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

US Concerned Over Unrest in Bahrain
17 October, 2013 – VOA

STATE DEPARTMENT — The United States is increasingly concerned about unrest in Bahrain ahead of the trial of a leading opposition activist later this month. There has been little progress in a national dialogue that was agreed to following violent demonstrations in 2011. Considering Bahrain is home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, it’s a worrisome issue for Washington.

Violence following the funeral of a Bahraini opposition activist is the latest setback to a national dialogue that was to have settled differences between the government and its opponents.

“We are disappointed by recent events that have happened on the ground and eroded the prospects of dialogue in Bahrain,” said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

The Obama administration is aware of the detention and death of 31-year-old dissident Yousif Ali al-Nashmi, Psaki said. He was arrested in August on charges of taking part in illegal protests, although the Bahrain Center for Human Rights disputes that.

He died several days after his release this month following what human rights groups say was abuse in detention.

Last month, President Obama compared sectarian tensions in Bahrain to the violence in Iraq and Syria.

Bahrain is a majority Shi’ite country but is ruled by a Sunni royal family.

However, the government of King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa claims there is no comparing Bahrain with Syria and Iraq, where sectarian tensions have fueled violence.

A foreign ministry statement said “terrorist extremist groups” are targeting security forces and that Bahrain is responding “within the rule of law.”

The opposition is demanding more jobs, more democracy, and the release of all political prisoners.

Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute feels Washington has missed an opportunity with Bahrain’s Shi’ites, who make up 70 percent of the population but are not proportionately represented in politics.

“The U.S. has done very little on behalf of Shia in Bahrain, where the majority are struggling for some greater say in their government,” said Bandow.

Psaki said the Obama administration is urging Bahrain’s government to uphold freedoms of assembly and expression and for all parties to reaffirm their commitment to nonviolence.

“There’s more that all parties can do to move things forward. So I don’t know if there’s a specific obstacle as much as there’s more that needs to be done,” said Psaki.

Former U.S. Ambassador Adam Ereli claims Washington’s “middle-ground” is not working.

“Nobody knows what the U.S. position is. In Bahrain they say, ‘Look, we support a democratic process. Don’t use violence.’ But we don’t condemn the opposition. We don’t declare support for the regime. Nobody knows what side we’re on,” explained Ereli.

Opposition groups suspended their participation in the national dialogue over last month’s detention of activist Khalil Marzouq, who is charged with using his leadership position in a legal political organization to incite violence. Amnesty International calls him a prisoner of conscience. His trial is set to begin October 24.
…source

Kerry wants chemical arms shipped out of Syria
17 October, 2013 – The Daily Star

WASHINGTON: Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday that he hopes the Syrian government’s chemical weapons will be rapidly consolidated into one location, put on a ship and removed from the region.

Kerry said in an interview with National Public Radio that the locations of the weapons have been declared and are being secured.

On Tuesday, Kerry will meet in London with ministers of 10 other nations who back the opposition in Syria and are trying to hold an international conference in Geneva to set up a transition government and end the bloody civil war in Syria, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

He also will be meeting in London with opposition leaders. The main alliance of political opposition groups has said it will only negotiate if it is agreed from the start that Syrian President Bashar Assad will leave power at the end of a transition period.

On Monday, Kerry will be in Paris to meet with representatives of the Arab League and update them on peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians and see Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.

After London, Kerry will travel to Rome to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

…source

Surveillance critic barred from US
By Milana Knezevic – 18 October, 2013

Ilija_trojanow_by_thomas_dorn_232_KBOn 30 September, Bulgarian-German author Ilija Trojanow was travelling from Brazil to the US for a conference on German literature. That was his plan, anyway. At the airport in Salvador da Bahia, he was told his entry to the US had been denied. No explanation was provided then, and none has been provided since.

Trojanow is one of the main forces behind a 74,000 strong and growing petition against mass surveillance. Initiated and signed by some Germany’s biggest writers, the petition argues the government is bound by the constitution to protect its citizens against foreign spying.

His experience in Brazil exploded in the German media, but Trojanow seems more bemused than anything else.

“It wasn’t bad enough that governments are spying on everybody!” he says with a laugh. “What this shows is that general attacks on everybody and not individual victims, are too abstract. An individual case, even if it’s a minor one, can get more attention.”

While the incident did create more discussion around mass surveillance and caused a spike in the number of signatures, there is no doubt the petition already had widespread support. The issue of mass surveillance seems to have struck a particular chord in Germany. Trojanow believes this is due to their history.

“East Germany more than any other country in the former Soviet block has discussed its secret service files. It has been a dominant issue in the media. The archives are easy to access. Germans know how horrendous it is when the secret service is not under real control.”

He also thinks the famous German efficiency shines through even in this case. Many felt that something needed to be done about the mass surveillance, and when Germans set out to do something, they do it properly.

“It is quite ironic,” he adds: “Germans had democracy beaten into them. They were educated in democracy by the US and the UK. It seems they were good students!”

Trojanov himself has long been interested in the issue of state surveillance, with his 2009 book “Freedom Under Attack”, for instance, becoming a bestseller in Germany. For him, the issue carries a more personal dimension. Growing up in a Bulgaria, parts of his family were engaged in the struggle against the communist authorities.

“I am in the situation now where I am able to read transcripts of what adults in my family were saying, as our apartment was bugged.”

