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

Saudi arrests three over online criticism
31 March, 2014 – Shia Post

Saudi Arabia has arrested three people who had criticized corruption in the country and called for an improvement in their living standards in online videos.

Activists said on Sunday that the Saudi authorities arrested the three on Saturday.

A young man, who identified himself as Abdulaziz Mohammed al-Dosari, posted a 30-second video on video-sharing website YouTube, saying that he earns a low income and does not have a house or a car.

“We are fed up, and you still blame those who carry out bombings,” he said, asking Saudi King Abdullah to spend money in the country to improve lives.

“Give us our money… We do not want to beg… You and your children are playing with this money,” he added.

The second video was posted by a man who said he was named Abdullah bin Othman. He said in the video that “corruption is widespread” in the kingdom while people “are hungry and oppressed.”

Othman called on people to post their comments online so that “our voices could reach the king.”

In the third video, a man, identifying himself as Saud al-Harbi, said that many people need “housing” and “a decent life.”

“Please listen to us. We want housing, we want a decent life. Do not force people to take to the streets,” he said.

Earlier this month, an online activist was jailed for 10 years after being convicted of ‘insulting Saudi leaders’ and calling for anti-regime demonstrations.

Riyadh has strictly banned any gatherings across the kingdom.

Activists say there are over 30,000 political prisoners in Saudi Arabia. …more

Obama weighs new aid for Syria terrorists; sets joint military plan with Saudis
29 March, 2014 – Shia Post

The United States is considering allowing shipments of portable air defense systems to Syrian opposition groups, a U.S. official said Friday, as President Barack Obama sought to reassure Saudi Arabia’s king that the U.S. is not taking too soft a stance in Syria and other Mideast conflicts.

A Washington Post report said Saturday that the U.S. is ready to step up covert aid to Syrian armed groups under a plan being discussed with regional allies including Saudi Arabia.

The plan includes CIA training of about 600 Syrian opposition forces per month in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar, foreign affairs columnist David Ignatius wrote on Thursday. That would double the forces currently being trained in the region.

The Obama administration was debating whether to use U.S. Special Operation forces and other military personnel in the training, something Syrian mercenaries have argued would carry less political baggage than the CIA, according to the column.

The Obama administration has been criticized by some in Congress for failing to do more in Syria, where 140,000 people have been killed so far, millions have become refugees and thousands of foreign gunmen have been trained since 2011.

Washington was also considering whether to provide the armed opposition with anti-aircraft missile launchers, known as MANPADS, to stop President Assad’s air force, the column said. Saudi Arabia wanted U.S. permission before delivering them, it said.

The plan, which was still being formalized, also called for vetting of opposition forces for “extremist links” during and after training, according to Ignatius.

Qatar has offered to pay for the first year of the program, which could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the column. The program would try to stabilize Syria by helping local councils and police in areas not under Assad’s control and seek to establish safe corridors for humanitarian aid, it said.

Saudi rulers are hoping for the United States to shift its position on support for Syrian armed opposition, whom Riyadh has backed in their battle to oust President Bashar al-Assad. …more

ISIS seizes town from Nusra in Hassakeh province
31 March, 2014 – The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Militants from the Al-Qaeda splinter group ISIS have taken over the town of Markada in Hassakeh province in fighting with the Nusra Front and other Islamist militias, according to pro-opposition media and an activist group. The reports said that a local commander of ISIS, a Turkish national, was killed in the fighting, which claimed the lives of five ISIS fighters and approximately 40 Nusra Front members.

The town lies on the highway linking the cities of Hassakeh and Deir al-Zor.

ISIS is engaged in fighting against the Nusra Front and its allies, as well as a separate campaign against the YPG Kurdish militia.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday that it could confirm at least 16 ISIS fatalities in the infighting, while the other side’s losses remained undetermined.

Also in Hassakeh province, the Kurdish YPG wrested control of a village, Jazaa, from ISIS, which suffered at least 14 fatalities during three days of fighting.

In Raqqa province to the east, where ISIS enjoys its strongest presence in the country, the Observatory said the group alerted residents via minarets in the town of Raqqa to “open their windows and open up closed places” as the group was planning to carry out the second stage of the demolition of a local shrine. …more

Salman says int’l soft policy towards Bahrain prolongs the crisis
29 March, 2014 – Shia Post

Al Wefaq secretary general Sheikh Ali Salman delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of Al Wefaq’s General Conference in Sar, where thousands of Bahrainis gathered on Friday evening. He began by saluting the people for their sacrifices and agonies for the sake of freedom and justice to Bahrain.

He strongly denounced the nonstop brutal measures against the peaceful prodemocracy struggle that has been taking place in Bahrain since February 2011.

Salman called on the masses gathered in Sar to join the opposition’s mass peaceful march on Friday 4th April.
He reiterated condemnation of all forms of violence from any side. He said the Authority is responsible for the start and continuation of violence because it is refusing the legitimate demands of the people and strangling freedoms with systematic repression against dissidents.

The opening ceremony in Sar was to be followed by Al Wefaq’s general conference to discuss the annual closing reports and elect half of its Shura Council members. However, the Bahraini Authorities have banned the event in Sar. Salman called on Al Wefaq members to attend the event in the headquarters despite the arbitrary ban.

