Posts from — September 2012

OP-ED: Bahraini Repression Amidst a Failing Strategy
6 September, 2012 ⋅ by Mauro Teodori – IPS

This week’s decision by the Bahraini court of appeals to uphold the prison terms against Bahraini opposition activists is a travesty of justice and an indication that Bahraini repression continues unabated.

Bahraini officials, when confronted with angry world reaction to the court’s decision, cynically hid behind the claim they would not interfere in the proceedings of their “independent judiciary”.

Despite the threat to U.S. national interests and the security of U.S. citizens in Bahrain and elsewhere in the Gulf, Washington remains oblivious to the ruling family’s violent crackdown against peaceful protesters in the name of fighting “foreign elements”. Pro-democracy Bahrainis are wondering what we are waiting for.

Because of our muted reaction to what’s happening in Bahrain, the ruling family and their Saudi benefactors have not taken seriously Western support for democratic transitions in the Middle East.

The United States and Britain maintain deep economic and security relations with these states but also enjoy strong leverage, including the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, which they must revisit in the face of continued egregious violations of basic human rights by some of these regimes. Bahraini civil rights organisations and activists are expecting the United States to use its leverage to end regime repression.

Despite their pro-Western stance, there is nothing exceptional about the autocratic Gulf Arab regimes. And they should no longer be given a pass on the importance of democratic reform.

Staying in power will require Bahrain’s Al Khalifas and other Gulf tribal family rulers to do more than push a vicious sectarian policy and employ slick public relations firms. Their cynical and deadly game might buy them some time, but, in the end, they will not be able to escape their peoples’ wrath.

In the absence of genuine reforms in the next three years, the Gulf’s autocratic regimes will be swept aside by their peoples. The “people power” that emerged from the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, and now Syria, cannot be kept out of these tribal states. In reality, they all have been touched by peoples’ demands for dignity and justice.

While Iran might be exploiting the protest movement to discredit these regimes, the pro-democracy movement in Bahrain goes back to the 1960s and 1970s – way before the Islamic Republic came on the scene.

Even more troubling for U.S. national security are the continued efforts by Al Khalifa to whip up anti-American attitudes among Bahrain’s more rabidly anti-Shia and xenophobic Sunnis. Bahrain and some of their Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) allies perceive the growing rapprochement between the U.S. and the new Islamic democrats, such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Tunisia, as a sign of tacit opposition to Gulf autocrats. …more

Bahrain should scrap life sentence of blogger Alsingace
6 September, 2012 – Global Freedom Movement

New York, September 6, 2012–Bahraini authorities should toss out the unjust conviction and life sentence handed to an online journalist who was imprisoned for exercising his right to free expression during the country’s 2011 popular uprising, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

The High Court of Appeal on Tuesday upheld a life sentence given to Abduljalil Alsingace, a prominent independent blogger and human rights defender, on charges related to “plotting to topple” the regime, according to news reports. Alsingace had been convicted and sentenced by a military court in June 2011, the reports said.

The appellate court on Tuesday also upheld harsh sentences given to 19 co-defendants, including human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who was handed a life term, news reports said. The court also upheld a 15-year jail term against Ali Abdel Imam, an online journalist who had been convicted in absentia, the reports said.

The defendants plan to appeal the ruling again with the Court of Cassation, which is the highest court of appeals, news reports said.

The conduct of the prosecution has been questioned by an independent panel commissioned by the Bahraini government. The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry suggested that Alsingace and his co-defendants be granted a civilian retrial since they had initially been tried in military tribunals, news reports said. In response, authorities conducted the appeal in a civilian court.

Human rights groups reported that the appeals process was marred by procedural irregularities. The court appointed new defense lawyers against the wishes of the defendants, not all of the defense witnesses were heard, and the court did not investigate reports that the defendants had been tortured in custody, the groups said.

“More than a year after the anti-government protest movement in Bahrain, the government is still prosecuting journalists and human rights defenders for their dissenting opinions,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “The expression of critical opinion is protected by international law and can never be a crime.”

Alsingace and Abdel Imam were arrested in December 2010 and detained for two months on anti-state conspiracy charges during a government crackdown, according to news reports. They were re-arrested in March 2011, news reports said. …more

Bahrain: 16 years old child Ali Al Muhafdha detained and deprived from proper medical care
07 September, 2012 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

Although Bahrain is a signatory of the convention of the rights of the child, children in Bahrain continue to be subjected to ill-treatment, torture and arbitrary detention by the Bahraini force. Bahrain Center for human rights (BCHR) expresses its grave concern over the high number of detained children.

Sayed Ali Al Muhafdha, 16 years old, was arrested from 14 Jun 2012 to date as his detention was extended several times. According to his family he was severely beaten on the head and other parts of his body and was deprived of water for a day. He was kept in ward 7 in a dry dock prison which has detainees from all ages and later moved to a childrens’ ward. Sayed Ali is ill and because of the conditions during his detention, his illness was worsened. On 28 Aug 2012, his father stated that Sayed Ali had a high fever and abdominal pain, that he could not urinate for 10 days, was suffering from serious pain and that he was not able to move or speak clearly. He was taken after midnight to Salmaniya hospital after deterioration of his health, but he was only given some painkillers and returned to prison. He was then taken again to the hospital on 26 Aug where the doctor advised that he might have kidney stones and asked for him to be admitted. However he was taken back to prison. Sayed Ali is still in detention and is being denied proper medical care.