“What you realise is that when you have the attention of the secret service pointed at you, whatever you do is in some way proof of guilt. Even completely innocent things become potentially implicating.”

The petition was formally presented to the German government on 18 September, back when when it had 63,000 signatures. A month and ten thousand additional names later, they have still have yet to receive any sort of official reply. Still open, Trojanow and his compatriots now plan to take it global. As he says, mass surveillance is a worldwide challenge and cannot be tackled simply by and within one nation.

“I don’t understand why we wait until situation is completely unbearable. You start safeguarding your freedoms when they are attacked on the edges.” ….source

The birth of the ‘de-Americanized’ world
By Pepe Escobar – The Roving Eye – Asia Times

This is it. China has had enough. The (diplomatic) gloves are off. It’s time to build a “de-Americanized” world. It’s time for a “new international reserve currency” to replace the US dollar.

It’s all here, in a Xinhua editorial, straight from the dragon’s mouth. And the year is only 2013. Fasten your seat belts – and that applies especially to the Washington elites. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

Long gone are the Deng Xiaoping days of “keeping a low profile”. The Xinhua editorial summarizes the straw that broke the dragon’s back – the current US shutdown. After the Wall Street-provoked financial crisis, after the war on Iraq, a “befuddled world”, and not only China, wants change.

This paragraph couldn’t be more graphic:

Instead of honoring its duties as a responsible leading power, a self-serving Washington has abused its superpower status and introduced even more chaos into the world by shifting financial risks overseas, instigating regional tensions amid territorial disputes, and fighting unwarranted wars under the cover of outright lies.

The solution, for Beijing, is to “de-Americanize” the current geopolitical equation – starting with more say in the International Monetary Fund and World Bank for emerging economies and the developing world, leading to a “new international reserve currency that is to be created to replace the dominant US dollar”.

Note that Beijing is not advocating completely smashing the Bretton Woods system – at least for now, but it is for having more deciding power. Sounds reasonable, considering that China holds slightly more weight inside the IMF than Italy. IMF “reform” – sort of – has been going on since 2010, but Washington, unsurprisingly, has vetoed anything substantial.

As for the move away from the US dollar, it’s also already on, in varying degrees of speed, especially concerning trade amongst the BRICS group of emerging powers (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), which is now overwhelmingly in their respective currencies. The US dollar is slowly but surely being replaced by a basket of currencies.

“De-Americanization” is also already on. Take last week’s Chinese trade charm offensive across Southeast Asia, which is incisively leaning towards even more action with their top commercial partner, China. Chinese President Xi Jinping clinched an array of deals with Indonesia, Malaysia and also Australia, only a few weeks after clinching another array of deals with the Central Asian “stans”.

Chinese commitment to improve the Iron Silk Road reached fever pitch, with shares of Chinese rail companies going through the roof amid the prospect of a high-speed rail link with and through Thailand actually materializing. In Vietnam, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sealed an understanding that two country’s territorial quarrels in the South China Sea would not interfere with even more business. Take that, “pivoting” to Asia. …more

South Korea is Playing a Deadly Game By Fueling Bahrain’s Violent Crackdown
By John Horne and Ahmed Ali – 16 October, 2013

An unlikely, unexpected, and dangerous trade has formed between South Korea and Bahrain. South Korea has been exporting loads of teargas to Bahrain, turning a blind eye to the deadly harm that it is causing in the government’s efforts to crack down on protesters.

The Bahrain government has engaged in a relentless crackdown since February 2011 against a population calling for democracy, human rights, and socio-economic justice. Western governments, with strategic and commercial interests in the Kingdom, have continually turned a blind eye to ongoing torture, extrajudicial killing, suppression of free expression, and arbitrary persecutions. However, while policing equipment manufactured by U.S. and UK companies was documented in Bahrain in 2011, the scale of the violations has made further exports of purported “crowd-control” weapons unpalatable by those countries.

Accordingly, Bahrain has been turning further afield for assistance. One such country is South Korea, a G20 member and staunch Western ally, whose companies have found a ready market in Bahrain for teargas and other repressive equipment. The two states have formed closer commercial and security ties since the start of the 2011 uprising, despite Bahrain’s appalling human rights record since then.

On New Year’s Eve 2011, a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed. Sayed Hashem was struck in the face with a teargas canister fired by Bahraini security forces during a peaceful anti-government protest. The graphic pictures of his body, like those of another child, Ali Jawad, show clear and visible marks of the canister wound. As Hashem lay in his own blood, a group of bystanders attempted to resuscitate him. They were subsequently shot at with teargas. The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights reports that when the women at the scene accused the security forces of killing the young boy, they were told, “Shut up and don’t you dare speak of this.”

The canister that killed Hashem is visually identical to those manufactured by South Korean firm DaeKwang Industry Company Ltd and sold by Korean company C.N.O. Tech Ltd. DaeKwang has historically denied exporting to Bahrain, although it lists the country in its “global network” map. Another South Korean company, C.N.O. Tech, exports DaeKwang products and has a local reseller in Bahrain.