In regards to the opposition’s position from the coming parliamentary elections, Sheik Ali Salman said if the situation remains as it is and no agreement is reached on a constitution draft for a real reform than the opposition’s only option is to continue its demands for real democratic transition.

Salman highlighted the main problems in the ruling system disapproving the unelected Government and upper house Shura Council, as well as the blatant gerrymandering in constituencies.

Salman said “The opposition parties, including Al Wefaq, believe in genuine dialogue and negotiations as a humanitarian and rational way to reach solutions. And we have always showed our readiness for this, however, we, our people, and the world have found that the Bahraini Authority lacked honesty and seriousness to engage in such dialogue”.

“The repression continues on an escalating pace and some dialogue participators are being tried, like the assistant SG of Al Wefaq Khalil al Marzooq”, he added, “The hatred speech against the people has not stopped”.

He stated, ” The opposition and people of Bahrain are more aware today of the regime’s maneuvers by which it has attempted to circumvent the legitimate demands of the people through its mixture of superficial dialogues on one hand, and continuing to practice repression on the other hand”.

“We have seen nothing new since 2013, the Authority has shown no desire for real dialogue. The opposition is managing this issue with rationalism and taking all possibilities into consideration”, he went on. ” The opposition is with the principle of and always ready for real dialogue. Nonetheless, it will not allow for the people to be fooled again. We will not waive the just demands of our people under any threats, even if it meant sending us to jail”, he stated.

He highlighted the active role of the Bahraini NGOs, teachers, journalists, workers, medics, tweeps, that advocate the people’s rights and legitimate aspirations despite all threats and repressive measures perpetrated by the authorities. …more

Embassygate in Bahrain Not the Fundamental Problem
31 March, 2014 – Brian Dooley – Huffington Post

The U.S. State Department Inspector General’s office has sunk the knife pretty deeply into U.S. Ambassador to Bahrain Thomas Krajeski. A report released last week alleged that his “failure to maintain a robust planning and review process has led to confusion and lack of focus among some staff members.” The report also claimed that “Management controls processes are weak across the board,” and “A lack of transparency in management policies exacerbates low morale.”

The report charges that Krajeski’s “belief that reactive ‘seat of the pants’ leadership works best in Bahrain’s challenging environment has left staff members who do not have access to him on a regular basis confused.”

The report from the 11-member team is nothing if not thorough, finding fault in all sorts of places, and making 74 recommendations, including that “Embassy Manama should adopt a policy that forbids drivers to put a car into gear until all passengers fasten their seat belts,” and that “Embassy Manama should implement and publish a policy restricting use of personally owned furniture and furnishings.”

I cannot assess whether Ambassador Krajeski is as poor a manager as the report suggests — I’ve only met him a few times, largely because I haven’t been allowed into Bahrain for over two years. But when we have spoken, he’s been refreshingly frank about the challenges he faces and more open to a candid discussion than many of his colleagues.

Yet some of the report’s most interesting findings are not about Krajeski’s performance, but the reality of the U.S.-Bahrain relationship and the functioning of the embassy. It states, for example, that “Embassy Manama has two Leahy Vetting officers, both in the political/economic section…. In 2012, the embassy vetted 308 individuals.” U.S. Leahy laws prohibit the Departments of State of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign military or police units believed to have violated human rights. It’s unclear from this report how many Bahraini security officials were denied U.S. support under this law. …more

International human rights organisations support terrorists, says Minister
31 March, 2014 – BNA

(BNA) – Minister of State for Information Affairs and the Government’s Official Spokesperson Sameera Ebrahim bin Rajab said that a major project is currently being implemented against the whole region, noting that Arab countries, be it those which went through changes, those expecting change or those which have overcome it, like Bahrain, admit that an organised and systematic plan, was prepared a long time ago, is staged against them.

In an Interview with Elaph online newspaper, the Minister of State said that the Arab media, including the Bahraini one, has not been up to the challenge as it lacked the needed infrastructure to face the sudden changes, stressing that the project was launched since the beginning of the new millennium, with the collapse of the two towers in New York.

“The process of changing the global system began in September 11, 2001, and since then the so-called ‘Islamic terrorism’ was created,” she explained, adding that the whole region came under attack and was blamed for the outbreak of terrorism because of lack of democracy claims.

The targeting of the ruling systems across the Arab world and the “exportation” of democracy to them started since 2001 and still continues. …more

After training in Kearney, Nebraska, Clark Gable was stationed in Europe. In May, 1943, he flew this mission to Antwerp, Belgium. Gable flew as photographer/observer on this mission. William R. Calhoun was the pilot and Lt. Col. William A. Hatcher was copilot. …source

“Delta”, a former Israeli army officer commanding a Jewish-led militia force during the “Ukraining revolution.”

His nom de guerre is Delta. He is one of the military leaders of the “Ukrainian revolution” even if, as he himself says, he does not consider himself Ukrainian. Under the helmet he wears a kippa. The story was released by the Jewish press agency JTA (headquartered in New York), after doing an anonymous interview and photographing him in camouflage with a bulletproof vest, his face hidden behind sunglasses and a black scarf. …source

Sami Mira Ahmed Mushaymaa. A travesty of Justice.