More than 80 children are in Bahraini prisons on sham charges and being tried in unfair trials. With no regard to their age and emotional status, children are being kept in detention for months while at least one was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment by a military court (link). …more

Saudi protesters once again hold demos against Riyadh regime
7 September, 2012 – PressTV

Anti-government protesters have once again staged demonstrations in Saudi Arabia, as anger flares in the kingdom over Riyadh’s harsh crackdown on dissent in recent months.

The protests come in defiance of Saudi officials’ strict ban on any anti-regime gatherings in the kingdom.

The demonstrators called for the release of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nemr al-Nemr who was attacked, injured and arrested by the security forces of the Al Saud regime while driving from a farm to his house in the Qatif region of the Eastern Province on July 8.

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

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

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

On August 13, Swedish Defense Minister Karin Enstrom criticized Riyadh for its human rights violations, describing Saudi Arabia as “an authoritarian regime and an absolute monarchy where serious human rights crimes are committed.”
…source

U.S. congressman confirms high-level U.S.-Israel spat over Iran
7 Septemebr, 2012 – By Tabassum Zakaria -Reuters

WASHINGTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blew up at the U.S. ambassador last month because he was “at wits’ end” over what he sees as the Obama administration’s lack of clarity on Iran’s nuclear program, a U.S. congressman who was at the meeting said.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, a Republican, made his first public comments about the late August meeting in Israel in an interview with Michigan’s WJR radio on Tuesday.

Continued controversy over the meeting comes as President Barack Obama on Thursday night will accept his party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention, where the level of the Obama administration’s support for Israel was a contentious topic.

“Right now the Israelis don’t believe that this administration is serious when they say all options are on the table, and more importantly neither do the Iranians. That’s why the program is progressing,” Rogers said.

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes.

Israel is facing growing international pressure not to unilaterally attack Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and the United States has made clear it opposes any such strike.

Rogers said if the United States does not show Israel more clarity on where it draws “red lines” on Iran’s nuclear program, then Israel might conduct a strike.

“If I were betting my house today, I would guess that they probably will do it if we don’t have a change in more clear red lines from the United States,” he said.

A spokesman for Israel’s embassy in Washington declined to comment. The State Department would not comment on private diplomatic meetings but spokesman Edgar Vasquez said, “We have a rock solid relationship and an ironclad commitment to Israel.”

The spat between Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro appears to confirm a deep chasm over how to deal with Iran, which the two allies have tried to play down publicly.

Obama has vowed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, but says there is still time for sanctions and diplomacy to work. The White House says it has brokered international oil and banking sanctions that are far tougher on Iran than previous administrations achieved.
…more

THIRD MEETING OF STATES PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS

The Third Meeting of States Parties (3MSP) to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) will take place in Oslo, Norway, from 11 to 14 September, 2012.

At this meeting, States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions will give progress updates on implementing their treaty obligations and will take key decisions relating to the implementation and universalization of the Convention. States that have not yet joined the Convention or have yet to ratify will also be present to give updates on their progress.

Logistical and sponsorship information

We would like to invite all participants to carefully read the logistical memo below and to register on the official registration page as soon as possible. In the memo, you will find useful information on the registration process, sponsorship criteria and rules, the provisional schedule, the visa process, hotels, side events and further practical information. …more

Syrian regime using cluster bombs: report
7 September, 2012 – By Alessandra Rizzo – Reuters

LONDON: Syrian government forces have almost certainly used cluster bombs, which kill and maim civilians long after conflicts end, during their crackdown on a 17-month revolt, a disarmament group said Thursday citing video and photographic evidence.

The Cluster Munition Coalition said it had collected pictures and footage from Syrian activists showing fragments of cluster munitions at two sites at least in Syria.

The Damascus government has not signed a convention against the weapons, meaning it would not have broken any international laws by using them, said officials at the center.

But many humanitarian groups and governments have condemned the use of the munitions, which spray hundreds of small explosives over wide areas of land, where they can lie undetected for months if not years.

“We think the evidence is compelling that the Syrian government forces have used cluster munitions,” Stephen Goose, from both CMC and the campaign group Human Rights Watch, told reporters in London as he launched a report on the use and disposal of the weapons worldwide.

The group could not be 100-percent certain how the bombs were used, as it did not have eye witness accounts of fighting from the sites, it said.

But “cluster munitions are there, there’s no question. They’re cluster munitions that have been used, they haven’t just been pulled out of a warehouse and torn apart with a screwdriver,” said Goose.

Damascus has not made any public comment on whether it uses the bombs, CMC said, urging the Syrian government to confirm or deny the reports.

The group cited videos posted online in July showing cluster munition remnants and bomblets in Jabal Shahshabu, a mountainous area near Hama, a flashpoint city in the uprising against President Bashar Assad
…more

US led attempt to allow cluster bomb use is rejected at UN negotiations
26 November, 2011 – Cluster Munitions Coalition

(Geneva, November 25, 2011) – An attempt by the United States and other remaining producers and stockpilers of cluster munitions to push through a weak new law which would have allowed these indiscriminate weapons to be used, has failed. Over fifty states at the United Nations negotiations rejected outright the cynical attempt to give legal cover to use these weapons in the future. This ends four years of negotiations on this issue.

“This was not a diplomatic game. It was about saving a great number of lives – the outright rejection of weaker standards shows that small and medium size states in partnership with the UN, ICRC and civil society can set the agenda in international politics” said Grethe Ostern, Policy Adviser, Mine Action Department, Norwegian Peoples Aid, Cluster Munition Coalition member.