Over 100 people have been killed as a consequence of the government’s crackdown on protesters. Over 30% of the deaths caused by security forces have been as a result of teargas which is usually fired at protesters in massive quantities over residential areas as a form of collective punishment. At least four of those killed were shot directly with teargas canisters. Most recently, 20-year-old Mahmood Al Jaziri was filmed being shot in the head intentionally by security forces. He died a few days later on Feb. 22. An 8-year-old boy also lost his life in January after exposure to large amounts of teargas fired into his village. His funeral procession, like those of others killed by Bahrain’s police, was also targeted with teargas. This is one of the many, reckless, ways that security forces enact petty repression in the form of systematic reprisals against those deemed in opposition to the government and ruling family. …more

NYT decontextualizes (ethnically-cleansed) Jaffa in hipster fashion piece
Philip Weiss – October 16, 2013 – Mondoweiss

Jaffa was once the pride of Palestinian culture, the bride of the sea. Then it was ethnically cleansed in 1948, by Zionist terrorist militias. A lot of the folks who lived there are in Gaza. You’d never know any of this from watching this new video of hipsters in Jaffa, on the NYT website, “Free Style in Tel Aviv.” …more

Study: Half a million Iraqis died from war-related causes since US invasion
16 October, 2013 – Al Akhbar

Nearly half a million people have died from war-related causes in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003, according to an academic study published in the United States on Tuesday.

That toll is far higher than the nearly 115,000 violent civilian deaths reported by the British-based group Iraq Body Count, which bases its tally on media reports, hospital and morgue records, and official and non-governmental accounts.

The latest estimate by university researchers in the United States, Canada and Baghdad in cooperation with the Iraqi Ministry of Health covers not only violent deaths but other avoidable deaths linked to the invasion, insurgencies and subsequent social breakdown.

It also differs from some previous counts by spanning a longer period of time and by using randomized surveys of households across Iraq to project a nationwide death toll from 2003 to mid 2011.

Violence caused most of the deaths, but about a third were indirectly linked to the war, and these deaths have been left out of previous counts, said lead author Amy Hagopian, a public health researcher at the University of Washington.

Those included situations when a pregnant woman encountered difficult labor but could not leave the house due to fighting, or when a person drank contaminated water, or when a patient could not get treated at a hospital because staff was overwhelmed with war casualties.

“These are all indirect deaths, and they are significant,” Hagopian told AFP.

The aim of the study was to provide a truer picture of the suffering caused by war, and hopefully to make governments think twice about the harm that would come from an invasion, she said.

“I think it is important that people understand the consequences of launching wars on public health, on how people live. This country is forever changed.”

The research team from the University of Washington, Johns Hopkins University, Simon Fraser University and Mustansiriya University conducted the work on a volunteer basis using pooled internal resources instead of seeking outside funds.

Their tally was compiled by asking adults living in 2,000 randomly selected households in 100 geographic clusters across Iraq if family members had died, when and why.

Researchers used the survey data, which was completed by 1,960 of those chosen, to calculate the death rate before the war and after. When multiplied by the whole population, they returned a number that represented “excess deaths.”

Researchers estimated there were 405,000 excess Iraqi deaths attributable to the war through mid-2011.

They also attempted to account for deaths missed because families had fled the country, and estimated 55,805 total deaths, bringing the total to nearly 461,000. …more

UK demands Bahrain commitment to human rights
16 October, 2013 – PressTV

British Foreign Office Minister for Middle East Affairs Hugh Robertson has called on the al-Khalifa regime in Bahrain to fulfil their obligations concerning human rights.

Robertson, who took the position on October 7, also said Britain will seriously follow all cases of human rights abuse in Bahrain, including mistreatment of detainees.

The comment came after the death of Bahraini Shia activist Yousef Al-Nashmi who died on Friday due to what the Bahraini non-governmental organization Bahrain Center for Human Rights said was denial of medical treatment and torture.

“The BCHR is gravely concerned that Al-Nashmi, like Mohammed Mushaima, is the victim torture and denial of adequate medical care causing death. Prisoners in Bahrain are systematically denied adequate medical care,” the organization said.

“The continuation of the current violations against all prisoners in Bahrain may lead to future loss of lives,” it added.

Bahrain has recently faced scathing criticism internationally for its treatment of pro-democracy protesters and prisoners.

During the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva back in September, 47 governments issued a joint statement on the matter which accompanied a damning resolution by the European Parliament and a public reproach from the UN Commissioner for Human Rights.

Meanwhile, the British ambassador in Geneva said at the time that the Bahraini government had misrepresented a private meeting he held with the Bahraini minister for human rights by claiming London backs the al-Khalifa’s human rights record. …source

Saudi Arabia, UAE seek $10.8 billion in U.S. weapons
16 October, 2013 – USA Today

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates say they are seeking $10.8 billion in advanced U.S.-made missiles and other weapons as part of bids by Western-allied Gulf states to stay ahead of claimed military strides by rival Iran.

Gulf nations regularly spend billions of dollars on U.S. military equipment and upgrades amid lingering regional tensions with Iran, which often conducts major military exercises and claims to have made advances in drone technology and other areas.

Notifications posted late Tuesday on a Pentagon website say Saudi Arabia is seeking to purchase $6.8 billion in missiles, bombs, launch systems and other ordnance. The UAE is seeking approval for a similar ordered estimated at $4 billion.

…source

Sarah Brown: “A girl with an education is the most terrifying force in the world”
By Milana Knezevic – Xindex – 16 October, 2013

World leaders need to deliver on their pledges to institute universal primary education — especially for girls — if the world wants to empower the next generation, campaigner Sarah Brown said in a speech at the launch of the autumn issue of Index on Censorship magazine on Tuesday.

“The women who lead, read,” Brown said. “A girl with an education is the most terrifying force in the world.”

