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

Israeli Prison Doctor Fears for Lives of Palestinian Hunger Strikers
01 May, 2012 – POMED

Earlier this month, the Israeli Prison Service reported that an estimated 2,000 Palestinian prisoners began a hunger strike on April 17. As of yesterday, more than 15 prisoners have been transferred to Israeli hospitals due to sever deterioration in health.

Yesterday, Israeli Prison Service doctor said that four Palestinian prisoners are in critical condition. Bilal Diyab, Tha’er Halahla, Omar Abu Shlal, three of the four prisoners said to be in critical condition, are administrative detainees sentenced to prison on a Shin Bet order. The fourth prisoner, Muhammad Siksak, is from the Gaza Strip and was detained after being labeled a “illegal combatant” by Israeli Authorities. The prisoners demand to be tried for their crimes or released. Bilal Diyab and Tha’er Halahla have gone 63 days without eating.

Strikers are protesting three main policies: solitary confinement, administrative detention, and the continuation of sanctions imposed before the release of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit. Sivan Weizman, a spokesman for the Israeli Prison Authority,” told reporters last week that prisoners privelages, such as family visits, would be revoked. Israel has not released any details of suspicions against its administrative detainees.

Physicians for Human Rights Anat Livin declared yesterday that the hunger strikers should be released to a public hospital saying that the prison is not equipped to handle such sever health deterioration. Jawad Boulous, head of the legal department at the Palestinian Prisoners club, said that the conditions of the Palestinian hunger strikers are “horrifying.” John Wight writes on the Huffington Post of his alarm that over half of the known Palestinian prisoners are on hunger strike and yet there has been “zero news coverage.” …more

Bahrain Live Coverage: The Regime Plays for Time
1 May, 2012 – Scott Lucas – Excerpted EA WorldView

Detained activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, on Day 83 of his hunger strike, with BBC correspondent Frank Gardner (see 1241 GMT)

1441 GMT: BBC correspondent Frank Gardner, in addition to his five-minute visit with detained hunger striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja (see 1241 GMT), has also reported:

1241 GMT: BBC correspondent Frank Gardner has been allowed a five-minute visit with detained activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, on Day 83 of his hunger strike, in a military hospital today. The BBC posts a photograph (see top of entry) and a rather confused report.

Mr Khawaja said his medical treatment had been good “except for the force-feeding”, something officials deny.

He said he had been walking for three days and appeared thin but alert….He was dressed in overalls and sitting on the edge of his bed, unrestrained.

Our correspondent says the 51 year old was drinking fluids, and hospital staff said he was also drinking regular nutritional supplements. However, Mr Khawaja said he would continue his hunger strike, which began on 8 February….

Hospital staff told our correspondent that Mr Khawaja was getting “VIP treatment” and that they had been frustrated at reports from his supporters that he was being mistreated.

So is Alkhawaja, still mobile despite all three months without food, voluntarily “drinking… nutritional supplements” or is he being force-fed? …more

UN welcomes Bahrain’s move ‘away from military justice’ in activist cases
Associated Press – 1 May, 2012

GENEVA – The U.N. human rights office is welcoming Bahrain’s move to re-examine cases against activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and 20 others convicted last year by a military-led tribunal.

A spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says Bahraini authorities have now “recognized the importance of moving away from military justice for civilians.”

Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday there is no reason for al-Khawaja to be held “incommunicado” — and the jailed Bahraini hunger striker should have immediate access to family, a doctor, a lawyer and the Danish ambassador.

Denmark wants custody of al-Khawaja, who holds Danish citizenship and began a hunger strike Feb. 8.

Colville says al-Khawaja should be transferred to a civilian hospital. …source

Bahrain: Human Rights Defender Drugged, Constrained to Bed and Forcibly Fed
29April, 2012 – Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights

Declaration of Tokyo (1975)”Where a prisoner refuses nourishment …he shall not be fed artificially”

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) learned today via family members, that Human Rights Defender Mr.Abdulhadi Alkhawaja was drugged, tied to the hospital bed and forcibly fed through a nasoenteric tube this week.

