Public Example – Saudi Arabia Beheadings for Crimes Ranging from Apostasy to Sorcery

Government continues to promote arms to Saudi Arabia as human rights deteriorate
21 May, 2013 – Campaign Against Arms Trade

Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) has condemned as shameful the UK government continued eagerness to sell arms to the authoritarian regime of Saudi Arabia, despite their worsening human rights situation and almost complete lack of democratic institutions.

New government data reveals that in 2012 the UK licensed weaponry worth £111.7 million to Saudi Arabia, plus £5.6 million worth of “dual use” goods. Overall, Saudi Arabia is the largest market for UK arms, buying almost £4 billion worth of weapons and military services between 2008 and 2012.

In 2007, Saudi Arabia contracted to buy 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets, from arms giant BAE Systems, in a deal worth up to £6 billion. Although the first 24 jets were delivered and arrangements put in place for servicing, upgrading and delivering the remaining 48 aircraft, a final price has yet to be agreed. In November 2012 David Cameron visited Saudi Arabia to help seal the deal – however, the negotiations continue.

The continued arms sales drive comes despite Saudi Arabia’s deteriorating human rights record:

– Saudi Arabia’s ranking in the The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2012 declined further to 163 out of 167 countries, and it was given zero points for “electoral process and pluralism”. The only countries ranked lower were Syria, Chad, Guinea Bissau and North Korea.

– Saudi Arabia’s press was assessed as “not free” by Freedom House’s Freedom of the Press Index 2013 which listed it as joint 182 of 197 countries listed.

– Saudi Arabia was listed as a “country of concern” in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual report on Human Rights and Democracy 2012.

Despite its “country of concern” label, Saudi Arabia was simultaneously listed as a “priority market” by UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation (UKTI DSO), the government’s arms sales unit, which regularly invites official delegations from Saudi Arabia to arms fairs and related “trade exhibitions” in the UK.

CAAT spokesperson Kaye Stearman said:

When it comes to Saudi Arabia the UK government completely disregards any considerations of human rights in its effects to sell arms, whether they be Eurofighter Typhoons, Tactica armoured vehicles or small arms and ammunition.

The Prime Minister and arms company executives visit Saudi Arabia to beg for orders and routinely roll out the red carpet for Saudi delegations to the UK, as they will be doing in September for the DSEi arms fair. It’s time to end this damaging and dangerous relationship and stop selling arms to this repressive and despotic regime.
Arms export data – UK arms exports to Saudi Arabia

In 2012 the UK licensed weaponry worth £111.7 million to Saudi Arabia . The main items licensed fell in the categories: “aircraft, helicopters, drones” – £81.4 million; “armoured vehicles, tanks” – £8.8 million; “technology” – £3.8 million; “imaging equipment” – £3.5 million; “other electronic equipment” – £3.2 million; “grenades, bombs, countermeasures” – £3.2 million; “ammunition” – £2.1 million; “chemical, biological agents” – £1.5 billion; and “small arms” – £1.2 million.

In addition, there were licences totalling over £3.6 million for dual use items of “telecommunications and information security”, which could be used against dissidents.

In the five years 2008-2012, the UK licensed arms worth over £3.9 billion to Saudi Arabia, with “aircraft, helicopters and drones” (essentially, Eurofighter Typhoon sales and services) taking the lion’s share at £3.4 billion. There were also substantial amounts of other military equipment and services, including £236 million of “grenades, bombs, missiles and countermeasures”, £90 million of small arms and £67 million of armoured vehicles and tanks. (For these and other items see full list.) In addition, the UK also licensed over £147.5 million worth of “dual use” goods. …source

Bahrain court jails nine Shiites over ‘terror’ cell
21 May, 2013 – Punch

A Bahraini court sentenced nine Shiites to jail terms ranging between 10 and 15 years on Monday after convicting them of forming a ‘terrorist’ group, a judicial source said.

Cleric Ahmed al-Majed and a second defendant were jailed for 15 years, while a third defendant was sentenced to 10 years.

The three were the only defendants to appear in court, as the other six remain at large and were sentenced in absentia to 10 years, the source said.

The first two were convicted of “forming an illegal group that aimed to jeopardise the rule of law and obstruct state institutions from performing their duties… through using terrorism,” the source said, quoting the list of charges.

The other seven defendants were accused of joining the group despite knowing of its “terrorist objectives”.

All defendants were convicted for “possessing explosives”, the source added.

Scores of Shiites have faced jail terms over accusations of involvement in violence since protests against the regime of the ruling Al-Khalifa Sunni dynasty erupted in February 2011.

Despite a heavy-handed crackdown by security forces in mid-March 2011, supported by Saudi-led Gulf troops, protesters were shortly back on the streets, mainly in Shiite villages, where they frequently clash with police.

