…from beneath the crooked bough, witness 230 years of brutal tyranny by the al Khalifas come to an end

From Arab Spring to Autumn Rage: The Dark Power of Social Media
New America Media – Andrew Lam – 14 September, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO–In 2010 Time Magazine’s prestigious Person of the Year title went to two individuals. While its readers picked Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, Time’s editors picked Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook.

“Facebook is now the third largest country on earth and surely has more information about its citizens than any government does,” the magazine noted. “Zuckerberg, a Harvard dropout, is its T-shirt-wearing head of state.”

Assange, founder of the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, on the other hand, undermined entire nation states’ public narratives of themselves by providing a platform where individuals can anonymously whistle blow and show their government’s dark underbellies by uploading top secret documents. Spy agencies can only look on with envy and alarm.

In 2011, a fruit vendor made the cut. Mohammed Bouazizi, a Tunisian who set himself on ablaze protesting police corruption, became literally the torch that lit the Arab Spring revolution that spread quickly throughout the Middle East. Bouazizi achieved this in his very public death because many who had cell phones saw it and the subsequent videos kick-started the uprising. The revolution took all governments by surprise.

Convicted Filmmaker’s Many Aliases

This year no doubt Time can add “Nakoula Basseley Nakoula,” aka “Sam Bacile,” as a major contender. An unknown amateur filmmaker until this week, fanned the flames in the Middle East with incendiary video clips. In effect, the film mocked and insulted the prophet Mohammed and turned the whole Arab Spring of 2011 into Autumn Rage of 2012 Against the USA.

Nakoula/Bacile is currently in hiding and may in fact be fictitious. Much evidence now points to him as a Egyptian Coptic Christian, who allegedly holds grudges against Islam. On Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that Nakoula was convicted two years ago on federal charges of financial fraud.

The jury is out on who instigated the violence against U.S. workers in Libya, resulting in the death of the American ambassador and three other personnel. The attack was carefully planned, it was reported, and not the mere work of angry protesters – but few doubt that the film has a direct effect in stoking a combustible anger in the Middle East against what many consider as yet another American act of profanity against the sacred.

In the global age, it seems that not only dictators or overzealous elected heads of state with power of preemptive strikes can direct history to the edge of an abyss, but also fruit vendors and lousy filmmakers.

If Zuckerberg is a kind of head of state of the third largest country and Julian Assange has become the equivalent of a CIA institution gone rogue, then Bouazizi, a private individual, has become the modern equivalent Joan of Arc.

Soon, too, the director of Innocence of Muslim, whoever he is, will become a kind of knuckle headed hater, who nevertheless emerged with the extraordinary power to incite violence against America. That would make Al-Qaeda, by comparison, seem tongue-tied.

For all its planning, for all its propaganda and brainwashing of the illiterate and easily duped to blow themselves up – merely to garner dwindling media attention in the West –Al-Qaeda hasn’t achieved what an inane video has. The film and its 13-minute YouTube trailer quickly undermined much of the United States’ soft diplomacy in a region it considers of utmost important.

In a blog for the Boston Globe, a friend of slain Ambassador Chris Stevens shared her shock with this headline: “How Could Chris Stevens Die Because of a YouTube clip?” Alas, the answer is: Why not? In our information age, the break up of a virtual friendship can lead to suicide, and misinformation can create a real lynch mob, half a world away. …more

Real man behind pseudonym of Sam Bacile traced
by News Desk – 14 September, 2012 – Blitz

Finally United States’ authorities and its intelligence agencies have identified the real culprit, the director of the most controversial anti-Islam movie named innocence of Muslims. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula used pseudonym and falsely claimed to be an Israeli Jew. Police rushed to the residence of the producer of the movie – Nakoula Basseley Nakoula as well as a production company named “Media for Christ” on Hamilton Road in Duarte, California to keep watch. According to police sources, “Media for Christ” was affiliated with making the film that has been a trigger for anti-US violence and protest in several countries.

Basseley Nakoula aka Sam Basil pleaded no contest in 2010 to federal bank fraud charges in California and was ordered to pay more than US$ 790,000 in restitution and serve 21 months in prison. Meanwhile, Nakoula told the Associated Press in an interview outside Los Angeles that he was manager for the company that produced “Innocence of Muslims.” He denied he directed the film and said he knew the self-described filmmaker, identified only as “Sam Bacile.”

According to California law enforcement officials, Nakoula, who is also known to authorities as Bacily Nakoula, was frightened for his life and “scared of retaliation” against his family. But the cell phone number that the US media contacted to reach the filmmaker who identified himself as “Sam Bacile” traced to the same Southern California address where they found Basseley Nakoula. Following this discovery, law enforcing agencies were sure of the real identity of Sam Bacile and were also convinced that it was none but Nakoula Basseley. Nakoula was the main culprit behind the entire incident. Several actors in the movie say they were duped, and are now distancing themselves from the film that was cited as a spark to the violence in Libya that resulted in the murder of the United States’ ambassador to that country.

