Enemies of the Internet 2014: entities at the heart of censorship and surveillance
12 March, 2014 – Reporters without Borders

Natalia Radzina of Charter97, a Belarusian news website whose criticism of the government is often censored, was attending an OSCE-organized conference in Vienna on the Internet and media freedom in February 2013 when she ran into someone she would rather not have seen: a member of the Operations and Analysis Centre, a Belarusian government unit that coordinates Internet surveillance and censorship. It is entities like this, little known but often at the heart of surveillance and censorship systems in many countries, that Reporters Without Borders is spotlighting in this year’s Enemies of the Internet report, which it is releasing, as usual, on World Day Against Cyber-Censorship (12 March).

Identifying government units or agencies rather than entire governments as Enemies of the Internet allows us to draw attention to the schizophrenic attitude towards online freedoms that prevails in in some countries. Three of the government bodies designated by Reporters Without Borders as Enemies of the Internet are located in democracies that have traditionally claimed to respect fundamental freedoms: the Centre for Development of Telematics in India, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in the United Kingdom, and the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States.

The NSA and GCHQ have spied on the communications of millions of citizens including many journalists. They have knowingly introduced security flaws into devices and software used to transmit requests on the Internet. And they have hacked into the very heart of the Internet using programmes such as the NSA’s Quantam Insert and GCHQ’s Tempora. The Internet was a collective resource that the NSA and GCHQ turned into a weapon in the service of special interests, in the process flouting freedom of information, freedom of expression and the right to privacy.

The mass surveillance methods employed in these three countries, many of them exposed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, are all the more intolerable because they will be used and indeed are already being used by authoritarians countries such as Iran, China, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to justify their own violations of freedom of information. How will so-called democratic countries will able to press for the protection of journalists if they adopt the very practices they are criticizing authoritarian regimes for? …more

Bahrain detains 25 for involvement in bomb blast
4 MArch, 2014 – PressTV

In Bahrain, 25 people have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in a deadly bomb attack targeting police forces near the country’s capital, Manama, earlier this week.

The country’s interior minister Sheik Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa made the announcement during a televised address on Tuesday, March 4.

The Bahraini minister said the attack on Monday, March 3, left at least three police officers who were trying to break up crowds of anti-government protesters in Daih, dead.

He also mentioned an attack that killed a policeman last month.

Bahrain’s main opposition groups have also condemned the deadly attacks.

Manama also listed the February 14 coalition, and the al-Ashtar Brigades and the Resistance Brigades opposition groups as terrorist organizations, without further explanation.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have held numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to step down from power.

One month later, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded Bahrain to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.

Reports suggest scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others arrested over the past three years.

According to the Physicians for Human Rights, Bahraini doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, or disappeared because they have “evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces, and riot police” in the crackdown on anti-government protesters. …more

4 Bahrainis could face death penalty: Prosecutors
9 March, 2014 –

Four Bahrainis could face the death penalty over an alleged attack that killed three policemen earlier this month, prosecutors say.

On Sunday, the Bahraini prosecutors issued a statement saying the four men have “confessed” to involvement in the blast that killed the security personnel, AFP reported.

On March 3, the three policemen were killed in the bomb attack in Daih village, west of the capital Manama, Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said.

An officer from the United Arab Emirates, deployed in the Persian Gulf state, was among the dead officers.

The explosion happened as Bahraini troops attacked and fired teargas to disperse thousands of people who had gathered to mourn the death of an anti-regime activist in the village.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have held numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.

On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.

According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested.

Physicians for Human Rights says doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, or disappeared because they have “evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces, and riot police” in the crackdown on anti-government protesters.