At least 80 people have been killed in Bahrain since February 2011, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.

Strategically located just across the Gulf from Iran, Bahrain is home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet and is also a major offshore financial and services centre for its Arab neighbours in the oil-rich Gulf.

Meanwhile, thousands of people rallied in the Shiite village of Nuwaidrat, south of Manama, to welcome an imprisoned opposition leader who was released briefly for his mother’s funeral, witnesses said.

Supporters filled the streets on Monday to welcome Abdulwahab Hussein, the head of the Shiite Wafa Islamic Movement.

Hussein was to return to prison later, Al-Wefaq, the Shiite main opposition group, said on its website.

He is serving a life sentence with six other opposition leaders and activists after being convicted of plotting to overthrow the monarchy.

They are part of group of 21 sentenced to jail terms ranging from five years to life over their roles in the nationwide protests.

Seven were sentenced in absentia. …more

In Bahrain An Uprising Unabated – OpEd
20 May, 2013 – By FPIF – By Husain Abdulla

More than two years after peaceful demonstrators took to the streets to demand reforms, Bahrain’s uprising has not abated. Activists and opposition groups continue to demand the basic human rights and political reforms promised to them by their government. Rather than meet the opposition’s calls for reform, the government of Bahrain has responded by subjecting citizens to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, interrogation, torture, and abuse.

Human rights activists such as Naji Fateel, board member of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, and Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, are frequently subjected to arbitrary arrest and ill treatment. Similarly, medical professionals who have been interrogated, detained, tortured, and convicted for providing medical care to injured protesters remain in prison or have not been allowed to return to work. Educators who have endured similar ill-treatment continue to be fired from their positions or languish in prison, while soccer players who were banned from their clubs for participating in protests remain blacklisted or live in self-imposed exile to continue playing the sport they love.

The demands of the opposition movement are hardly unreasonable, which makes the government’s recalcitrance all the more suspect. The people of Bahrain want a representative government and an elected prime minister. They want a representative of the king to participate in the national dialogue. They want an end to human rights abuses and accountability for those who committed them. They want the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), a body commissioned by the Bahraini government following the 2011 protests, to be fully implemented. They want prisoners of conscience, jailed for exercising their rights to free speech and expression, to be released. They want to be able to associate freely in political groups, civil society organizations, unions, and associations. In the grand scheme of things, the financial, moral, and political cost to the Bahraini government for granting these requests would be negligible.

Unfortunately, reform — the key to Bahrain’s stability and security — is what the Bahraini government seems determined to prevent. As the U.S. State Department noted in its 2012 Human Rights Country Report on Bahrain, although the government of Bahrain has made “some” progress in implementing reforms since 2011, that progress has not been significant. The report found that the Bahraini government frequently did not respect its own laws regarding human rights, let alone the standards set by international human rights treaties. Additionally, the report highlighted cases of arbitrary arrest and detention; restrictions placed on freedom of speech, press, and assembly; and the use of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, among other rights abuses.

Bahrain’s response to the 2012 country report has been predictably shrill, a sure sign the U.S. State Department struck a nerve with a regime that has become increasingly sensitive about its image. Unfortunately, the Bahraini government seems unable or unwilling to recognize that the best way to improve its image is to undertake the reforms that the king promised in 2011. …more

MP: Manama Unable to Stop Revolution in Bahrain through Intimidation
19 May,2013 – FARS

TEHRAN (FNA)- The intimidation and suppression of protesters by the Bahraini regime cannot stop the revolution in the country, a senior Iranian lawmaker said on Sunday, and condemned the Manama forces for their recent raid on the home of leading Shiite cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassim.

“The Al Khalifa regime has resorted to intimidation by attacking leaders of the revolution due to its failure to contain popular protests after several months of peaceful protests by the people of Bahrain,” Seyed Mohammad Mehdi Pourfatemi said.

Speaking to ICANA, Pourfatemi stressed the ineffectiveness of suppressive measures on the Bahraini people’s quest for freedom, and noted that the people have prepared themselves to pay any price for their revolution.

As regards the recent attack on Sheikh Qassim’s home, the Iranian lawmaker underlined the Shiite cleric’s popularity among the people, and added that the raid was aimed at intimidating people and revolution leaders.

The Bahraini forces raided Sheikh Issa Qassim’s home in the village of Diraz on Friday and searched the house.

Witnesses said the regime forces broke the doors of Sheikh Qassim’s house and damaged his property.

Women and children of the sheikh’s family were in the house at the time of the raid, but the sheikh was not at home.

Later, thousands of Bahraini protesters marched outside Manama to oppose the al-Khalifa security forces’ attack.

The protesters held pictures of their top religious leader during a protest against the ruling al-Khalifa regime. …source