The failure to set up a weaker alternative to the existing ban strengthens the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions which like the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty prohibits the use, production and transfer of an entire category of weapons and promotes the rights of victims and survivors. The Cluster Munition Coalition calls on all remaining countries to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

“The message from the failed efforts today is clear – cluster bombs are indiscriminate, kill long after they are dropped and are illegal. Countries like China, India, Israel, Russia and the US who say they are seriously concerned about the humanitarian impact, should go home and immediately begin destroying their stockpiles” said Amy Little, Campaign Manager for the Cluster Munition Coalition.

The US was the key promoter of the proposed law. Opposition was led by Norway, Austria, and Mexico, with powerful support from the Cluster Munition Coalition, the ICRC, and a large number of UN agencies, notably the UN Development Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions has been signed by 111 nations, including some of the biggest users, producers, and or stockpilers in recent decades, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Twenty-two of the twenty-eight NATO members have joined the ban convention. …more

Harsh sentences for Bahraini activists ‘deeply regrettable’ – UN human rights chief
UN News Center – 6 September , 2012

6 September 2012 – The United Nations human rights chief today described the a Bahraini appeals court’s decision to uphold convictions and sentences of 20 human rights activists and political opponents as “deeply regrettable.”

“Criticizing the Government and calling for reforms are not crimes,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said in a news release. “The Government must engage in an open, genuine and meaningful dialogue with the opposition, across the political spectrum. This is the only constructive way to defuse an increasingly tense situation.”

Since February, there have been clashes in Bahrain between security forces and demonstrators, a year after widespread civil protests first emerged in the Gulf country.

According to a news release from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the individuals whose sentences were upheld Tuesday were initially convicted last year by Bahrain’s Court of National Safety, essentially a military court, on charges of conspiracy to overthrow the Government, amongst other changes. Some were also charged with espionage.

After the convictions were upheld by the National Safety Appeals Court, the Government announced that all the cases would be transferred to civilian courts. The appeals proceedings took place this year.

“I had welcomed the Bahraini Government’s decision to transfer these cases to civilian courts, as military trials of civilians raise serious problems as far as the equitable, impartial and independent administration of justice is concerned,” Ms. Pillay said.

“But now, given the gravity of the charges, the scant evidence available beyond confessions, the serious allegations of torture and the irregularities in the trial processes, it is extremely disappointing that the convictions and sentences have been upheld in appeals proceedings that often took place behind closed doors,” she added. …more

Bahrain security forces attack pro-democracy protesters
5 September, 2012 – Tehran Times

The regime forces on Wednesday used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the protesters in the capital, Manama, the northeastern island of Sitra, the northern village of Tubli and the western village of Sadad, Press TV reported.

The demonstrators also expressed solidarity with leading opposition figures and condemned the recent verdicts against them.

The protests came after a Bahraini civilian court on Tuesday upheld jail sentences against at least 13 opposition leaders.

The jail terms, seven of them life sentences, were previously issued by a military court.

Human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and opposition leader Hassan Mushaimaa are among those sentenced to life in prison.

On August 23, a Bahraini appeals court upheld a three-year prison term for prominent rights activist Nabeel Rajab over taking part in “unauthorized protests.”

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of anti-government protesters have been staging regular 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 in the crackdown.

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

EU ‘disappointed’ as Bahrain upholds activists’ sentences
5 September, 2012 – Agence France Presse

BRUSSELS: EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Wednesday she was “disappointed and concerned” after a Bahrain court upheld convictions against a score of activists accused of trying to overthrow the monarchy.

“I am disappointed and concerned at the decision of the Bahraini Court of Appeal to uphold the harsh sentences against Mr Abdulhadi Khawaja and nineteen other individuals,” Ashton said in a statement.

The court Tuesday retried 13 leading opposition figures, including seven facing life in prison, as well as seven others who remain at large.

Among those sentenced was Khawaja who in June ended a 110-day hunger strike.

The defendants, who played leading roles in month-long protests last year demanding democratic reforms, did not turn up in the appeals court, the lawyers said.

The opposition swiftly condemned the “vindictive” rulings and accused the court of staging “mock trials,” the United States expressed its concern, while London-based Amnesty International denounced the ruling as “outrageous.”

“I hope that the appeal before the Cassation Court will be fair, transparent and conducted in the full respect of international obligations Bahrain has subscribed to,” Ashton said.

“I will continue to monitor the process and the overall situation in the country very closely,” she added on behalf of the European Union.

…source

U.S.: Rights Activists Call on U.S. to Revise Bahrain Policy
By Jim Lobe – IPS

WASHINGTON, Sep 6 2012 (IPS) – Human rights activists are calling on the administration of President Barack Obama to radically revise its policy toward Bahrain in light of the decision by an appeals court in the kingdom this week to confirm harsh prison sentences against 13 opposition activists.

The court’s decision, which also confirmed the conviction of the 13 men by military courts in the aftermath of mainly peaceful anti-government protests during the so-called “Arab Spring” last year, followed the sentencing three weeks ago by yet another court of Nabeel Rajab, the director Bahrain’s most important human rights watchdog, to a three-year prison term for helping organise opposition rallies.

“I’m hoping the administration is doing a radical rethink of its policy on Bahrain,” said Brian Dooley, a Gulf specialist at Human Rights First. “It’s pretty clear that its original plan – to support the so-called reformers in the government – just hasn’t worked. The behind-closed-doors, softly-softly approach clearly hasn’t delivered.”

