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

US Remains Silent As Saudi Government Prosecutes Prominent Human Rights Activists
21 March, 2013 – Janessa Schilmoeller

NAMIBIA – (MintPress) – The harsh sentencing of two prominent human rights activists in Saudi Arabia earlier this month landed between visits from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, both of whom unsurprisingly failed to advocate for the release of the activists or criticize the kingdom for its lack of tolerance for political dissent.

Dr. Abdullah bin Hamid bin Ali al Hamid, 66, and Mohammad bin Fahad bin Muflih al-Qahtani, 47, co-founders of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), were sentenced to five and 10 years in prison, respectively, on charges including: founding an unlicensed human rights organization, seeking to disrupt security and inciting disorder, undermining national unity, breaking allegiance to the ruler, disobeying the ruler and questioning the integrity of officials.

No one was surprised that the activists were found guilty in a monarchy that is known for its brutal intolerance toward political dissent; however, human rights activists and international watchdog organizations were nonetheless outraged at the government’s actions and surprised by the length of the sentences.

“This is simply an outrageous case, which shows the extreme Saudi authorities are prepared to go to silence moderate advocates of reform and greater respect for human rights,” said Eric Goldstein, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Division at Human Rights Watch.

Al-Hamid and Al-Qahtani received their verdict on March 9 after more than eight months of trial that began last June. The reading of the verdict by presiding judge Hammad al-Omar took more than an hour to complete. Al-Hamid interrupted the reading to accuse the judge of turning the verdict into a “political statement.”

Each activist will face a five- to 10-year travel ban after being released from prison. The judge also ordered ACPRA, the organization that supports families of detainees held without charge or trial, to be dissolved through the confiscation of its property and the removal of its websites and social media accounts.

“The sentencing of Dr Abdullah al-Hamid and Muhammad al-Qahtani puts into stark relief the Saudi Arabian authorities’ inability to deal with any opinion that contradicts their own,” said Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa director at Amnesty International.

“We consider that the two human rights activists have been imprisoned solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association and are therefore prisoners of conscience who should be released immediately and unconditionally,” Luther added. …more

The forces used live-ammunition and birdshot pellets aiming directly at bodies and resulting in three serious injuries which need urgent medical treatment.

Bahrain: regime causes serious injuries among pro-democracy protesters
16 March, 2013 – ABNA

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Over ten citizens have sustained different injuries after the regime forces in Bahrain opened fire on pro-democracy protesters. The forces used live-ammunition and birdshot pellets aiming directly at bodies and resulting in three serious injuries which need urgent medical treatment.

The forces have also used gas grenades as live-ammunition aiming at the upper parts of the protesters’ bodies in attempt to kill, leaving many injured, with two injuries to the face and head that also need urgent medical treatment.

The regime forces’ use of toxic gas grenade as live-ammunition has previously killed tens of citizens. Last February, Bahrain lost two young men (Mahmmod Al-Jaziri and Hussain Al-Jaziri) both fired at directly at close range by the regime forces.

The ongoing killings perpetrated by the regime forces reflect a clear systematic policy carried out under high official orders to use violence against peaceful pro-democracy protesters.

…more PHOTOS

Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab has been in jail since last summer for using Twitter to call for peaceful gatherings against human rights violations. He is currently serving a two-year sentence.

This week marks the Global Week of Action 21-28 March 2013, which aims to draw attention to Rajab’s ongoing “unjust imprisonment, as well as the plight of all prisoners of conscience in Bahrain.”

…more

Concerns grow over Bahraini activists health
19 March, 2013 – PressTV

Concerns have been growing in Bahrain over the deteriorating health of prominent human right activists who remain on hunger strike in detention.

Zainab al-Khawaja began her hunger strike after Bahraini authorities banned her from meeting with her family members, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights said.

On March 1, a Bahraini court sentenced Zainab al-Khawaja to three months in prison for “insulting and humiliating a public employee.”

She had been acquitted of all charges at an earlier ruling. But the court of appeals overturned her acquittal.

She was arrested by the Saudi-backed forces in a demonstration held in capital Manama on February 27.

Her father Abdulhadi al-Khawaja is also on hunger strike in protest to the decision which denies him his visitation rights.

The rights activist, the co-founder and former president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, has been in prison since 2011. He is among eight Bahraini opposition figures sentenced to life imprisonment for their role in the ongoing revolution.

The Bahraini uprising began in mid-February 2011, when the people, inspired by the popular revolutions that toppled the dictators of Tunisia and Egypt, started holding massive demonstrations.

The Manama regime launched a brutal crackdown on the peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring states.

Dozens of people have been killed in the crackdown, and the security forces have arrested hundreds, including doctors and nurses accused of treating injured revolutionaries.

Bahrainis say they will continue holding demonstrations until their demand for the establishment of a democratically elected government is met. …source

Guantanamo inmates join growing hunger strike
20 March, 2013 – Al Akhbar

More prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have joined a growing hunger strike that their lawyers say reflects hopelessness about their prospects of ever being freed from the US detention center in Cuba.

Twenty-four captives were on a hunger strike as of Tuesday evening and eight of those had lost enough weight that doctors were force-feeding them liquid nutrients through tubes inserted into their noses and down into their stomachs, said Navy Captain Robert Durand, a spokesman for the detention operation.

The detention camp at the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base in eastern Cuba holds 166 men captured in counter-terrorism operations. Nearly all have been held for 11 years without charge.

The number of hunger strikers has grown from 14 on Friday, Durand said. The military counts prisoners as hunger strikers if they have skipped at least nine consecutive meals.

Two hunger strikers were hospitalized with dehydration, he said.

The Obama administration has cleared more than half the Guantanamo prisoners for release or transfer, but Congress has blocked efforts to close the detention camp and made it increasingly difficult to resettle Guantanamo prisoners.

Many are Yemenis whom the United States will not repatriate at this time because of instability in that country.

More than 50 lawyers representing Guantanamo prisoners sent a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last week urging him to help end the current hunger strike. They said the participants’ health had deteriorated alarmingly, and that some had lost between 9 and 14 kilograms.

The lawyers said hopes were dwindling that the Obama administration would keep its promise to close the camp. They said more than 100 detainees began a widescale hunger strike on February 6 to protest the confiscation of letters, photographs and legal mail, and the rough handling of Qurans during searches of their cells.

Durand called the allegations “outright falsehoods and gross exaggerations.”

The detention facility at Guantanamo was opened in 2002 to house prisoners rounded up in “War on Terror” waged by President George W. Bush’s administration following the 9/11 attacks. Periodic hunger strikes have occurred since shortly after the prison opened. …more

Saudi spooks’ al-Qaeda operatives launch terror mission in Iraq
19 March, 2013 – Islamic Invitation Turkey

An al-Qaeda group linked to Saudi Arabia’s intelligence services has dispatched 600 of its members to the southern Iraqi city of Basra to carry out terrorist attacks, Press TV reports.

