Posts from — October 2012

Washington Lobbies Europe to Join Its War on Hezbollah
By Omar Nashabe – 29 October, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Washington’s attempts to cultivate what it called “moderate Shias” as a counterbalance to Hezbollah, as revealed in Wikileaks documents, has failed, and now the US is ratcheting up pressure on its European allies to go after the Resistance movement.

This appeal was made by John Brennan, the US President’s Deputy National Security Advisor, during a visit he made to Dublin on Friday.

Speaking at the Institute of International and European Affairs, Brennan criticized what he called the “Failure” of many European countries, including Ireland, to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization, which, he said, “makes it harder to defend our countries and protect our citizens.”

Brennan also called on the European countries to hold Iran and Syria accountable for sponsoring Hezbollah
He went on to say that the UK’s move to designate Hezbollah’s armed wing a terrorist group was “simply not enough,” and declared that Hezbollah “will continue to operate with impunity” unless the international community joins the United States in taking a more “proactive posture” by working together to “uncover its infrastructure and disrupt its networks.”

The senior US official stressed that failure by the European countries to take action against Hezbollah has complicated law enforcement efforts against Hezbollah suspects arrested “for plotting in Europe.”

Brennan also called on the European countries to hold Iran and Syria accountable for sponsoring Hezbollah, a statement which comes at the same time as American accusations that Hezbollah is supporting the regime in Syria in its war against the armed opposition and its backers.

Brennan is one of President Barack Obama’s top advisers. The US media covered his remarks extensively in the final stretch of the campaign leading up to the the US presidential elections. The remarks follow a presidential debate focused on foreign policy in which both candidates pledged staunch support for Israel.

Nevertheless, the appeal made to the European countries to back the US attack on Hezbollah also suggests that there has been a shift in the approach declared by Brennan. …more

Bahrain prosecutor appeals against acquittals of 3 police
29 October, 2012 – Agence France Presse

DUBAI: Bahrain’s prosecutor Monday appealed against the acquittals of a policewoman accused of torturing a journalist and two policemen tried for murdering demonstrators in last year’s anti-regime protests.

“The prosecutor general has decided to file an appeal (after) a thorough review of the reasons” that led to the acquittals and after studying the evidences against the accused in both the cases, a statement issued by the prosecutor general Abderrahman al-Sayyed said.

On October 22, a Bahraini court had acquitted a policewoman who was charged with torturing female journalist Naziha Saeed, who is Manama’s correspondent for France 24 and Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya, during last year’s crackdown on anti-regime protests in the Gulf kingdom.

The court concluded that the testimony of the victim was “contradictory” and “does not conform to the pathologist’s report.”

The officer was prosecuted for hitting the journalist on May 22, 2011, after she was summoned by the police for questioning about her links with Al-Manar television of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.

In another case on September 27 the court acquitted two police officers accused of killing two Shiite protesters, Ali al-Moumin and Issa Abdel Hasan, during the crackdown on protests in 2011.

The court justified their acquittals on the basis of lack of evidence.

Home to the US Fifth Fleet and strategically situated across the Gulf from Iran, Bahrain has continued to witness sporadic Shiite-led demonstrations, mostly outside the capital since it crushed the pro-democracy uprising in March last year.
…source

Bahrain: al-Wefaq party calls for a protest rally to break al-Eker siege
29 October, 2012 – ABNA

Bahrain’s main opposition bloc al-Wefaq has called on Bahrainis to march towards the village of al-Eker, south of the capital, and hold a protest gathering there.

Bahrain: al-Wefaq party calls for a protest rally to break al-Eker siege(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Bahrain’s main opposition bloc al-Wefaq has called on Bahrainis to march towards the village of al-Eker, south of the capital, and hold a protest gathering there.

The rally aims at breaking al-Eker siege and expressing solidarity with its residents, opposition activists said.

Al-Eker has been under Manama regime’s siege since October 18 after a policeman was killed in a roadside bombing in the village. Activists say the regime forces have imposed strict security measures on al-Eker and have denied the town medical aid and food supplies since then. Security forces have also prevented activists and doctors from entering the village.