The appeals court decision was roundly denounced by international human rights groups.

“Today’s court decision is yet another blow to justice and shows once more that the Bahraini authorities are not on the path of reform but seem rather driven by vindictiveness,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme, who also noted that many of the defendants have testified that they were tortured during their initial detentions.

“Instead of upholding the sentences, …the Bahraini authorities must quash the convictions for the 13 men who are imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising their human rights and release them immediately and unconditionally,” she added.

The ongoing repression in Bahrain – of which the appeals court decision and Rajab’s sentencing are only the latest examples – has posed a major challenge to the credibility of the Obama administration’s claims to support human rights and democratic reform throughout the Arab world.

While it has continuously urged dialogue between the government, which is dominated by the long-ruling Al-Khalifa family, who are Sunni Muslims, and representatives of the Shi’a community, which makes up between 60 and 70 percent of the kingdom’s population, since anti-regime protests broke out in early 2011, it has been reluctant to exert serious pressure to achieve that end.

Its reluctance is explained both by the fact that the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, whose assets have been significantly boosted as tensions with Iran have increased over the past 18 months, is based in Bahrain and by the strong backing – even encouragement — Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter and Washington’s most important U.S. ally and arms-purchaser in the Gulf, has provided the Al-Khalifa family.

Concerned that Manama might have been tempted to compromise with the demands of the opposition, which initially included prominent Sunnis as well, for democratic reform, Riyadh, along with its neighbour, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), sent some 1,500 troops and police across its causeway to Bahrain in support of the government’s crackdown in mid-March 2011. …more

Bahrain Monarchy Teaches Lessons Of Inefficient Counterrevolution
September 5, 2012 – The Trench

In the aftermath of Nabeel Rajab’s three-year prison sentence, The Trench observed that the Bahraini monarchy must want the island’s democratic uprising to continue for a minimum of three years. “Minimum” being the operative word, because the monarchy evidently wants to set an indefinite date for the uprising’s end. On Tuesday Bahrain’s High Court of Appeals ruled against some of the country’s highest-profile activists and delivered a range of lengthy prison terms, conceivably to crush the opposition.

Except the only way to “defeat” Bahrain’s opposition – without losing King Hamad’s crown in the process – is the institution of genuine democratic reforms at the parliamentary and judiciary levels.

The King’s latest moves are so predictably unjust that their “shock” should only exist as a sheer force, like ice water, rather than as a result of false expectations. Some defendants have already endured horrific conditions in Jaww prison and other confinement centers as they await a protracted appeal process. Seven are being tried in absentee for “crimes” that either fail to exist, or are legitimized by the revolutionary situation at hand. The idea of due process is absent before and after the final verdict, systematically destroying any possibility of a fair trial. All opposition parties, human rights groups and activists of consequence have roundly denounced the rulings as a total violation of justice, along with many of Bahrain’s Western allies (out of coercion, not free will).

According to state media, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain expresses its refusal of the statements related to the court sentences issued by the Supreme Appeals Court Tuesday, September 4, 2012 ‘in the case of “overturning of the government and communication with foreign entities along with the violation of constitutional laws.'”

As for the effects of Draconian sentencing, this act will produce the same popular backlash as Rajab’s unjust imprisonment and further extend Bahrain’s democratic uprising. Nothing short of mass slaughter inspires revolutionary action in the same manner as imprisoned leaders, who provide ideological hubs to rally the resistance around. In short, the quickest path to ending Bahrain’s uprising involves freeing them and opening a convulsive negotiating process. The longest path unjustly imprisons and tortures them.

King Hamad is cunning enough to have stayed below the West’s tolerance for this long, but the delusion of his inner circle cannot be permanently masked by tear gas and favorably media coverage. Tactical successes continue to be negated by strategic errors, ultimately playing into the weaker side of an asymmetric conflict, and the monarchy appears to be semi-sincere in its belief of invincibility. This overconfidence is partly responsible for Bahrain’s current state of affairs, yet new examples crop up by the week. Overlooked in the aftermath of Rajab’s sentencing, King Hamad’s Eid-ul-Fitr address demonstrated just how defiant his regime is by speaking about the uprising in past tense. Revolutionaries mutate into “strife-mongers.” …more

It suits the Bahrain regime and the British establishment to co-operate in a phoney reform process

Bahrain’s citizens pay the price for Britain’s dealings with the kingdom
Louisa Loveluck – guardian.co.uk – 6 September, 2012

Last year, the Bahraini government praised the findings of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) into institutional failures that caused the death of 35 individuals between 14 February and 15 April 2011. It committed to the professionalisation of the police force and the introduction of greater accountability for those charged with torture. Ten months on, the BICI’s recommendations read as a hollow reminder that little progress has been made. On Tuesday, an announcement was made that the convictions of 20 prominent dissidents were being upheld, despite widespread condemnation over the politicised nature of the judicial process.

Practical attempts to address the most heinous allegations have been minimal. Instead, implementation efforts have been carefully orientated towards international allies, hiring western advisers to legitimise the reform process and send a message to the world that action is being taken. A number of prominent British establishment figures have risen to the occasion.