The terrorists have been given orders to blow up oil pipelines, launch attacks on oil refineries, and incite ethnic violence in the city, according to the report.

The report also said that some of the terrorists had fake identification cards allegedly issued by Al-Salam University of Medina, Saudi Arabia.

The men reportedly received their training in the Syria-Iraq border region and are planning to attack religious sites in the Iraqi cities of Samarra, Baghdad, Karbala, and Najaf.

The Iraqi government says Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey are spearheading a campaign to incite violence and ethnic strife in the country.

In January 2013, Iraqi security forces arrested 250 Saudi-backed Wahhabi terrorists who had entered the country.

The terrorists, who had been active in the Middle Euphrates region, were reportedly ordered to carry out armed operations in several cities across Iraq.

According to an Iraqi military commander, Saudi spy chief Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud had allocated $250 million for terrorist operations in the country.

He also said that Bandar bin Sultan had hired fugitive Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi to conduct terrorist attacks.

Violence has increased in Iraq since December 2011, when an arrest warrant was issued for al-Hashemi, who has been charged with running a death squad targeting Iraqi officials and Shia Muslims.

In response, the Iraqi government stepped up efforts to increase security across the country. …source

Fresh Allegations of Torture in Bahrain
21 March, 2013 – by Jim White – Empty Wheel

On a day when President Obama is at least making the admirable move of visiting the West Bank and speaking favorably for Palestinian statehood after his visit to Israel (to lend legitimacy to Netanyahu’s continued desire to attack Iran?), it is easy to overlook a report in the Wall Street Journal in which we see fresh allegations of torture continuing in Bahrain.

Recall that in the aftermath of Bahrain’s brutal crackdown on its citizens trying to join in the Arab Spring movement in early 2011, one of Bahrain’s “reforms” was to hire notorious police thug John Timoney to run its police force and to “implement” the findings of an independent commission that had been brought in to investigate torture and other abuses by the government. Just a few months after taking charge, Timoney took the repressive step of banning all protests while jailing a number of prominent protest figures. A couple of days later, there were mysterious bomb blasts that might well have been the work of Timoney’s known practice of infiltration since they were not directed at government targets as one might expect if they were the work of a developing resistance movement. US actions in response to abuses on the part of Bahrain’s government has been especially lame since the US is so attached to its base for the Fifth Flleet in Bahrain and “security’ for the flow of oil from the region.

The new allegations of torture include torture of suspects arrested for those November 2012 bombings:

Five detainees arrested in Bahrain last year said they were tortured in custody, according to family members, lawyers and an ex-prisoner, accusations that a member of an official inquiry panel said should be formally investigated.

Bahrain security forces used methods including beatings, electrocution and suspension on ropes to force confessions from the detainees, who were accused of involvement in bombings in the capital, Manama, the people alleged to The Wall Street Journal. The Bahrain government said the torture allegations were false.

The claims suggest the Bahrain government has failed to implement some of the changes recommended by the 2011 Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, according to Sir Nigel Rodley, a human-rights lawyer who took part in the commission.

One detainee, Talib Ali Mohammed, 37 years old, was arrested in November on suspicion of involvement in coordinated bombings in Manama that month that killed two expatriate workers.

Over 16 days of interrogation in the Central Intelligence Department building in the Adliya district of Manama, Mr. Talib was beaten repeatedly and tortured, according to his wife, Fatima Ebrahim, and his lawyer, Sayed Hashin Saleh, who have seen Mr. Talib in prison and spoken with him by phone. Mr. Talib eventually confessed to charges including possessing explosive material and forming a group with the intention of harming others.

/snip/

Ahmed Abdullah, a 24-year-old gymnasium worker, was arrested in November and accused by authorities of involvement in the bombings. According to his brother Ibrahim, who has visited him in prison and spoken to him by phone, Mr. Abdullah was blindfolded for nearly 20 days in the CID building in Adliya, where he was beaten repeatedly, and forced to stand for long periods until he signed a confession.

There is now new leadership at the Department of State. Will we see a stronger condemnation of torture by the Bahrain government and support for Rodley’s call for a new commission of inquiry over the new torture accusations, or will we get the same weak platitudes we saw from Foggy Bottom last year?

Bahrain continues to profess its innocence. In one of the most craven, idiotic defenses by a government ever, the Journal carried this denial:

Minister of State for Information Affairs Samira Ibrahim Bin Rajab dismissed the allegations. “This is not our culture, not our attitude or our behavior,” she said. “We are very civilized, educated people.”

Civilized, educated people never torture. They rely on enhance interrogation techniques that are perfectly legal. Just ask John Yoo. He’ll confirm that in an instant and have a follow-up memo for you tomorrow that retroactively authorizes any actions you need approved. …more

West delaying UN probe into Syria chemical attack: Russia
Shia Post – 21 March, 2013

Russia has accused Western powers of attempting to delay a United Nations probe into the recent use of chemical weapons by foreign-backed militants in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

During a Wednesday session at the UN Security Council, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin voiced Moscow’s support for the Syrian government’s call for an independent inquiry into the chemical attack by foreign-backed militants in Aleppo.

However, France and Britain reportedly cited new claims by the Syrian opposition that there had been two chemical weapons attacks, one in Aleppo and another in the capital Damascus, demanding that both be investigated.

The Russian envoy strongly disagreed with the idea of focusing the urgently needed UN probe on the recent claims, which he described as “propaganda balloons.”

“As far as I know, there is only one allegation of the use of chemical weapons…. There have been no other allegations,” said Churkin, who holds the rotating presidency of the Council for March.

“To me, a concern which I expressed in the Council, was that this was really a way to delay the need for immediate, urgent investigation of allegations pertaining to March 19 [chemical attack] by raising all sorts of issues,” he added.

The Russian diplomat further questioned the credibility of the allegation about the second chemical attack in Syria, saying, “Instead of launching those propaganda balloons I think it’s much better to get our focus right.”

Syria’s Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar Ja’afari also said he was not aware of an alleged second chemical attack in the country.

“This (second) allegation was set up on purpose to torpedo the investigation on the real use of chemical weapons which took place in Aleppo,” Ja’afari said.

On March 19, at least 25 people were killed and many others injured when militants fired missiles “containing a chemical substance” into Khan al-Assal village near Syria’s northwestern city of Aleppo, according to a report by the official Syrian news agency SANA. …more

Travesty of Saudi dirty tricks against Iran
21 March, 2013 – By Finian Cunningham

Recall the “sensational plot” that the Saudis and the Americans made media song and dance of when they accused Iran of trying to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington at the end of 2011.