Though Sam Basile claimed himself to be a citizen of Israel, it was later confirmed by the Israeli authorities that such claim of the man was “totally false”. It was also confirmed when FoxNews.com’s research on public and private databases, business filings, and people finding services came up empty on that name. The Associated Press first reported that they spoke with Sam Bacile via phone as he was remaining incognito in an undisclosed location following the violence in Libya. “Bacile” said that he was sorry for the death of the U.S Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and blamed his death on the “no good” security systems in place at the embassies. When Bacile’s legitimacy began to be questioned, the AP traced the phone number they had called to Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a Coptic Christian in California. An attorney for Nakoula, listed as James Henderson Sr., did not respond to FoxNews.com’s request for comment. On his legal website, the Santa Monica-based lawyer is described as a specialist in “white collar criminal defense and federal criminal violations.”

Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla., who burned Qurans on the ninth anniversary of 9/11, said he spoke with the movie’s director on the phone on September 12. He said he has not met the filmmaker in person, but the man contacted him a few weeks ago about promoting the movie.

Pastor Terry Jones said, “I have not met him. Sam Bacile, that is not his real name,” Jones said. “I just talked to him on the phone. He is definitely in hiding and does not reveal his identity. He was quite honestly fairly shook up concerning the events and what is happening. A lot of people are not supporting him.”

Another of the film’s promoters, Steve Klein 62-year-old Vietnam Veteran who resides in rural California and heads up a group called Concerned Citizens for the First Amendment, which is on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of California Active Anti-Muslim Groups, told reporters that he did not know Steve Bacile’s “real name,” and that they only met once and spoke for about an hour. In 1977 he founded Klein founded Courageous Christians United, which has reportedly staged protests outside mosques and abortion clinics.

“He’s not Israeli… His name is a pseudonym,” Klein told the magazine. “All these Middle Eastern folks I work with have pseudonyms. I doubt he’s Jewish. I would suspect this is a disinformation campaign.”

Doubts mounted as well about the provenance of the film, Innocence of Muslims. Several Hollywood and California film industry groups and permit agencies said they had no records of the project. It was also learnt from various sources that some Americans from the Middle Eastern countries had funded this project.

Meanwhile, it is also learnt that the same film was released in a small cinema hall in Los Angeles last year, when it was named as ‘The Innocence of Bin Laden’. But the movie failed to draw more than 10 audiences during the single show, and the authorities of ‘Vine Theater’ cinema hall in Los Angeles had to pull down the movie from any further shows.
Bacile’s film was dubbed into Egyptian Arabic by someone he doesn’t know, but he speaks enough Arabic to confirm that the translation is accurate. It was made in three months in the summer of 2011, with 59 actors and about 45 people behind the camera. It is also learnt that a large number of female and male actors in the so-called movie were casted from American under-ground porn film industry. One of the male actors named Tim Dax had earlier worked for gay porn films. …source

Congress was warned about Libya last month
Posted By Kevin Baron Thursday, September 13, 2012 – 11:57 AM Share
While Washington vacationed in August, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service issued a now prescient-sounding report warning that Libya’s security concerns were an “immediate priority” that might require far more attention and resources than the United States had given it.

“Libya’s security remains a function of Libyans’ self-restraint rather than the capability of security authorities,” CRS warned.

That self-restraint broke down severely this week as, according to U.S. officials, an apparently coordinated attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi emerged from a crowded protest, leading to the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and others. It was the apex of a string of concerning violent incidents dating back months.

The author of the report, Christopher Blanchard, specialist in Middle Eastern affairs, on Thursday told the E-Ring, “Security has deteriorated since the election [in July] and the government has not appeared able to stop attacks on religious buildings or an ongoing string of assassination attacks on former regime security officials. The attacks on the U.S. offices in Benghazi were the latest and most severe in a series of attacks on foreign diplomatic facilities and international organizations in Libya.”

“This incident underscores what the State Department itself said in its late August travel warning: militia groups outside of state control are active in Libya and pose a direct threat to Libyans and foreigners.”

According to Blanchard’s report, which is titled Libya: Transition and U.S. Policy and dated August 9, 2012, Libyan security is severely hampered by several factors, as the country continues to emerge from civil war and moves haltingly toward unifying its governance and security institutions and ad-hoc groups.

U.S. officials and outside experts, CRS stated, already harbored significant concerns over loose security at the country’s borders and “hundreds of suspected weapons sites,” in addition to massive proliferation of small arms, shoulder-fired MANPADS rockets, and “heavy weaponry” in and just outside of Libya.

The combination of those factors, CRS surmised, specifically worried counterterrorism and arms-trafficking experts, citing “unexploded ordnance, explosive remnants, and looted weaponry.”

The precarious security situation is made worse by the existence and state-reliance on militia groups across the country, only some of which have willingly integrated, to various degrees, with official security forces.

“Security concerns remain the immediate priority, as a series of isolated armed conflicts and attacks on international targets in several cities have raised serious questions about the ability of the interim authorities to ensure order,” wrote Blanchard. “As of August 2012, militia groups remained active and influential, with some acknowledging and participating in government efforts to assert central security authority. Public displays of weapons, attacks on international targets, and isolated armed clashes underscore the threats posed by some groups. Security officials continue to rely on irregular forces to provide security in much of the country.”

The report continues, “Libyans’ initial euphoria at the downfall of Muammar al Qadhafi has settled into an uneasy mix of hope and fear about the country’s future.”

By August, CRS concluded, “popular patience has waned.”

On Thursday, Blanchard said Libya’s limited “ability to provide security creates a dilemma for U.S. decision makers.” If the U.S. targets “hostile groups” or even provides direct security support for the Libyan government to do so, it may “inflame local opinion and undermine the image of the recently elected government among some Libyans.”