John Yates, the former Metropolitan police assistant commissioner, was hired last December to overhaul Bahrain’s police service in line with international human rights standards. Since then, he has become the de facto security spokesperson for the Bahrain government. In April, when the Bahrain Formula One grand prix took place against a backdrop of heated protest, Yates appeared across international news outlets defending the stuttering reform process and framing the unrest as “criminal acts” against “unarmed police”.

The few reforms announced to the public wither in the face of basic scrutiny. In April, Yates announced that he was hiring 500 community police officers to improve relations with the public. However, far from extending an olive branch to a suspicious citizenry, the police continue to make extensive use of teargas as well as shotguns in the name of crowd control.

So why was the commissioner hired, if not for his ability to implement genuine reforms? It’s possible the Bahraini government saw him as part of a package. Kristian Ulrichsen, a research fellow at the London School of Economics, told me that Yates was seen as a key to “the highest levels of government”, although British ministers insist there was no contact over Yates’s appointment, reports suggest he has since enjoyed an unprecedented degree of contact with British officials. In June, he accompanied interior minister Lt Gen Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa to diplomatic engagements in London, even meeting with junior Foreign Office minister Lord Howell.

A number of similarly well-connected British lawyers also travelled to Bahrain in April, this time advising on the BICI’s recommendations regarding accountability for torture. Among their number was Sir Daniel Bethlehem, a former Foreign Office legal adviser who returned to the bar for a brief period before assuming his new role. As with Yates, the involvement of Britons as advisers has resulted in few tangible changes. Despite extensive documentation of state-led human rights abuses, only five low-level personnel have been imprisoned, taking the rap for what the BICI called “systematic … mistreatment which … amounted to torture.” The gulf between Bahraini rhetoric surrounding the lawyers’ appointment and their practical achievements reinforces an impression that they too have been hired as the publicly acceptable face of a reform process that is going nowhere.

The British government has supplied the security forces of Bahrain with crowd control weapons and British advisers have been co-opted into the abortive reform process. But British involvement doesn’t there, our oldest institutions continue to train a steady stream of Bahraini nationals for active service. According to The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, this training comes at a high cost to the British state. Although it costs £78,000 to train a single recruit, Bahrain only pays £48,400 an individual. The Ministry of Defence has therefore subsidised Bahraini military training with at least £380,000 in the past three years alone.

But for a government committed to boosting ties with a “key defence ally”, this will be seen as a small price to pay. As former regional partners such as Egypt undergo their own political struggles, British officials place an increasingly high premium on alliances based on trust and deep historical roots. The price for this co-operation is complicity in the slow and steady crackdown on the human rights that Britain purports to defend. …source

U.N. chief slams jailing of Bahrain opposition leaders
6 September, 2012 – Agence France Presse

Ineffectual UN Chief Ban Ki-moon in denial about his current status as US Door Mat

UNITED NATIONS: U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon Wednesday sharply criticized tough jail terms imposed on 13 leading Bahraini opposition figures, calling on the country’s leaders to ensure the right to a fair trial.

“The secretary-general is concerned by the harsh sentences, including life imprisonment, upheld by a Bahrain appeals court,” Ban’s spokesman Martin Nesirky said in a statement.

The jail terms, which included seven life sentences, were imposed for charges of plotting to overthrow the Sunni Gulf monarchy during last year’s Shiite-led protests.

Ban “urges the Bahraini authorities to allow all defendants to exercise their right to appeal and to ensure that due process is observed.”

And he “reiterates his appeal to the Bahraini authorities to ensure the application of international human rights norms, including the right to a fair trial, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” the statement added.

The U.N. chief also renewed his belief “that there needs to be an all-inclusive and meaningful national dialogue that addresses the legitimate aspirations of all Bahrainis.”

…more

Britain’s global legacy of conflict
4 September, 2012 – Finian Cunningham – PressTV

In each of these seemingly disparate conflicts, the seeds of violence were sown by one system – British colonialism and its malevolent engineering of sectarianism. It is an indictment of British rulers that decades on, and sometimes centuries on, people’s lives are still being blighted by the legacy of Britain’s predatory, criminal history.”

It’s been a busy news week for British colonialism, or more accurately, the violent legacy of British colonialism. A rash of ongoing or renewed conflicts across the globe speaks of the detriment that the once-powerful British bequeathed and for which people of today have to contend with through injustice and in some cases immense human suffering.

In Northern Ireland, Belfast city has seen resurgent riots between pro-British Protestant youths and Irish nationalist Catholics, with extensive injuries, property damage and a painful reminder of sectarian bloodletting in recent years.

Over in the South Atlantic, Argentines and their government are up in arms over the London government’s proposal to hold a referendum on the future status of the Malvinas Islands, the British colony off Argentina otherwise known as the Falklands.

In the Middle East, Israel has committed yet more crimes against the besieged Palestinian people when fighter jets bombed the coastal Gaza strip, adding to the daily abject misery and terror of inhabitants.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, the people of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia continue their street agitations for democratic freedom from despotic monarchial rulers. In Bahrain, the calls for democracy were given added impetus when a court upheld the sentences against 20 political leaders, some of whom have been imprisoned for life.

Further East on the atlas, in the military junta of Myanmar, formerly known as British Burma, the persecution of thousands of Rohingya Muslims continues unabated, with hundreds killed at the hands of Buddhist gangs after being burned out of their shanty homes.

In each of these seemingly disparate conflicts, the seeds of violence were sown by one system – British colonialism and its malevolent engineering of sectarianism. It is an indictment of British rulers that decades on, and sometimes centuries on, people’s lives are still being blighted by the legacy of Britain’s predatory, criminal history.