Whatever happened to the follow-up substance to that risible ruse? Or the two hapless Iranians who allegedly were planning an all-out bombing blitz on Israeli properties in Kenya in May 2012?

Saudi claims of “busting a spy ring” involving Iranian and Lebanese nationals this week smell of yet more dirty tricks by the creaky House of Saud.

But the repeated formula for attempting to smear Iran used by the Saudis and their Western and Israeli partners is in danger of becoming a parody.

Saudi authorities detained 18 individuals across the kingdom this week, who, it is claimed, were working for a “foreign state” in a plot to target vital installations.

“Sixteen Saudis, an Iranian and a Lebanese were arrested in coordinated and simultaneous operations in four regions of the kingdom,” including the capital Riyadh and the holy city of Mecca, the Saudi interior ministry said in a statement.

Wow. Do you feel the bombast in those words “coordinated and simultaneous operations”?

The suspects “gathered information on vital installations which they provided to the country” they had been working for, added the Saudi intelligence experts.

Iran was not mentioned specifically, but the inclusion of an as-yet unnamed Iranian national is something of a finger of accusation that tries to be subtle, but is in fact a clumsy attempt to fabricate. The Lebanon connection can also be seen as a Saudi bid to implicate Hezbollah. That combination is a gauche effort to appear neat, from the Saudi point of view, to resonate with the hoary Western stereotype of Iran and its alleged sponsorship of international terrorism.

The purported busting of an alleged Iranian-led spy ring in Saudi Arabia makes for good headlines in the supine Western media. But between the headlines is the unmistakable stench of another dirty tricks operation, aimed at smearing Iran and covering up the reality of Saudi repression and state-sponsored terrorism across the Middle East.

Scarcely mentioned in the Western media coverage is that the arrests also involved Saudi nationals from among its Shia population in the country’s Eastern Province. This hard-pressed minority within Saudi Arabia has been holding peaceful protests for political freedoms for the best part of two years, closely aligned with their confessional brothers and sisters in nearby Bahrain. In both Bahrain and Saudi’s oil-rich Eastern Province, the House of Saud has sent its shock troops in to try to crush the movement for democracy with brutal, unremitting repression.

Since Saudi forces entered Bahrain in March 2011, up to 100 unarmed civilians have been killed and thousands more mutilated or imprisoned for daring to demand the right to democratic government. Likewise in Saudi Arabia, hundreds have been arrested and thrown into unknown dungeons by the same system of monarchial tyranny that the Western governments have backed to the hilt.

What better way to distract from this reality of crushing democracy than to cook up a tall story about a foreign spy ring – and an Iranian spy ring at that.

That relocates the problem from one of long-overdue political rights among the population of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to one of foreign subversion. Irony upon irony, it also diverts from the fact that Saudi Arabia has over the same period been backing terrorists in Syria causing murder and mayhem for the criminal Western objective of regime change.

The latest claims by the Saudi authorities bear the usual hallmarks of a psyops smear. Details are all-too vacant and the allegations rely on innuendo and sensationalism. Observers familiar with Bahrain will recognize the tired old pattern of “foreign subversion”. Arrests, accusations, momentary headlines, bombastic claims of probes to “reveal the foreign plotters”… followed, always, by scant substance of anything. Political theatrics that have become ridiculous parody. …more

FBI’s penchant for “manufacturing terrorists” probed in new book
Charlotte Silver – The Electronic Intifada – 20 March, 2013

Robert Mueller, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations since one week before the 11 September 2001 attacks, recently wrote a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee bemoaning the “across-the-board cuts” imposed on the agency while outlining the areas of law enforcement that will suffer as a result. Among the areas in which the FBI and Department of Justice would be forced to downsize their activities would be the financial sector. “Left unchecked, fraud and malfeasance in the financial, securities and related industries could hurt the integrity of US markets,” Mueller warned.

In light of the reality of US economic woes, Mueller’s admonition is disingenuous, if not downright pernicious. In fact, the FBI’s 12-year absence from monitoring financial fraud saw the nation’s biggest economic meltdown — itself a direct result of the financial sector running roughshod over what few regulations remained. And now, more than four years after that manmade collapse, the Department of Justice has yet to investigate, let alone prosecute, the criminals responsible for the devastation.

What the FBI was doing before, during and after the financial crisis is the subject under examination in Trevor Aaronson’s new book The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism.

The book unveils the FBI’s domestic counterterrorism program that began after the 11 September attacks and has continued well into Barack Obama’s second term in office. The program, vividly portrayed by Aaronson, is defined by a wanton use of informants and sting operations in order to produce a high rate of convictions — thus ensuring that Congress continues to write out checks to the FBI’s counterterrorism program to the tune of $3 billion annually.

Since the 11 September attacks, the FBI has employed more than 15,000 confidential informants nationwide. And, according to Aaronson, for each official informant there are as many as three unofficial informants — known within the FBI as “hip pockets.” By 2011, the Justice Department had prosecuted more than 500 individuals on terrorist charges, a handful of whom Aaronson categorizes as “actual terrorists.” The rest were hatched within the context of FBI sting operations, informants and agents provocateur.

Until 2009, the specifics of the Department of Justice’s terrorist cases were classified. But when Attorney General Eric Holder decided to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a Manhattan courtroom, he was called upon to prove how capable US courts were of convicting terrorists. In order to do so Holder made public the document containing the track record of the DOJ’s prosecution of terrorists. With that information divulged, Aaronson — already watching “terrorist” convictions with a fair amount of skepticism — grabbed the opportunity to investigate who these alleged terrorists really were.
Sordid practice

What Aaronson discovered was that, far from preventing terrorism, the FBI uses its funds to “manufacture” terrorists out of marginalized, desperate, mentally ill or immature men (many of the convicted individuals profiled are in their early twenties). In Aaronson’s words, “The FBI has been effective at creating the very enemy it is hunting.”

Taking his readers through several FBI sting operations, Aaronson reveals a sordid practice in which the FBI often employs criminals to infiltrate Muslim communities to turn otherwise powerless malcontents into “terrorists.” According to Aaronson’s accounts, these so-called terrorists would have no more than the capability to mouth off in a chat room if it weren’t for the inert weapons and cash that informants would literally place in their hapless hands, thus creating “bogeymen from buffoons.”

The Terror Factory adroitly covers the context in which the informant program emerged, including interviews with several current and former members of the FBI. Aaronson portrays a feeble pre-11 September FBI, comprised of Luddite lawyers and technocrats whose negligence appears in no small part responsible for the 2001 attacks, transformed by an influx of cash and a new set of instructions.
Coercion

In addition to providing intimate and harrowing portraits of individuals framed as terrorists by the FBI, Aaronson also elucidates precisely how the agency similarly creates informants. Whether by leveraging an individual’s criminal history, exploiting a precarious immigration status or manipulating the expansive no-fly list, the FBI frightens and coerces vulnerable people into acting as spies for the agency.

