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

EDITORIAL: US Government must not continue to overlook human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, other allies
by Editorial Board – 21 January, 2013 – The Oklahoma Daily

Policemen encircled a group of burka-clad women and their children peacefully protesting the unjust detention of relatives in Buraidah, Saudi Arabia two weeks ago. The women then were carted off to jail simply for asking for the release of their loved ones jailed without trials or hearings.

The U.S. is a strategic and economic ally of Saudi Arabia and has failed to speak out against human rights abuses in the country

In a country that has outlawed protests, citizens’ reaction to the arrests was shocking. In the incredibly conservative city of Buraidah, where the women were arrested, men took to the streets to protest their arrest and detention.

The protest by a small group of women sparked a rare expression of political dissent.

After the strong reaction, the government released the women and children but did not comment on the condition of their loved ones.

These protests are especially important given the Saudi Arabia’s guardianship laws that legally define women as children under the care of their husbands or fathers.

Women, who are not allowed to travel without a male companion, risked torture and imprisonment to ask for simple information regarding detained relatives.

In October 2010, local journalist Fahd al-Jukhaidib, was arrested and lashed merely for reporting on a protest. Many others have been detained for years for participating in peaceful protests.

The U.S. has not taken direct diplomatic action to support the protests, despite being active in recent human rights efforts in Egypt and Syria. Ignoring violations in Saudi Arabia undermines our efforts in other Arab countries because we are seen as playing favorites with our allies.

The relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia has been strained by oil concerns and human rights violations. President Barack Obama took significant steps in advocating for greater human rights in the region during the Arab Spring.

In early 2011, Obama publicly called for the resignation of Egypt’s leader Hosni Mubarak and recently recognized Syria’s revolutionary government.

But Obama is in a dilemma over Saudi Arabia. As the kingdom is one of our trading partners, the U.S. has been wary of criticizing the Saudi regime and calling for increases in human rights.

We cannot afford to be passive any longer. When the people of a repressed nation call out for the most basic access to political and judicial liberties, it is our duty to join the call. …source

Human Rights Activist “the West is covering for Saudi Arabia human rights violations”
21 January, 2013 – Islam Times

Islam Times – Amjad Salfiti a long time human rights activist accused Western nations — The United Kingdom and the United States of America among others – of hypocritically supporting Saudi Arabia gross human rights violations on the ground as it fit their political agenda while using human rights abuses in other countries to justify meddling and military interventions.

Human Rights Activist “the West is covering for Saudi Arabia human rights violations”
Salfiti when addressing the press earlier this week strongly denounce such double-standard and political bias.

He noted that the West had every interest in keeping oppressive regimes in place in the middle east as it guaranteed them a free hand in the region. And indeed, several political analysts have long argued that the birth of democracy in the Middle East would put an end to western imperialism and therefore put western economies at threat as oil nations might not appear as keen to indulge them as despots did over the decades.

Salfiti stressed how very worrying events in Saudi Arabia – gain in momentum of the civil rights movement – were becoming for western nations as they were not quite sure how to handle the situation, with or against the people.

He explained that success of previous “peaceful popular uprisings” in Tunisia, Bahrain and Egypt had literally rattled many cages with the fear that the so called Arab Spring movement will lay waste all monarchies and dictatorship in the Arab World.

Not having the tools to deal with popular anger, regimes such Saudi Arabia and Bahrain so far responded to calls for reforms with oppression.

However, Salfiti says, Saudi Arabia is slowly coming to grip with the fact that repression is actually fueling protests rather than killing it; which is why the government decided to show some degree of mercy by freeing some political prisoners, upon a pledge all former detainees will refrain from engaging in political or popular movement against the monarchy. …source

US State Department – Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011
Saudi Arabia
22 January, 2013

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a monarchy ruled by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who is both head of state and head of government. The government bases its legitimacy on its interpretation of Sharia (Islamic law) and the 1992 Basic Law, which specifies that the rulers of the country shall be male descendants of the founder King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud. The Basic Law sets out the system of governance, rights of citizens, and powers and duties of the government, and it provides that the Qur’an and the Traditions (Sunna) of the Prophet Muhammad serve as the country’s constitution. On September 29, the country held elections on a nonparty basis for half of the 1,632 seats on the 285 municipal councils around the country. Women were not permitted to be candidates or to vote. Security forces reported to civilian authorities.

The most important human rights problems reported included citizens’ lack of the right and legal means to change their government; pervasive restrictions on universal rights such as freedom of expression, including on the Internet, and freedom of assembly, association, movement, and religion; and a lack of equal rights for women and children, as well as for workers.

Other human rights problems reported included torture and other abuses, poor prison and detention center conditions, holding political prisoners and detainees, denial of due process and arbitrary arrest and detention, and arbitrary interference with privacy, home, and correspondence. Violence against women, trafficking in persons, and discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, sect, race, and ethnicity were common. Lack of governmental transparency and access made it difficult to assess the magnitude of many reported human rights problems.

The government prosecuted and punished a limited number of officials who committed abuses, particularly those engaged in or complicit with corruption. There were reports that some members of the security forces and other senior officials, including those linked to the royal family, committed abuses with impunity. …more

Demos held ahead of anniversary of Bahrain revolution
23 January, 2013 – Tehran Times

Bahraini protesters have held demonstrations in defiance of a government ban on such protests as the second anniversary of the anti-government uprising in the country draws closer.