In Northern Ireland, a peace settlement was reached after nearly 30 years of an anti-imperialist war between the guerrilla Irish Republican Army and the British forces. More than 3,000 people were killed during that conflict, which British government counter-insurgency policy succeeded in distorting into a sectarian bloodbath between pro-British Protestant loyalists and the mainly Catholic Irish nationalist population. The origins of that conflict lay in the gerrymandering of Ireland by the British colonial rulers when they partitioned the island in 1920-21 – against international and democratic norms – into a pro-British northern statelet and a nominally independent southern state. …more

Can someone please explain what the crime is in contact with Iran and Hezbollah. The Bahrain Regime has yet to release of publish verifiable evidence of crimes of sedition regarding the detained in Bahrain. Until they do so the press should be demanding proof not proliferating bull-shit. Phlipn -out.

Bahrain says uprising leaders had contact with Iran, Hezbollah
by Andrew Hammond – 4 September, 2012 – Reuters

(Reuters) – Leaders of a Bahraini uprising last year, whose prison sentences were upheld by a court on Tuesday, were in “intelligence contact” with Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, a public prosecution official said on Tuesday.

“It is established clearly to us from this verdict that some of the accused had relations and strived to have relations and intelligence contacts with a foreign organization, which is Hezbollah, which works in the interests of Iran,” Wael Boualai told a news conference, in comments carried by state media.

Six of the 20 men whose sentences were upheld were found guilty of “intelligence contacts with foreign bodies”. They were also jailed for offences including trying to overturn the system of government and violating the constitution. The 20 deny all charges against them, saying they wanted only democratic reform. …source

It is CNN International that is, by far, the most-watched English-speaking news outlet in the Middle East. By refusing to broadcast “iRevolution”, the network’s executives ensured it was never seen on television by Bahrainis or anyone else in the region.

Glenn Greenwald: “Why didn’t CNN’s international arm air its own documentary on Bahrain’s Arab Spring repression?” – A former CNN correspondent defies threats from her former employer to speak out about self-censorship at the network.

Gulf Center for Human Rights: Bahrain emboldened by international silence, sentences Nabeel Rajab to 3 years imprisonment – The BCHR and GCHR condemn in the strongest terms the sentence passed today against the detained human rights defender Nabeel Rajab by the Bahraini government on charges related to protesting. Rajab was sentenced to a total of three years imprisonment in three cases, to be immediately carried out. He is already serving a 3 months imprisonment sentence on charges of “libeling the citizens of the town of Muharraq over twitter”, another case of an ongoing campaign of judicial harassment against Rajab. He is in prison since 9 July 2012 for this charge. …more

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Upholding the Sentence of 13 Bahraini Activists
Press Statement

Patrick Ventrell
Acting Deputy Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

September 4, 2012

We are deeply troubled by today’s developments in which an appeals court upheld the vast majority of convictions and sentences of 13 Bahraini activists.

We urge the Government of Bahrain to abide by its commitment to respect detainees’ right to due process and to transparent judicial proceedings, including fair trials and access to attorneys. It is important that verdicts are based on credible evidence and that judicial proceedings are conducted in full accordance with Bahraini law and Bahrain’s international legal obligations. We call on the Government of Bahrain to investigate all reports of torture, including those made by the defendants, as it has pledged to do, and to hold accountable those found responsible.

We continue to call on all parties, including the government, to contribute constructively to reconciliation, meaningful dialogue and reform that bring about change that is responsive to the aspirations of all Bahrainis. As we have said, Bahrain needs dialogue and negotiation to build a strong national consensus about its political future, strengthen its economic standing, and make it a more prosperous country and a more stable ally of the United States. …source

Saudi Arabia approves state media restructure
04 September, 2012 – By Al Arabiya

The Saudi government approved Monday the restructuring for state media, the official Saudi Press Agency said.

Under the restructuring, a new government body called the General Authority for Audio and Visual Media will be created to regulate, develop and supervise media content according to the state’s media policy.

SPA said the authority will be an independent body in terms of finance and administration and that it would have an independent annual budget. However, the new authority will be under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Culture and Information.

“The authority will be the responsible agency for the transmission of audio and visual media and its content,” Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja told the state news agency.

The Authority will also be responsible for issuing permits for media activities in the country, as well as supervising service providers and content creation. Other responsibilities of the Authority include receiving complaints and investigating them in media matters.

The board of the new Authority will be chaired by the Minister of Culture and Information and will include its president, the governor of Telecommunication and Information Technology Commission, representatives of government departments and two experts appointed by the Council of Ministers. …source

UN chief blames Syria arms suppliers for spreading misery
5 September, 2012

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has accused Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia of arming the Syrian conflict, spreading misery as the fighting intensifies.

The latest unverified video said to be in Aleppo certainly illustrates the use of heavy weaponry.

Meanwhile the new UN and Arab League envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi called for unity in addressing the crisis during his first speech to the General Assembly.

“I am looking forward to my visit to Damascus in a few days time and also, when convenient and possible, to all countries who are in a position to help the Syrian-led political process become a reality leading to a transition that respects the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people.”

On Tuesday the Syrian president promised the Red Cross he would allow the organisation to expand its relief operations.