On March 3, 2014, three policemen were killed in the bomb attack in Daih village, west of the capital Manama, Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said. An officer from the United Arab Emirates, deployed in the Persian Gulf state, was among the dead. The explosion happened as Bahraini troops attacked and fired teargas to disperse thousands of people who had gathered to mourn the death of an anti-regime activist in the village.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have held numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power. On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters. According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested. Physicians for Human Rights says doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, or disappeared because they have “evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces, and riot police” in the crackdown on anti-government protesters.” target=”_blank”>…more

Bomb wounds two policemen in Bahraini Shi’ite village
By Farishta Saeed – Reuters – 11 March, 2014

DUBAI (Reuters) – A homemade bomb exploded in a Shi’ite Muslim village in Bahrain on Tuesday, wounding two policemen, the interior ministry said, nine days after another blast in the Gulf Arab kingdom killed three police officers.

Bahrain has been grappling with unrest by majority Shi’ites over the past three years demanding political reform and an end to perceived discrimination in the Sunni Muslim-ruled country. Bahrain denies any discrimination against Shi’ites.

Bomb attacks have increased since last year, raising concern about further instability in the Western-allied kingdom where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based as a bulwark against Shi’ite giant Iran across the Gulf.

The interior ministry said the two policemen sustained moderate injuries from the bomb as they were working with a third officer to secure a neighbourhood in the village of al-Eker in the late afternoon.

An investigation was under way to identify and arrest those involved in the incident, a statement by the ministry said.

On March 3, three policemen, including one from the United Arab Emirates, died when what the authorities say was a remote-controlled bomb exploded during a mourning procession for a 23-year-old Shi’ite who died in custody on February 26.

The Interior Ministry has said the blast occurred as police were trying to disperse protesters who were blocking roads in the village of Daih, west of the capital Manama. Four people have been arrested in connection to the Daih bombing.

Mainstream opposition groups, including the main Shi’ite al-Wefaq movement, have condemned the bombing and called on their followers to ensure that protest activities remain peaceful.

The village of al-Eker was the scene of a bomb blast and riots that killed a policeman in 2012, the first to die after the lifting of martial law in the country in June 2011.

Bahrain has accused Iran of fomenting bloodshed in the kingdom. Iran denies having links to Bahrain’s opposition or any hand in violence, but champions the cause of Shi’ites there. …more

Al Khalifa Regime Victims languish in Bahrain's Prison While World enjoy the Royal Formula One
12 March, 2014

The Bahrain F.1. Race will take place on April 6th 2014 in flood lit conditions. This is appropriate as it will mask the reality of life for Bahrain’s citizens behind the glitz of the F.1.

3500 people are detained in overcrowded cells with inadequate water for drinking and washing, poor food, no medical care and no winter clothes. Homes are attacked without warrant at night to pick up suspects and intimidate the community.

After the 2013 F.1. 60 people were detained, including Rihana al Mousawi, who was tortured, stripped and exposed in public. Over 1000 detainees are children who are regularly abused.

Torture is systemic although the Minister of the Interior says there is no torture and the Jordanians are experts. Two young photographers, Sayed Ahmed Al Mousawi and Mohamed al Orabi were both tortured for six days in February, hung on doors, electrocuted and sexually abused. Should the international sporting community be running a high profile race that supports the Khalifa regime?

Mohamed Mirza’s case shows what happens to peaceful opponents of the regime.

Mohamed was arrested on 27th June 2012 after being on the run for eight months. He was convicted in absentia for illegal gathering and vandalising a police car in November 2011, 24th January 2012 and May 2012. His total sentence was 2.5 years. Illegal gathering means nothing in Bahrain – you can be watching a march and get detained.

Mohamed is seriously ill. He was hit by birdshot, beaten when he arrested and has problems with his sight as his eyes were sprayed with incendiary material. His hearing and teeth were affected by torture. He finally went to a specialist at Salmaniya Hospital in September 2013 about his back who recommended a CT Scan and a medical brace. Nothing has happened. There is ONE DOCTOR for 800 men in Mohamed’s building.

The case against Mohamed was dismissed by the Appeal Court Judge in August 2013. But the Samaheej police station won’t release him. He was due to leave prison this month but another trumped up charge will keep him in Jaw Prison until October 2014. The police may then accuse him of another crime to illegally detain him. Mohamed is jus one example of the Bahraini prisoners, denied a fair trial and sentenced on the basis of unseen confessions after torture.