Ten opposition groups and NGOs have reportedly sent a message to United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon to urge him to intervene and “lift the siege on al-Eker.”

Al Wefaq has been pushing for a week to hold a rally in al-Eker, but on Saturday, Bahrain’s security authorities denied the opposition group permission to hold a mass rally in Eker.

Bahrain, which is home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has been the scene of anti-regime protests since February 2011 and scores of people have been killed and hundreds more injured in the regime crackdown. Many others, including opposition leaders and human rights activists, were also given long jail terms as part of the crackdown.

Bahrainis hold King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa responsible for the death and arrest of the protesters. They have vowed to continue their protests rallies until their demands for an elected government and an end to rights violations are met. …source

US Trying to engage Iran on 1 to 1 Basis, As Iran threatens to Use Oil as a weapon , with out Iranian Oil World Economy may Crash
29 October, 2012 – JafriaNEws

JNN 29 Oct 2012 TEHRAN – The White House says it is prepared to talk one-on-one with Tehran to find a diplomatic settlement to the impasse over Iran’s nuclear program, but there’s no agreement now to meet, the Associated Press reported on Sunday.

The report did not give more details.

The New York Times reported on October 22, citing Obama administration officials, that the United States and Iran had agreed in principle to one-on-one negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, but both the White House and Iran denied the report.

Iranian lawmaker and former oil minister Masoud Mirkazemi has warned the Western countries that Iran may use energy as a political tool against them if they seek to use it as such against the Islamic Republic.

“The Westerners should know that if they want to use this tool for political purposes, the possibility exists that one day this tool will be used against them, and then they will suffer,” the chairman of Iran’s Majlis Energy Committee said on Sunday.

He referred to the sanctions imposed against Iran’s energy sector and said that despite the bans, “Iran’s oil sales continue and if European countries do not buy our country’s oil, there are numerous other countries that are buyers.”

The Iranian lawmaker said if the sanctions could have affected Iran’s oil exports, they would have had the effect by now; but the country’s crude sales have never stopped.

On October 15, EU foreign ministers agreed on a new round of sanctions against Iran in spite of a UN warning against the humanitarian ramifications of the bans that had already been imposed.

The illegal US-engineered sanctions were imposed based on the unfounded allegation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Iran’s Oil Ministry Spokesman Alireza Nikzad-Rahbar says the Islamic Republic will reciprocate any further Western sanctions against the country, adding that the Iranian crude is indispensable to the world energy markets. …more

60 M US Coastal belt residents at risk as deadly ‘Frankenstorm’ Sandy triggers mass evacuations
Jafria News – 29 October, 2012

JNN 29 Oct 2012 New York : The ‘Frankenstorm’ Sandy is set to be unprecedented in size once it hits the US mainland Monday night. Tens of millions of people could be affected as the hybrid hurricane wreaks havoc from the East Coast to the Great Lakes on Halloween week.

Increasingly dire warnings of powerful winds, power outages, widespread flooding, torrential downpours and even snow are being sounded in New York and other major population centers as Hurricane Sandy continues its trek up from the Caribbean.

President Obama signed an emergency declaration for the states of New York and Massachusetts and District of Columbia on Sunday evening.

Forecasters said Sandy is set to transform into “super storm,” as the tropical storm merges with a winter storm and a cold front, threatening up to 12 inches of rainfall in some areas and heavy snow inland.

“We’re looking at impact of greater than 50 to 60 million people,” says Louis Uccellini, head of environmental prediction for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Set to approach the coasts of the mid-Atlantic states by Monday, Sandy is likely to make landfall in the New York metropolitan area, home to about 22 million people, on Monday night.

The Category 1 storm’s sustained winds of 75 mile per hour are nothing extraordinary, but with hurricane force winds reaching out 105 miles from its center and weaker tropical storm-force winds extending 700 miles, forecasters are on edge about its potential impact.