The protests were staged in several towns and villages across the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom on Monday.

The demonstrators chanted slogans, calling for the downfall of the Al Khalifa regime.

In the village of Malikiyah, located some 18 kilometers (11 miles) southwest of Manama, Saudi-backed Bahraini forces fired tear gas and used shotguns to disperse the anti-regime protesters.

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

The Bahraini government promptly launched a brutal crackdown on the peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring states to assist the suppressive campaign.

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.

A report, published by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry in November 2011, found that the Al Khalifa regime had used excessive force in the crackdown and accused Manama of torturing political activists, politicians, and protesters.

The protesters say they will continue holding anti-regime demonstrations until their demand for the establishment of a democratically-elected government is met. …source

European Parliament Calls for EU Sanctions Against Bahrain for Gross Human Rights violations
22 January, 2013 – Jafria News

JNN 22 Jan 2013 Brussels : The European Parliament today endorsed a strong worded resolution addressing the ongoing human rights violations in Bahrain. The effort led by Dutch Member of European Parliament Marietje Schaake calls for targeted EU sanctions against human rights violators in Bahrain.

“For almost two years now the world has ignored the lethal violence used against Bahraini peaceful protestors. We have to be consistent in our policies and impose sanctions to force the Bahraini authorities to respect rights and freedoms”, Schaake says.

Activists

Since February 2011 protests take place in Bahrain. The Bahraini population, of which Shias make up around 70 percent and the rest is mostly Sunni. Bahraini authorities received Saudi support through tanks that were sent to assist in suppressing revolts. Demonstrations in which citizens call for more democracy are increasingly sectarian. Schaake: “People suffocate from the excessive use of tear gas, bird shot is fired from a very close range. Doctors face jail time for providing basic medical care, activists are sentenced to life long imprisonment in flawed trials. Schaake led several other initiatives that got Parliamentary backing.

Arrested

Also bloggers and youth activists who use social media to inform a vast international public about the situation in their country, are being arrested. “Sayed Yousif al-Muhafdha (@Saidyousif) was arrested in Bahrain on 18 December. Two weeks earlier he was one of the speakers during a roundtable inBrussels I organized on the human rights situation in his country. A Bahraini diplomat also attended that meeting.” The Liberal MEP sought to visit Bahrain with an official Parliamentary delegation, but was the only Member of European Parliament who was not granted a visa.

Recommendations

In November 2011 an independent commission of inquiry (BICI) on the request of Bahraini king Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa presented a set of recommendations and reforms which would meet the protestors’ demands. Despite several commitments by the authorities no changes have been made. Schaake: “The authorities keep referring to the BICI report as the silver bullet, but so far it is nothing more than their paper reality. By imposing sanctions the EU finally shows it is getting serious.” Schaake notes that the United States refrains from criticizing the Gulf state, which is likely related to the US Navy’s 5th fleet being based there.

The human rights situation in Bahrain

In their resolution on Bahrain, MEPs call on the authorities and security forces to stop using violence against peaceful protestors and demand an independent investigation into all human rights abuses, particularly those involving children. The prosecution, detention and torture of protestors must stop and freedom of expression and assembly, both online and offline, must be guaranteed, they insist.

The EP urges the Bahraini authorities to follow the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), implement democratic reforms and pursue a national dialogue aimed at reconciliation.

The House expresses its “strong disapproval” of the EU’s lack of response to the ongoing crackdown in Bahrain and calls for sanctions against the individuals directly responsible for the human rights abuses and for restrictions on EU exports of surveillance technology, tear gas and crowd-control material. …more

Al-Wefaq SG: National negotiation for consensus or a national unity government
21 January, 2013 – Al-Wefaq

The press conference was held at al-Wefaq National Islamic Society in the Capital Manama came to highlight main issues as the second anniversary of the start of the peaceful revolution in Bahrain approaches.

Salman affirmed that the revolution will continue until demands of democratic transition are achieved.

“The motive of the people of Bahrain who are demanding democracy is their aspiration to achieve positive and realistic change in all aspects of life; political, economic, social, service and law”

“We must take our country from a state that has long been amongst an Arab world that is known for all political and wealth issues to be controlled by one dynasty or party, to a democratic system that respects citizenship and ethnicities and is based on the people’s will”

“The revolution carried legitimate humanitarian demands that civilized nations have achieved more than two and a half centuries ago, sadly, our Arab world ”

“No one argued the eligibility of the demands, even the highest authority in the country addressed them as legitimate demands and the wrong decision is not respond to these demands “, he said.

The authoritarian decision boosted the revolution
Salman blamed the authority for the crisis Bahrain has been going through for nearly two years now.

“If the right decision to respond to these demands had been taken before the revolution started on 14 February 2011, we wouldn’t have entered this crisis”, he said.

He added that taking the wrong decision meant the revolution must continue, and that the country paid the price through its major resource which is the human via dismissals, torture, killings, exiling and many other violations which were documented by Mr. Bassiouni and Human rights NGOs.

“This wrong decision was made contrary to the first article of the constitution that states that the people are the source of all powers to enable the people of decision-making”.

He said one wrong decision to refuse to respond to any of the demands led to other wrong decisions such as using excessive force and repression in the face of any anti-government act. The clampdown was not able to hold back the people from demanding democracy and freedom, he added. …more

Bahraini opposition accepts talks offer to end crisis
22 January, 2013 – BBC

Bahrain’s opposition has accepted an offer from the country’s justice minister to resume talks.

Sheikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa issued the invitation to political societies in an apparent bid to break an impasse that has damaged Bahrain’s economy.

A leading member of al Wefaq, the biggest opposition society, was guardedly optimistic about the offer.

The Gulf island nation has been wracked by violence for the past two years.

Khalil al-Marzook, of Wefaq, told the BBC the movement was “ready to partner with the ruling family and the community to find solutions”.

But he added: “We need to be assured that the process is credible, we need detail about how agreement will be reached, where it will go and how the people will ratify it.”

On the 14 February 2011, peaceful protesters took over an iconic Bahraini monument, Pearl Roundabout. Three days later security forces cleared the site using tear gas, batons and birdshot.

In the months following the Pearl Roundabout takeover there have been repeated calls for dialogue but the atmosphere of distrust on both sides is deep.

The opposition rejected an initial offer of talks in June 2011 on the grounds that King Hamad had pre-selected participants. As efforts at dialogue stalled the government responded by demanding the opposition renounce violence.

The opposition did so and then charged the government with more foot-dragging.

What makes this latest offer significant is the call by the justice minister to “resume political discussions.” In the past the emphasis has been on a “national dialogue” which avoided references to political solutions.

This suggests the opposition’s call to reform the political system and move toward a constitutional monarchy has not been dismissed out of hand.

At least two protesters died and hundreds were injured.

As violence escalated 35 people, including five police officers, were killed, hundreds more were hurt and thousands jailed in February and March 2011.

The vast majority were Shia Muslims in a country ruled by a minority Sunni royal family

Since then, opposition and human rights activists say another 45 people have been killed, a figure which the government disputes.

In October last year two policemen died of injuries sustained during clashes with protesters in villages outside the capital, Manama.

Thirteen activists and politicians including the leader of the secular Waad party, Ibrahim Sharif, remain in jail, convicted and in some cases given life sentences on evidence that is widely accepted to have been obtained under torture.

Street protests and gatherings are illegal and human rights defenders are routinely detained for activities that include tweeting criticism of the king and his government. …more

“Not only military attack but even threat of military attack would slow down the progress of democracy in Iran because the government, under the pretext of safeguarding national security, would further intensify its crackdown on pro-democracy activists and critics. Moreover, such an eventuality would incite people’s nationalist sentiment, which would cause them to forget their criticisms of the government.” -Shirin Ebadi

Waking Up in Tehran
By davidswanson – 11 January, 2013 – War Is A Crime.org

According to one theory, U.S.-Iranian relations began around November 1979 when a crowd of irrational religious nutcases violently seized the U.S. embassy in Iran, took the employees hostage, tortured them, and held them until scared into freeing them by the arrival of a new sheriff in Washington, a man named Ronald Reagan. From that day to this, according to this popular theory, Iran has been run by a bunch of subhuman lunatics with whom rational people couldn’t really talk if they wanted to. These monsters only understand force. And they have been moments away from developing and using nuclear weapons against us for decades now. Moments away, I tell you!

According to another theory — a quaint little notion that I like to refer to as “verifiable history” — the CIA, operating out of that U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1953, maliciously and illegally overthrew a relatively democratic and liberal parliamentary government, and with it the 1951 Time magazine man of the year Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, because Mossadegh insisted that Iran’s oil wealth enrich Iranians rather than foreign corporations. The CIA installed a dictatorship run by the Shah of Iran who quickly became a major source of profits for U.S. weapons makers, and his nation a testing ground for surveillance techniques and human rights abuses.

The U.S. government encouraged the Shah’s development of a nuclear energy program. But the Shah impoverished and alienated the people of Iran, including hundreds of thousands educated abroad. A secular pro-democracy revolution nonviolently overthrew the Shah in January 1979, but it was a revolution without a leader or a plan for governing. It was co-opted by rightwing religious forces led by a man who pretended briefly to favor democratic reform. The U.S. government, operating out of the same embassy despised by many in Iran since 1953, explored possible means of keeping the Shah in power, but some in the CIA worked to facilitate what they saw as the second best option: a theocracy that would substitute religious fanaticism and oppression for populist and nationalist demands.

When the U.S. embassy was taken over by an unarmed crowd the next November, immediately following the public announcement of the Shah’s arrival in the United States, and with fears of another U.S.-led coup widespread in Tehran, a sit-in planned for two or three days was co-opted, as the whole revolution had been, by mullahs with connections to the CIA and an extremely anti-democratic agenda. They later made a deal with U.S. Republicans, as Robert Parry and others have well documented, to keep the hostage crisis going until Carter lost the 1980 presidential election to Ronald Reagan.

Reagan’s government secretly renewed weapons sales to the new Iranian dictatorship despite its public anti-American stance and with no more concern for its religious fervor than for that of future al Qaeda leaders who would spend the 1980s fighting the Soviets with U.S. weapons in Afghanistan. At the same time, the Reagan administration made similarly profitable deals with Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq, which had launched a war on Iran and continued it with U.S. support through the length of the Reagan presidency. The mad military investment in the United States that took off with Reagan and again with George W. Bush, and which continues to this day, has made the nation of Iran — which asserts its serious independence from U.S. rule — a target of threatened war and actual sanctions and terrorism. …more

Bahraini Rights Activists Lobby Capitol Hill
18 January, 2013 – Marjan Asi – Press TV, Washington

Activists in Washington have been lobbying Capitol Hill for a more humanitarian approach towards Bahrain. The move comes amid controversy surrounding the U-S selling arms to the government of the of the Persian Gulf kingdom.
A delegation of Bahraini rights activists have been walking the halls of Congress this week to advocate for humanitarian US policies toward its ally Bahrain.