After a brief visit to the activist, family members informed the BYSHR that according to the activist, last Monday after his final call to his wife, he was approached by a nurse who claimed that she wanted to “flush” his IV tube. She inserted a liquid into his IV tube that made him loose consciousness for over 5 hours. When the activist woke up, his room had been changed, his hands and legs were tied to the hospital bed , a tube was stuffed down his nose and he was wearing an oxygen mask. The tube was only removed on Friday when it was blocked resulting in the liquid spilling on Mr. Alkhawaja a number of times.

Mr. Alkhawaja repetitively told the Doctor in charge that he refused the force-feeding and considered it as torture and the doctor refused to end the abuse. The doctor informed Mr. Alkhawaja that if they had not used the force-feeding, the activist would be brain dead. Mr. Alkhawaja advised the doctor that even if they wished to justify the force-feeding, nothing could explain keeping him tied and incommunicado with no contact whatsoever with his family or lawyer. The combination of the force-feeding and the incommunicado detention was considered torture, and Alkhawaja informed the doctor that he will hold him, the hospital as well as the Ministry of Interior responsible.

Mr. Alkhawaja has informed his family that he has agreed to voluntarily take liquids and IV fluids when necessary until his cassation court tomorrow Monday the 30th of April, 2012, but is adamant that he is to continue on his hungerstrike until freedom or death.

The BYSHR considers force-feeding a type of torture in accordance to international human rights norm and is very disturbed that Mr. Alkhawaja was drugged and tied in order to force feed him. It also finds it disturbing that Mr. Alkhawaja’s family were kept in the dark regarding his fate for over 5 days. There was no reason to severe contact with Mr.Alkhawaja’s family or lawyer. …more

Bahraini protester critically injured on Labour Day
01 May, 2012 – Shia Post

A Bahraini protester has been attacked at close range on his face on Labour Day when the protesters were demonstrating peacefully, the Shia Post reports.

Thousands of Bahraini protesters have held demonstrations across the country to demand the reinstatement of the workers fired by the Manama regime.

May 1 is known as Labor Day in Bahrain and is considered a public holiday. The day is also marked as a national holiday in more than 80 other countries.

The Manama regime has dismissed thousands of workers for taking part in anti-government demonstrations since the beginning of the popular uprising in Bahrain in February 2011. …source

Clashes in Bahrain as protesters mark Workers’ Day
1 May, 2012 – Trend

Security forces and protesters clashed in Bahrain’s capital Manama and several other areas Tuesday, after people responded to a call from opposition groups for nationwide protests to mark International Workers’ Day.

In Manama, several people were injure as police dispersed protesters. The February 14 Youth Coalition had called for 15 such protests under the slogan “A hand builds and a hand resists.”

All protests began at the same time, 12:30 am at various villages and parts of the capital, DPA reported.

The group said the protests were meant as a sign of gratitude for the workers and to express solidarity with those who had been sacked from their jobs after last year protests.

The island country’s majority Shiites have been taking to the streets since early last year, demanding more rights from the ruling Sunni royal family.

More than 2,000 people were sacked from their jobs in connection with the protests. …source

Bahrain Court Orders Retrial for Jailed Activists
By KAREEM FAHIM – 30 April, 2012 – NYT

CAIRO — A Bahraini court on Monday ordered retrials for a political activist who has been on a hunger strike for nearly three months and 20 others who were convicted by a military tribunal for their participation in protests last year against Bahrain’s ruling monarchy.

The activists, including some with life sentences, were not released pending the new trials. The official Bahraini news agency said the court that would hear the appeal would reconsider “the proceedings from the beginning.”

Bahrain, a close American ally, promised broad reforms after its harsh crackdown on months of protests last year, protests that focused attention on the ruling dynasty’s stranglehold on political life, torture of dissidents by the authorities and the Sunni majority’s dominance of the country’s Shiite majority. Up to 70 people have been killed since the protests broke out in February 2011.

Despite the promises of reform and some improvements, human rights advocates say the monarchy has resisted fundamental change, failing to hold senior officials to account or to release activists imprisoned on politically motivated charges. In some cases, the authorities have simply adjusted, rather than ended, their abusive tactics, advocates say, and unrest has continued.