The powerful gusts are expected to stretch as far inland as Pennsylvania.

“These winds are just amazing in terms of their high speed. I cannot recall ever seeing model forecasts of such an expansive areal wind field with values so high for so long a time. We are breaking new ground here,” a National Weather Service meteorologist in the agency’s Washington, DC/Baltimore office said on Saturday night.

“The size of this [Sandy] alone, affecting a heavily populated area, is going to be history making,” said Jeff Masters, a hurricane specialist who writes a blog for Weather Underground.

Those far away from costal areas still have cause for alarm, as forecasters predict that inland flooding from the storm surge could pose a much greater risk than the winds.

Utilities officials have also warned that rain-saturated grounds could send trees plummeting into power lines, leaving residents at home without electricity for days.

Officials have urged residents to stock up on food, water and batteries, with grocery stores being swamped in anticipation of the potential power outages.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered a mandatory evacuation of Gotham’s low-lying areas, home to some 375,000 people in total.

“If you don’t evacuate, you are not only endangering your life, you are also endangering the lives of the first responders who are going in to rescue you,” Bloomberg said at a news conference Sunday.

The city’s school system will also be closed on Monday, the mayor continued.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) had previously noted that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had directed “an orderly shutdown and suspension of all subway, bus and commuter railroad service” beginning at 7 pm Sunday.

Cuomo also said the decision to shut down the state’s bridges and tunnels would be made on a case-by-case basis.

The city closed the subways before Hurricane Irene last year, with a Columbia University study predicting that an Irene surge just one foot higher could have shut down lower Manhattan.

Bloomberg’s stark warning to residents regarding evacuation might have been spurred by fears that complacency had set in once Hurricane Irene turned out to be far weaker than initially predicted.

Irene, which struck the eastern US in August 2011, was responsible for 56 deaths and $15.6 billion dollars in damage, making it the fifth costliest storm in the country’s history.

“The National Weather service believes there is increasing potential for high winds, coastal flooding and heavy rains across a broad area for a lengthy period of time Sunday through Tuesday,” said Howard Glaser, director of New York State Operations.

Next door in New Jersey, hundreds of coastal residents started moving inland after Governor Chris Christie declared a state of emergency on Saturday. A dozen Atlantic City casinos were closed following the declaration, as the gambling hub is located on a barrier island. The town’s nearly 40,000 residents will be evacuated Sunday, city officials said. …more

Call for Bahrain to Implement UN Human Rights Council Recommendations
29 October, 2012 – by Jadaliyya Reports

PEN International calls on the Bahraini government to implement recommendations of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), released on 19 September 2012, alongside the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry BIC’s recommendations.

While Bahrain accepted 145 of the 176 recommendations made as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Bahrain, the situation of human rights is still deteriorating.

PEN International is extremely concerned about the ongoing threats of reprisals targeting Bahraini human rights defenders, including writers and journalists, who cooperate with the United Nations (UN) or those who attended the Geneva meeting. Several of these activists have been summoned for interrogation or arrested in the past few days, due to their legitimate peaceful activism for human rights.

On 16 October 2012, activist and president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights Mohamed Al-Masktai has been summoned for interrogation at Al-Naem police station. He was then arrested and kept in custody to be brought the following day before the public prosecution office for participating in a protest held on 12 October in Manama. He was released after interrogation. While taking part in the Geneva meetings, Al-Masktai reportedly received death threats through anonymous phone calls.

Also, on 23 September 2012, those who travelled to Geneva to participate in the 21st session of the Human Rights Council were accused of “defaming Bahrain” and labelled as “traitors to the country” by pro-governmental newspaper Al-Watan.

In violation of one of the recommendations which states that the Bahraini government must immediately release prisoners who have been convicted solely for exercising their rights to peaceful assembly and free expression during pro-democracy demonstrations in February and March 2011, the Bahraini Appeal Court upheld on 4 September 2012 the sentences against the 14 political leaders and human rights activists including writers and bloggers Abdul Hadi Al- Khawaja and Dr Abdul-Jalil Al-Singace. PEN is seriously concerned for the welfare of Abdul-Jaili Al-Singace, who is in poor health as a result of hunger strike.