As reports grow of a worsening humanitarian crisis in several bombarded cities, a video taken off the internet purported to show the discovery of 18 bodies dumped at a hospital in Douma. …source

Diatribes and Curious Silences – Democrats and U.S. Labor Delusional About Latin America
By ALBERTO C. RUIZ – 04 September, 2012 – Counterpunch

The Democrats just put out their platform on Latin America, and it demonstrates only the loosest connection to reality. Thus, while praising the “vibrant democracies in countries from Mexico to Brazil and Costa Rica to Chile,” as well as “historic peaceful transfers of power in places like El Salvador and Uruguay,” the Democrats continue to point to Cuba and Venezuela as outliers in the region in which the Democrats plan “to press for more transparent and accountable governance” and for “greater freedom.” Of course, it is their Platform’s deafening silence on critical developments in the region which says the most about their position vis a vis the Region.

Not surprising, the Democrats say nothing about the recent coups in Honduras and Paraguay (both taking place during Obama’s first term) which unseated popular and progressive governments. They also say nothing about the fact that President Obama, against the tide of the other democratic countries in Latin America, quickly recognized the coup governments in both of these countries. Also omitted from the platform is any discussion of the horrendous human rights situation in post-coup Honduras where journalists, human rights advocates and labor leaders have been threatened, harassed and even killed at alarming rates.

As Reporters Without Borders (RWR) explained on August 16, 25 journalists have been murdered in Honduras since the 2009 coup, making Honduras the journalist murder capital of the world. In this same story, RWR mentions Honduras in the same breath as Mexico (a country the Democrats hold out as one of the “vibrant democracies” in the region) when speaking of the oppression of journalists and social activists, as well as the general climate of violence which plagues both countries. As RWR stated, “Like their Mexican colleagues, Honduran journalists – along with human rights workers, civil society representatives, lawyers and academics who provide information – will not break free of the spiral of violent crime and censorship until the way the police and judicial apparatus functions is completely overhauled.” And indeed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 38 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992, and it has been confirmed in 27 of these cases that the journalists were killed precisely because they were journalists. Meanwhile, in Mexico, over 40,000 individuals have been killed due to the U.S.-sponsored drug war – hardly a laudable figure. …more

In case no one was watching in the US, the FBI has contracted your privacy rights away to the National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance. The fascists cometh and they are for hire. While both parties are holding their ‘twilight-zone-esque’ conventions, they are both pissing all over your privacy rights. Phlipn.

With What Databases Has NCTC Cross-Referenced with FBI’s 12 Million iDevice User IDs?
4 September, 2012 by emptywheel

As you may have heard, Anonymous and AntiSec hacked into a database of 12 million Apple Universal Device IDs that were in an FBI officer’s laptop and released 1 million of them, ostensibly so some people could identify if their device was one of those FBI was tracking.

They claimed to have tapped into a Dell laptop owned by Special Agent Christopher K. Stangl, an FBI cyber security expert. They downloaded several files, including one that contained “12,367,232 Apple iOS devices including Unique Device Identifiers (UDID)” and other personal information, they wrote in a text file published online. “[The] personal details fields referring to people appears many times empty leaving the whole list incompleted [sic] on many parts. no other file on the same folder makes mention about this list or its purpose.”

While it’s not immediately clear what the FBI is doing with the Apple UDIDs and detailed information on device owners, Gizmodo pointed out that the acronym “NCFTA” could stand for the National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance, a nonprofit that acts as an information-sharing gateway between private industry and law enforcement.

These are unique identifiers for things like iPhones and iPads that have long presented the risk of tying someone’s identity to an individual device.

There are multiple ways FBI could have collected this information–either using an NSL or Section 215 request or an insecure transmissions to an ad or game server. And no one knows how the FBI was using it. Whatever you think about Anonymous, we may finally learn more about how the government is tracking geolocation.

But here’s one other concern. Assuming that’s an official FBI database, not only the FBI has it, but also the National Counterterrorism Center. And they’ve got access to whatever federal databases they want to cross-check with existing counterterrorism databases. And one of the few checks we have on the use of our data in this way is a Privacy Act SCOTUS just watered down.

This is a massive amount of data the government likely has no good excuse for having collected, much less used. But it’s likely just one tip of a very big iceberg. …more

Sandhurst took £3m Bahrain gift after regime’s crackdown
2 September, 2012 – by Simon Murphy and Martin Williams – The Bureau of Investigate Reporting

Britain’s world-famous officer training school, Sandhurst, has accepted a £3m donation from the King of Bahrain, despite global criticism of the regime following a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators last year.

Documents obtained by the Bureau reveal the top military training establishment was in negotiations with the regime about the donation throughout 2011. It received the money in January 2012 and sent a gushing letter thanking the King of Bahrain for his generosity at the beginning of summer.

The academy, which is responsible for training British Army officers, is using the donation to build a sports hall which is due to open early next year. It will be named in the country’s honour.

The donation is part of a long-standing relationship between the Bahraini royal family and Sandhurst. The King, Hamad bin Essa Al Khalifa, was trained at the Surrey-based academy, as are a select group of Bahraini military personnel each year.

The King has also been a patron of the Sandhurst Foundation, the academy’s alumni charity, since 2007. He twice donated a fee of £69,975 to the Foundation in 2011 and 2012.

The Sunni regime, which rules over the Shia majority, was criticised after the Saudi National Guard were deployed to crush pro-democracy protests that started in February 2011, sparked by the Arab Spring movement. Hospital staff were arrested for helping protestors and many are still on trial.

Jeremy Corbyn MP condemned the decision to accept the donations.