The campaigner argued passionately for education being a key, vital factor in advancement of women and girls around the world. Brown cited statistics that underlined her point: Educated girls grow into women who are more likely to educate their own children, have them vaccinated and have jobs that support a better financial life for their families.

“Why is the most terrifying thing for the Taliban a girl with a book?” she asked when talking about the role of Malala Yousafzai, the teenager who was targeted for campaigning for girls’ education. Brown is co-founder of A World At School, the campaigning education organisation that helped convene Malala Day at the United Nations this summer.

Speaking at the Lilian Baylis Technology School in London, where she also met with students, Brown followed up the speech with a question and answer session, chaired by Helen Lewis, deputy editor of New Statesman magazine.

“I don’t understand why there is so much anger at women who speak out,” Brown said when Lewis asked about Twitter trolls.

Referencing the vicious Twitter attacks on Caroline Criado-Perez, she remarked: “It’s clear that the public square does not offer a safe space for Britain’s women.”

But she also spoke on the positive sides of online speech, saying Twitter can be a “space to describe yourself as you want to be described.”

Brown conceded there is still a lot of work to be done to reach universal education. With two years left to reach the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education, millions of children around the world still don’t have access to it.

Brown said it was appropriate for her to speak at the launch of the latest issue of Index on Censorship magazine, which includes a special report on ignored, suppressed and censored voices. …source

Indications of a ‘grand bargain’ between Washington and Tehran make it imperative for Gulf states to stand together economically, militarily and politically

Is the US plotting regional mayhem?
By Khalaf Al Habtoor – Gulf News – 14 October, 2013

Something’s cooking in the White House and the smell drifting towards Saudi Arabia, the other Gulf states and Egypt is far from pleasant. America is one of our closest western allies, or so we’re meant to believe. Recent disclosures suggest otherwise. The Obama administration’s policy vis-a-vis the Middle East and the Gulf lacks transparency and is marked by contradiction and confusion — perhaps deliberately so. This column aims at giving you a clearer picture.

One of my biggest fears may be close to realisation. For years, I’ve been warning about a future unholy alliance between the US and the Islamic Republic of Iran to the detriment of Gulf Cooperation Council states in numerous articles. Under the title ‘Are Sunnis victims of a new Great Game’, published in April 2012, I wrote: “There is a credible school of thought that Washington’s long-term agenda revolves around luring Iran into its camp on the premise that Arab Shiites would follow … In theory, Washington would like to appoint a powerful entity like Iran as its proxy regional caretaker just as the Shah was until he suffered delusions of grandeur. But, first of all, it would be obliged to throw predominantly Sunni states under a bus.”

A year ago, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was still spouting his unhinged rants, some readers may have found the above analysis hard to believe, even though a US rapprochement with Iran has long been promoted by various US think-tanks as well as prominent American writers, analysts and politicians, including John Kerry. You’ll recall that President Barack Obama pledged to reach out to Iranians during his first term, saying the US wanted to end the strained relationship. That approach failed, mostly because a US president can’t engage in photo-ops with a Holocaust denier without locking horns with the pro-Israel lobby.

Then along comes Hassan Rouhani who worked his treacle-coated magic when, hey presto, he makes history as the first Iranian leader to have a phone conversation with a US president since 1979. Obama’s National Security Adviser Susan Rice says normalisation of US-Iranian relations could ensue. King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia is not amused while Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is practically foaming at the mouth calling Rouhani a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Not only is Obama alienating his traditional allies with his bearded new best friend, he has astounded Egyptians by showing support for the Muslim Brotherhood and condemning the interim government for arresting its leaders. There is a belief among Egyptians that the US president funded the Brotherhood’s campaign prior to last year’s elections in connection with some kind of deal. Conspiracy theory! I thought so until I read an article in the World Tribune some days ago quoting former US Joint Chiefs Chairman General Hugh Shelton, who revealed to Fox News that the Obama administration had been working towards destabilising Egypt and Bahrain for the last two years. …more

BAHRAIN : Use of the new Chemical weapons against protesters
10 October, 2013 – SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)

The CS Gas used in Bahrain is “Weaponized” in the truest sense of the word. The use of Military Grade CS GAS an Order of Magnitude more potent than “riot control agents” used in the streets of the United States and the United Kingdom is well documented in Bahrain. The weapon being discussed here is a Combat grade CS Gas.

Use of CS Gas in war is prohibited under the terms of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, signed by most nations in 1993, with all but five other nations signing between the years of 1994 through 1997. Only five nations have not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention and are therefore unhindered by restrictions on the use of CS gas: Angola, Egypt, North Korea, Somalia, and Syria.

The “weaponization” that the PHR Report discusses concerns the use of CS Gas, typically considered “less-than-lethal”, as a “lethal weapon”. Gas Canisters are being fired as a projectile directly are protesters causing death and CS Gas is being fired directly into homes, transforming them into “gas chambers” where infants and elderly die from asphyxiation. – Phlipn

Bahrain Is Criticized for Its ‘Torrent’ of Tear Gas Use

Despite a pledge to stop abuses by its security forces, the ruling Sunni minority in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain is engaged in systematic and disproportionate use of tear gas on its restive Shiite majority, permitting police officers to routinely fire volleys at point-blank range at crowds and into homes and vehicles in Shiite neighborhoods, a leading rights group said in a report released on Wednesday.