The Bahrain Appeals Court has twice postponed the appeal hearing of Nabeel Rajab, the director of Bahrain Centre for Human rights (BCHR), who was sentenced to three years in prison on 16 August 2012 for illegal assembly and another case related to a Twitter post. PEN International protests the continued arbitrary detention of Nabeel Rajab.

Zainab Al-Khawaja, a human rights defender and blogger, was released on 3 October 2012 after serving her two-month sentence which was handed down on 1 October 2012 for her peaceful opposition activities. Zainab reported that she was exposed to physical violence by police whilst in detention. …more

Details emerge over Israel’s strike on Sudan
29 October, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Eight Israeli warplanes flew south along the Red Sea and crossed into Sudan from the east before striking the Yarmouk factory on the outskirts of Khartoum last week, according to an article published Sunday in the UK Sunday Times.

The article quoted several unnamed security sources who provided a play-by-play of last Wednesday’s attack in Sudan that killed two people and destroyed a factory allegedly used by Iran to store and transfer arms to Gaza.

Israel has neither denied nor confirmed the attack, which was widely interpreted as a warning to Iran over its nuclear program.

“This was a show of force but it was only a fraction of our capability – and of what the Iranians can expect in the countdown to the spring,” the paper quoted an Israeli defense source as saying, referring to recent threats to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Iran reveals photographs taken over Israel

Details of the attack emerge as Iran on Monday revealed photographs of what it said were Israeli military bases and other restricted areas captured by a drone earlier this month.

The Ayoub drone was shot down by Israeli jets after originally bypassing the country’s radar and air defense system on October 7. Hezbollah said it launched the drone.

“These aircraft transmit their pictures online, and right now we possess pictures of restricted areas,” Esmail Kowsari, chair of the Iranian parliament’s defense committee, told Iran’s state news agency.

Tensions are building up between Iran and Israel with the latter threatening to use force to disable the Islamic state’s nuclear program. Iran blames Israel for sabotaging one of its facilities earlier this year, and for a string of assassinations targeting Iranian nuclear scientists.

Israel and the west accuse Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons. Iran, with the support of Russia, insist the program is being developed for peaceful purposes.

Last week’s attack on Sudan, which is roughly the same size and distance from Israel as Iran, demonstrates Israel’s far reaching capabilities to strike.

Play-by-play

According to the Sunday Times account, the eight Israeli jets – four carrying one-ton bombs, and four escorts – took off from an airbase in southern Israel Tuesday night around 10pm.

They flew along the Red Sea to bypass Egypt’s air defense system. After flying south for 90 minutes, the jets were refuelled by a Boeing 707 tanker outside Sudanese airspace.

With their tanks full, the jets then raced towards the Yarmouk factory in Khartoum.

“At this stage a Gulfstream G550 filled with electronic warfare equipment began to jam the Sudanese air defense system and the radar at Khartoum airport,” the report said.

Sudanese fighter jets remained grounded throughout the attack.

The newspaper’s sources said the attack began being planned over two years ago when Mossad agents discovered a copy of a 2008 defense agreement between Iran and Sudan.

The agreement, found in a briefcase of a Hamas arms purchaser after the agents smothered him to death in his Dubai hotel room, allegedly stipulated that Iran would build arms in Sudan. …source

Al-Khalifa Forces Impose Siege on Eker for 8th Day
26 October, 2012 – Uprooted Palestinians

Al-Khlaifa security forcesSaudi-backed Bahraini forces have attacked anti-regime protesters and activists attempting to enter a besieged village in the east of the country.

The security forces used toxic teargas canisters and rubber bullets to prevent the protesters from breaking the now-eight-day-long siege of the village of Eker.

Several protesters were arrested and dozens more injured in violent clashes with the regime forces.

Meanwhile, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, a Cairo-based NGO devoted to promoting freedom of expression across the Middle East and North Africa, condemned the Manama regime’s use of systematic violence against peaceful demonstrators.