In a series of advocacy efforts, Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain has been campaigning to educate Congressional representatives and others within the US government about the dismal human rights record of the Al Khalifah regime.

In recent news of controversial US ties with the island kingdom, documents from the Department of Defense reveal that weapons were sold to the monarchy between February 2011 and February 2012, while it was cracking down on peaceful protesters.

Items sold to the Bahraini regime include ammunition, combat vehicle parts, communication equipment, Blackhawk helicopters and an unidentified missile system.

Though the United States maintains its arms sales are meant for Bahrain’s external defense, Bahraini activists state US weapons have already been used to injure Bahraini dissidents.

Bahraini doctor Qasim Omran, who was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in Bahraini prison for treating injured protesters, witnessed the effects of the Bahraini government’s suppression of protesters.

The group states it will continue its education and advocacy efforts in the US government in hopes of influencing politicians to pressure their ally to curb its rights violations. …source

Citizen Arrests and House Break-Ins: Bahrain
Local Editor – 16 January, 2013 – moqawama.org

Popular uprisings sustained in Bahrain as protestors took to the streets in many
areas of the country, while regime forces escalated its violent campaigns against demonstrators.

In this context, al-Wefaq National Islamic Society stated that the Bahraini regime forces broke into citizens’ houses in al-Aqer area on Tuesday early morning and harshly apprehended a number of citizens from their homes.
In response, an abrupt peaceful rally gathered in Manama, where participants called on the regime to release detainees and meet the people’s demands.

On this note, the February 14 Youth Coalition declared in a statement, “the vast demonstration in Manama due this weekend under the slogan “Week of Dignity” is the important and necessary primer for the massive protest due February 14.”
Moreover, Islamic al-Wafa Party stated that the upcoming weeks “are of great importance to our people, the regime, and observers,” adding, “it will define how successful the people are in absorbing the security crackdown and recovering popular crowds on the revolution’s anniversary.”

On another note, Hussein al-Mahfouz, Secretary-General of the Islamic Action Society (Amal) and son of Sheikh Mohammad Ali Mahfouz, stated that the Jaw Central Prison of Bahrain prevented the latter from making his usual phone call to his family for unacceptable reasons.

For his part, leader of al-Wafa Party Abdul Wahhab Hussein accentuated, “Acquitting or sentencing me to life prison makes no difference to me; the sentence has no credibility, and my faith in this cause is unwavering.”

Movements and Stances

Bahrain Watchdog for Human Rights is to hold on Wednesday, in the Waad Association Headquarter, a solidarity protest for Bahraini detained activists Nabil Rajab, Abdel Hadi al-Khawaja, and Youssef al-Muhafatha.

Legally, the attorney-at-law Mohammad al-Jeshe demanded the appeal on charges filed against two policemen who murdered a citizen to be charged of premeditated murder, while the defendants’ lawyer pleaded innocence.

Moreover, an official in the Islamic Action Society (Amal) Hisham al-Sabbagh underlined, “Dialogue is disagreed upon domestically, and even in the event that an opposing party enters dialogue, symbolic figures must not be subject to compromising.”
For his part, the opposing official Abdel Hadi Khalaf told Lebanese “as-Saffir” daily that the Bahraini regime and its opposition have reached a dead end, and there is no choice but to solve Bahrain’s crisis.

Likewise, Bahraini MP Khaled Abdel Aal emphasized in a statement that, “Bahrain’s international reputation has become shameful when it failed to commit to its vows of reformation and freedom of speech among other rights, and security forces continue their violations on protestors.” …source

Bahraini MPs Lodge Complaint against Al Khalifa Regime Officials
16 January, 2013 – Islamic Invitation Turkey

Two Bahraini legislators Wednesday lodged a complaint against several senior Bahraini officials for human rights violations in the country.

The Bahraini MPs, Osama al-Tamimi and Khaled Abd al-Aal, submitted their letters of complaint to al-Wosta region’s security prosecutor, the Bahraini newspaper Alwasat News reported on Wednesday.

They pointed to the tortures committed by the Al Khalifa regime against the political prisoners and also a recent report by Head of Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) – a body set up by the Bahraini king himself to investigate the events surrounding the uprising – Mohammed Sharif al-Bassiouni.

In its report in late 2011, the BICI confirmed what Human Rights First and other international nongovernmental organizations had been saying for months: that the government had swept up thousands in illegal arrests, used excessive force against protesters and engaged in a pattern of abuse that resulted in at least four prisoners being tortured to death.

The two Bahraini parliamentarians also warned that the situations of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Bahraini jails are deteriorating everyday.

Earlier this week, a prominent human rights activist deplored the Bahraini judiciary system’s blind obedience to the ruling regime, saying that the country’s judicial body has become a tool in the hands of the al-Khalifa regime for suppressing the people.
“The verdicts made by Bahraini courts against revolutionary elements are completely political and have been issued only because these people have expressed their opinions,” Member of Bahrain Forum for Human Rights Falah Rabi said.