An illiterate young man, 25 will be executed unless we take action. What can you do to help him and the other detainees? The Bahrain F.I. will take place on April 6th. Please condemn running this sports event in a country where the human rights are terrible. Pressure needs to be brought on the Khalifa regime to release to over 3500 detainees, a third, children. 

Sami Mira Ahmed Mushaymaa, Abbas Jamil Tahir Alsamee, Ali Mohamed Taher Alsamee and Yousuf Ahmed Mohamed Taher Alsamee were “pronounced guilty” of killing 3 policemen BEFORE their trial started. Only the dead UAE policeman has been identified, not the 2 Bahrain victims. The Prime Minister called for the trial to be “expedited” and death sentences to follow.

The Prosecutor said on 4th March that four men  had admitted to being influenced by “foreign agents”, Iran. Sami was soaked in cold water, chilled with an air conditioner, beaten on his genitals and forced to stand for long periods. Bader Ebrahim Ghaith, his torturer said the C.I.D. would tell the Judge to sentence him to at least 15 years.

The police dumped weapons and incriminating evidence at Sami’s house and photographed the evidence. His family saw him on 23rd March with teeth broken, burn marks and heavily clothed to hide torture marks. His family’s home has been attacked twenty times and they are terrified.

His co-defendant Abbas Alsamee was electrocuted on his genitals and faced the same freezing treatment. He is still at the Criminal Investigation Directorate, three weeks after his arrest. This raises great fears for his safety under constant interrogation.

The twenty five men are mainly from the Alsamee and Mushaymaa families. Are they known troublemakers or easy to pick up when the police want to make quick arrests in night raids after a colleague has been killed? Sami Mushaymaa is a relative of Hasan Mushaima, Secretary General of Haq, The Movement of Liberty and Democracy. Hasan is one of the thirteen Leaders of the Opposition, jailed for life. Sami has been questioned about the Haq leaders but knows nothing.

Sami was targeted by the Intelligence Department in 2010 and had all his teeth smashed. He was arrested as part of a “terrorist cell” in 2010 but released after eight months.

He was picked up at the Pearl Roundabout in 2011 and charged with illegal gathering and making molotov cocktails, never found. He was released again due to lack of evidence. He has recently returned home. Why would he put himself and his family at risk again?

The Mushaima family have battled to get medical treatment for Hasan who suffers from cancer. Every time they raise this issue they are intimidated or a member of the family is arrested. Ahmed Mushaima, Hasan’s son was picked up at the airport returning from Iraq on 28th December 2013. He was jailed for thirty days for congregating and missed important college exams. Ahmed was severely beaten on his previously injured knees and could not sit down when his family visited him. He goes to court on 27th March 2014.

The families of important leaders are continuously harassed and having the same surname is a liability. What can the international legal and political community do about this?

Between the Nuremberg Trials and the “Glorious” Egyptian Judiciary
by ESAM AL-AMIN – 25 March, 2014 – Counter Punch

“We are proud of Egypt’s glorious judiciary system.” Field Marshal Abdelfattah Sisi, leader of Egypt’s Military Coup

The Nuremberg Trials (in Nuremberg, Germany)

Charges: Wars of Aggression, War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity.

Number of Victims Declared by the Prosecution at Trial: At least 40 million in Europe alone.

Judges (4): British, American, French, Soviet

Trial Period: November 20, 1945 – October 1, 1946 (316 days)

Number of Court Sessions: 38 full days

Number of People Accused: 23 (Over 200 Nazi leaders were later tried at Nuremberg.)

Number of Accused Convicted: 20

Number of Accused Condemned to Death: 12

The Minya Trials (in el-Minya, Egypt)

Charges: Storming a police station, killing a police officer, rioting, and mass protests in el-Minya (75 miles south of Cairo) in the aftermath of the massacres at Raba’a Al-Adawiyya Mosque and Al-Nahdha Square in Cairo on August 14, 2013, that killed over 1,000 protesters by the army and security officers.

Number of Victims Declared by the Prosecution at Trial: 1 (A police officer.)

Judges (3): Led by presiding judge Said Youssef Sabri. [Sabri is the same judge that acquitted all officials and police officers accused of killing about two-dozen protesters in the Bani Swaif region in Upper Egypt during the 18 revolutionary days after the January 25, 2011 mass protests.]

Trial Period: March 22-24, 2014 (2 days)

Number of Court Sessions: 2 (totaling 100 minutes)
[The first session on Mar. 22 lasted for 45 minutes where the indictment was officially presented. The second session was on Mar. 24, where the accused were sentenced. It lasted less than one hour.]

Number of People Accused: 545

Number of the Accused Identified as Members of the MB: 122

Number of the Accused Not Identified as Members of the MB: 423

Number of Pages of Police Investigations turned over by the Prosecution to the Judge and Defense Teams on the first day of trial on Mar. 22: Over 14,000.

Number of Government Witnesses Heard by the Judges: 1 (A police officer was the only government witness to offer testimony at trial but was not allowed to be cross-examined.)

Number of Defendants Attending the Trial: 128

Number of Defendants Arraigned by the Presiding Judge: 51 (The remaining 77 were at trial with the other defendants in a cage but were not even acknowledged by the presiding judge.)