‘Bahrain has an appalling human rights record and even now medical practitioners are on trial for helping victims,’ he said.

‘It is disgraceful that the British government should allow the King of Bahrain to fund Sandhurst and it seems there is a completely different set of standards on human rights relating to Bahrain, compared to many other states in the Gulf and Middle East region.’

The MoD has provided training for 77 Bahraini military personnel at Sandhurst since 1992, including three last year, and 39 in the past decade, according to a response to a Freedom of Information request.

An MoD spokesman told the Bureau that although the training costs the government £78,000 per recruit, Bahrain only pays £48,400, meaning the government subsidises training costs to the tune of £29,600 in each case. Figures suggest this will have cost the MoD £384,800 in the past three years alone.

An MoD spokesman argued that the subsidies were beneficial to Britain as they ‘help them [Bahraini military personnel] see how we do things,’ – a practice dating back to 1947.

The recruits undergo a 48-week Army Commissioning Course, which the MoD says gives ‘a grounding in British Military doctrine’ and teaches ‘to think and communicate as commanders and to foster a deep interest and care for the individual’. …more

The US and Israel, Not Iran, Threaten Peace
by Noam Chomsky – 4 September, 2012 – commondreams.org

It is not easy to escape from one’s skin, to see the world differently from the way it is presented to us day after day. But it is useful to try. Let’s take a few examples.

The war drums are beating ever more loudly over Iran. Imagine the situation to be reversed.

Iran is carrying out a murderous and destructive low-level war against Israel with great-power participation. Its leaders announce that negotiations are going nowhere. Israel refuses to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty and allow inspections, as Iran has done. Israel continues to defy the overwhelming international call for a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the region. Throughout, Iran enjoys the support of its superpower patron.

Iranian leaders are therefore announcing their intention to bomb Israel, and prominent Iranian military analysts report that the attack may happen before the U.S. elections.

Iran can use its powerful air force and new submarines sent by Germany, armed with nuclear missiles and stationed off the coast of Israel. Whatever the timetable, Iran is counting on its superpower backer to join if not lead the assault. U.S. defense secretary Leon Panetta says that while we do not favor such an attack, as a sovereign country Iran will act in its best interests.

All unimaginable, of course, though it is actually happening, with the cast of characters reversed. True, analogies are never exact, and this one is unfair – to Iran.

Like its patron, Israel resorts to violence at will. It persists in illegal settlement in occupied territory, some annexed, all in brazen defiance of international law and the U.N. Security Council. It has repeatedly carried out brutal attacks against Lebanon and the imprisoned people of Gaza, killing tens of thousands without credible pretext.

Thirty years ago Israel destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor, an act that has recently been praised, avoiding the strong evidence, even from U.S. intelligence, that the bombing did not end Saddam Hussein’s nuclear weapons program but rather initiated it. Bombing of Iran might have the same effect.

Iran too has carried out aggression – but during the past several hundred years, only under the U.S.-backed regime of the shah, when it conquered Arab islands in the Persian Gulf.

Iran engaged in nuclear development programs under the shah, with the strong support of official Washington. The Iranian government is brutal and repressive, as are Washington’s allies in the region. The most important ally, Saudi Arabia, is the most extreme Islamic fundamentalist regime, and spends enormous funds spreading its radical Wahhabist doctrines elsewhere. The gulf dictatorships, also favored U.S. allies, have harshly repressed any popular effort to join the Arab Spring.

The Nonaligned Movement – the governments of most of the world’s population – is now meeting in Teheran. The group has vigorously endorsed Iran’s right to enrich uranium, and some members – India, for example – adhere to the harsh U.S. sanctions program only partially and reluctantly.

The NAM delegates doubtless recognize the threat that dominates discussion in the West, lucidly articulated by Gen. Lee Butler, former head of the U.S. Strategic Command: “It is dangerous in the extreme that in the cauldron of animosities that we call the Middle East,” one nation should arm itself with nuclear weapons, which “inspires other nations to do so.”

Butler is not referring to Iran, but to Israel, which is regarded in the Arab countries and in Europe as posing the greatest threat to peace In the Arab world, the United States is ranked second as a threat, while Iran, though disliked, is far less feared. Indeed in many polls majorities hold that the region would be more secure if Iran had nuclear weapons to balance the threats they perceive.

If Iran is indeed moving toward nuclear-weapons capability – this is still unknown to U.S. intelligence – that may be because it is “inspired to do so” by the U.S.-Israeli threats, regularly issued in explicit violation of the U.N. Charter.

Why then is Iran the greatest threat to world peace, as seen in official Western discourse? The primary reason is acknowledged by U.S. military and intelligence and their Israeli counterparts: Iran might deter the resort to force by the United States and Israel.

Furthermore Iran must be punished for its “successful defiance,” which was Washington’s charge against Cuba half a century ago, and still the driving force for the U.S. assault against Cuba that continues despite international condemnation.

Other events featured on the front pages might also benefit from a different perspective. Suppose that Julian Assange had leaked Russian documents revealing important information that Moscow wanted to conceal from the public, and that circumstances were otherwise identical.

Sweden would not hesitate to pursue its sole announced concern, accepting the offer to interrogate Assange in London. It would declare that if Assange returned to Sweden (as he has agreed to do), he would not be extradited to Russia, where chances of a fair trial would be slight.

Sweden would be honored for this principled stand. Assange would be praised for performing a public service – which, of course, would not obviate the need to take the accusations against him as seriously as in all such cases. …more