In a report released Sunday, Human Rights Watch said that Bahraini police officers were still beating and torturing detainees, months after the kingdom recruited high-profile police officials from London and Miami to reform the security services. The group said it had interviewed 14 males, including several teenagers, who said they were arrested and beaten for participating in protests. …more

Egypt Versus Saudi Arabia: New Rules
By As’ad AbuKhalil – 30 April, 2012 – Angry Corner – Al Akhbar

For months during the Egyptian uprising, Thomas Friedman assured his (Zionist) readers that the Egyptian uprising has no foreign policy goals whatsoever. He probably was trying to allay the fears of Israelis. (Only recently, Thomas Friedman sneakily switched positions and said that the only issue that matters in the next presidential election in Egypt will be foreign policy and the state of relations with Israel).

Yet, it was obvious for all those who followed the Egyptian uprising and its slogans that the Egyptian youth have many foreign policy goals and that they will press for a shift in Egyptian foreign policy. In fact, one of the most oft-repeated slogans in Cairo against Mubarak and his deputy, Omar Sulayman, was that both were “agents of the Americans.”

But the new foreign policy of Egypt – which will take shape over the period of democratization, however long that takes – will also change Egypt’s foreign policies to Arab countries and the role of Egypt in the region.

The Egyptian people have many reasons to be angry with Saudi Arabia’s government. Here are some reasons:

Many Saudi princes favor spending vacations in Egypt and there have been many (suppressed by Mubarak) stories about corruption and thuggery and misconduct by Saudi princes and their entourage.

The Egyptian people have noticed that the Saudi royal family and Israel were the biggest champions of Mubarak until the last hour of his rule. Egyptians have also noticed that Saudi Arabia offered to shelter Mubarak during the revolution and have pressured SCAF to sabotage his trial.

Egyptians have heard for years about stories of mistreatment of Egyptians in Saudi Arabia. Mubarak (like most Arab republican leaders) was receiving cash payments from Gulf rulers and would use his dictatorial rule to suppress any unfavorable stories about the Saudi royal family and its repression. Furthermore, the Saudi injustice system applies only to poor Arabs and Muslims, and many of those rules have been applied to Egyptian workers in Saudi Arabia. …more

Former Head of Israeli Intelligence Service Slams Israel’s Leadership
30 April, 20120 – POMED

Recently retired Yuval Diskin, former head of Israeli intelligence service Shin Bet, called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s leadership “messianic” and accused them of promoting a war on Iran. According to Diskin, attacking Iran would accelerate Iran’s nuclear ambitions, rather than delay them. ”The Israeli public is being spun on Iran, what worries me is that, we are creating a sense that if Israel doesn’t act than Iran will get a nuclear bomb,” said Diskin. He expressed worry that the incompetence of the current leadership could lead “into something of the order of magnitude of a war with Iran or a regional war.” Opposition leader Shaul Mofaz defended Diskin’s criticism of Israeli leadership and said that Diskin was acting out of “deep concern” for the direction in which the leadership was steering the country. Former Mossad Chief Meir Dagan has also has repeatedly made public statements expressing his view that an Israeli strike on Iran “would be a disaster. …more

Report: Bahraini police beat, torture detainees
By CNN – 30 April, 2012

(CNN) — Police in Bahrain regularly resort to beating anti-government protesters, despite officials’ pledges to stop such practices, a human rights group said Sunday.

A Bahraini government spokesman denied that allegation and others made in the Human Rights Watch report.

“The allegations are absurd, and unfortunately, we ask for human rights organizations not to rely on unreliable sources,” said government spokesman Abdul-Aziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa.

Human Rights Watch said interviews revealed at least five instances in the past month in which police severely beat detainees — some of whom were minors, according to a report issued after representatives from the group finished a five-day visit to the island nation.
ITN reporter kicked out of Bahrain

Visible injury marks appeared to confirm details of accounts from former detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch, the organization said.
Bahrain’s Grand Prix finishes
Tensions grow in Bahrain

Treatment of prisoners inside police stations and formal detention facilities has improved, Human Rights Watch said, and Bahrain appears to have made “rapid progress” in eliminating torture inside police stations after a committee last year recommended installing video cameras there.

But now, according to Human Rights Watch, beating and torture of prisoners is continuing at informal facilities and in secluded outdoor areas, where detainees have been taken for up to two hours before they’re transferred to police stations.

