Saudi ‘House of Pseud’ thrives on deception
6 November, 2013 – Finian Cunningham – PressTV

The House of Saud is such a decrepit domain of duplicity it is hard to know where to begin in listing its numerous deceptions, but suffice to say that any appraisal should start, in the first instance, with a name change. Henceforth, in the cause of truth and plain language, the Saudi rulers would be better referred to as the House of Pseud.

A “pseud” is a poser, a pretender, and this term is eminently applicable to a regime that rules by fear, terror and tyranny, yet which claims to represent the Muslim World – the Ummah – by pointing to itself as the “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques of Islam”.

The truth is that this “custodian” has inflicted more suffering and violence among Muslims than perhaps any other agency in history, through its sponsorship of sectarianism, hatred and terrorism. The Saudi rulers with their obscurantist Wahhabi version of Islam are anathema to the worldwide diversity and collectivism that truly reflects the religion and spirit of “Islam” – meaning “peace”.

Syria’s information minister Omran al-Zoubi hit the nail on the head this week when he lambasted the Saudi regime for “betraying” the Arab world and Islam.

Indeed, one could say that since its inception as a state in 1932 at the hands of the British Empire, Saudi Arabia has continually betrayed the Arab people, including its own population, in the service of imperialist interests. The Saudi rulers, from the first so-called King Ibn Saud to the present King Abdullah, have siphoned off the oil riches of the Arabian Peninsula while the ordinary people struggle with unemployment, homelessness and poverty. The lion’s share of wealth of the world’s biggest oil exporter feeds the Saudi elite and their foreign patrons, and what’s more this wealth is used to suppress and oppress.

Roughly, the lifetime of the Saudi state parallels the genocide of the Palestinians since at least the 1930s. Yet in all that time, the Saudi rulers have done nothing to alleviate or defend the rights of their Arab brothers and sisters in Palestine. Indeed, as the Zionist regime now turns to dispossessing the Ummah of its third holiest site – al Aqsa Mosque in East Al Quds (Jerusalem), the Saudi royals have not bothered to raise even a whimper of objection.
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My encounter with a human rights defender
By Caroline Sanden – 6 November, 2013

The Rafto price 2013 is awarded to Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). Sunday 3. November Maryam al-Khawaja, acting President for BCHR, accepted the prize on behalf of BCHR at the National Stage in Bergen. On the occasion of the Rafto Prize award ceremony I got the opportunity to interview the young human rights activist.

It’s Friday afternoon, and I’m waiting outside an assembly room inside the Radisson Blue Hotel Norway. The tension in the air suggests that it is an important person waiting behind the closed door. I’m a bit nervous, something my fingernails will know.

The door opens, and I get the green light to enter. I am greeted by a warm smile, and we shake hands. Maryam has a clear voice, which fills the room. She has a way of talking that captures the listeners attention immediately.

Bahrain in the future

The mission of BCHR is to encourage and support individuals and groups to be proactive in the protection of their own and others’ rights, and to struggle to promote democracy and human rights in accordance with international norms. They will document and report on human rights violations in Bahrain, and use this documentation for advocacy to influence international policies according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

How will this award affect your organization (BCHR)? This is doubtfully the first time she has heard this question, and the answer comes quickly and concisely without hesitation.

– First of all it brings much-needed media attention to the situation in Bahrain, which doesn’t even exist, or exist in a very low level. It also gives us a platform to speak from.

Do you think Bahrain will make any progress with fundamental human rights in the close future?

– I think that as long as the local culture of impunity in Bahrain continues, and the international situation of impunity of the Bahraini government continues, then no. If we were able to get international accountability for the Bahraini government, and consequences and reactions, then yes.

Banned from her country

Maryam has been active in participating in protests and volunteering for human rights organizations since she was a young teenager. Her father, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, is former president and co-founder for BCHR. He was banned from Bahrain in the mid-1980s, and they got political asylum in Denmark, where they lived until 2001 when they were allowed re-entry into Bahrain. She is currently in exile in Denmark, where she has been since the Bahraini uprising in 2011. …more

Women in Bahrain
Anonymous Contribution – 6 November, 2013

– Women in Bahrain can’t vote, assemble in public, hold up a banner, speak about the political situation or demand change, freedom and democracy.

– Women like the men can be picked up in the middle of the night from their homes by violent police, detained without their family knowing their whereabouts, abused, sexually assaulted and tortured.

– Women have gone through show trials, with no prosecution apart from confessions under torture, no defence, (Judge Dhahrini walks out whilst the defence lawyers speak) and unfair long sentences.

– At least thirteen women have died since 14th February 2011 and no-one has been held accountable.

– Women have been tortured, and no-one has been held accountable. (Noura Al Khalifa was brought to trial for torturing Dr Fatima Haji, but she was cleared.)