Aaronson confines his critique of the “war on terror” to the FBI’s use of informants and sting operations. The narrow parameters of his book allow Aaronson to effectively drive home the important point that the proliferation of informants among Muslim-Americans has not only fragmented communities and devastated lives, but is entirely ineffectual at preventing terrorism.

However, this limited scope proves perilous when Aaronson attempts to navigate around the distinction he makes between a “real terrorist” and a manufactured one, hampering his ability to fully critique the FBI’s counterterrorism program and the war on terror. This problematic tension is felt at various points throughout the book, but is starkly revealed when Aaronson describes the list Holder declassified in 2009: “While the list did include one dangerous terrorist, Najibullah Zazi, as well as people who were raising money for or sending money to terrorist groups such as Hamas, the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, others who made the list were terrorists only because the Justice Department had labeled them as such.” …more

Bahrain: Urgent Appeal: Jailed Human Rights Defenders on Hunger Strike
18 March, 2013 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

The BCHR has received information that Zainab Alkhawaja’s mother received a phone call today from the prison notifying her that Zainab’s health had deteriorated, and that she had refused to be taken to the hospital until she is allowed to see her daughter.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses urgent concern for the health and well-being for the incarcerated human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and his daughter, activist Zainab Al-Khawaja.

Zainab Al-Khawaja began a hunger strike yesterday afternoon after she was denied visitation rights.
Members of her family, including her three year-old daughter, attempted to visit her at the detention center where she is being held, but were denied access. The prison authorities only stated that they were following the orders of Lieutenant Shamma. Zainab has been arrested on several occasions for her peaceful protests, and on this occasion she has been in prison since February 28th, 2013.

Yesterday, Zainab was also scheduled to meet with her father, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, but this visit was denied. To protest the cancellation of this visit, Abdulhadi announced the start of a dry hunger strike, which consists of no foods of fluids. The health consequences for such a strike are much more severe, and the BCHR is seriously concerned for his well-being while holding the prison authorities entirely responsible for his health.

Abdulhadi is a member of the ‘Bahraini 13’; he was imprisoned in 2011 and is serving a life sentence for charges relating to freedom of expression. He staged several hunger strikes, the last being on the 2nd of February to protest the restrictions that the prison authorities have placed on their communications with the outside world. (See: http://www.bahrainrights.org/en/node/5639/ for more information.) Since their arrest, the authorities have not required that the Bahraini 13 prisoners to wear a prison uniform, as is normally enforced upon prisoners with criminal charges, but just before Abdulhadi was scheduled to meet with his daughter the guards demanded that he wear a prison uniform. Enforcing the uniform rule appears to be a new tool used to humiliate prisoners of conscience and identify them as criminal prisoners. As punishment for refusing to wear the uniform, the Bahraini 13 and Zainab Al-Khawaja are being denied family and hospital visits.

There has been a large increase in recent months in the number of prisoners who have started a hunger strike in protest of human rights violations in prison. Prisoners report that they feel that they have no other recourse, and that their wrongful imprisonment, and the violations against their rights, go unnoticed.

The BCHR calls on the Bahraini authorities to immediately:

1. Release all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience from prison and dismiss all trumped-up charges against them.

2. Guarantee visitation rights and medical access for all prisoners.

3. Reform the prison system and hold accountable all officials involved in human rights violations.
…source

Saudi cleric urges Riyadh to adopt reforms or face rising outrage
18 March, 2013 – PressTV

An influential Saudi cleric has called for the Al Saud regime to initiate reforms or risk public outrage and the possible disintegration of the kingdom, a report says.

The Financial Times reported on Sunday, in an open letter posted on his Facebook and Twitter pages, Sheikh Salman al-Odah warned Saudi royals against “ignoring the symbolism of burning down pictures of officials” and to contemplate what the protests “might lead to.”

“How could a country, which runs according to personal connections instead of institutions, face any challenges?” the Times cited the Saudi cleric. “People are wondering, especially young people, what the communication channels between them and the state are.”

Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia, mainly in the Qatif region and the town of Awamiyah in Eastern Province, primarily calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination.

However, the demonstrations turned into protests against the repressive Al Saud regime, especially after November 2011, when Saudi security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the province.

Saudi regime forces have also arrested dozens of people including prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

“People here, like people all over the world, have aspirations and hopes and they won’t keep quiet when part or all of their rights are confiscated,” Odah wrote in the online letter. “When people lose hope anything is possible. The rising anger causes legitimate, political and social leadership to lose control and the street takes the leadership instead.”

According to Human Rights Watch, the Saudi regime “routinely represses expression critical of the government.” …source

Saudi Occupying Forces Intensifying Suppressive Measures against Bahraini Protesters
18 March, 2013 – FARS

TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior Bahraini opposition figure said the Saudi occupying forces in Bahrain are now using more violent measures against peaceful protesters in Bahrain, and deplored the international community’s silence over the Saudis’ crimes in the tiny Persian Gulf island.

“The longer this revolution gets, the more intensified brutality is shown by the Saudi occupiers to harness the Bahraini revolution,” Sheikh Sadeq al-Jamari, one of the February 14 Youth Movement leaders, told FNA on Monday.

He added that numerous war crimes and waves of massacre and killings have been conducted by foreign troops since the deployment of the Saudi forces under the guise of the so-called Peninsula Shield Force in Bahrain as well as Jordanian forces on Bahrain’s soil.

Jamari also lashed out at that international human rights organizations and international community for their silence over the continued brutality of the Saudi forces in Bahrain.

During the last few days, the Bahrain people have widened anti-regime and anti-Saudi-occupation protest rallies across the country to renew their calls for freedom and democracy, and condemn Riyadh’s interfering policies in their country.

The rallies came on the second anniversary of the occupation of Bahrain by the Saudi forces.

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February 2011, calling for an end to the al-Khalifa dynasty’s over-40-year rule, end of discrimination, establishment of justice and a democratically-elected government as well as freedom of detained protesters.

Violence against the defenseless people escalated after a Saudi-led conglomerate of police, security and military forces from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar – were dispatched to the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom on March 13, 2011, to help Manama crack down on peaceful protestors.

So far, tens of people have been killed, hundreds have gone missing and thousands of others have been injured. …source

UK Media Morality
by John Andrews – 18 March, 2013 – Dissident Voice

The editorial page of last Saturday’s Times led with the following headline: “Arm the Rebels”.

