims they will be detained for 60 days on charges of trying to “bomb the Sakhir circuit” in the run-up to the race.

State news agency BNA quoted police as saying they arrested “two girls who were trying to carry out a terrorist act at Bahrain’s international circuit in the south, as the kingdom was hosting the Formula One race”.

The Bahraini authorities refused to give further details about the suspects, but said one of them had concealed a pillow under her clothes.

They were held at the entrance to the circuit on Saturday, the second day of practice sessions. Earlier, the interior ministry said a weapons cache including 1,000 homemade firebombs was found in a warehouse.

The race went ahead without disruption despite the backdrop of daily clashes between pro-democracy protesters and police in villages outside Sakhir. A British TV crew was forced to leave the tiny Gulf kingdom after they reported on the violent clashes taking place between protesters and the government.

Tensions heightened ahead of the race after authorities launched a crackdown on opposition activists, with local sources reporting increased house raids and arbitrary detention of protesters.

Police fired tear gas and clashed with students during a raid on Jabreya Secondary School for Boys in the capital Manama last week. Students had staged a protest demanding the release of 17-year-old Hassan Humidan, arrested in the days prior the grand prix.

Pro-democracy activist and acting president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) Maryam Al-Khawaja said that the “crackdown is worsening” after media and TV cameras left Bahrain at the end of the race.

“Word of advice to Bahrain regime: you can uncover millions of ‘terrorist cells’ but it won’t make the demand for rights and dignity vanish,” she tweeted.

The activist group Human Rights First has slammed the Bahraini government’s decision to cancel UN Special Rapporteur Juan Mendez’s visit to the country.

“Mendez was originally supposed to travel to the country in February 2012 but that visit was cancelled by the Bahrain government just a few weeks before he arrived,” said a statement.

“Despite repeated promises that he would be allowed in next month the same thing has happened again. The US government should publicly call for his immediate access to Bahrain.

“These delays only fuel the suspicion that the regime has a lot to hide.”

The Bahraini government agreed for Mendez to visit in April 2013. However, the Bahrain News Agency has recently announced his visit is to be delayed indefinitely. …more