A Bahraini protester hit by a tear gas canister on Sunday was treated by underground doctors and nurses in a house after clashes with the police.

The group, the Physicians for Human Rights, which has been highly critical of the Bahraini monarchy’s behavior since the Shiite protests inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings began there 18 months ago, called the policy on tear gas use unprecedented in the world, even among dictatorships where tear gas is a staple tool for crowd control.

Its report, based on dozens of interviews of victims in Bahrain and forensic evidence gathered there by the group’s investigators in April, said the Shiite populace’s abnormally prolonged exposure to the tear gas’s toxic components had already led to an alarming increase in miscarriages, respiratory ailments and other maladies.

It documented examples of grievous wounds suffered by civilians whose skulls and limbs had been struck by metal tear gas canisters blasted from a few feet away. The report also described instances in which people not engaged in protests were attacked with tear gas fired into their cars and through the windows or doors of their homes, including at least two cases in which residents died from complications from exposure to the gas because they were trapped in enclosed spaces.

“Since February 2011, the Bahraini government has unleashed a torrent of these toxic chemical agents against men, women and children, including the elderly and infirm,” asserted the report, titled “Weaponizing Tear Gas.” …source

OPPOSITION LEADER DENIED MEDICAL TREATMENT
10 October, 2013 – Amnesty International

Dr ‘Abdel-Jalil al-Singace, one of the 13 jailed prominent Bahraini opposition activists, has been denied medical treatment. He is a prisoner of conscience.

An academic and spokesperson of the al-Haq Movement, Dr ‘Abdel-Jalil al-Singace, aged 51, is serving a life sentence in Jaw Prison, which is around 30km south of the capital, Manama. Since March 2013 at least nine appointments with the cardiology, ophthalmology and dermatology departments at the Bahrain Defence Military Hospital and 11 appointments at the prison clinic have been postponed because he refuses to wear the prison uniform.

According to his family, Dr ‘Abdel-Jalil al-Singace suffers, amongst other ailments, from sinus inflammation and a perforated eardrum for which he needs surgery.

Between March and mid-July all 13 activists had been denied family visits for refusing to wear the prison uniform, saying it is only worn by criminals and to wear the uniform would be to admit criminality: Every time family members went to the prison they were told they could not visit because the prisoners were “refusing prison instructions”. In mid-July 11 of the 13 started to wear prison uniform, as a result of family pressure, and therefore have been able to receive visitors. Only Dr ‘Abdel-Jalil al-Singace and Hassan Mshaima’ still refuse to wear it.

The High Criminal Court of Appeal in Manama issued its verdict on 4 September 2012, upholding the 13 defendants’ sentences of between five years and life in prison on charges including “setting up terror groups to topple the royal regime and change the constitution”. The Court of Cassation upheld the sentences on 7 January 2013. See Additional Information for a list of all 13 prisoners’ names. …more

Bahrain prison care questioned after inmate death
12 October, 2013

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — The lawyer of a Bahraini prisoner who died after being transferred to a hospital is claiming authorities waited too long to provide medical treatment and ignored his deteriorating health, claims officials have denied.

The dispute is likely to bring calls for greater scrutiny on prison conditions in the Gulf nation.

Lawyer Zainab Abdulaziz said officials did not properly care for Yousef Ali al-Nashmi, arrested in August as part of crackdowns following a wave of protests. She said al-Nashmi was in a coma when he was finally hospitalized Sept. 23. He died Friday.

Bahrain’s public prosecutor’s office said early Saturday that al-Nashmi died of HIV-linked problems and had been scheduled to be released.

Sunni-ruled Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, has been gripped by nonstop unrest since early 2011.
…source

Bahraini police brutally quashes protest at funeral
13 October, 2013 – Islamic Invitation Turkey

Bahraini forces have resorted to the use of plastic bullets, tear gas and sound grenades in a brutal effort to disband hundreds of anti-regime protesters following the funeral for Yousif Ali al-Nashmi, who was killed while in custody of the Saudi-backed regime.

The demonstrators, who chanted slogans against the Al Khalifa regime, clashed with the forces as they were trying to march to the capital’s iconic Pearl Square following the funeral of the jailed activist on Saturday.

“The people want the downfall of the regime,” the protester shouted in unison.

According to witnesses, several protesters were injured in the clashes.

The funeral for al-Nashmi, who died Friday while under the custody of the despotic regime, was held in the western Manama suburb of Jidd Haf.

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

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

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

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

Official violence causes severe injuries among mourners in Bahrain
13 October, 2013 – ABNA

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Bahrain security forces used excessive violence yesterday (Saturday 12th Oct) in a brutal crackdown on the mourners of Yousif Al Nashmi who died in custody on 11th Oct. The crackdown resulted in bloody injuries among the mourners.

The injuries indicate the security forces’ use of excessive force and fire arms (shotgun pellets) from close range and the direct targeting of persons in the upper body parts in attempted killings.

A youth sustained severe injuries to the face and jaw with internationally banned weapon shotgun pellets. This, however, leaves no doubt whatsoever that the Government is heading in the direction of further escalation and repression to ban citizens from fundamental rights, such as to freedom of expression and mourning victims of the regime.

The crackdown comes amid a wide campaign in which tens of citizens have been arrested.