On Monday, clashes erupted between regime forces and protesters near the village, during which at least three human rights activists, including Zainab al-Khawaja, the daughter of jailed opposition leader, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, were arrested.

Khawaja said earlier that the protesters were taking food and medical supplies to the village’s residents.

Bahrain’s revolution began in mid-February 2011 when oppression-weary public, inspired by popular revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, started holding massive demonstrations against the ruling regime.

Al-Khalifa crackdown against the Bahraini RevolutionThe Bahraini government promptly launched a brutal crackdown on the peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring Persian Gulf states to help crack down on the demonstrations.

The Peninsula Shield-backed security forces faced citizens with bombs and toxic gas, which injures a number of participants, including a serious injury by a sound grenade the forces fired at one citizen’s face.

Despite more than a week passed on imposing the siege, the troops are still stationed in the vicinity of the region and its main and secondary entrances, accompanied with patrols of raids involving helicopters, horrifying incursions and illegal arrests, according to human rights organizations.

Al-Khalifa forces have also tightened the noose by banning food ammunitions and ambulances from entering Eker.

Legal sources confirmed that troops are surrounding the entire area from all sides turning it into a big prison, which reveals official organized targeting under the policy of collective punishment. …source

Int’l silence gives Al Khalifa free hand to suppress Bahrainis: Lawmaker
26 October, 2012 – PressTV

The deadly silence of the international community has given the Al Khalifa regime freedom to continue suppressing and killing people and … they keep [creating] human rights catastrophes by attacking defenseless people.”

An Iranian lawmaker has censured the international community’s silence on the killing and suppressing of Bahrainis by ruling Al Khalifa regime.

“The deadly silence of the international community has given the Al Khalifa regime freedom to continue suppressing and killing people and … they keep [creating] human rights catastrophes by attacking defenseless people,” Hossein Sobhani-Nia, member of Majlis (parliament) Presiding Board, said on Friday.

He pointed to the killing of Bahrainis and the siege of the village of al-Eker by the Bahraini regime forces and said the slaughter of children and women in Bahrain will be registered in the black record of the so-called advocates of human rights.

The Iranian lawmaker said that the Bahraini regime has violated the very basic civil rights of its citizens by killing the Shias, and added that Al Khalifa seeks to remove the community from the political scene.

Sobhani-Nia said the crackdown on Bahrainis may delay the realization of the people’s legitimate demands but will eventually lead to the final victory of the popular movement.

The village of al-Eker has been blockaded since late last Thursday when a policeman was killed in a bomb blast there.

Since then, clashes have been reported between Saudi-backed regime forces and protesters trying to enter the besieged village, which is located some 20 kilometers south of the capital Manama.

According to authorities, seven people are held over the blast. A government statement says that checkpoints have been set up in the search for other possible suspects.

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

The Bahraini government promptly launched a brutal crackdown on the peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring Persian Gulf states to help crack down on the demonstrations. …more

EU condemns mounting violence in Bahrain
24 October, 2012 – al Khalifa Fantasy News

Brussels, Oct. 24 (BNA)— High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the Commission Catherine Ashton denounced today violence in Bahrain which killed recently a security officer and left another seriously injured.

She said in a statement issued by her Spokesperson that “violence puts at risk the national reconciliation process in Bahrain, to which the European Union has expressed its support on several occasions.”

She stressed she is following up with deep concern the escalation of violence in Bahrain, adding that the EU “urges once again all sections of the Bahraini society to contribute to dialogue and national reconciliation in a peaceful and constructive manner, without any further delay.”

…source

How Workers are Using Globalization Against Walmart
25 October, 2012 – By Matthew CunninghamCook – truthout

The recent Walmart strikes — beginning first among warehouse workers in California, then spreading to others in Elwood, Illinois, and finally to Walmart retail stores across the United States — raise the possibility that workers may be able to crack the anti-union wall at the country’s largest employer. The new momentum seems likely to spread among many more workplaces to come. But these wildcat strikes are a reminder that, if American workers are to have a better-organized future, they will have to better understand where their corporate opponents are vulnerable.