The FI is an opportunity to put on some pressure to improve conditions for the prisoners.
Please contact the F.I. Sponsors – Gulf Air, Renault, Mercedes, Ferrari, Lotus, McClaren and Cosworth. Approach the drivers and suggest they should not be racing in Bahrain with its terrible Human Rights record. All the drivers should state they will boycott the race unless human rights improve. Please act.

Emirati police officer among three dead in Bahrain blast
5 March, 2014 – Kannadiga World

First Lieutenant Tariq Al Shehi died along with two members of the Bahraini police force “while performing his national duty of maintaining order.

An Emirati police officer from a joint Gulf force in Bahrain was among three personnel killed on Monday in a bomb blast at a village near Manama, the UAE Ministry of Interior announced on Monday.

First Lieutenant Tariq Al Shehi died along with two members of the Bahraini police force “while performing his national duty of maintaining order,” the ministry said in a statement.

The UAE officer was working in Bahrain within the Gulf Waves Force under the joint GCC security cooperation agreement.

Tariq Al Shehi“The Ministry of Interior, while mourning martyr First Lieutenant Tareq Mohammed Al Shehi and his fellow personnel, pray Allah to accept them among the group of honourable martyrs and martyrs of duty who sacrificed their souls in defence of the right and protection of innocent people,” the ministry said. It prayed Allah to grant his family the patience and solace to bear his loss.

The late Al Shehi was known among his colleagues and family of good conduct, commitment, dedication, bravery and courage.

The blast in Daih occurred when Bahrain’s security forces were dealing with riots after the funeral ritual of a Bahraini youth who died in detention of sickle cell Anemia complications.

The radical Muqawama ‘Resistance’ Group that is active in social media announced that its members were behind the blast.

The death of the three personnel comes less than a month of the death of a policemen in a similar blast in Dair, which is a village in Muharraq.

The Bahrain Interior Ministry said on its Twitter account that a group of protesters had broken away from a mourning procession in the village of Daih and started blocking roads. The explosion took place as police were trying to disperse the rioters, it added.

There was no immediate word on what had caused the blast.

The explosion occurred as hundreds of Bahrainis marched in a procession to mark the final day of mourning for the 23-year-old who died in custody last week. The Bahrain Interior Ministry had said the man, who was detained in December and had been accused of smuggling weapons, had died of an illness. …more

On 10 March 2014, 27 experts sent a letter to United States President Barack Obama urging him to address the growing crisis in Bahrain with counterparts in Saudi Arabia during his upcoming visit to the country. Please continue reading for the full letter or click here for a PDF.

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Dear President Obama,

We are writing to encourage you to discuss the crisis in Bahrain with your counterparts in Saudi Arabia during your upcoming visit to the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia has significant influence in Bahrain through its strong political, economic, and social ties with the Bahrainis. Real and lasting stability in Bahrain can only be achieved through genuine reform, and we call on you to urge the Saudi leadership to play a more constructive role in this regard.

As Deputy Secretary of State William Burns recently noted, when the United States and the Gulf “work in concert, we can help shape outcomes that not only advance reform, but also advance stability.” You have a key opportunity to achieve this goal in Bahrain.

As the situation in Bahrain continues to deteriorate, addressing this issue must be an urgent priority. The State Department recently assessed the Bahraini government’s progress in implementing the recommendations of the 2011 Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), and found that only five of its 26 recommendations were fully implemented. The assessment also recognized the Government’s failure to investigate claims of torture and cases that resulted in death, to ensure that individuals are no longer charged or detained for exercising their right to free speech, or to foster an environment that promotes dialogue.

Efforts last year to negotiate a political solution collapsed after the process failed to deliver any real progress, key opposition figures were arrested, and human rights violations continued. As you said in 2011, “The only way forward is for the government and opposition to engage in a dialogue, and you can’t have a real dialogue when parts of the peaceful opposition are in jail. The government must create the conditions for dialogue, and the opposition must participate to forge a just future for all Bahrainis.” That was true then, and remains true today. …more