And any expansion of U.S. assistance would take time and money, both of which are “politically controversial…in both countries.” …more

Mr Blowback rising in Benghazi
By Pepe Escobar – 13 September, 2012 – Asia Times

“Daddy, what is blowback?”

Here’s a fable to tell our children, by the fire, in a not so-distant post-apocalyptic, dystopian future.

Once upon a time, during George “Dubya” Bush’s “war on terra”, the Forces of Good in Afghanistan captured – and duly tortured – one evil terrorist, Abu Yahya al-Libi.

Abu Yahya al-Libi was, of course, Libyan. He slaved three years in the bowels of Bagram prison near Kabul, but somehow managed to escape that supposedly impregnable fortress in July 2005.

At the time, the Forces of Good were merrily in bed with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Libya – whose intelligence services, to the delight of the Bush administration, were doing their nastiest to exterminate or at least isolate al-Qaeda-style Salafi-jihadis of the al-Libi kind.

But, then, in 2011, the Forces of Good, under new administration, decided it was time to bury the oh so passe “war on terra” and dance to a new, more popular groove; humanitarian intervention, also characterized as “kinetic military action”.

So al-Libi was back from the dead – now fighting side by side with the Forces of Good to topple (and eventually snuff out) “evil” Col Gaddafi. Al-Libi had become a “freedom fighter” – even though he was openly calling for Libya to become an Islamic Emirate.

The honeymoon didn’t last long.

In September 2012, for the first time in three months, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, aka The Surgeon, released a 42-minute video special to “celebrate” the 11th anniversary of 9/11, finally admitting the snuffing out of his number two.

His number two was none other than Abu Yahya al-Libi – targeted by one of US President Barack Obama’s cherished drones in Waziristan on June 4.

An immediate effect of al-Zawahiri’s video was that an angry armed mob, led by Islamist outfit Ansar al Sharia, set fire to the US consulate in Benghazi. The US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, was killed. It didn’t matter that Stevens happened to be a hero of the “NATO rebels” who had “liberated” Libya – notoriously sprinkled with Salafi-jihadis of the al-Libi kind.

Stevens was rewarded by Washington with the ambassadorial post only after “evil” Gaddafi was finally sodomized, lynched and killed by, what else, an angry mob.

So finally the blowback serpent was able to bite its own tail.

Terra, terra, terra

What happened in Benghazi may have been just an out-of-control protest against a crude, amateur, made-in-California movie produced and directed by an Israeli-American real estate developer and certified Islamophobe (an identity now being reported as a guise), financed with US$5 million from unidentified Jewish donors, depicting Islam “as a cancer” and Prophet Muhammad as a womanizer, a pedophile and most of all, a fraud. The movie was duly promoted by wacko Florida pastor and Koran-burning freak Terry Jones.

Yet the killing of the US ambassador in Libya is just an hors d’oeuvre to what may happen in Syria – where scores of “freedom fighters” supported by the CIA, the Turks and the House of Saud are al-Qaeda-linked, either via the supposedly reformist Libya Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) or acronym-infested subcontracting gangs such as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) or al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM).

So how will Washington “bring the perpetrators to justice” in Libya? After all this is the same gang that was hailed as “heroes” when they sodomized, lynched and snuffed out “evil” Gaddafi.

Asia Times Online has been warning for over a year about blowback in Libya – and potentially in Syria, where medieval Saudi sheikhs frantically issue fatwas legitimating a widespread massacre of “infidel” Alawites. This is all a rerun of the same old 1980s’ Afghan jihad movie; first you call them “freedom fighters”, but when they attack us they revert to being “terrorists”.

Now we have NATO-armed Salafi-jihadis in Libya, and House of Saud-financed and Turkey-based Salafi-jihadis in Syria – deploying “terra” antics such as suicide bombers to bring down the Assad regime – all wired up and ready to roll. It certainly adds a new meaning to Obama’s “kinetic action” gig. …more

If it were not so tragic it would be laughable that US foreign policy can be blown like a leaf in the wind by a fanatical Zionist-Christian Pastor and Moronic movie producer. Really? they managed to push US foreign policy to the ‘tipping point’ for an entire region with a ‘no-budget’ movie. Do Blasphemers and Apostates start ‘unholy wars’. Phlipn – out.

Quran-burning Pastor Terry Jones promotes anti-Islam film
Voltaire Network – 13 September, 2012

Pastor Terry Jones, whose Quran-torching escapade in 2011 brought him hatred in the Islamic world, has reportedly promoted Innocence of Muslims, a controversial low-budget movie that sparked anti-American protests in Libya and Egypt.

Innocence of Muslims’ director Sam Bacile said he had received some $5 million from a “hundred of Jews” to shoot the film and called Islam “a cancer.” However, he denounced allegations that his movie was religious, saying it was a political one.

Pastor Terry Jones announced he was going to show an Innocence of Muslims fragment during a prayer service.

In 2011, Pastor Jones rose to prominence after staging several public Quran burnings. The first of these dubious events ran off in March 2011, triggering a wave of unrest in Afghanistan, which claimed the lives of more than a hundred people.