Number of Defense Lawyers for all defendants allowed to Attend the Trial by the Presiding Judge: Less than three dozen (many others not allowed)

Number of Witnesses Offered by the Defense Teams: Hundreds

Number of Defense Witnesses Allowed by the Presiding Judge to Testify: None

Number of the Accused Condemned to Death: 529 (including all the defendants attending the trial)

Number of the Accused Condemned to Death but Identified by Defense Lawyers as already Dead before the August Protests: At least 3

Number of the Accused Condemned to Death but Identified by Defense Lawyers as Being Outside Egypt during the August Protests: At least 5

Number of the Accused Condemned to Death but Identified by Defense Lawyers as Minors during the August Protests (it’s unconstitutional to sentence a minor to death in Egypt):
At least 2

But what have been the reactions over the death sentences?

(Note the weak reaction and lack of condemnation or outrage by the US and EU.)

Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs: The death sentences were “only the first verdict in the trial process…It was reached after careful study of the case.”

Marie Harf, a State Department spokeswoman: “It simply does not seem possible that a fair review of evidence and testimony, consistent with international standards, could be accomplished. [I]t’s an important relationship [with Egypt]…so we don’t want to completely cut off the relationship…”

Catherine Ashton, Foreign Policy Chief of the European Union: “It was with utmost concern that I learnt that the court in Minya in southern Egypt sentenced 529 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to death. Notwithstanding the serious nature of the crimes for which they were convicted, capital punishment can never be justified.”

Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East Director at Human Rights Watch: “It’s shocking even amid Egypt’s deep political repression that a court has sentenced 529 people to death without giving them any meaningful opportunity to defend themselves. The Minya court failed to carry out its most fundamental duty to assess the individual guilt of each defendant, violating the most basic fair trial right. These death sentences should be immediately quashed.”

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Program Director at Amnesty International: “This is the largest single batch of simultaneous death sentences we’ve seen in recent years, not just in Egypt but anywhere in the world. Egypt’s courts are quick to punish Mohamed Morsi’s supporters but ignore gross human rights violations by the security forces. While thousands of Morsi’s supporters languish in jail, there has not been an adequate investigation into the deaths of hundreds of protesters. Just one police officer is facing a prison sentence, for the deaths of 37 detainees.”

Sahraoui was referring to the deliberate killing of 37 anti-coup protesters while in government’s custody last August. They were arrested after the Raba’a massacre and were left in handcuffs and shackles for six hours under 110 heat (43) inside a prison vehicle that could only hold twenty people. When they started to shout in protest, the prisoners were gassed by police officers and their corpses burned. After 11 officers were put on trial earlier this month for this massacre, 10 were either acquitted or received suspended sentences.

Meanwhile another mass trial against those opposing the military coup, including senior MB leaders, will open today in the same Minya court before the same presiding judge, with 683 defendants facing similar charges.

While the military coup regime flexes its muscles and shows contempt for any notion of justice or human rights, the world is looking the other way. For many governments it’s back to business as usual with authoritarian regimes. President Barack Obama is rewarding King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia with a state visit this week.

Long gone are the days when Obama declared in 2009 in Cairo that “the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn’t steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose are not just American ideas, [but] they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere.” Given his administration’s timid response to the gross human rights violations in Egypt and its open support for authoritarian regimes such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which have bankrolled Egypt’s military coup, President Obama’s words now ring hollow. …source

Risen: Obama administration is this generation’s ‘greatest enemy of press freedom’
by Andrew Beaujon – 24 March, 2014 – Poynter.org

“It won’t take me long to alienate everyone in the room,” Jeffrey Toobin told an audience in New York Friday. “For better or worse, it has been clear there is no journalistic privilege under the First Amendment.”

The New Yorker staff writer and CNN commentator was appearing on a panel as part of a George Polk Awards conference called Sources and Secrets at the Times Center. A lot has already been written about the conference (links below), so I’m going to pull out a theme that appears again and again in my notes: How much protection do reporters really have with regard to sources, and how much, if any, protection would a federal shield law give them?

New York Times reporter James Risen, who is fighting an order that he testify in the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer accused of leaking information to him, opened the conference earlier by saying the Obama administration is “the greatest enemy of press freedom that we have encountered in at least a generation.” The administration wants to “narrow the field of national security reporting,” Risen said, to “create a path for accepted reporting.” Anyone journalist who exceeds those parameters, Risen said, “will be punished.”

The administration’s aggressive prosecutions have created “a de facto Official Secrets Act,” Risen said, and the media has been “too timid” in responding.