“The developments in Bahrain demonstrated the regime’s instrumental use of the judiciary system for suppressing people and shows the system’s lack of independence because most of the members of the high court are from the ruling family,” he added.

But, the Bahraini nation wants a democratic system in which all the branches of power take their legitimacy from people’s votes, he stressed.

His remarks came after Bahrain’s highest court rejected earlier this month the jailed activists’ appeal and upheld their sentences for their roles in anti-regime protests in 2011.

The UN, the EU, Britain, France, and human rights groups have criticized a Bahraini court decision upholding prison terms for 13 pro-democracy activists, including eight life sentences.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon “deeply regrets the decision of Bahrain’s Court of Cassation on January 7 to uphold the harsh sentences, including life imprisonment” for the activists, the UN chief’s spokesman said, Al Manar reported.

“He reiterates his firm belief that the only way to promote peace, stability, justice and prosperity in Bahrain is through a national dialogue which addresses the legitimate aspirations of all Bahrainis,” Martin Nesirky stated.

“The secretary general also calls on the government of Bahrain to follow through on its recently reiterated commitment to judicial reform,” he added.

The European Union also criticized the court ruling, saying the pro-democracy activists should be given amnesty.

“The EU has repeatedly asked the Bahraini authorities to consider an amnesty for all those arrested last year and tried on charges relating to the expression of their political opinion,” the spokesman of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Michael Mann, said. Mann stated that the EU “remains concerned about the lack of advancement of national reconciliation”.

Joe Stork, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, said the Bahraini court “has proven its inability to protect the most basic rights guaranteed in Bahrain’s constitution and the international treaties it has signed”.

“The mind-boggling verdicts in these cases did not mention a single recognizable criminal offence, instead pointing to speeches the defendants made, meetings they attended, and their calls for peaceful street protests in February and March 2011,” he said in a statement.

Stork said HRW’s own investigation into these cases found that the evidence consisted of public statements “advocating reforms to curtail the power of the ruling Al Khalifa family and confessions that appeared to have been coerced while the defendants were (held) in incommunicado detention.”

Amnesty International said the ruling underlined “flaws” in the Bahraini justice system and the activists should be freed.

“This unjust decision will confirm the view of many that the judiciary is more concerned about toeing the government’s line than upholding the rule of law and the rights of all Bahrainis,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, the deputy director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa division.

France and Britain also criticized the Bahraini court ruling and expressed their “regret” and “dismay” over the decision
…source

Shia Genocide: The United States’ Role
18 January, 2013 – Shia Post

“Whoever helps in the killing of a believer even with a part of a word, he will meet Allah on the Day of Judgment with the following words written between his eyes: ‘Doomed from the mercy of Allah’,” said the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him).

On Thursday 10 January 2013, a series of bomb blasts ripped through Quetta, Pakistan on Alamdar Road killing at least 105 persons and wounding hundreds more, most of them Shia Muslims. The al-Qaeda-linked extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, whose stated goal is to transform Pakistan into a Sunni state, has claimed responsibility for the barbaric bombings. The attack has highlighted the ongoing cold-blooded campaign of Shia ethnic cleansing taking place in Pakistan, which has received sparse coverage in the Middle East and has been largely ignored by the Western media.

A brief survey of recent news headlines from Pakistan emphasizes the gruesome reality of this intentional extermination of Shia Muslims that could justifiably be termed genocide:

¬ Shia Muslims protest after bombings kill 120 in Pakistan
¬ 502 Shias killed last year, says MWM report
¬ Pakistan militants kill 41 in mass execution, attack on Shias
¬ 14 martyred in 10 days in targeted killing by TTP, SSP and LeJ terrorists across Pakistan
¬ Shia genocide in Pakistan claims 12 more lives, martyr’s son martyred, father and 2 sons martyred, 3 Shia green grocers martyred In Karachi, Quetta and Mach
¬ A Shia scholar, 2 businessman, police officer, 4 young men, in all 19 Shia men martyred in 4 days by the terrorists of TTP, SSP and LeJ across Pakistan

These headlines paint a pessimistic picture of Pakistan as a country whose internal stability situation is headed downward in a bloody spiral to barbarism, and whose security forces are impotent against the sinister syndicates executing the systematic slaughter of its Shia Muslim citizens. A number of questions arise: Who or what is behind this campaign of carnage which has claimed the lives of an estimated 20,000 Shia Muslims over the past few decades? Who are the TTP, the SSP and the LeJ, and who is backing them? And what role does the United States play in this escalating violence?

As for who or what is behind the Shia genocide, the answer appears to be Saudi-backed, al-Qaeda-affiliated Wahhabi terrorist organizations, primarily the TTP, the SSP and the LeJ, whose activities are condoned by Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), and are sponsored by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia as a counterforce against the increasing Iranian/ Shia influence in the region. The Economist reports, “The violence has been notable not just for its scale, but for what lies beneath it: a growing alliance between established anti-Shia militant groups and the Pakistani Taliban, Sunni extremists who have spun out of the army’s control, allied with Al-Qaeda, and are determined to attack the Pakistani state.”