Mass protests erupted Tuesday in Egypt’s capital of Cairo and in Libya’s Benghazi. In Cairo, demonstrators climbed the wall of the US Embassy to then shred and burn the American flag. In Benghazi, several armed men assailed the US Consulate, killing the US ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. …source

Russia fears ‘chaos’ after US mission killings: Putin
13 September, 2012 – The Daily Star

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday the Middle East region was at risk of descending into “chaos” following a deadly attack on the US mission in Libya and violence in Egypt and Yemen.

“We are afraid that the region may descend into chaos, which is essentially what is happening already,” the Russian leader said in comments broadcast on state television from his summer residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

…source

U.S. embassies attacked in Yemen, Egypt after Libya envoy killed
13 September, 2012 – By Mohammed Ghobari, Edmund Blair – Reuters

SANAA/CAIRO: Demonstrators attacked the U.S. embassies in Yemen and Egypt on Thursday in protest at a film they consider blasphemous to Islam and American warships headed to Libya after the death of the U.S. ambassador there in related violence earlier in the week.

Hundreds of Yemeni demonstrators broke through the main gate of the heavily fortified compound in eastern Sanaa, shouting “We sacrifice ourselves for you, Messenger of God”. Earlier they smashed windows of security offices outside the embassy and burned cars.

“We can see a fire inside the compound and security forces are firing in the air. The demonstrators are fleeing and then charging back,” one witness told Reuters. A security source said at least 15 people were wounded, some by bullets. An embassy spokesman said its personnel were reported to be safe.

In Egypt, protesters hurled stones at a police cordon around the U.S. embassy in central Cairo after climbing into the embassy and tearing down the American flag. The state news agency said 13 people were injured in violence which erupted on Wednesday night after protests on Tuesday.

Islamist gunmen staged a military-style assault on the U.S. consulate and a safe house refuge in Benghazi, eastern Libya on Tuesday. The U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died in the assault, carried out with guns, mortars and grenades. Eight Libyans were injured.

U.S. President Barack Obama vowed to “bring to justice” those responsible and the U.S. military moved two navy destroyers towards the Libyan coast, in what a U.S. official said was a move to give the administration flexibility for any future action against Libyan targets.

Obama said security was being increased at U.S. diplomatic posts around the globe and on Thursday the U.S. consulate in Berlin was partially evacuated after an employee fell ill on opening a suspicious envelope.

About 1,000 Bangladeshi Islamists tried to march on the U.S. embassy in Dhaka after protests earlier in the week outside U.S. missions in Tunisia, Sudan and Morocco.

…more

If a Muslim producer had made a movie in the US trashing the Zionists, the ADL would have already sent hit squads after everyone involved. Congress would be hostage in the election year. A Muslim movie producer would have never made it off the launch pad, because Muslims in America are systematically denied even their basic civil rights.

Exactly what did the USG think was going to happen? Explode and implode Arab countries in ‘democracy wars’ in order to bolster US hegemony over Middle East oil? Deny Arab Rights on a Global Scale and use ‘bought off’ Monarchs and Tin-cup Dictators who are hopelessly hooked on a perpetual supply of arms to keep them in power. Secretary Clinton sets the tone for American dissonance saying, “How can this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction?”. One of her Ambassadors and his colleagues lay dead and with the Consulate ablaze in Benghazi. You may be that incompetent Secretary Clinton but you are certainly not that naive. This is an easy one to figure out Madam Secretary, the only ones you fool with you bull-shit narrative of America-the-Benevolent are the ignorant US public you and the complicit US media machine keep that way.

One day it won’t just be Arabs trashing Embassies and Attacking Our Ambassadors, it will American Citizens trashing and attacking Police Stations and Federal Buildings all Across the US. Not because anyone really wants it this way, but because the Wealthy and Powerful have stolen Democracy from the American People and now they are trying for the ‘hard sale’ of ‘US Democratic’ values and ideal(gag-me) in the Middle East and the Arabs aren’t having any of it. Oh don’t get me wrong the Arabs want democracy, just not the one that is tailored to suit the US Imperialists who keep blowing shit up and assassinating people with Drones. Phlipn – out.

Bahrain: Detained Bahraini activist Zainab Al-Khawaja faces 13 cases
14 September, 2012 – IFEX – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

(BCHR/IFEX) – The Gulf Center for Human Rights and Bahrain Center for Human Rights express their grave concern over the information received regarding the ill-treatment of detained human rights defender Zainab Al-Khawaja in prison in Bahrain, as well as the continued exploitation of the judicial system to punish human rights defenders and hinder their peaceful and legitimate human rights work. Al-Khawaja is facing up to 13 cases, in addition to a 3 months’ imprisonment sentence issued against her on trumped-up charges.

By not taking enough measures to prevent torture on its territory, Bahrain has violated the entire Convention against torture, which they signed and ratified in 1998. The state of Bahrain is furthermore continuously ignoring the UN “Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners”, which since its creation in 1955, sets out the minimum standards regarding for example clothing, hygiene, food, inspections and medical services for prisoners, which creates very severe consequences for prisoners like Zainab Al-Khawaja.

Chain of judicial harassment against detained human rights defender Zainab Al-Khawaja and ill-treatment in prison

Activist and human rights defender Zainab Al-Khawaja has been detained since 2 August 2012 following her arrest while protesting alone at the Al Qadam roundabout. Her leg was in a cast following an injury she sustained previously when security forces shot her with tear gas canisters at close range.

Zainab Al-Khawaja currently has thirteen cases against her, 7 of which are currently in court.