Toobin appeared on a panel that followed, moderated by Times Supreme Court reporter Adam Liptak, who announced that if he weren’t a paragon of journalistic detachment, he’d say “the persecution of James Risen is a scandal.” The attorney Laura Handman noted that the U.S. Department of Justice’s new guidelines for accessing journalists’ records carve out a big space for the government to decide what constitutes “ordinary newsgathering.” …more

One way to support Bahrain;s imprisoned photographers will be through a F1 campaign we just launched with Reporters Without Borders. We’re using a tool called Thunderclap, which helps create a social media flash mob at a predetermined time – in this case, for the starting gun of the race on April 6. We want to make sure the government cannot hide its press and human rights violations behind F1. Thunderclap will help us get thousands of tweets to be posted simultaneously about press freedom right when the race begins. Please sign up on “thunder-clap” to make your voice heard via twitter. https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/10068-bahrain-racing-in-circles

Bahrain racing in circles
By Jason Stern – CPJ – 22 March, 2014

Thursday, the official Bahrain News Agency announced the “final 30-day countdown [to] the Formula One extravaganza” to take place the first week of April. Every year the race acts as a lightning rod for criticism of the Bahraini government, which seeks to use high-profile international events like the F1 to gloss over human rights violations in the country.

So perhaps it’s all too predictable that another journalist was arrested in Bahrain only a few hours before the BNA article went to press. Freelance photojournalist Sayed Baqer Al-Kamil was arrested at a checkpoint west of Manama sometime in the early morning hours, according to news reports and his colleagues. It is not clear why he was arrested, but Al-Kamil has meticulously documented the protest movement in Bahrain.

In another recent case, Bahraini security forces arrested photographer Sayed Ahmed Al-Mosawi and his brother in a house raid the morning of February 10, according to news reports. Al-Mosawi was transferred to the Dry Dock prison after several days of interrogation about his work. The journalist, who has won international recognition for his photographs, told his family in a phone call from prison that he had been tortured through beatings and electrocution, according to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

Al-Kamil and Al-Mosawi join at least three other journalists behind bars in Bahrain, the second worst country in the world for journalists imprisoned per capita, according to CPJ research.

The arrests also come as at least four journalists were injured in street violence, with political tensions simmering around the third anniversary of the February 14, 2011, opposition protests.

On March 3, a photographer for the English-language Gulf Daily News was injured in an explosion targeting three policemen in Daih village, the paper reported. Ebrahim Al Sinan, who was standing 10 meters from the blast, sustained a lung injury and shrapnel wounds. The journalist was taken to Bahrain Defence Force Hospital for treatment. Gulf Daily News’s Deputy Editor Robert Smith told CPJ that Al Sinan was released from the hospital on March 4.

The blast came as Al Sinan was covering clashes between riot police and protesters from a funeral procession of a Bahraini inmate who died last month in custody. The government said the inmate, Jaffar Al-Durazi, died from complications of sickle cell anemia, but opposition groups said he was subjected to torture and medical negligence.

It is not clear who carried out the attack on the security forces, with at least two groups claiming responsibility on Facebook, according to Bahrain scholar Marc Owen Jones. Bahrain’s major opposition and human rights groups condemned the attack and urged Bahrainis to end the cycle of violence.

In a photograph of the attack captured by EPA photojournalist Mazen Mahdi, riot police grimace from tear gas as one of their comrades lay wounded in the street. A few days prior, on February 26, Mahdi accused the police of aiming deliberately at journalists after he had been shot in the leg by a teargas canister while covering protests in Daih. He was not seriously injured. …more

Hussain Hubail’s Health: Update.
22 March, 2014

Hussain Hubail, 21, has pains in his chest and severe palpitations, low sugar levels and high blood pressure. Was unconscious for twelve hours on 13 Feb 2014 when rushed to hospital. Rushed to hospital 5 times in last eight months.

Increased frequency of collapses since January 2014. Salmanya Hospital consultant thinks he may have Beams contraction of the heart muscles and could need an angioplasty. He has heart spasms and faints.

Abhi (Professor Prasad) intends to do a full series of tests on him to see whether he needs an operation. If the latter he will be operated on at St George’s Hospital Tooting where Abhi is Head of the Cardiology Unit.

The Government said he could have an operation at the military hospital but there would be months of delay as only two surgeons Although the surgeon is fine, Hussain’s parents see the hospital as part of the military/prison regime that have almost killed their son. His grandfather went to the military hospital for the same operation two years ago and died. There is no heart surgery unit at Salmanya Hospital.

Every time Hubail collapses he is stabilised and then send back within a day to the terrible prison conditions: overcrowding (twelve detainees in cells for five), no beds, no clean water to drink, little water to wash, poor food, cold in winter and no winter clothes allowed. There would be no after care and he will not get the correct medication. Therefore he is unlikely to benefit from having the operation in Bahrain.

He needs daily medication but gets it intermittently, or once a week which is hopeless. This has contributed to his deterioration. I and the Bahraini campaigners feel his only chance of survival is to come to the U.K. where he can be properly treated, operated on, and given the correct after care and medication.

Hubail’s case is urgent and he was back at the hospital clinic this week. Please contact your, MP, Congressperson or Senator and bring influence to bear. This young man has done nothing except take photographs which is his job. He needs your help before he dies in prison.

URGENT ACTION

VERDICT IN HUSSAIN HUBAIL’S TRIAL IMMINENT
14 March, 2014 – Amnesty International

Photographer Hussain Hubail is about to receive his verdict. He is on trial together with eight other men on charges arising from their exercise of their right to freedom of expression. He has been denied adequate medical treatment.