Editorials seldom have the name of the writer attached to them, which is possibly very useful in the case of this particular article. The piece refers to the suggestion that the British government is poised to begin (officially) supplying military hardware to the militants who are at war with the Syrian government. The article insists that the government get on with doing so… and that, my friends, is incitement to break international law. Chapter one of the UN Charter (an international law), article two, paragraph 4 reads:

“All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”

No resolution demanding the overthrow of President Assad has been passed by the general assembly of the United Nations – nor even its cynical “security” council. The UK is a founder member of the United Nations and it really ought not to be breaking its own laws: what sort of example is that to be setting to the plebs? Of course lawyers would argue that the law does not specifically forbid the provision of military hardware to militant anti-government extremists. However, such an action could be said to be an “other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations” – one of which is clearly stated in article one paragraph one as “to maintain peace and security”.

The Times editorial opens its argument with a subheading that reads:

“It is no longer strategically or morally tenable to stand by while Iran and Russia ship weapons to the Assad regime for use against Syrian rebels and civilians.”

As with so many articles in the Times, the content fails to deliver what is promised in the heading. We see not one word of evidence to justify the use of the word “strategically”. Why is the situation in Syria of any “strategic” importance to the interests of sixty million people in a country 3,000 miles away, with no significant economic or diplomatic links? The Times gives no answer.

As for morality, well… what can you say? Here we are being lectured on morality by someone who is openly calling for our government to break international law; and a quick glance at Britain’s “allies” in its disgraceful adventure in Syria is instructive. The anti-Assad militants are said to be resourced extensively from icons of freedom and democracy such as Bahrain and Saudi Arabia which, by the way, just happened to be carrying out some routine executions of some men convicted of theft (some of whom were just juveniles when the crimes were committed) during a chummy visit by Prince Charles. But the morality of making allies of dictatorial tyrants who routinely murder their own country’s children doesn’t seem overly to trouble the Times. Who said satire was dead?

As for the argument about standing by “while Iran and Russia ship weapons to the Assad regime” … there’s one small flaw in that point. The Assad “regime” happens to be the legitimate government of Syria [How legitimate is a government imposed on the people? — DV Ed]. It’s perfectly within its rights to buy whatever it likes from whomever it likes – cynical trade sanctions notwithstanding, obviously.

You have to wonder what the Times leader-writer would say if there were armed extremists from foreign lands running wild around Britain, murdering, raping and looting; and some foreign country with a sizeable interest in selling military hardware and a known fondness for looting distant lands demanded the right to supply those extremists with their wares on the grounds that the British government, whilst trying to do its job to protect its people, was using some military equipment known to be supplied from the United States. Would The Times also support the right of that country to supply those extremists, I wonder, for the sake of morality.

The Times is no stranger to the courtroom. Its legal experts will know, just as our trusted political leaders who’re supporting the outrageous events in Syria know, that having a law is one thing, enforcing it is something quite different. You can quite literally get away with murder if no one is able to stop you or call you to account; and you can break international laws with just as much impunity, if the world’s only superpower says it’s O.K. But that doesn’t make the thing right, does it. Still, what could I possibly know about morality; I’m sure The Times knows much more about the subject than I do. …source

Two Years After Invasion to Crush Uprising in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia Helps Fuel Conflict in Syria
18 March, 2013 – By Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez – Democracy NOW

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: As we continue our coverage of the second anniversary of the Syrian uprising, I want to bring Reese Erlich into the conversation. Reese is a freelance foreign correspondent who’s reported from Syria on several occasions. He has just returned from 10 days in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. I want to play a clip of his report for NPR on Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the Syrian conflict.

REESE ERLICH: A crowd of men walked slowly out of a working-class mosque after Friday prayers. The mosque’s imam has just asked everyone to pray for the Syrian rebels. Worshiper Taher Mohammad wants to see the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.

TAHER MOHAMMAD: Bashar, his army is making all kind of crime. Yes, of course, I support the revolution.

REESE ERLICH: Mohammad says he also supports Saudis going to fight in Syria. Dozens of Facebook pages memorialize Saudis killed in Syria. Late last year, a judge in one Saudi city told young anti-government protesters that they should be fighting jihad in Syria, not demonstrating at home. Reached by phone, Abdurrahman al-Talq, father of one of the defendants, recalls what the judge said.

ABDURRAHMAN AL-TALQ: [translated] The judge said, “You should save all your energy and fight against the real enemy, the Shia Muslims in Syria, and not fight inside Saudi Arabia.”

REESE ERLICH: Within weeks, 11 of the 19 defendants left to join the rebels. In December last year, al-Talq’s son was killed in Syria.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s Reese Erlich’s report on NPR from Saudi Arabia. He joins us now from San Francisco. And still with us in studio is Rim Turkmani, a member of the Syrian Civil Democratic Alliance, meeting in New York at the United Nations with various staffs of Security Council members discussing possible political solutions to the situation in Syria. Reese, you’re just back from Syria—from Saudi Arabia. Tell us what you found.

REESE ERLICH: Well, I was there on assignment for NPR and for GlobalPost. What I found was that the—excuse me—the Saudi government and wealthy Saudis are involved in arming Syrian rebels, the most ultraconservative, ultrareligious groups, such as al-Nusra, and that hundreds of Saudis are infiltrating across the borders from Jordan and Turkey and going to fight with these extremist groups in Syria.

AMY GOODMAN: What is Saudia Arabia’s interest?

REESE ERLICH: Well, the Saudis want to see a pro-Saudi government emerge. The analysts I spoke to in Saudi Arabia point to what they call the Yemen model, where there was an Arab Spring uprising, the head of the government was replaced, but a pro-Western, pro-Saudi general replaced the old guy. So, they’d love to see that happen in Syria. But as my sources pointed out, it’s not going to happen, because Syria is very, very different from Yemen.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Rim, your reaction in terms of the historic relationships between Saudi Arabia and Syria?

RIM TURKMANI: As we all know, Saudi Arabia is not a democratic country. The uprising started to reach a democratic Syria. So, I don’t have faith in any undemocratic country to support democratic transition inside Syria. I’m not surprised that they’re supporting the armed rebels and increasing the level of violence in Syria. However, we are very confident that violence never, ever leads to democracy. So, as much as I oppose the regime, my group opposes the regime, we oppose also these efforts from Saudi Arabia to turn Syria into a jihadi land. I mean, the Syrians are—their mentality is very, very different from like the jihadi extreme Muslims’ mentality, and I think they will find it very difficult to market their ideas inside Syria. However, the violence is giving them the right environment, fertile environment, for such ideology to spread.