In September 2012 alone, the court will be holding sessions for three of the charges that Zainab faces, notably:

1- Damaging the King’s photo on May 2012, for which the next hearing session will be on 26 September 2012. She is currently in detention for this case.

2- Participating in a demonstration that was not previously authorized and entering a restricted zone, which is the “pearl roundabout area,” in February 2012. The next hearing for this case will be on 25 September 2012.

3- Assembling on AbuSaiba roundabout in December 2011, and inciting hatred against the regime, for which the next hearing will be on 26 September 2012.

Zainab has already been sentenced in several other cases, resulting in fines and prison time. She has also been detained for several weeks on several occasions, and in one case, she was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment on 22 May 2012 for charges of assembly and disrupting traffic in Aali in November 2011. On that occasion, she stood to stop the riot police from attacking the mourners of a man killed by the regime of Bahrain (see video online). On 10 October 2012, the court of appeal will be hearing this case as the sentence has not yet been carried. On 16 October 2012, the court of appeal will hold session on the case of insulting an official at the military hospital, for which the court has previously acquitted Zainab but the public prosecution has appealed against the acquittal. On 1 November 2012, the court will hold a session on the case of disrupting traffic near the financial harbour in April 2011. …more

A heartbreaking story from Jau prison in #Bahrain: Rape of a detainee by a prison officer
14 September, 2012 – Twitlonger – Zahraa

On one night the officer in charge came to the prison, opened the cells and started threatening the prisoners there, it was something unusual but the detainees stayed silent while he shouts. They didn’t know that he was checking the detainees for his pervert needs.

Then he ordered to close all the cells but one, he chose a good looking young man and ordered him to take off his cloths, the detainee refused to do that, this happened in front of all the detainees there! The officer insisted and asked him again and again for several times and the detainee kept refusing. The officer then ordered the other policemen to take the detainee out of the cell, his cell mates tried to prevent them from doing that but they couldn’t stop them.

The officer raped the young man in the prison and all other prisoners could hear his screams for help! The other detainees went mad and in an attempt to make him stop they started to make noises and hit their heads in the doors, one of them was hysterical and passed out while trying to break the door.

The young man was out of his cell bleeding, other detainees where screaming and crying for help, “Allahu Akbar | God is great” they shouted but there’s no one who could help!

The prison officer didn’t get enough! He ordered to punish the detainees by bringing another guy to rape him! Once he opened another cell, there was a huge fuss and the police used force to make the detainees calm down. He also used special forces to interfere and beat the detainees, and then they took the injured ones to get medical treatment in another prison – Alqalaa – medical facility.

The detainees started a hunger strike to make the prison authority know that this is not acceptable. They were punished by cutting off the electricity and water, and preventing them from having family visits for several weeks. …source

Bahrain jailing human rights defenders
12 September, 2012 – World Without Torture

Nabeel Rajab, co-founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (at right), and Zainab Al-Khawaja (at left), a Bahrain human rights activist. Photos by Conor McCabe; available via Flickr through Creative Commons License.

The repression against protesters and human rights defenders in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain has been ongoing during the last 18 months. Beginning with the violent crackdown during the Arab Spring protests, the Bahraini state has been arresting, torturing and detaining human rights defenders, like Abduhadi Al-Khawaja.

Recent reports have emerged from the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) that the judicial harassment of human rights defenders Zainab Al-Khawaja and Nabeel Rajab has been stepped up to detain them on trumped-up charges for their legitimate protests activities against the state. In addition to supporting the work of human rights defenders, we at the IRCT are concerned for their safety; Bahrain has long established a pattern of torturing detainees, and we fear for the safety of Ms Al-Khawaja and Mr Rajab in light of their continued detention.

In our statement, we are echoing the call from BCHR for the Bahrain government to:

1. Immediately release detained human rights defenders Nabeel Rajab and Zainab Al-Khawaja and drop all charges against them, as it is believed that these measures have been taken against them solely due to their legitimate and peaceful work in the defense of human rights, and the exercise of freedom to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression in accordance to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

2. Immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience and activists including leading human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja;

3. Immediately put an end to the practice of torture and the ill-treatment of prisoners in Bahrain and bring those responsible to justice;

4. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Bahrain are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals, and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.

We also reiterate our call to the international community to put real pressure on the government of Bahrain to stop the ill-treatment of human rights defenders and to to release them immediately as it is believed that they have been targeted solely for their legitimate human rights activities. …source

Bahrain: Students’ rights gravely violated through sham trials, expulsions and unfair detention
12 September, 2012 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

More than a year and a half following the start of the revolution in Bahrain, university students are still being subjected to sham trials, unlawful imprisonment and prevention from continuing their studies. The Bahrain center for human rights (BCHR) is gravely concerned over these continuous violations of human rights against university students.

Sham Trials

On Thursday 06 September 2012, the high criminal court ruled in the cases of 96 defendants accused in the 13 March University of Bahrain thug attack incident which included students, staff, administrators and a security guard. The court upheld sentences of 84 students, reduced prison sentence against 3 to 3 months’ imprisonment and acquitted 9 [1].

The lawyer S. Mohsen Al Alawi stated to the BCHR, in a previous statement, that some of the accused students were not present in the university on 13 March 2011 and others were from the Isa Town campus while the said events took place at the Sakheer campus. He said that “the judge refused the defense’s request to call upon public figures that stated on Bahrain Television (BTV) that they were present in the University of Bahrain, like the university president and head of Riffa police station”.