Founded in December 2007, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) draws its support from tribal leaders across Pakistan. With over 30,000 estimated members, the TTP has declared itself to be an extension of the Afghan Taliban by upholding a loyalty pledge to Mullah Omar made by former TTP commander Baitullah Mehsud who was killed in an airstrike on 7 August 2009. According to statements by Mehsud, the TTP was organized to unite various factions within Pakistan to synchronize attacks against U.S. and British forces, and their Pakistani sympathizers, and to impose strict law. Strongly linked to al-Qaeda, the TTP was organized with its help and receives funding from it. Not surprisingly, the Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, whose “plot” was foiled by U.S. authorities, allegedly was supported by the TTP. …more

President Obama urged to help release Bahraini human rights defenders and activists

18 January 2013

Dear Mr. President,

The Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), as well as the undersigned human rights organizations, call on you Mr. President to take substantive action towards securing the immediate release of 13 activists and human rights defenders who are arbitrarily detained in Bahrain. They have been charged and sentenced for exercising their right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. Among the detained activists is the human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, founder and former President of BCHR, co-founder of GCHR and former Middle East and North Africa Protection Coordinator of Front Line Defenders.

On 7 January 2013, Bahrain’s Court of Cassation upheld the harsh prison sentences for the 13 men, some of whom have been sentenced to life in prison. The 13 were originally sentenced along with eight others by a military court in June 2011 in proceedings that were criticized for violating basic principles of due process – seven were tried in absentia and one has been released. The activists have been held in prison since March 2011, and several have been subjected to severe torture, which has been documented and published in a report released in November 2011 by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), a body appointed by the King.[1] These individuals have detailed to the court the torture they were subjected to throughout their detention, and even though their torturers have been identified, there has not been any investigation into these allegations.

Instead of prosecuting the officers involved in torture and condemning the use of torture, the High Court of Appeals accepted the coerced confessions obtained through the torture of the prisoners and the interrogation records prepared by the military prosecution as the sole evidence in the case. The files in the court’s possession lack any decisive evidence linking the activists to the charges in question, including allegations that they sought to overthrow the regime by force.

Despite the recommendations of the BICI, the human rights defenders and activists remain in jail, merely for exercising their right to peaceful expression, assembly and association.

The 13 activists whose unjust sentences were upheld on 7 January 2013 are the following:

1) Abdulwahab Hussain (life sentence imprisonment)
2) Ebrahim Sharif (5 Years imprisonment)
3) Hassan Mushaima (life sentence imprisonment)
4) Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja (life sentence imprisonment)
5) Abduljalil Al-Singace (life sentence imprisonment)
6) Mohammed Habib Al Miqdad (life sentence imprisonment)
7) Saeed Mirza Al-Nouri (life sentence imprisonment)
8) Abduljalil Al-Miqdad (life sentence imprisonment)
9) Abdullah Isa Al-Mahroos (5 years imprisonment)
10) Salah Hubail Al-Khawaj (5 years imprisonment)
11) Mohammed Hassan Jawad (15 years imprisonment)
12) Mohammed Ali-Ismael (15 years imprisonment)
13) Abdul Hadi Al-Mukhodher (15 years imprisonment)

The undersigned have concluded that the decisions by the Bahraini courts throughout this case, including the 7 January 2013 decision of the Court of Cassation to uphold the sentences, are politically motivated. We urge Bahrain’s allies to press for the release and full exoneration of the prisoners as well as a credible and transparent investigation into the allegations of torture so that the people responsible can be held accountable.

As Bahrain’s most influential ally, coupled with its military presence in the country in the form of the US Fifth Fleet, the United States has a special obligation to press Bahrain to adhere to international human rights standards.

Clearly, efforts by civil society and the international community have failed thus far to release all those unjustly jailed in Bahrain. Strong action from the US is therefore essential in order to persuade the Bahraini government to adhere to international law and fundamental principles of justice.

Mr. President, we respectfully call on you to take the following action to ensure that the Bahraini government stops violating the inalienable rights of its citizens, in particular the 13 individuals listed above who have been unjustly imprisoned:

• issue a statement from the highest levels of government condemning the decision by the Bahraini Court of Cassation to uphold the convictions and the sentences of these 13 individuals, and insisting that Bahrain abide by its international obligations and immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners who are currently detained for exercising their freedom of expression, association and assembly;
• immediately suspend US military support to Bahrain until the latter abides by all international laws and human rights standards, including the respect for freedom of expression, association, and assembly; and
• take any and all necessary actions to support the calls regarding the conviction and sentencing of these 13 activists made by the US State Department spokespersons on 4 September 2012 and 7 January 2013, and by Assistant Secretary Michael Posner in Manama on 9 December 2012, so as to ensure that the statements made by your government are not seen as simply empty words.

Thank you for your attention to this very important matter.

Yours sincerely,

Arab Working Group for Media Monitoring
ARTICLE 19
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
Bahrain Coordination Committee
Bahrain Human Rights Society
Bahrain Press Association
Bahrain Rehabilitation and Anti Violence Organization
Bahrain Teachers Society
Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights
Cairo Center for Development and Human Rights
Center for Egyptian woman’s Legal Assistance-CEWLA
Development for People and Nature Association
European-Bahraini Organization for Human Rights (EBOHR)
Freedom Now
Gulf centre for Human Rights
Gulf Civil Society Association Forum
Gulf Civil Society Associations Forum – GCSAF
Human Rights First Society (HRFS), Saudi Arabia
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Iraqi Al-Amal Association
Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia
New Woman Foundation – Egypt
Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED)
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Shia Rights Watch
SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
The Samir Kassir Foundation
The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA Network)
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
World Alliance for Citizen Participation- CIVICUS
Yemen Organization for defending Rights and Democratic Freedoms

…source

Freedom of opinion and freedom of expression are indispensable conditions for the full development of the person. They are essential for any society. They constitute the foundation stone for every free and democratic society. The two freedoms are closely related, with freedom of expression providing the vehicle for the exchange and development of opinions.