The Walmart strikes are part of a significant reevaluation of organizing strategy by labor unions and activists in the context of the continuing decline of unionism in the United States — where fewer than 7 percent of workers in the private sector belong to a union. As Nadine Bloch pointed out two weeks ago, such wildcat strikes on multiple levels of the supply chain at Walmart are unprecedented, and groups like OUR Walmart and Warehouse Workers for Justice are planning to escalate the campaign in the coming weeks.

Over the past three decades, there has been a tremendous shift in the work lives of almost everyone in the United States wrought by processes of globalization. With the deregulation of trade in favor of multinational corporations (exemplified in trade deals such as NAFTA), and the emergence of hyper-specialization, most major commodities are now produced with components manufactured all over the world, selected through a competitive bidding process that aims to extract the maximum profit.

Few have expressed this brave new world better than former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, when he said to Lou Dobbs in 1998, “Ideally, you’d have every plant you own on a barge.” The 1 percent, that is, could move the points of production at a whim to wherever the cost of labor was cheapest and the regulatory environment was weakest.

Walmart led the retail industry’s embrace of this system, though most other retailers now follow the post-globalization model as well. In the past, most retail operations would take place at regional or national population centers, with considerably higher transit costs that made local and higher-priced labor a necessity. But with the increasing automation of ports — as well as the deregulation of containerization in 1984 and of the trucking industry at the end of the 1970s — the global and national supply chain transit costs have been reduced. The increasing mobility of production and distribution has spelled disaster for the once-powerful trade unions. Rather than relying on a stable pool of labor, the key to Walmart’s success has been getting low-cost goods to customers at precisely the right moment according to microanalysis of market patterns. But that is also what makes it so vulnerable to work stoppages. …more

Bahrainis to Stage Massive Anti-Regime Protest Rally in Manama Friday
24 October, 2012 – Fars

TEHRAN (FNA)- Bahraini activists invited people throughout the country to stage a massive anti-regime protest rally in Manama on Friday to show their wrath and condemnation of the several-day-long siege of the al-Akr town by the al-Khalifa army and security forces.

The opposition group, the Coalition of the Youth of the February 14th Revolution, in a statement, said that a massive protest rally will be held in Manama on Friday to voice sympathy and solidarity with the resistant people of the al-Akr town, adding that “Break the Siege of Al-Akr” will be the main motto to be chanted by the people in Friday rally.

Also, the Bahraini people are due to hold a ceremony after the Thursday noon prayers titled ‘Prayers Revolution’ to pray for the improvement of freedom and human rights situation in their country.

Bahrain’s police and security forces surrounded al-Akr town, South of Manama, last week and cut the roads and transfer of food supplies to the town after a bomb attack on Thursday allegedly killed one policeman and injured another following clashes between protesters and the Saudi-backed security services.

“The Al-Khalifa regime has imposed a siege on the al-Akr town and prevents its people’s access to food supplies under the pretext of the killing of one of its elements who was involved in the suppression of people’s peaceful protests in the town,” Secretary-General of Bahrain’s National Democrat Society Fazzel Abbas said on Sunday.

He stressed the necessity for an end to the al-Akr siege and investigations into the killing of the policeman in the city, and told the Iran-based al-Alam news network that the killed person was a foreign national.

Bahrain’s al-Vafa al-Islami stream also on Sunday condemned the al-Akr siege, and underlined, “The Bahraini regime’s story about the killing of a policemen in al-Akr village is an excuse to assume the extensive deracination of people as permitted.”

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February 2011, calling for an end to the al-Khalifa dynasty.