I fear that these efforts are damaging the relationship between the Saudi and the Syrian people. I mean, many Syrians now inside Syria, let’s say, especially in the more stable parts, feel very strongly about the Saudi approach and support extremism. It’s even in the media. I mean, they host many sectarian media stations, and they keep repeating, you know, as we heard, “This is a Shia-against-Sunni war, and we have to win it.” And, you know, we—I’m a Syrian. I grew up in Syria. I didn’t know my sect until I was 20 years old, and it’s never been an issue for us. The people who demonstrated two years ago, they did not demonstrate because they are Sunni or Shia. So, their efforts to turn this into a Shia-Sunnni confrontation are certainly not welcome.

AMY GOODMAN: Earlier this month, the Saudi foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, explained his country’s position on Syria. He was speaking in Riyadh at a joint news conference following talks with Secretary of State John Kerry.

PRINCE SAUD AL-FAISAL: As to providing enough aid and security for the Syrians, Saudi Arabia will do everything within its capabilities to help in this. We do believe that what is happening in Syria is a slaughter, a slaughter of innocent people. And we just can’t bring ourselves to remain quiet in front of this carnage.

AMY GOODMAN: “We cannot bring ourselves to remain silent—quiet in front of this carnage.” Reese Erlich, your response?

REESE ERLICH: Well, it’s rather hypocritical. Saudi Arabia sent troops to repress the carnage going on in Bahrain a year—well, now two years ago. Saudi Arabia has its political, economic, military interests in the region. It supports the repressive monarchies. It doesn’t like the al-Assad regime, but it got along perfectly well with the Egyptian and Tunisian dictatorships. So, to say the least, Saudi Arabian officials are being hypocritical.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Reese, in terms of the—well, earlier—in terms of the other countries in the region and their attitude toward support for the Syrian resistance, what’s your sense of other countries and their particular interests, other than Saudi Arabia?

REESE ERLICH: Well, Turkey, of course, has been a very strong supporter. Most of—I’ve not traveled to almost all the countries that have undergone Arab Spring uprisings over the last year or two. And the—Syria still remains a popular uprising, despite all the very serious problems that the country is going through. And people do support popular uprisings. What I think people—I think the exception would be Iran, which has heavily backed Assad, and Hezbollah in Lebanon has heavily backed Assad. But with those exceptions, there is not a lot of support for the Assad government. And, you know, people—what’s happened is, the longer the uprising has taken place and the harsher the repression from Assad, the more foreign powers have gotten involved, each trying to get their guy into power.

And in the case of the U.S., the U.S.—you know, the debate in the U.S. is whether—well, shall we bomb them? Shall we create a no-fly zone and arm the rebels and take a more militant stand? Or shall we continue kind of the Obama policies of secretly arming the—and covertly arming and training the guerrillas? The problem is, the reason this has not been resolved, as pointed out to me by a Muslim Brotherhood leader that I interviewed in Istanbul, is that the U.S. hasn’t found a leader that it can trust to pursue its interests. If you recall, in the case of Iraq or Afghanistan, there was a guy the U.S. promoted as the new democrat, supposedly, who turned out to be otherwise. But they haven’t found that guy yet in Syria, and that’s one of the reasons that they’re taking a less than militant stand in support of the Syrian rebels.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to play another clip from your report on NPR that features Mohammed al-Qahtani, the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association. On Saturday, al-Qahtani was sentenced at least to 10 years in prison for offenses that included sedition and giving inaccurate information to foreign media.

REESE ERLICH: At a human rights meeting in Riyadh, participants discuss Saudi involvement in Syria. Mohammed al-Qahtani, an activist and professor at the Institute of Diplomatic Studies, says the judge’s remarks reflect a government effort to undercut domestic protest. …more

Bahrain: Harsh Sentences against 17 Protestors despite Allegations of Torture
18 March, 2013 – Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) expresses its deep concern for the sentence issued from the Criminal Court (the Court of First Instance) against 17 protestors with 15 years of imprisonment. The Public Prosecution had charged them with “attempted murder of a security officer with explosives”; all those convicted are from AlEker village.

17 March 2013, the Court stated that on 9 April 2012, the accused attempted to kill security officers with explosives, they were offered first aid and their lives were rescued.

The Court issued its rulings against:

Currently in prison:

1.Ali Ridha Hassan (23 years old): he was arrested on 21 October 2012, he was sentenced in the case of “attempting to murder a security officer with explosives” with 15 years in prison, and he faces another case in which he has not been convicted.
2.Yousif Abdul-Kareem Al-Hindi (24 years old): he was arrested on 20 October 2012, he was sentenced in the case of “attempting to murder a security officer with explosives” with 15 years in prison, and he was convicted with 6 years in prison in other cases, total sentences against him 21 years.
3.Fadhel Abbas Al-Mughni (30 years old) he was arrested on 24 May 2012, he was sentenced in the case of “attempting to murder a security officer with explosives” with 15 years in prison.
4.Abdullah Ahmed Al-Mukhtar (32 years old): he was arrested on 10 April 2012, he was sentenced in the case of “attempting to murder a security officer with explosives” with 15 years in prison.
5.Habib Ayoob Al-Mughni (23 years old): he was arrested on 10 April 2012, he was sentenced in the case of “attempting to murder a security officer with explosives” with 15 years in prison.
6.Hassan Ali Jawad (21 years old): he was arrested on 10 April 2012, he was sentenced in the case of “attempting to murder a security officer with explosives” with 15 years in prison, and he faces another case in which he has not been convicted.
7.Mohammed Saeed Radhi (21 years old): he was arrested on 12 April 2012, he was sentenced in the case of “attempting to murder a security officer with explosives” with 15 years in prison, and he has been convicted with 1 year in prison in another case, total sentences against him 16 years in prison.
8.Mahdi Ahmed Hassan Khamees: he was arrested on 20 April 2012, he was sentenced in the case of “attempting to murder a security officer with explosives” with 15 years in prison, and he has been convicted with 5 years in prison in other cases, and he faces a case in which he has not been convicted, total sentences against him 20 years in prison.