The security apparatus is continuing to ban rights and killings and repression in contrary to the official claims of reforming the security apparatus. Citizens inside and outsides prisons are being denied basic rights. This is what led to the death of 31 year old prisoner Al Nashmi. …more

Bahrain: Chaotic scenes as protests continued inside and outside prisons
By davidswanson – 11 October, 2013 – Warisacrime.org

Yousuf Al Nashmi, 31, a young Bahraini citizen, is dying as a result of severe torture inflicted on him in jail. This week the regime ordered his release when it became clear that he was approaching “clinical death”[1]. His family protested his ill-treatment and detention. His lawyer, Zainab Abdul Aziz repeatedly called for his release but the Alkhalifa insisted on keeping him at the torture dungeons despite his severe brain tumour. He was tried while his body was on machines. Only when he approached death did the Alkhalifa ordered his release so that he dies outside jail.

Bahraini detainees at the Dry Dock and the central prison (Jau) have been on hunger strike since 2nd October. They are protesting against ill-treatment, intolerable prison conditions and the new restrictions imposed during family visits. Several detainees collapsed as a result. Those prisons have become notorious for the lack of essential facilities needed for human habitation and intensification of repression, attacks on, and torture of detainees.

A young Bahraini sentenced to life imprisonment went on strike demanding that his solitary confinement be ended[3]. Kumail Al Manami has been kept in his small cell for two years during which he reached the verge of death. He fell into coma several times and his body began fading away as a result of torture, ill-treatment and psychological effects of his incommunicado detention.

On Tuesday 8th October, five youth from Duraz Town were seized by members of Death Squads and taken to unknown destinations[4]. Among them is Sayed Abbas Sayed Mahdi, whose brother, Sayed Mahmood is already in jail on trumpeted charges and false accusations. He is married with two children. At mid-day Wednesday, three youth were snatched from their homes at Bilad Al Qadeem Town. Among them was the brother of Martyr Hani Abdul Aziz. …more

Bahrain police fire tear gas at protesters
15 October, 2013 – ABNA

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – The demonstrators, who chanted slogans against the Al Khalifa regime, clashed with the forces as they were trying to march to the capital’s Pearl Square following the funeral of a prisoner on Saturday.

“The people want the downfall of the regime,” shouted the protesters.

According to witnesses, several protesters were injured in the clashes.

The funeral for Yousif Ali al-Nashmi, who died as he was in regime custody on Friday, was held in the western Manama suburb of Jidd Haf.

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

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

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

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

Bahraini activists sentenced to 700 years in prison in September: report
09 October, 2013 – Tehran Times

According to a report released by al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, over the past month, Bahrain has seen the highest levels of violence used by the regime since the uprising began in 2011.

Al-Wefaq has documented 1,900 cases of human rights violations in a report only in the month of September, including incidents in which regime forces used excessive force or torture.

According to the report, last month, 214 anti-regime protesters were arrested, including two women and 40 children, the highest number since the revolution began.

The al-Wefaq report also said that 111 activists, who were convicted by a Bahraini court and given sentences of up to 15 years, were tried based on fabricated charges, Press TV reported.

On Monday, Bahrainis took to the streets in the northeastern island of Sitra for the sixth consecutive day to denounce the regime’s unrelenting crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

People from all walks of life attended marches in Sitra to demand reforms and an end to the decades-old rule of the Al Khalifa dynasty.

Earlier in the day, a court in Bahrain sentenced nine anti-regime activists to life in prison after convicting them of being allegedly involved in an attack in November 2011 in the capital Manama.

Four of the defendants, who were present at the court, had previously said that they were subjected to torture and mistreatment in solitary confinement.

Five other defendants, tried in absentia, were handed additional 10-year jail terms for failing to hand themselves in.

The verdict brought to 104 the number of pro-democracy protesters sentenced to lengthy jail terms in Bahrain.

Similar rallies were also held in the villages of Nuwaidrat and Samahich close to Sitra, where protesters expressed solidarity with the detainees and condemned the unjust sentences.

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

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

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

Petition: Drop the Charges Against CUNY Protesters

The NYPD violently arrested six CUNY students protesting David Petraeus’ new professorship at the Honors College, and charged them with disorderly conduct, riot, resisting arrest and obstruction of governmental administration, for which they could face serious jail time. Video obtained by Firedoglake’s Dissenter blog shows their use of force was completely unprovoked.

Can you please sign the following petition asking Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. to drop all charges against the students? PETITION HERE

Students and faculty at the City University of New York have the constitutional right to engage in peaceful protest against David Petraeus’ professorship at the Honors College. Recent video of NYPD officers engaging in outrageous and abusive acts of force against these protesters cannot go unchallenged. We, the undersigned, demand all charges against these individuals be dropped immediately and for the arresting officers be investigated for their conduct immediately.

…source

20 Extraordinary Facts about CIA Extraordinary Rendition and Secret Detention
5 February, 2013 – by Jonathan Horowitz & Stacy Cammarano – Open Society Justice Initiative

After the 9-11 attacks against the United States, the Central Intelligence Agency conspired with dozens of governments to build a secret extraordinary rendition and detention program that spanned the globe. Extraordinary rendition is the transfer—without legal process—of a detainee to the custody of a foreign government for purposes of detention and interrogation.

The program was intended to protect America. But, as described in the Open Society Justice Initiative’s new report, it stripped people of their most basic rights, facilitated gruesome forms of torture, at times captured the wrong people, and debased the United States’ human rights reputation world-wide.