– Hundreds of women were sacked for participating in the pro- democracy demonstrations and those who were re-instated had to give up their trade union membership and employment rights.

A few cases.

Rula Al Safir, President of the Nurses Union, 6 months jail, tortured, 35 day hunger strike, retrial after foreign pressure, found innocent. Sacked and unable to return to work. Offence – treating the injured at demonstrations.

Jalila al Salman, Vice President of Teachers Union, detained for 6 months, tortured, smeared by pro- government media. 3 years sentence, reduced to 6 months. Fired, not allowed to work. International pressure helped.Offence- leading a teachers’ march.

Rayhanna Al Mousawi. Young mother and activist. Wore a political Tshirt at 2013 F.I. Tortured, made to stand stripped in a doorway, sexually abused, ill with cancer, treatment refused. Picked up for “planning to bomb” FI and membership of 14th February Coalition. 5 years sentence, plus a further trial. Her appeal, (although not allowed to consult her lawyer in person is on 18th November 2013.

And finally Nadia Saleh, heavily pregnant, jailed with no charge, because she objected to her husband Abd Yousef Saleh being picked up at a checkpoint when they were leaving their village. She was released on October 2nd, has given birth, but was still due in court on 31st October.

Attacks on women in Bahrain must be viewed in the context of the even worse treatment of the men who have died under torture and been sentenced to 15 years and life for demanding freedom and democracy. The main opposition party Al Wafaq, support a constitutional monarchy but as their Speaker, Mr Marfooq was detained and was back in court on 24th October, their position will harden.

The British Government should rise above its obsession for “oil security” and supporting the Khalifas and support the democratic forces in the Gulf. That is the future for stability in the Gulf.

The egregious sentence of 10 years for Sheikh Mohammed Ali al-Mahfoodh was reduced through appeals in Bharain’s Court of Injustice, to an egregious sentence of five years in November, 2012. Sheik al-Mahfoodh remains unjustly detained by the Al Khalifa Regime in Bahrain to this day. Phlipn

Interview with Hajar al-Mahfoodh – daughter of jailed opposition leader
4 October, 2011 – Bahrain Justice and Development Movement

A Bahrain military court today jailed Sheikh Mohammed Ali al-Mahfoodh, Chairman of the opposition Amal Party, for 10 years.

His daughter Hajar says whilst in detention he was tortured so badly she could barely recognize her own Father. She affirms there is no tangible evidence against him and his case is clear political persecution.

Another 13 members of the party received sentences of between 5 and 10 years at the same hearing.

Sheikh Mohammed Ali was first arrested on 2nd May 2011 but according to Hajar the Security Services had been trying to arrest him since one month before.

“They broke into my home four times and told me it’s either your husband or your daddy”. On April 2nd police arrested her husband in what she says was a ‘hostage situation’ to secure the arrest of Sheikh Mohammed Ali. In the same incident items were stolen from her home and she says she feared leaving the house in case they returned.

One month later when police finally caught up with Sheikh Mohammed Ali, they also arrested two of Hajar’s brothers at the same time.

By the end of May both brothers and the husband had been released but there was no word about Sheikh Mohammed Ali until the family received a call to say they could visit.

“I felt the man I met wasn’t my daddy. He couldn’t focus, his voice was different and he looked like a different man”. Hajar describes her visit to see her father in prison. “It was only later when I found out he had been tortured using electricity that I understood why he was in this state”.

A few days after the visit Sheikh Mohammed Ali’s first hearing began. The family was allowed to meet him for a few brief minutes after the hearing began and in this time he detailed his ordeal.

“He did not want to give full details, because he was worried about upsetting me, but he told me they wanted to kill him”. He told his daughter that he had been in solitary confinement for 45 days and given no food or water for the first 15 days, twice being admitted to hospital.

“They used mostly electricity and whipping to torture him and he is sure all those investigating were of Jordanian nationality”.

Since that first hearing Sheikh Mohammed Ali has faced a new hearing every 2 weeks until his sentencing today.

Hajar says from a legal point of view, as the defense lawyers pointed out, the trial is biased to say the least. “The defendants do not meet the lawyers regularly and the accused are not allowed to speak for themselves. She also says no tangible evidence of guilt has been offered according to the defense lawyers.

Sheikh Mohammed has been accused of trying to damage the image of Bahrain at an international level. There are 3 main prosecution witnesses, all claiming that he confessed his crime during detention. Something she categorically denies.

On the other hand there are “26 defense witnesses who all prove that there was no wrong doing on the part of the accused”. But in Bahrain the truth counts for nothing.”

Hajar says she fears for the future of Bahrain and thinks that unless real reform happens soon, violence will soon erupt.

“I am a peaceful person and my father is too. All we want is peace and unity in Bahrain. But the situation is getting worse and these military trials are pushing the country to the edge of breaking.”
…source