Hussain Hubail’s trial, which began on 28 November 2013, will have its fifth hearing on 16 March: the court will hear final pleas, and is expected to announce its verdict shortly afterwards. Hussain Hubail is on trial together with eight other men, including Mohammad Hassan Sudayf, on charges that include using social media networks to incite hatred of the regime, calling on people to ignore the law and calling for illegal demonstrations.

During one of the hearings, on 27 January, he is understood to have told the court he had been tortured and threatened with rape during his interrogation. He had told his family when they visited him in prison that he had been threatened and beaten while being interrogated at the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID). Hussain Hubail has a heart condition, and fears he is not receiving adequate medical treatment. He has to wait before he receives the medicine he needs. His family said his health had deteriorated: he suffers from shortness of breath and frequently loses consciousness. He was transferred to hospital on 13 March following severe breathing difficulties, but security officers prevented his family from staying with him as he received treatment.

Please write immediately in English, Arabic or your own language:

Calling on the authorities to release Hussain Hubail immediately and unconditionally if he is being held solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression;

Urging them to drop charges against the other defendants if they are being targeted solely for peacefully expressing their opinion;

Urging them to ensure that Hussain Hubail receives adequate medical care, including any specialist treatment needed for his heart condition;

Calling on them to order an independent investigation into Hussain Hubail’s allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, and bring those responsible to justice. …more

BRITISH MP CHAIRS ‘FORMULA ONE: IMPLICATIONS IN BAHRAIN’ EVENT AT PORTCULLIS HOUSE
21 March, 2014 – BCHR

Labour MP, Katy Clark, today chaired and hosted the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy event at Portcullis House. The panel included Maryam Al-Khawaja, the acting president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Daniel Carey, a civil and human rights solicitor, and Nicholas McGeehan from Human Rights Watch.

Katy Clark took the opportunity to introduce a Early Day Motion 1194 which calls on the UK government to oppose the 2014 Formula One race in Bahrain “due to ongoing human rights violations.” The EDM also recalls concerns over the sexual abuse in custody of Rihanna al-Mousawi who was detained at the Bahrain Formula One track in 2013. It also recalls concerns over the extrajudicial killing of protester Salah Abbas during the race in 2012 by security forces. 25 MPs have signed the EDM to date.

http://youtu.be/l_Lw_WiQGj0

Human Rights Violations in Bahrain

Acting President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Maryam al-Khawaja, began the discussion by highlighting the ongoing grave human rights violations in the country. She highlighted the dangers of the new Gulf Cooperation Council Security Agreement that “infringes upon the basic rights of all GCC citizens.” Ms. Khawaja furthermore highlighted the stringent environment and reprisals faced by human rights defenders in Bahrain and refuted the speech made by the Bahrain Foreign Minister in Geneva earlier this month noting:

“Bahrain uses terrorism as an explanation to justify the crackdown against individuals in the country, whilst attempting to convince F1 that it is safe to race in the country. Why are they hosting the F1 if there is terrorism in Bahrain? F1 would not go to Bahrain if that was the case.”

OECD Complaint Launched Against Formula One

Daniel Carey, who headed a legal team to file an OECD complaint to stop a 3 million shipment of tear gas canisters to Bahrain, took the opportunity to announce that an OECD complaint has been filed by Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain against Formula One Management, sponsors and teams in the UK. The complaint alleges that the defendant organisations have not mitigated the human rights impact caused by their actions in the country. The complaint has been filed with the United Kingdom Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills in London, which is the UK’s National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines.

According to the 2011 OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, organisations have a responsibility to “… avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts and address such impacts when they occur.” Organizations falling under OECD jurisdiction additionally must “seek ways to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their business operations…” and “carry out human rights due diligence…” as appropriate to their involvement with abuses.

Mr. Carey also highlighted ’irresponsible statements’ made by Bernie Ecclestone in the past regarding the staging of the race in Bahrain. …more

BAHRAIN FORMULA ONE GP 2014

Session: 2013-14
Date tabled: 17.03.2014
Primary sponsor: Clark, Katy
Sponsors: Corbyn, Jeremy – Dobson, Frank – Leech, John – McDonnell, John – Huppert, Julian

That this House opposes the staging of the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix due to ongoing human rights violations in that country; notes that Human Rights Watch’s 2014 World Report highlighted that Bahrain’s human rights record regressed in key areas in 2013 drawing particular attention to arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and torture of activists, prosecution and harassment of government critics and a failure to hold those guilty of human rights abuses to account; expresses deep concern that in previous years Bahrain has implemented a severe crackdown before and during the Grand Prix, restricting freedom of movement of persons in the country, detaining and deporting foreign journalists and conducting mass arbitrary detentions in towns close to the Formula 1 circuit; recalls with concern that previous Grand Prix have coincided with the extrajudicial killing of protester Salah Abbas in 2012 and the arbitrary imprisonment and alleged sexual abuse in custody of protester Rihanna al Mousawi in 2013; further expresses disappointment at the continued failure to hold security forces to account for these abuses, as well as the arrest, detention and torture of 27 employees of the Bahrain International Circuit in 2011; and urges the Government to make strong representations to try and prevent the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix from going ahead. …more

Another Bahraini dies of tear gas inhalation
18 March, 2014 – Islamic Invitation Turkey

Another Bahraini has died due to inhaling tear gas fired by Saudi-backed regime forces as the ruling Al Khalifa dynasty continues its violent suppression of peaceful pro-democracy rallies in the country.