Lawyers provided the court with photos of well-known figures from the university incident who were holding weapons, bars and clubs. Even though criminal procedure law allows the court to accuse new defendants when their relation to the case is proved, the judge did not respond to lawyers’ requests. …more

EXCLUSIVE: British Parliament to Investigate Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Human Rights Abuse
12 September, 2012 – Bahrain Freedom Movement

The Foreign Affairs Select Committee will hold an inquiry into the human rights abuses perpetrated by Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, Labour MP and committee member Ann Clwyd has announced.

In a briefing on Bahrain, Clwyd said: “Eric [Lord Avebury, joint vice-chair of the Parliamentary Group on Human Rights] and I have raised the question of Bahrain over and over again in the House of Lords, House of Commons and obviously we’re not satisfied with the answer we’ve had.”

During the same briefing, activist and acting president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BHCR) Maryam Al-Khawaja called on the UK to discussdiplomatic and economic sanctions against Bahrain and to end the sale of arms.

She told MPs that the Bahrain government, which has been clamping down on pro-democracy protests since February 2011, has only become “emboldened by inaction from the international community”.

“There needs to be real pressure on the Bahrainis from allies like UK to allow UN special rapporteurs into the country, which they have not been doing,” she added.

Al-Khawaja explained that Bahrain has thus far granted access to only one rapporteur, torture expert Juan Méndez, and even his permission was subsequently revoked.

The speaker continued by highlighting the fact that Bahrain has closed its borders and made it impossible for journalists and NGOs to gather information in the country. She also pointed out the importance of a discussion on diplomatic and economic sanctions on Bahrain.

“I think it’s about time [to see a discussion],” she said, welcoming Denmark’sproposal to begin discussions regarding sanctions against Bahrain in the international community.

“Unlike Russia, the UK does speak about human rights and democracy and the need to uphold those things, and yet they continue to support a regime like Bahrain who continues to commit human rights violations almost on a daily basis.

“The majority of human rights violations are still on-going. The Bahraini regime has reached a point where they believe they have acquired international immunity.”

Lord Avebury talked about the controversial presence of Prince Nasser, leader of Bahrain’s Olympic delegation, in the UK during the London 2012 Games.

Nasser is alleged to have personally tortured Bahraini athletes who protested against the regime

“We wrote a letter to the Foreign Office asking for him to be excluded as a person whose presence in the UK is non-conducive to the public good and we sent testimonies from two persons who said to have been tortured by Prince Nasser and this was rejected by the Foreign Office,” he said. …source

NGOs ask Clinton to suspend all US military aid to Bahrain
12 September, 2012 – Reporters Without Borders

Human rights organizations wrote to US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on 10 September asking her to suspend all US military aid to the government of Bahrain because of its human rights violations.

Read the letter :

Honorable Hillary R. Clinton
Secretary of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520

September 10, 2012

Dear Secretary Clinton,

We are writing to alert you to credible reports that the security forces of the Government of Bahrain continue to engage in human rights violations against non-violent, pro-democracy protesters and to urge you to immediately suspend further U.S. military assistance and arms transfers to the responsible units, as required by law.

The United States Government has appropriated at least $299 million in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and “Section 1206” assistance to Bahrain since 2002, with $10 million in FMF in the pipeline for FY 2012 and $10 million requested for FY 2013.

As you know, Section 620M of the Foreign Assistance Act (the “Leahy Law”) states that: “No assistance shall be furnished under this Act or the Arms Export Control Act to any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State has credible information that such unit has committed a gross violation of human rights.” We believe that the reports cited below constitute “credible information” and that attacks by the police and other security forces on unarmed, non-violent, pro-democracy activists rise to the level of “gross human rights violations,” particularly so when the attacks resulted in death.

We provide the following information to assist you in carrying out the purposes of the law—namely, to avoid U.S. complicity with human rights violations and to create an incentive for the foreign government involved to bring human rights violators to justice.

***

In November 2011, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) identified 35 people (including at least 19 protestors) killed by Bahraini security forces during the February-March 2011 demonstrations for political liberalization. BICI clearly attributed three of the deaths to the Bahrain Defense Force (BDF) [1] and found BDF, Ministry of Interior and the National Security Agency among those responsible for detaining and torturing protestors, including at BDF’s Al Qurain site. [2] While the BICI was able in some cases to document specific units that were involved in multiple incidents, it did not name the units responsible.- [3] We assume, however, that the USG has sought access to this information, [4] and that these units have been notified that they are ineligible to receive further U.S. security assistance until Bahrain takes “effective steps to bring the responsible members of the security forces unit to justice,” as required by Foreign Assistance Act Section 620M(b). We note that full application of this domestic law reinforces the U.S. government’s call for Bahrain to implement fully the BICI Report’s recommendation that investigations and prosecutions for torture and other serious crimes (such as unlawful killings) extend to higher ranks of the security forces. ….more

Bahrain is Britain’s shame
12 September, 2012 – X index – al-Khawaja

Today at the Houses of Parliament, Maryam al-Khawaja asked MPs to put pressure on Bahrain to commit to reforms and free politcal prisoners, including her father and sister. Here, the prominent human rights defender denounces Britain’s indifference
Maryam Al-Khawaja largeWhen confronted with the facts of its own brutal crackdown on popular protests and human rights defenders, Bahraini officials usually stick to a routine. They hide behind tired lines of denial and hype supposed reforms. The actual situation on the ground continues to deteriorate — and inaction from the international community has emboldened the government. Most astounding is the silence from one of Bahrain’s greatest allies: the United Kingdom.