Freedom of expression is a necessary condition for the realization of the principles of transparency and accountability that are, in turn, essential for the promotion and protection of human rights.

Is freedom of expression under threat in the digital age?
18 January, 2013 – Xindex

This week Index held a high level panel debate in partnership with the Editors Guild of India and the India International Centre to discuss the question “Is freedom of expression under threat in the digital age?” Mahima Kaul reports

Index on Censorship, in partnership with The Editors Guild of India, hosted a debate in New Delhi on Tuesday (15 January) asking, “Is freedom of expression under threat in the digital age?” Discussing the topic were Ajit Balakrishnan (founder and Chief Executive of rediff.com), Index on Censorship CEO Kirsty Hughes, Sunil Abraham (Executive Director of the centre for Internet and Society), Professor Timothy Garton Ash, Director of the Free Speech Debate project, and Lokman Tsui, Policy Advisor for Google Asia-Pacific.

Sunil Abraham questioned the idea of technology specific “internet freedom” that has been advocated by many not least the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He said there was for instance much greater freedom and diversity on Indian TV than in the US. He also argued that that this freedom does not seem to extend to a right of access to knowledge, as demonstrated by the charges brought against open access activist and developer Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide earlier this month. Swartz was facing charges for allegedly downloading 4.8 million academic articles from subscription-only digital library JSTOR.

Abraham said one unintentional effect of censorship by governments is that it teaches citizens how to protect themselves online. Finally, he questioned the Indian government’s draconian laws and arbitrary actions in the digital realm, wondering whether this is the authorities’ way of warning future netizens about “acceptable online behaviour”, to condition the public not to criticise the government and to create a chilling effect.

Freedom of expression is always under threat and in need of defending, argued Timothy Garton Ash. However, he didn’t think the threat was particularly high today in the digital realm — rather the threats to privacy were what were particularly concerning online. With 76.8 per cent of India’s 1.2 billion population connected by mobile phone, there is an extraordinary opportunity for the prevalence of freedom of expression brought about by new technologies. But he said there are also a lot of challenges to free expression in India — and that “swing states” such as Brazil and India will be very important in determining where the global conversation goes on freedom of expression. …more

US asks Turkey, Jordan to secure chem weapons if Syria crisis worsens
By R. Jeffrey Smith – The Center for Public Integrity – NBCNEWS

The Obama administration has quietly arranged for thousands of chemical protective suits and related items to be sent to Jordan and Turkey and is pressing the military forces there to take principal responsibility for safeguarding Syrian chemical weapons sites if the country’s lethal nerve agents suddenly become vulnerable to theft and misuse, Western and Middle Eastern officials say.

As part of their preparations for such an event, Western governments have started training the Jordanians and Turks to use the chemical gear and detection equipment, so they have the capability to protect the Syrian nerve agent depots if needed – at least for a short time, U.S. and Western officials say.

Washington has decided moreover that the best course of action in the aftermath of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s fall would be to get the nerve agents out of the country as quickly as possible, and so it has begun discussions not only with Jordan and Turkey, but also with Iraq and Russia in an effort to chart the potential withdrawal of the arsenal and its destruction elsewhere.

Using allied forces from Syria’s periphery as the most likely “first-responders” to a weapons-of-mass-destruction emergency is regarded in Washington as a way to avoid putting substantial U.S. troops into the region if the special Syrian military forces now safeguarding the weapons leave their posts. A Syrian withdrawal might otherwise render the weapons vulnerable to capture and use by Hezbollah or other anti-U.S. or anti-Israeli militant groups, U.S. officials fear.

This article is based on conversations about international planning for the disposition of the Syrian stockpile with a half dozen U.S. and foreign officials who have direct knowledge of the matter but declined to be named due to the political and security sensitivities surrounding their work.

They said the Western planning, while not yet complete, is further along than officials have publicly disclosed.

But so far, the Turkish and Jordanian governments have not promised to take up the full role that Washington has sought to give them, U.S. and foreign officials said.

Asked for comment, Jordanian embassy spokeswoman, Dana Zureikat Daoud, said the training under way is “not mission-oriented,” meaning that Jordan does not have a fixed responsibility. But she added that the government is indeed concerned about the possibility of Syrian chemical armaments falling into extremist hands. “Our contingency plans … are discussed and elaborated with like-minded, concerned countries,” she said. …more

Minister of Justice receives a number of new experts
17 January, 2013 – BNA

Manama: Jan. 17 – (BNA) Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments, H.E. Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa, received today in his office at the Ministry premises, Mr. Jassim Bu Humood who to him a number of new experts who were then sworn-in before the Minister of Justice.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Minister welcomed the honorable experts, citing the important role of experts and their duties as assistants to the magistrates and associates to realize justice which calls for prompt compilation and submission of their assigned reports to courts in timely manner and in compliance with scientific and technical standards observable in writing specialized reports.