“Bahrain’s leaders need to make clear that they will investigate and punish those responsible for abuses when the cameras are off,” Human Rights Watch said. …more

editor: The al Khalifa regime continues to paint itself into a desperate corner. In “freeing” Alkhawaja their egos could not accept what they see as an opposition victory. Rather than make opportunity to open dialogue with the release of Alkhawaja and the rest of the opposition being held. The regime continues with it belligerent position toward the recommendations to release the 14 activists by its own “independent investigation” and the general consensus of legal and humanitarian calls throughout the international community.

The moral crisis Obama is creating through negligent and reprehensible mismanagement of the military and foreign relations tolerance toward “friends” who engage in the these immoral acts will go down in history as one of the United State darkest hours. President Obama is surely emerging as perhaps the most incompetent as Commander and Chief in US history. His inability or unwillingness to assert a moral high-bar in foreign policy or military conduct has become an indictment of his reckless, negligent and contempt for human rights. President Obama is either morally bankrupt or simply being made to appear that way, through a naive ineptitude, as he is tossed about by the “bloody greed” that occupies Washington. Phlipn

Jailed Bahraini hunger striker ‘al-Khawaja’ drugged and force-fed, his wife says Bahrain
30 April, 2012 – Shia Post

Prominent jailed Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja has been “drugged and force-fed” in the military hospital he is being held, his wife says.

“I went to see my husband today and he told me that he was drugged last Monday,” Khadija al-Mousawi said on Sunday.

Mousawi was allowed to visit her husband for the first time in two weeks on Sunday.

“After he woke up he found two IV (intravenous) injections in his arms and a feeding-tube down his nose. It was done against his will,” Mousawi said, adding that Khawaja is “weak but in good spirits.”

However, a spokesperson for the Bahrain Defense Forces Hospital claimed on Sunday the jailed activist “has not been force-fed or treated against his will.”

“At no time was he drugged or restrained,” claimed the Bahraini official, whose name was not mentioned in the news report.

Mousawi also said a doctor had told Khawaja that it was his duty to force-feed him to keep the activist alive, but her husband considered the matter as a violation of his rights.

“My husband told them he will only accept (the intravenous feeding) until his trial on Monday and depending on the outcome will decide what to do next.”

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who holds dual Danish and Bahraini nationality, was given a life sentence in June 2011 over accusations of inciting protests against the Manama regime. …source

Crisis for Royals as King of Bahrain Accepts Jubilee Invite
by Tom Sykes 30 April, 2012 – The Daily Beast

The King of Bahrain has thrown Buckingham palace’s Jubille plans into crisis by reportedly accepting an invitation issued in the name the Queen to attend her Diamond Jubilee ‘Sovereign’s Lunch’ at Windsor Castle next month.

One silver lining, however, is that the King of Bahrain will probably be long forgotten by the time the central weekend of Jubilee celebrations, featuring a thousand-boat flotilla not he Thames, rolls around in early June.

More than 50 civilians have been killed during pro-democracy demonstrations in Bahrain, and thousands more have been arrested in a brutal crackdown in the totalitarian Arab state, as the Shi’ite majority seek to break the power of the Sunni monarchy and political governance.

The issue led to fiery exchanges on a much-watched BBC political panel recently when George Galloway, the radical left-wing MP who declared his recent victory in the city of Bradford to be “the Bradford Spring” went head to head with a pro-government peer Baroness Warsi on ‘Question Time’.

Baroness Warsi made herself look foolish when she said the invite was “a decision taken by the Royal Family” and people should “stop being mean” to the Queen on account of the invitation.

Galloway said that the Prime Minister advises on the guest lists for such events (in fact, it’s the Foreign Office, but Galloway’s pont still stands).

Bizarrely, ultra-leftist ‘Gorgeous’ George ended up defending the Queen, insisting the guest list was in the hands of the British government, telling Warsi, ‘You shouldn’t blame the Queen…It’s not the Queen’s fault.’
The king’s son, the Crown Prince of Bahrain, was last year invited to the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton but pulled out at the last minute in a move that spared the couple from potential embarrassment.

