Bahraini activist arrested after govt calls for tough measures against protesters
31 July, 2013 – RT

A prominent Bahraini rights activist and blogger was arrested just days after the government warned of implementing tougher measures against anti-government protesters in the Gulf Kingdom.

A 26 year old blogger Mohamed Hassan was arrested early Wednesday, according to Yousef al-Muhafedha, acting president of the Bahrain Human Rights Center.

“Arrest of blogger Mohammad Hassan is yet another criminal act by Bahrain’s dynastic dictatorship. Impossible to reform dictatorship,” said London-based Bahraini political activist, journalist and member of the Bahrain Freedom Movement, Saeed Shehabi on his Twitter account.

This comes after Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa ordered the government on Monday to implement tough measures recommended by the parliament, against what the authorities are calling an increase in “terrorism” linked to protests, according to the state BNA news agency.

The measures include banning demonstrations in the capital Manama and stripping citizenship for those convicted of violence. The Sunni-led parliament also urged authorities to prosecute political groups that “incite and support acts of violence and terrorism”, as well as those that use social networks to “spread false information”, as cited by the Gulf news website.

The Shiite-led opposition described these measures as a “declaration of war on the people, as well as open threats and insults to beliefs”. However, opposition groups urged for protests “to remain peaceful.”

Meanwhile the security forces have warned of a strong response to rallies scheduled by the opposition groups for August 14.

These measures come against the background of two years of protests led by the kingdom’s majority Shiites against the minority Sunni-led government. The demonstrators have repeatedly called for a transfer to a democratic system of government, complaining of discrimination in jobs and government. In turn their loyalty is questioned by the ruling Al Khalifa family.

In April, the government introduced stricter penalties making it illegal to insult King Hamad or national symbols, charges that carry up to five-year jail sentences.

Rallies intensified during the Formula 1 race on April 21 in the Gulf Kingdom. Protestors said the event overshadowed the many alleged human rights abuses in Bahrain. Multiple reports of physical and psychological torture emerged during the grand prix, according to the Human Rights Watch.

Hassan worked as an assistant to various foreign journalists visiting Bahrain to cover the anti-regime rallies during the F1 event. In March he appeared on the Dan Rather Report, a weekly news television show hosted by former CBS news anchor, which covered the Bahraini protests.

According to the Bahrain Human Rights Center, when he was asked if it was safe for him to speak to the press he replied “I don’t care anymore. My friends have been in prison, some of them are still in prison, and some of them are in hiding and some of them are dead.”

Though the Bahraini government said it has taken steps to address the police brutality, a November 2011 report of an investigative commission stated that the authorities have been using excessive force, including torture, to extract confessions. Human rights activists say many abuses continue. …source

Bahrain: Crackdown Worsens as the Authorities Incite Sectarian Violence Following an Alleged Terror Blast in Pro-Government Area
22 July, 2013 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) is gravely concerned over the worsening crackdown and massive human rights violations committed by the Bahraini authorities following an alleged terror blast targeting a mosque at a pro-government area. There is particular concern in regards to how the authorities are using the incident to incite and promote sectarian hatred and violence.

On July 20th 2013, the Ministry of Interior (MOI) wrote on its Twitter account that a car had exploded outside a mosque in Riffa area which caused no injuries, and that the authorities were conducting an investigation.

Though the Bahrain Center for Human Rights is actively following the updates and encourages the government to perform a transparent, impartial investigation into the incident, the BCHR is alarmed over the nature of the ‘required procedures’ the Ministry of Interior has resorted to as during the past five days. The BCHR has documented a large number of human rights violations which include arbitrary arrests, excessive use of force, midnight house raids, attacking mosques and places of worship, and collective punishment.

Arbitrary Arrests, Excessive Use of Force, & House Raids

The BCHR has documented 60 cases of illegal arrests, 140 shotgun injuries, and over 150 house raids in just the last five days.

The majority of arrests occurred after policemen, accompanied by masked civilians, raided individuals houses without an arrest warrant and without providing any justifications for their presence. The other arrests occurred during peaceful protests or at police checkpoints. …more

Kerry calls for compromise as Mideast peace talks begin
30 July, 2013 – The Daily Star

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON: Israeli and Palestinian negotiators arrived in Washington Monday to begin the first direct talks in three years, though optimism was in short supply after two decades of failed attempts to reach a deal.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called for Palestinians and Israelis to make “reasonable compromises” for peace as he prepared to preside over the negotiations.

“It is no secret this is a difficult process. If it were easy, it would have happened a long time ago,” Kerry said with his newly named envoy for Israeli-Palestinian peace, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, at his side.

“It is no secret, therefore, that many difficult choices lie ahead for the negotiators and for the leaders as we seek reasonable compromises on tough, complicated, emotional and symbolic issues,” Kerry told reporters.

In a sign of the challenges, the parties differed in public about the agenda for the talks, with an Israeli official saying all issues would be discussed simultaneously and a Palestinian official saying they would start with borders and security.

Private talks were expected to start late Monday with an iftar dinner hosted by Kerry with Israeli chief negotiator Tzipi Livni and her Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erakat. …more

A Breathtaking Hypocrisy – Why the US Has No Right to Lecture Latin America
by DANIEL WICKHAM – 30 July, 2013 – Counter Punch

Venezuela has announced that it is ending efforts to improve ties with the United States after the Obama administration’s nominee for the role of ambassador to the United Nations labelled the country “repressive.” Samantha Power, who is widely known for her strong stance on human rights, vowed to contest “the crackdown on civil society being carried out in countries like Cuba, Iran, Russia and Venezuela.”

For obvious reasons, Power is selective in who she choses to criticise. The likes of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom have presided over major crackdowns on dissent in recent years, warrant no mention, which is not surprising given the US government’s staunch support for the regimes in question. Regarding Saudi Arabia, Washington’s attitude towards democracy is best expressed by William M. Daley, Obama’s chief of staff during the Arab uprisings, who said that “the possibility of anything (like the revolution in Egypt) happening in Saudi Arabia was one that couldn’t become a reality.” Daley explained that “for the global economy, this couldn’t happen”, referring of course to the importance of Saudi oil, which was described by the Council on Foreign Relations in 2003 as the primary reason for US support for the monarchy. An unsurprising claim, in light of the US State Department’s description in 1945 of the Gulf’s oil reserves as “a stupendous source of strategic power and one of the greatest material prizes in world history.”

Returning to Latin America, the hypocrisy is again breathtaking. Condemning Venezuela as “repressive”, Power neglects to mention that the “most dramatic setback”, according to Americas Watch, for human rights in Venezuela came in 2002 when a coup d’etat, allegedly supported tacitly by the United States, removed Chavez from office and “dissolved the country’s democratic institutions.” It is also worth noting that the US supported enthusiastically the Caldera and Perez administrations which preceded Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolution, both of which were vastly more repressive than the current ‘revolutionary’ government.

Also strikingly absent from Power’s remarks was any mention of Colombia, the United States’ closest ally in the region, which according to Americas Watch, “presents the worst human rights and humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere.” This year’s annual report claims that “over the past decade, the Colombian army committed an alarming number of extrajudicial killings of civilians”, carried out in “a systematic fashion”, during which time the army was the highest recipient of US military aid in Latin America. Most of the killings occurred under the presidency of Alvaro Uribe, whom President Bush described in 2006 as “a personal friend” and “a strong believer in democracy and human rights.” Under Obama, Colombia has continued to receive more military aid than any other country in the hemisphere, with Mexico, whose well-documented record of “extrajudicial killings, disappearances” and “widespread torture” is not much better, coming second. …more