Locals said they had witnessed extensive use of tear gas and poisonous fumes when Bahraini forces sought to disperse protesters during an anti-regime demonstration in the Wadiyan area of the northeastern island of Sitra on Monday, al-Manar television network reported.

The victim, identified as Jawad al-Hawi, died due to asphyxia after inhaling poisonous tear gas fired by regime forces. His funeral is due to be held later on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a Bahraini court handed jail terms of 5 to 15 years to eight anti-regime protesters on charges of possessing weapons and explosive devices in the eastern village of Tubli.

Bahraini uprising started in mid-February 2011. On March 13 that year, forces from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were dispatched to the country at Manama’s request to quell nationwide protests.

Scores of Bahrainis have been killed and hundreds injured and jailed by regime forces since the uprising broke out.

Last month, Amnesty International denounced the “relentless repression” of anti-regime protesters in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom, blaming Bahraini security forces for their repeated use of “excessive force to quash anti-government protests.”

On February 14, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on the Bahraini regime to respect its “international human rights obligations” in dealing with peaceful protests in the country. …source

INSIGHT: Bahrain Uprising – Three Years In, Still No Way Out
13 February, 2014 – By Brian Dooley – Middle East Voices

Three years after Bahrain joined the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East, human rights defenders are left wondering when the Obama Administration will put action behind its flamboyant 2011 rhetoric about rights, freedom and the rule of law. Those who took to the streets in the small Gulf kingdom on February 14 that year, today are left wondering if President Obama had Bahrain in mind when he proclaimed “[H]istory is on the move in the Middle East …wherever people long to be free, they will find a friend in the United States,” or when he stated, “…we cannot hesitate to stand squarely on the side of those reaching for their rights, knowing that their success will bring about a world that is more peaceful, more stable and more just.”

To many people in Bahrain, President Obama’s words are undermined by the United States’ decision to send shipments of arms to the regime that represses them, as well as by the administration’s failure to bring any sanctions against senior Bahraini government officials deemed responsible for the torture of dissidents, including several deaths in custody, over the last three years. And while State Department emissaries have been on hand to monitor a series of trials widely considered unfair, they do little more than sit on the court benches witnessing injustice as it happens. Their silence is as deafening as it is telling.

insight hrf INSIGHT: Bahrain Uprising – Three Years In, Still No Way OutThe Bahraini regime’s pursuit of stability through repression obviously isn’t working, daily adding complexity and human suffering to an already volatile situation. On February 4, 2014, the King of Bahrain issued a new law (yes he can do that) clearing the way for jail terms for “any person who offends publically the Monarch of the Kingdom of Bahrain….” The actual length of the jail terms envisioned by the law is actually unclear as the English version of the law’s announcement specifies two years, the Arabic version – seven. Such flagrant stifling of dissent only adds to a general instability on the Gulf island.

” …no senior [Bahraini] government figure has been held accountable for deaths in custody, and key opposition leaders remain in jail.” – Brian Dooley, Human Rights First

The International Monetary Fund has warned that Bahrain’s “economic outlook depends on progress on the political front, and is subject to oil price risk… [and that] Bahrain’s fiscal break-even point has reached critical levels,” leaving the kingdom “vulnerable to a sustained decline in oil prices.” Future easing of oil sanctions against Iran is likely to drive prices for the commodity down even further, putting additional strain on the kingdom’s economy
reu bahrain dooley2 300 12feb14 INSIGHT: Bahrain Uprising – Three Years In, Still No Way Out

A protester holds a leaflet drawing attention to the case of an imprisoned photographer, at an anti-government rally in Budaiya, west of Bahrain’s capital, Manama, December 13, 2013. The leaflet reads in part: “Silence Kills Democracy.” (Reuters)

Bahrain’s government, meanwhile, insists it is committed to reform, pointing to a revised police code of conduct introduced in March of 2012, and the establishment of an ombudsman’s office. But it is hard to see what impact these reforms are having. Public protests are growing increasingly violent, leaving people dead on both sides. Bahraini authorities say over 2,300 police personnel have been injured and nine killed since the protests began in early 2011. Still today, there are nearly nightly demonstrations that often end in skirmishes between ill-trained police officers armed with tear gas and birdshot, and younger protesters hurling Molotov cocktails. …more

Bahrain Shias protest against government
22 March, 2014 – Al Jazeera

Thousands of Bahrainis, mainly from the Shia majority, demonstrated near Manama on Friday against what they described as sectarian discrimination in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.

“No to discrimination,” chanted protesters brandishing Bahrain’s red-and-white flag as they marched along Budaiya main road, which links Shia villages with the capital, witnesses said.

Some protesters later clashed with riot police, who replied with tear gas.

Ali Salman, the chief cleric of the main Shia formation Al-Wefaq, was among leaders of the opposition who participated, according to images the group posted online.

They carried posters of prominent opponents jailed over their roles in the short-lived uprising of February 2011, including the Sunni head of the secular Waed party, Ibrahim Sharif, who is serving a five-year sentence.