The Ministry of Interior claims the escape of those prisoners:

9.Hussein Abdullah Ahmed (23 years old): he was arrested on 20 October 2012, he was sentenced in the case of “attempting to murder a security officer with explosives” with 15 years in prison, and he has been convicted with 5 years in prison in other cases, total sentences against him 20 years in prison.
10.Ridha Hassan Jassim (26 years old): he was arrested on 20 April 2012, he was sentenced in the case of “attempting to murder a security officer with explosives” with 15 years in prison, and he has been convicted with 6 years in prison in other cases, and he faces another case in which he has not been convicted, total sentences against him 21 years in prison.
11.Abdullah Abdul-Ameer Al-Mughni (23 years old): he was arrested on 20 April 2012, he was sentenced in the case of “attempting to murder a security officer with explosives” with 15 years in prison, and he has been convicted with 7 years and 6 months in prison in other cases, and he faces another case in which he has not been convicted, total sentences against him 22 years and 6 months in prison.
12.Ahmed Yousif Jassim (23 years old): he was arrested on 21 April 2012, he was sentenced in the case of “attempting to murder a security officer with explosives” with 15 years in prison, and he has been convicted with 6 years in prison in other cases, and he faces another case in which he has not been convicted, total sentences against him 21 years in prison.
13.Abdullah Abdul-Jaleel Abdullah: he was arrested on 10 April 2012, he was sentenced in the case of “attempting to murder a security officer with explosives” with 15 years in prison, and he faces another case in which he has not been convicted.
14.Jassim Mohammed Hassan (33 years old): he was arrested on 20 April 2012, he was sentenced in the case of “attempting to murder a security officer with explosives” with 15 years in prison.

They were sentenced in absentia:

15.Abdul-Sadiq Ali Habib (40 years old).
16.Salman Isa Ali (24 years old)
17.Hussein Abdali Ali (25 years old)

The lawyers and families of those convicted confirm that the accused stated to the court judge that they were subjected to brutal torture in order to confess, and the Public Prosecution did not investigate the torture allegations.

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) demands:

1.the immediate, urgent, and independent investigation in the allegations of torture;
2.stop targeting protestors and to allow freedom of opinion and assembly;
3.the judicial authorities must take the necessary measures to protect the demonstrators from the Authority’s arbitrariness.
…source

U.S. drops opposition to others arming Syria rebels
19 March, 2013 – The Daily Star

ISTANBUL: The prospect of ending Syria’s conflict through negotiations grew even more unlikely Monday, as the U.S. said it would not stop others from arming the rebels and a main opposition group prepared to set up a rival government to President Bashar Assad’s regime.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the Obama administration still wanted to leave the door open for a political solution.

But concerning Syria’s rebels, “the United States does not stand in the way of other countries that made a decision to provide arms, whether it’s France or Britain or others,” Kerry said, speaking in Washington.

His comments came after French President Francois Hollande said last week that his country and Britain were pushing the European Union to lift its arms embargo on Syria as soon as possible so that they could send weapons to rebel fighters.

The two countries are seeking military help for the rebels by the end of May or earlier if possible.

Germany and other EU nations have been skeptical, pointing to the risk of further escalation.

Britain and France argue that Assad will not hold genuine negotiations if he believes he can survive militarily and that strengthening the rebels is the only way of squeezing the regime.

Kerry’s remarks indicate that the Obama administration will not interfere with any country seeking to rebalance the fight against Assad’s regime.

The United States has long argued that more weapons in Syria would only make peace harder. As the violence has worsened over the last year, Washington has tempered that message somewhat.

It is now promising nonlethal aid to the anti-Assad militias in the form of meals and medical kits, and refusing to rule out further escalation.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said he was advising the Obama administration to “proceed cautiously” on Syria, in part because the United States is increasingly unclear about the makeup of rebel forces.

“About six months ago we had a very, let’s call it opaque understanding of the opposition, and now I’d say it’s even more opaque,” he said in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In Istanbul, the opposition Syrian National Coalition met to elect a prime minister who would run an interim government in Syria’s rebel-held areas. The election is set for Tuesday.

Setting up such a government, in a direct challenge to the regime, could harden battle lines even more and close the door to negotiations between Assad and the opposition.

The U.S. has been cool to the idea of a rival government, saying the focus should be on a political transition. Under a plan endorsed by the international community last year, Assad’s supporters and opponents were to propose representatives for a transition government, with each side able to veto candidates.

However, the plan did not address Assad’s role. Most in the Syrian opposition rule out any negotiations with the Syrian ruler.

The Syrian National Coalition, largely based in exile, has wrestled for weeks with a decision on setting up an interim government. The exiles could have trouble asserting their authority in war-ravaged regions, and the risk of failure is high.

“Expectations will be high and means will be low,” said coalition member Louay Safi.

However, Safi believes support for an interim government will grow if it shows it can deliver services to people in the rebel-run territories. “Anyone who tries to oppose it will be in a difficult position,” he said. …source

Arabian Shia Protest against the Atrocities of Saudi Monarchs in Qasimia and Awamia
19 March, 2013 – Jafria News

JNN 19 Mar 2013 Riyadh : Shia Demonstrators in Saudi Arabia have staged another protest rally against the Al Saud regime in central province of al-Qassim, Press reports.

The outraged protestors took to the streets in the city of Buraidah on Saturday, calling for the immediate release of political prisoners including a group of women who were recently arrested.

Earlier on March 1, Saudi security forces arrested over 300 people, including 15 women, in al-Qassim province.

The arrests took place after hundreds of Saudis staged a protest sit-in to demand the release of political prisoners.

Saudi activists say there are more than 30,000 political prisoners, mostly prisoners of conscience, in jails across the Kingdom.

According to the activists, most of the detained political thinkers are being held by the government without trial or legitimate charges and that they were arrested for merely looking suspicious.

Some of the detainees are reported to be held without trial for more than 16 years.

Attempting to incite the public against the government and the allegiance to foreign entities are usually the ready-made charges against the dissidents.

In Saudi Arabia, protests and political gatherings of any kind are prohibited.

Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia primarily calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination.

However, the demonstrations have turned into protests against the repressive Al Saud regime, especially after November 2011, when Saudi security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the country’s Eastern Province.

In another Protest , On Friday, Saudi protesters once again took to the streets of Awamiyah located in the Qatif region, in Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Eastern Province.

They shouted anti-regime slogans during the demonstration to condemn Riyadh’s ongoing crackdown on protests and activists in the country.

The demonstrators also voiced their solidarity with Hussein al-Rabie, an activist who has been arrested by Saudi regime forces, calling for his immediate release.

Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia, mainly in the Qatif region and the town of Awamiyah in Eastern Province, primarily calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination.

Saudi regime forces have also arrested dozens of people including prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Saudi authorities warned in October 2012 that they would deal ‘firmly’ with anti-regime demonstrations. Amnesty International slammed the warning and urged the authorities to “withdraw their threat.”

A Saudi preacher has called for reforms in the Kingdom, warning that denying the rights of people is increasing tensions across the country.

“The people have aspirations, demands and rights and they will not stay silent on total or partial confiscation of their rights. When you lose hope, you can do anything,” Salman al-Auda said in an open letter on Saturday.

The preacher, who is from the Sahwa movement, called for reforms and the coming of “a new horizon” for Saudi Arabia.

Auda warned that growing tension in the kingdom was due to “corruption, unemployment, poor housing, weak health and educational services and a lack of political reforms.”