Royal writer Katie Nicholl reported in the Mail on Sunday yesterday, “The King of Bahrain has accepted the Queen’s invitation to lunch on May 18 and is therefore expected.” …more

Obama announces new sanctions on Iran and Syria
23 April, 2012 – UNHCR Reform World

U.S. President Barack Obama has announced strict new sanctions against Iran and Syria.

Speaking at the Holocaust Museum in Washington on April 23, Obama said the world must never again allow hatred to take root and spawn the “madness” of mass atrocities.

Obama told Holocaust survivors and their families that “national sovereignty is never a license to slaughter” people.

He said the “work will never be done” in preventing atrocities.

Obama said the United States has placed new sanctions on people and entities in Iran and Syria who use technology to target citizens and erode their human rights.

Obama also announced a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom for former Polish underground officer Jan Karski, who was among the first people to provide accounts of the Holocaust to the world during World War II.

…source

Scottish Health Minister expresses support for democracy in Bahrain
30 April, 2012 – BJDM

The Scottish Health Minister today expressed The Scottish Government’s support for all efforts to promote democracy and human rights in Bahrain.

In a meeting with a delegation of persecuted Bahraini medics and a resigned MP, Nicola Sturgeon MSP listened to the testimonies of the medics, describing their experiences as “harrowing” and “abhorrent”.

She said the Scottish Government and the Scottish National Party would be exploring ways to “build international pressure on Bahrain to make genuine reform”.

Adding, “we have a willingness to put pressure on the UK Government” with regards to democracy and human rights for Bahrain.

In a one hour meeting, The Minster heard first hand experiences of the Government crackdown on democracy protesters in which healthcare was on the frontline.

The medics explained how they fled Bahrain after being summoned for interrogation, and the mistreatment and imprisonment subjected on their colleagues.

They also emphasized the fear of injured protesters in attending both public and private medical facilities, due to the militarization of hospitals in Bahrain.

The Minister heard how tear gas is being used as part of the crackdown to collectively punish whole villages.

Sturgeon added that the Scottish National Party was opposed to the Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix taking place last month.

She told the medics she will go away from this meeting and meet with her colleagues in the Scottish Government to seriously consider what direct support they can provide to the people of Bahrain.

Taking time out from a busy schedule she reasserted, “I am very supportive and want to support you as much as possible”.

Ali Alaswad, resigned MP said, “We are very grateful that The Minister took the time to meet with us and hear about the situation in Bahrain. We appreciate their continued support and look forward to working together to achieve the democratic outcome in Bahrain, that the people are looking for.” …more

UAE: Arrest and on-going detention of human rights defender Sheikh Dr. Sultan Al Qasimi, the Chairman of Islah
24 April, 2012 – Gulf Center for Human Rights

Beirut, 24 April, 2012 — The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) has received information that on 20 April 2012, human rights defender Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Kayed Al-Qasimi was arrested by security authorities in Ras Al Khahima. He is the Chairman of the Society of Reform and Social Guidance (Islah Association), an organization which advocates for reform and whose board of directors was dissolved by the authorities. He is also the cousin of the Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah.

Sheikh Dr. Sultan Al-Qasimi was reportedly arrested without a warrant and brought to the Governor’s Palace where he is being held in solitary confinement. There is a possibility that he will be transferred to Abu Dhabi.

His arrest comes in the context of the targeting of members of the Islah Association by the authorities in the UAE and is believed to be related to his position of Chairman of the association. Over the past four months many members of the Islah Association were stripped of their citizenship and were subsequently arrested for being in the UAE “illegally” as a result.

On 26 March 2012, Dr. Ahmed Yousef Al-Zaabie, another member of the Islah association was arrested. He was released on bail last Tuesday 17 April 2012 despite a court order calling for his release on 15 April 2012. However, according to information received, he has been kidnapped by the security forces and his family remains unaware of his whereabouts and it is suspected that he has been transferred into the custody of the State Security Apparatus.

Mr. Nabeel Rajab, director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights said: “Human rights defenders who have been arrested recently in UAE find themselves trapped in a security system that abuses their civil and human rights on daily basis.” He added: “The UAE is failing to meet its responsibilities to protect human rights defenders.”

The GCHR believes that the arrest and on-going detention of Sheikh Dr. Sultan Al-Qasimi is directly related to his human rights activities and the legitimate exercise of his right to freedom of association and expression. …more