“Sectarian discrimination is eating into the body of Bahrain in a systematic way applied by authorities,” opposition groups said in a statement at the end of the demonstration, referring to the Al-Khalifa dynasty.

The protest was held on the occasion of the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Bahrain remains deeply divided three years after authorities quashed a Shia-led uprising, with regular protests sparking clashes with police, scores of Shia jailed on “terrorism” charges and reconciliation talks deadlocked. …more

Learn More… School of Chiapas

Iran says no meddling in Bahrain, PG islands Iranian
5 March, 2014 – Press TV

Iran foreign ministry has categorically rejected accusations by the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council ([P]GCC) of Tehran interfering in the domestic affairs of Bahrain.

“The accusations leveled against Iran with regards to the internal affairs of Bahrain are completely baseless,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said Wednesday.

The [P]GCC foreign ministers concluded their 130th meeting in Riyadh on Tuesday where they accused Iran of interfering in the internal affairs of Bahrain.

“Iran’s principled policy towards its neighboring countries is based on good neighborliness, mutual respect and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries,” Afkham said.

“Efforts by the cooperation council to blame Bahrain’s internal problems on others are caused by the confusion of the officials of this country about the legitimate demands of Bahrainis and [an attempt to] distract public attention from the realities in … Bahrain,” she added.

The Persian Gulf Island state, which is a US ally and home to its Fifth Fleet, has been in turmoil since pro-democracy protests erupted in mid-February 2011.

According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested in a brutal regime crackdown, backed by Saudi Arabia.

Afkham also dismissed the council’s claims about the three Iranian islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb. She said that the three islands have been and will remain an inseparable part of Iranian soil.

The islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa have historically been part of Iran, proof of which can be found and corroborated by countless historical, legal, and geographical documents in Iran and other parts of the world. However, the United Arab Emirates has repeatedly laid baseless claims to the islands. …source

Communique #4: The End of the World

The A.O.A. declares itself officially bored with the End of the World. The canonical version has been used since 1945 to keep us cowering in fear of Mutual Assured Destruction & in snivelling servitude to our super-hero politicians (the only ones capable of handling deadly Green Kryptonite)…

What does it mean that we have invented a way to destroy all life on Earth? Nothing much. We have dreamed this as an escape from the contemplation of our own individual deaths. We have made an emblem to serve as the mirror-image of a discarded immortality. Like demented dictators we swoon at the thought of taking it all down with us into the Abyss.

The unofficial version of the Apocalypse involves a lascivious yearning for the End, & for a post-Holocaust Eden where the Survivalists (or the 144,000 Elect of Revelations) can indulge themselves in orgies of Dualist hysteria, endless final confrontations with a seductive evil…

We have seen the ghost of Rene Guenon, cadaverous & topped with a fez (like Boris Karloff as Ardis Bey in The Mummy) leading a funereal No Wave Industrial-Noise rock band in loud buzzing blackfly-chants for the death of Culture & Cosmos: the elitist fetishism of pathetic nihilists, the Gnostic self-disgust of “post-sexual” intellectoids.

Are these dreary ballads not simply mirror-images of all those lies & platitudes about Progress & the Future, beamed from every loudspeaker, zapped like paranoid brain-waves from every schoolbook & TV in the world of the Consensus? The thanatosis of the Hip Millenarians extrudes itself like pus from the false health of the Consumers’ & Workers’ Paradises.

Anyone who can read history with both hemispheres of the brain knows that a world comes to an end every instant — the waves of time leave washed up behind themselves only dry memories of a closed & petrified past — imperfect memory, itself already dying & autumnal. And every instant also gives birth to a world — despite the cavillings of philosophers & scientists whose bodies have grown numb — a present in which all impossibilities are renewed, where regret & premonition fade to nothing in one presential hologrammatical psychomantric gesture.

The “normative” past or the future heat-death of the universe mean as little to us as last year’s GNP or the withering away of the State. All Ideal pasts, all futures which have not yet come to pass, simply obstruct our consciousness of total vivid presence.

Certain sects believe that the world (or “a” world) has already come to an end. For Jehovah’s Witnesses it happened in 1914 (yes folks, we are living in the Book of Revelations now). For certain oriental occultists, it occurred during the Major Conjunction of the Planets in 1962. Joachim of Fiore proclaimed the Third Age, that of the Holy Spirit, which replaced those of Father & Son. Hassan II of Alamut proclaimed the Great Resurrection, the immanentization of the eschaton, paradise on earth. Profane time came to an end somewhere in the late Middle Ages. Since then we’ve been living angelic time — only most of us don’t know it.

Or to take an even more Radical Monist stance: Time never started at all. Chaos never died. The Empire was never founded. We are not now & never have been slaves to the past or hostages to the future.

We suggest that the End of the World be declared a fait accompli; the exact date is unimportant. The ranters in 1650 knew that the Millenium comes now into each soul that wakes to itself, to its own centrality & divinity. “Rejoice, fellow creature,” was their greeting. “All is ours!”

I want no part of any other End of the World. A boy smiles at me in the street. A black crow sits in a pink magnolia tree, cawing as orgone accumulates & discharges in a split second over the city…summer begins. I may be your lover…but I spit on your Millenium. …source