To date, the United States and the vast majority of the other governments involved—more than 50 in all—have refused to acknowledge their participation, compensate the victims, or hold accountable those most responsible for the program and its abuses. Here are 20 additional facts from the new report that expose just how brutal and mistaken the program was:

1. At least 136 individuals were reportedly extraordinarily rendered or secretly detained by the CIA and at least 54 governments reportedly participated in the CIA’s secret detention and extraordinary rendition program; classified government documents may reveal many more.

2. A series of Department of Justice memoranda authorized torture methods that the CIA applied on detainees. The Bush Administration referred to these methods as “enhanced interrogation techniques.” “Enhanced interrogation techniques” included “walling” (quickly pulling the detainee forward and then thrusting him against a flexible false wall), “water dousing,” “waterboarding,” “stress positions” (forcing the detainee to remain in body positions designed to induce physical discomfort), “wall standing” (forcing the detainee to remain standing with his arms outstretched in front of him so that his fingers touch a wall five four to five feet away and support his entire body weight), “cramped confinement” in a box, “insult slaps,” (slapping the detainee on the face with fingers spread), “facial hold” (holding a detainee’s head temporarily immobile during interrogation with palms on either side of the face), “attention grasp” (grasping the detainee with both hands, one hand on each side of the collar opening, and quickly drawing him toward the interrogator), forced nudity, sleep deprivation while being vertically shackled, and dietary manipulation.

3. President Bush has stated that about a hundred detainees were held under the CIA secret detention program, about a third of whom were questioned using “enhanced interrogation techniques.”

4. The CIA’s Office of Inspector General has reportedly investigated a number of “erroneous renditions” in which the CIA had abducted and detained the wrong people. A CIA officer told the Washington Post: “They picked up the wrong people, who had no information. In many, many cases there was only some vague association” with terrorism.

5. German national Khaled El-Masri was seized in Macedonia because he had been mistaken for an Al Qaeda suspect with a similar name. He was held incommunicado and abused in Macedonia and in secret CIA detention in Afghanistan. On December 13, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights held that Macedonia had violated El-Masri’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, and found that his ill-treatment by the CIA at Skopje airport in Macedonia amounted to torture.

6. Wesam Abdulrahman Ahmed al-Deemawi was seized in Iran and held for 77 days in the CIA’s “Dark Prison” in Afghanistan. He was later held in Bagram for 40 days and subjected to sleep deprivation, hung from the ceiling by his arms in the “strappado” position, threatened by dogs, made to watch torture videos, and subjected to sounds of electric sawing accompanied by cries of pain.

7. Several former interrogators and counterterrorism experts have confirmed that “coercive interrogation” is ineffective. Col. Steven Kleinman, Jack Cloonan, and Matthew Alexander stated in a letter to Congress that that U.S. interrogation policy “came with heavy costs” and that “[k]ey allies, in some instances, refused to share needed intelligence, terrorists attacks increased world wide, and Al Qaeda and like-minded groups recruited a new generation of Jihadists.”

8. After being extraordinarily rendered by the United States to Egypt in 2002, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, under threat of torture at the hands of Egyptian officials, fabricated information relating to Iraq’s provision of chemical and biological weapons training to Al Qaeda. In 2003, then Secretary of State Colin Powell relied on this fabricated information in his speech to the United Nations that made the case for war against Iraq.

9. Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded at least 83 times by the CIA. FBI interrogator Ali Soufan testified before Congress that he elicited “actionable intelligence” from Zubaydah using rapport-building techniques but that Zubaydah “shut down” after he was waterboarded.

10. Torture is prohibited in all circumstances under international law and allegations of torture must be investigated and criminally punished. The United States prosecuted Japanese interrogators for “waterboarding” U.S. prisoners during World War II.

11. On November 20, 2002, Gul Rahman froze to death in a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan called the “Salt Pit,” after a CIA case officer ordered guards to strip him naked, chain him to the concrete floor, and leave him there overnight without blankets.

12. Fatima Bouchar was abused by the CIA, and by persons believed to be Thai authorities, for several days in the Bangkok airport. Bouchar reported she was chained to a wall and not fed for five days, at a time when she was four-and-a-half months pregnant. After that she was extraordinarily rendered to Libya.

13. Syria was one of the “most common destinations for rendered suspects,” as were Egypt and Jordan. One Syrian prison facility contained individual cells that were roughly the size of coffins. Detainees report incidents of torture involving a chair frame used to stretch the spine (the “German chair”) and beatings.

14. Muhammed al-Zery and Ahmed Agiza, while seeking asylum in Sweden, were extraordinarily rendered to Egypt where they were tortured with shocks to their genitals. Al-Zery was also forced to lie on an electrified bed frame.

15. Abu Omar, an Italian resident, was abducted from the streets of Milan, extraordinarily rendered to Egypt, and secretly detained for fourteen months while Egyptian agents interrogated and tortured him by subjecting him to electric shocks. An Italian court convicted in absentia 22 CIA agents and one Air Force pilot for their roles in the extraordinary rendition of Abu Omar.

16. Known black sites—secret prisons run by the CIA on foreign soil—existed in Afghanistan, Lithuania, Morocco, Poland, Romania, and Thailand.

17. Abd al Rahim al Nashiri was secretly detained in various black sites. While secretly detained in Poland, U.S. interrogators subjected al Nashiri to a mock execution with a power drill as he stood naked and hooded; racked a semi-automatic handgun close to his head as he sat shackled before them; held him in “standing stress positions;” and threatened to bring in his mother and sexually abuse her in front of him.