He criticized regime crackdown on protesters, saying, “A security solution would only aggravate the situation and block the path to reforms.”

Auda called for the immediate release of human rights activists and political prisoners, saying that their detention will only “increase the bitterness, the desire for revenge and mushrooming of jihadist thinking in prisons.”

He also condemned the “continuing practice of censorship” by the country’s information officials.

An independent Saudi rights organization said that about 30,000 political activists have been held in prisons. Riyadh, however, denied the claim, saying there was no political prisoner in the country. …source

Militants fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria have been using chemical weapons, official SANA news agency says, adding that at least 15 people were killed in a chemical attack in the northwestern city of Aleppo.

‘Chemical weapons used by militants’
19 March, 2013 – Shia Post

“Terrorists fired a rocket containing chemical substances in the Khan al-Assal area of rural Aleppo and initial reports indicate that around 15 people were killed, most of them civilians,” SANA said on Wednesday.

The Syrian news agency also said that a number of others have been injured in the attack.

The chemical attack came after a video footage posted on the internet late in January showed that the armed militants in Syria possessed canisters containing chemical substances.

The foreign-sponsored militants had earlier released footage in which rabbits were killed by inhaling poisonous gas.

In December 2012, Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari said in letters to the UN Security Council and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that the militants could use chemical weapons against Syrians and try to shift the blame to the government.

Damascus is “genuinely worried” that Syria’s enemies could provide chemical weapons to armed groups “and then claim they had been used by the Syrian government,” Ja’afari stated.

Also on Wednesday, heavy fighting took place between government forces and militants in some parts of the country. The Syrian army carried out operations on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, and killed a number of militants.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of Army and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

The Syrian government has said that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and that a very large number of the militants operating in the country are foreign nationals.

Several international human rights organizations have accused foreign-sponsored militants of committing war crimes. …source

Saudi regime forces raid home, arrest citizens
18 March, 2013 – PressTV

Saudi regime forces have arrested dozens of prominent figures in the kingdom in a two-day period as Riyadh intensifies its campaign of terror on dissidents.

According to reports, security forces raided homes and offices across the capital city of Riyadh, detaining a number of religious scholars, doctors, professors, students and civil workers.

Regime forces also launched similar crackdowns in the kingdom’s Eastern Province and the cities of Mecca and Jeddah.

Reports further indicated that Sheikh Mohammad al-Atiyah and Sheikh Badr al-Taleb, two prominent Shia clerics were also among those detained.

Earlier in the day, Saudis took to the streets in the central city of Buraidah to once again demand the release of political prisoners, despite a protest ban by Al Saud regime on demonstrations.

On March 1, Saudi security forces arrested over 300 protesters, including 15 women, after hundreds of people gathered outside the investigation and prosecution bureau in Buraidah to demand the release of political prisoners.

Since February 2011, demonstrators have held anti-regime protest rallies on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia, mainly in the Qatif region and the town of Awamiyah in Eastern Province, primarily calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination.

However, the demonstrations turned into protests against the repressive Al Saud regime, especially after November 2011, when Saudi security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the province.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Saudi regime “routinely represses expression critical of the government.” …source

U.N. Think Tank Opening Office in Bahrain, with Bahraini Government Funding
by Justin Elliott – ProPublica – 18 March, 2013

As Bahrain enters the third year of a crisis sparked by Arab Spring protests in 2011, the government continues to bar many human rights advocates and journalists from entering the country.

But one non-profit group is not only being welcomed into the tiny Gulf kingdom, it’s opening an office there. And it’s doing so with funding from Bahrain’s ruling monarchy.

The International Peace Institute, a New York-based think tank closely associated with the United Nations, announced last month an agreement to open the office to “promote development, peace and international security.”

The announcement comes at a time when Bahrain’s image-conscious government is still under international scrutiny amid continued pro-democracy protests. Human rights groups have criticized the government’s at times violent crackdown on the protests and failure to follow through on promised reforms.

Institute President Terje Rød-Larsen, a veteran diplomat in the Mideast who is also a United Nations under-secretary-general, told ProPublica that the new office would be a positive force in Bahrain and the region.

He compared the think tank to United Nations programs that operate in or receive funding from countries that are in crisis or face criticism.

“Problems related to peace and security are in difficult countries,” Rød-Larsen said.

Bahrain appeals to the institute as a location for an office because “along many dimensions it’s an open society,” he said, citing the status of women and “freedom of religion.”

International Peace Institute President Terje Rød-Larsen signs an agreement with Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa. (mofa.gov.bh)

International Peace Institute President Terje Rød-Larsen signs an agreement with Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa. (mofa.gov.bh)

Rød-Larsen said that taking money from Bahrain’s government would not compromise the institute’s work. He declined to say how much money Bahrain is providing.

Rød-Larsen has been a frequent visitor to Bahrain in recent years, regularly meeting with government officials both in his capacity as the institute’s president and as a U.N. official.

With New York offices across from the United Nations, the institute counts many former U.N. officials among its staff and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is honorary chair of its board. Rød-Larsen has also traveled with a U.N. staffer on some of his trips to Bahrain, the U.N. news site Inner City Press has noted.

During his visits Rød-Larsen has repeatedly been cited in Bahrain’s state media praising the government, though he disputes the accounts.

“Larsen lauded [the] return of calm to Bahrain which indicates the kingdom’s success in overcoming the crisis,” the official Bahrain News Agency reported in April 2011, just two months after the protests began.

“The U.N. official lauded the climate of freedom, democracy and institutional development in Bahrain,” said another November 2011 report on a meeting between Rød-Larsen and the foreign minister.

Rød-Larsen said that media outlets often attribute inaccurate statements to him on his diplomatic travels.

“If I should dispute all stories like this, it would be full time work,” he said.

Rød-Larsen said that, in reality, he believes Bahrain’s government has made mistakes.

As for what the International Peace Institute’s new office in Bahrain will do when it opens, Rød-Larsen on a recent trip discussed “plans for a renewed national dialogue in Bahrain,” according to the institute.

Khalil Almarzooq, a spokesman for the main opposition group al-Wefaq, told ProPublica that the group had not heard from Rød-Larsen anytime recently. Almarzooq said whether the institute will be a positive force in Bahrain all depends on how it uses the money the government is providing.

Organized as a nonprofit charity in New York, the institute had a budget of nearly $11 million in 2011 and Rød-Larsen received about $495,000 in compensation.

According to the group’s 2011 annual report, its major donors that year included the United States, several governments in Europe, as well as Bahraini regional allies Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The institute’s international advisory council includes Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the former head of Saudi intelligence. Saudi Arabia sent troops to help put down the protests in Bahrain in 2011.

Bahrain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to requests for comment. …source