The Minister accentuated the Ministry’s constant keenness on supporting the venire of experts with diverse practical and professional expertise and knowledge.

Corporate Profits Have Grown By 171 Percent Under ‘Anti-Business’ Obama
By Pat Garofalo – 17 January, 2013 –

Business executives like to portray the Obama administration as the “most anti-business” in history, creating an “increasingly hostile environment for investment and job creation.” However, the data tells a far different story. According to a Bloomberg News analysis, corporate profits have grown by 171 percent under Obama, the most in the post-war era:

U.S. corporations’ after-tax profits have grown by 171 percent under Obama, more than under any president since World War II, and are now at their highest level relative to the size of the economy since the government began keeping records in 1947, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Profits are more than twice as high as their peak during President Ronald Reagan’s administration and more than 50 percent greater than during the late-1990s Internet boom, measured by the size of the economy.

Average annual corporate profit growth under Obama is the highest since 1900, whereas profit growth declined during both Bush presidencies. As a share of the economy, corporate profits have never been higher.

Unfortunately, this profit deluge has not been shared by workers, whose wages as a percentage of the economy have fallen to all-time lows. Workers also got dinged by the recent increase in the payroll tax, which was large enough to wipe out a minimum wage increase in some states. …source

…see photo essay HERE

Crisis in Algeria: More ‘Arab Spring’ Consequences; U.S. Hostages Seized
By Lamine Chikhi – Algeria – 17 January, 2013

(Reuters) – Thirty hostages and at least 11 Islamist militants were killed on Thursday when Algerian forces stormed a desert gas plant in a bid to free many dozens of Western and local captives, an Algerian security source said.

Details remained scant – including for Western governments, some of which did little to disguise irritation at being kept in the dark by Algeria before the raid and its bloody outcome.

Two Japanese, two Britons and a French national were among at least seven foreigners killed, the source told Reuters. Eight of the dead hostages were Algerian. The nationalities of the rest, as well as of perhaps dozens more who escaped, were unclear.

Americans, Norwegians, Romanians and an Austrian have also been mentioned by their governments as having been captured.

Underlining the view of African and Western leaders that they face a multinational, al Qaeda-linked insurgency across the Sahara – a conflict that prompted France to send troops to neighboring Mali last week – the official source said only two of the 11 dead militants were Algerian, including their leader.

After an operation that appeared to go on for some eight hours, after Algeria refused the kidnappers’ demand to leave the country with their hostages, the bodies of three Egyptians, two Tunisians, two Libyans, a Malian and a Frenchman were found.

So too was that of Taher Ben Cheneb, an Algerian whom the security official described as a prominent jihadist commander in the Sahara.

The gunmen who seized the important gas facility deep in the desert before dawn on Wednesday had been demanding France halt its week-old offensive against Islamist rebels in Mali.

French President Francois Hollande said the hostage drama, which has raised fears of further militant attacks, showed that he was right to send more than 1,000 French troops to Mali to back up a West African force in support of Mali’s government.

A Algerian government spokesman, who confirmed only that an unspecified number of hostages had died, said the tough response to a “diehard” attitude by the militants showed that, as during its bloody civil war against Islamists in the 1990s, Algiers would not negotiate or stand for “blackmail” from “terrorists”. …more

European Parliament calls for EU sanctions against Bahrain
17 January, 2013 – Marietje Schaake – Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Eurpoe

Stories

The European Parliament today endorsed a strong worded resolution addressing the ongoing human rights violations in Bahrain. The effort led by Dutch Member of European Parliament Marietje Schaake (ALDE/D66) calls for targeted EU sanctions against human rights violators inBahrain. “For almost two years now the world has ignored the lethal violence used against Bahraini peaceful protestors. We have to be consistent in our policies and impose sanctions to force the Bahraini authorities to respect rights and freedoms”, Schaake says.

Activists

Since February 2011 protests take place in Bahrain. The Bahraini population, of which Shias make up around 70 percent and the rest is mostly Sunni, is being closely watched by Saudi-Arabia and Iran. Bahraini authorities received Saudi support through tanks that were sent to assist in suppressing revolts. Demonstrations in which citizens call for more democracy are increasingly sectarian. Schaake: “People suffocate from the excessive use of tear gas, bird shot is fired from a very close range. Doctors face jail time for providing basic medical care, activists are sentenced to life long imprisonment in flawed trials. Schaake led several other initiatives that got Parliamentary backing.

Arrested

Also bloggers and youth activists who use social media to inform a vast international public about the situation in their country, are being arrested. “Sayed Yousif al-Muhafdha (@Saidyousif) was arrested in Bahrain on 18 December. Two weeks earlier he was one of the speakers during a roundtable inBrussels I organized on the human rights situation in his country. A Bahraini diplomat also attended that meeting.” The Liberal MEP sought to visit Bahrain with an official Parliamentary delegation, but was the only Member of European Parliament who was not granted a visa.

Recommendations

In November 2011 an independent commission of inquiry (BICI) on the request of Bahraini king Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa presented a set of recommendations and reforms which would meet the protestors’ demands. Despite several commitments by the authorities no changes have been made. Schaake: “The authorities keep referring to the BICI report as the silver bullet, but so far it is nothing more than their paper reality. By imposing sanctions the EU finally shows it is getting serious.” Schaake notes that the United States refrains from criticizing the Gulf state, which is likely related to the US Navy’s 5th fleet being based there. …source