18. President Obama’s 2009 Executive Order repudiating torture does not repudiate the CIA extraordinary rendition program. It was specifically crafted to preserve the CIA’s authority to detain terrorist suspects on a short-term, transitory basis prior to rendering them to another country for interrogation or trial.

19. President Obama’s 2009 Executive Order also established an interagency task force to review interrogation and transfer policies and issue recommendations on “the practices of transferring individuals to other nations.” The interagency task force report was issued in 2009, but continues to be withheld from the public. It appears that the U.S. intends to continue to rely on anti-torture diplomatic assurances from recipient countries and post-transfer monitoring of detainee treatment, but those methods were not effective safeguards against torture for Maher Arar, who was tortured in Syria, or Ahmed Agiza and Muhammed al-Zery, who were tortured in Egypt.

20. The Senate Select Intelligence Committee has completed a 6,000 page report that further details the CIA detention and interrogation operations with access to classified sources. However, the report itself remains classified.

…source

The United-States abduct one of their ex-agents in Libya
Voltaire Network – 10 October, 2013

President Obama gave the order to abduct Abu Anas al-Libi (a.k.a Nazih Abd al-Hamid al-Ruqhay), on October 6th 2013 in Libya. A team of the Delta Force succeeded without making any victims.

Even supposing that al-Libi is a legitimate target for the US, as said by the Secretary of State John Kerry, this kidnapping constitutes a violation of international law and of Libyan sovereignty.

In 1995, the jihadist, having joined Osama Bin Laden in Soudan, had participated in an failed attempt to assassinate the Egyptian president, Hosni Moubarack. He then took refuge in Doha (Qatar).

In 1996, the english secret services (MI5 and MI6) financed an Al-Qaïda cell to assassinate the Libyan leader Mouammar el-Kadhafi [1]. Anas Al-Libi played the intermediary in the transaction and this way received political asylum in the UK. He lived in Manchester until he was charged, in 2000, by the US.

In 2000, he was accused, by the South District Court of New York, of having proceeded in 1993 in photographic reconnoitring that would have enabled, five years later, the attacks on the US embassies of Daar es-Salam and Nairobi, on the 7th of August 1998, killing 12 americans (and incidently 214 other people, in a total of 5 000 non-american injured). When the List of the most wanted suspects by the FBI was created in 2001, a 5 million dollar reward was offered for his capture.

Various sources claim that he was detained in Iran from 2003 to 2012, at which date he returned to Libya. However, on the 6th of June 2007, Amnesty International claimed that he was actually detained in a secret CIA prison [2].

In December 2010, the Libyan representative at the UN indicated that Al-Libi and his family had returned to their country, as part of a negotiated peace treaty by Saif el-Islam Kadhafi, under US surveillance. With other members of Al-Qaïda and under Abdelhakim Belhaj’s authority [3], he participates, starting February 2011 (three months later) in NATO’s operations in Libya, leading to the Jamahiriya’s overthrowing and to Mouammar el-Kadhafi’s lynching. One of al-Libi’s son’s is killed in retaliation by the nationalists in October 2011.

Kidnapped by the US Secretary of Defence in Tripoli (Lybia) on October 6th 2013, Abu Anas al-Libi was, according to the New York Times, transferred aboard USS San Antonio, in the Mediterranean sea, to be interrogated [4] outside of the US penal system’s protection [5]. He could eventually be handed over to the US justice in a few weeks or months.

USS San Antonio is a landing ship, and it’s holds have been transformed into a secret prison by the US Navy. The detainees are interrogated according to a special techniques program by Dr. Martin Seligman [6]. The goal is not to obtain information, but to condition the victims. Officially, president Barack Obama has closed these secret prisons and forbidden torture.

The United-States have not yet claimed the abduction, contrary to international law since Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame’s abduction on April 19th 2011 (which was made public two months later).
…source

Bahrain jails 18 men for police station attack
10 October,2013 – Arab News

DUBAI: A Bahraini court on Thursday sentenced 18 men to between five and seven years in prison after they were convicted of attacking a police station, a judicial source said.

Fifteen defendants were jailed for seven years and three for five years after being of attacking the police station in a Shiite village near Manama last November.

They had been charged with “aggression” against police, “possession of petrol bombs” and taking part in an unauthorized protest “aiming at undermining public security.”

No casualties were reported in the attack.

Thursday’s ruling brings to 122 the number of people jailed since September 29 in connection with violence in the kingdom that began in February 2011 with a month-long uprising.

In August, King Hamad decreed stiffer penalties for “terror acts.”

These include a minimum 10-year jail term for an attempted bombing. If such attacks cause casualties, the sentence can be life imprisonment or the death penalty.

Bahraini activists continue to demonstrate in villages outside the capital and frequently clash with police.
At least 89 people have been killed since the protests began two and a half years ago, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.

Strategically located across the Gulf from Iran, Bahrain is home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet and is an offshore financial and services center for its oil-rich Arab neighbors.

Article 12 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Bahrain forces assault child
Al Wefaq – 8 October, 2013

Bahrain regime forces have assaulted a minor during a patrol round in a residential area. According to his family, the area wasn’t witnessing any demonstrations at the time. The forces beat the boy and caused a fracture in his hand and injuries in different parts of his body.

The incident reflects the barbarian and terrorizing behavior of the regime’s mercenary forces in dealing with children and the citizens in general.

…source