The UK government has made countless pledges to push on Bahrain to implement supposed reforms, but has yet to push forcefully on its partner where it counts. Almost a year after the Bahraini government publicly accepted the grim picture of human rights painted in the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry report and its recommendations, the country continues to perpetuate flagrant human rights violations.

It is more than important than ever for the United Kingdom’s legislators to question Britain’s relationship with Bahrain — and to place pressure on the government to demand real reform. Bahraini officials like Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who was a VIP guest at the London Olympics despite the numerous allegations he tortured protesters, should be shunned by British mandarins. UK legislators must also push on Bahrain to follow through on promises of transparency and accountability; many of those involved in the crimes committed in the past year and half, have either remained their positions or been promoted.

The United Kingdom’s silence puts places it in danger of being seen as complicit in Bahrain’s human rights abuses, particularly when the UK has a direct method of influencing Bahrain: through its economic relationship. If it doesn’t halt arms sales, the United Kingdom is ostensibly giving permission to the Bahraini government to violently silence its people. A serious commitment to human rights from the United Kingdom means that a serious conversation about economic and diplomatic sanctions is necessary and important to do.

Political prisoners jailed on trumped up charges need the United Kingdom to press on its friend on the international stage. It is shameful that the UK and the US refused to sign onto a joint-statement issued by 27 countries this year, condemning human rights violations. Despite damning evidence that continues to mount both countries have been shamefully silent on this topic — and this must change.

This isn’t about regime change, or a chaotic dialogue about political reform. It is about something very simple: human rights. Silence from such an important trade partner spells out permission, casting a shadow on the UK’s commitment to free expression and human rights. Bahrainis have started saying that the UK and USA are to Bahrain what Russia is to Syria — enablers. …source

UK Parliament

HUMAN RIGHTS IN BAHRAIN

Session: 2012-13
Date tabled: 03.09.2012
Primary sponsor: Clark, Katy
Sponsors: Bottomley, Peter – Corbyn, Jeremy – Dobbin, Jim – Durkan, Mark – Meale, Alan

That this House notes with alarm the report from Physicians for Human Rights on Weaponising Tear Gas highlighting the use of toxic chemical agents by Bahraini security forces against civilians; further notes with concern its findings that Barhraini forces failed to exercise restraint before resorting to force, used disproportionate force when responding to protesters and failed to minimise damage and injury to demonstrators; draws particular attention to seven instances of miscarriages where the pregnant woman had recently been heavily exposed to tear-gas as well as to an earlier list compiled by Physicians for Human Rights of 34 individuals who have died in Bahrain in a 12-month period from tear-gas related deaths; opposes reprisals against Bahraini pro-democracy protesters including the nine medics who had their convictions upheld in June; and calls on the Government to ensure that human rights concerns form the centre-point of all discussions with the Bahraini government until such time that the human rights situation in that country improves.
…source

U.S. has no right to block Israel on Iran – Netanyahu
11 Septemebr, 2012 – By Jeffrey Heller – Reuters

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said the United States had forfeited any moral right to stop Israel taking action against Iran’s nuclear programme because it had refused to be firm with Tehran itself.

In comments which appeared to bring the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran closer, Netanyahu took the administration of President Barack Obama to task after Washington rebuffed his own call to set a red line for Tehran’s nuclear drive.

“The world tells Israel ‘wait, there’s still time’. And I say, ‘Wait for what? Wait until when?'” said Netanyahu, speaking in English.

“Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel,” he added, addressing a news conference with Bulgaria’s prime minister.

Netanyahu has been pushing Obama to adopt a tougher line against Iran, arguing that setting a clear boundary for Iran’s uranium enrichment activities and imposing stronger economic sanctions could deter Tehran from developing nuclear weapons and mitigate the need for military action.

But on Monday U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would not set a deadline in further talks with Iran, saying there was still time for diplomacy to work.

Netanyahu’s comments came as diplomats said six world powers – including the United States – were poised to voice “serious concern” about Iran’s uranium enrichment programme and to urge Tehran to open up access to suspected nuclear sites.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday that Washington would have little more than a year to act to stop Tehran if it decided to produce a nuclear weapon.

Netanyahu has had a strained relationship with Obama over Iran and other issues, such as Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank.

But he has never put differences with Obama – who has pledged he will “always have Israel’s back” and is deep in a re-election campaign – in the context of morality.

The website of Israel’s Haaretz daily newspaper said Netanyahu had carried out “an unprecedented verbal attack on the U.S. government”.

Iran, which denies it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, has threatened to retaliate against Israel and U.S. interests in the Gulf if it attacked, and Obama’s re-election bid could be thrown off course by a new war.

Republican challenger Mitt Romney has accused him of throwing Israel “under the bus”.

Anti-Islam movie directed, produced by Israeli-American: US media
Shia Post – 12 September, 2012

The controversial movie that has sparked outrage in the Muslim world has been produced by an anti-Islam Israeli-American, US media say.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Israeli-American Sam Bacile has directed and produced the blasphemous movie. Bacile, 52, is a real-estate developer living in southern California and a sworn enemy of Islam.

He has assumed responsibility for the film, which he said was made thanks to Jewish donations totaling $5 million.

Earlier, a staff member of the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi was killed and one security guard injured during clashes, triggered over the anti-Islam film, at the consulate building.

The incident occurred following a massive demonstration held earlier in the day in neighboring Egypt to condemn a movie that insults Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Thousands of Egyptians gathered in front of the US Embassy in Cairo to express their anger over the movie.

The protesters scaled the walls of the embassy, pulled down the US flag, and called for the expulsion of the US ambassador to Cairo.

They also asked the US government to apologize to the Muslim world over the release of the movie. …more

U.S. ambassador to Libya killed in Benghazi attack
12 September, 2012 – By Hadeel Al Shalchi – Reuters

BENGHAZI, Libya: The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three embassy staff were killed as they rushed away from a consulate building in Benghazi, stormed by Al-Qaeda-linked gunmen blaming America for a film that they said insulted the Prophet Mohammad.

Gunmen had attacked and set fire to the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, the cradle of last year’s uprising against Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule, late on Tuesday evening as another assault was mounted on the U.S. embassy in Cairo.

The California-born ambassador, Christopher Stevens, was trying to leave the consulate building for a safer location as part of an evacuation when gunmen launched an intense attack, apparently forcing security personnel to withdraw.

“The American ambassador and three staff members were killed when gunmen fired rockets in their direction,” a Libyan official in Benghazi told Reuters. Airport sources said the bodies were due to be flown from Benghazi to Tripoli.

The attack was believed to have been carried out by Ansar al-Sharia, an Al-Qaeda-style Sunni Islamist group that has been active in Benghazi, a Libyan security official said. Witnesses said the mob also included tribesmen, militia and other gunmen.

The attack raised questions about the future U.S. diplomatic presence in Libya, relations between Washington and Tripoli, the unstable security situation in post-Gaddafi Libya and whether more protests might take place in the Muslim world.

The film portrayed Mohammad as a fool, a philanderer and a religious fake. In one clip posted on YouTube, Mohammad was shown in an apparent sexual act with a woman. For many Muslims it is blasphemous even to show a depiction of the Prophet.

U.S. President Barack Obama, whose administration supported the Libyan insurgency with funds, weapons and training, branded the killing an “outrageous attack” and ordered increased security at U.S. diplomatic posts worldwide.

A Danish newspaper caused a storm of protest across Islamic nations in 2005 by printing cartoons lampooning Islam and the Prophet Mohammad in 2005, the most famous depicted him wearing a bomb in his turban. The images touched off riots in the Middle East, Africa and Asia in 2006 in which at least 50 people died.

…more

Terrorism can`t be justified in any way – Lavrov
by Polina Chernitsa – 12 September, 2012 – The Voice of Russia

“The Western partners have started assessing terrorist attacks relying on what political effects they could have”, Russia`s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting which took place in Astana as part of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

Mr. Lavrov said that the reluctance to condemn the latest attacks in Syria proves that the West and many UNSC member states have revised their policies. Apart from the Syrian crisis the conference in Astana focused on the Iranian nuclear issue, the situation in Afghanistan, as well as on Asia`s growing influence on the international scene.

The Astana conference is taking place on the 20th anniversary of the forum. The CICA was established to ensure peace, security and stability in Asia. The ambitious agenda reflects the interests of all the countries involved. The CICA comprises 24 permanent members, including Russia, Iraq, Bahrain, and Pakistan. Japan, Qatar, the US, as well as the UN, the Arab League and the OSCE hold the observer status in the CICA.

Speaking during the meeting in Astana Mr. Lavrov said that the organization has turned into an influential platform for discussion in the Asian region. Mr. Lavrov`s speech, however, focused more on the difficulties the region has been facing. Commenting on the situation in Syria, Sergei Lavrov criticized the UNSC member states for not condemning the latest attacks in the country…

“The Security Council earlier stressed that terrorism would never be accepted no matter what justifications are made. After the latest attack in Aleppo which killed 27 people our western partners took a pause and did not offer any reaction to the tragedy which makes us think that they have revised their policy. It looks like our partners are now assessing the attacks from the point of view of whether they are politically beneficial. I will be glad to know that my suspicion is wrong. Meanwhile, my position remains unchanged.”

At the ministerial meeting Mr. Lavrov spoke about the need to settle the Syrian crisis without foreign interference. The minister added that many other countries have been trying to use the Syrian crisis to stir up conflicts in the Middle East. …more

Bahrain: Member of Municipal Council shot at directly by regime forces
Shia Post – 11 September, 2012

Forces of the Bahraini regime targeted a member of the Municipal Council, Sadiq Rabea, shooting at him with birdshot gun causing serious injuries. The incident took place whilst regime forces were brutally suppressing a peaceful pro-democracy protest in Sitra Island

Shotgun pellets riddled Rabea’s back, neck and ear causing heavy bleeding. He is currently without medical treatment as hospitals refused to treat the injured Rabea despite his injuries that were deliberately caused by the regime forces.

Such attacks are a regular occurrence in Bahrain where regime forces systematically repress peaceful citizens in order to prevent them from exercising their right to protest and freely express their opinions.

The condition of Rabea is currently unknown as police forcibly arrested him from Ebin Al-Nafees Hospital, without medical treatment for his critical injuries. …source