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

Tens of protesters have been killed by the al-Khalifa’s security forces, hundreds have gone missing and thousands of others have been injured since the start of the Islamic Awakening in the tiny Persian Gulf country. …more

Revolt In The Middle East: Arab Monarchies Next? – Analysis
24 October, 2012 – By: James M. Dorsey – Eurasia Review

Arab monarchs pride themselves on having so far largely managed widespread discontent in their countries with a combination of financial handouts, artificial job creation, social investment and in the cases of Jordan and Morocco, some constitutional reform. Yet, in the shadow of the escalating civil war in Syria, it is monarchies like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Jordan that are on the cusp of the region’s convoluted transition from autocracy to more open political systems.

To be sure, the situations in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Jordan differ substantially from one another. Yet, individually and taken together they feed the worst fear of monarchs and their Western backers: a successful popular revolt in one monarchy will open the door to serious challenges to autocratic royal rule in the rest of the region’s mostly energy-rich monarchies. And underlying the differing circumstances is a deeply felt sense of social, economic and political disenfranchisement of the people that fuels the discontent in all three nations.
Playing the sectarian card

A 26-year old Shiite in the Eastern Province, the oil-rich heartland of Saudi Arabia, has come to symbolise the threat to the kingdom’s ruling family. Khalid al-Labad, who was on a wanted list because of his willingness to protest in a country that bans all demonstrations, was killed last month by security forces as he sat on a plastic chair in front of his house in silent protest in the rundown town of Awamiya. Two of his teenage relatives also died in the attack. Their death brought to 16 the number of people killed in the last year in clashes between protesters and security forces.

As in Bahrain last year before the ruling family opted for the sectarian card and brutally cracked down on calls for reform, protesters in the Eastern Province are only calling for equal opportunity in employment, an end to religious discrimination, as well as the release of political prisoners, and not the departure of the ruling Al Saud family.

In Bahrain, the minority Sunni Al Khalifa monarchy succeeded in temporarily crushing mass protests by the majority Shiites and driving them out of the capital Manama. However the frustration and anger in Bahrain continues to bubble to the surface in protests mostly in villages on the Gulf island more than a year after the Saudi-backed crackdown. Two teenaged Shias killed in recent weeks symbolised the popular unrest. …more

Assad accepts Syria’s Muslim holiday truce, envoy tells UN
24 October, 2012 – By Louis Charbonneau, Michelle Nichols – Reuters

UNITED NATIONS: The U.N.-Arab League mediator for the Syrian conflict told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has accepted a ceasefire for the Muslim holiday starting Friday, though a final announcement was expected to come later.

“President accepted, statement to be issued tomorrow,” a diplomat present at a closed-door briefing said mediator Lakhdar Brahimi told the 15-nation council via video link. He was speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Brahimi was expanding on remarks he made earlier on Wednesday to reporters in Cairo. After Brahimi spoke to the press in Egypt, the Syrian government appeared to contradict him, saying that its military command was still studying a proposal for a ceasefire with rebels on the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Asked if he could confirm Assad’s personal support for the holiday truce, Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari said to reporters: “Good to see you.”

On the way into the council meeting, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow hoped Brahimi’s plan for a ceasefire during the Muslim holiday of would be successful.

“We support it very strongly,” Churkin said. “We worked very hard in support of Mr. Brahimi in making sure there is a chance that might happen.”

Chinese Ambassador Li Baodong echoed Churkin’s remarks.

“We support a truce and we support Mr. Brahimi’s effort,” Li told reporters. “I think it’s important for all parties to understand the importance of peace and stability.”

“If there is 1 percent chance (of a ceasefire) then I think we should make 100 percent effort to make that happen,” he said.
…more

Syria amnesty must include peaceful activists: rights groups
25 October, 2012 – Agence France Presse

BEIRUT: International rights groups on Thursday urged Syria’s Bashar al-Assad to release peaceful activists, journalists and aid workers as part of an amnesty and to allow UN monitors inside prisons.

Assad, who is fighting a 19-month revolt against his regime, on Tuesday declared a general amnesty “for crimes committed before October 23,” except for those carried out by “terrorists” — the regime’s term for armed rebels.

But nine international rights groups including Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders and the International Federation for Human Rights said in a statement the amnesty must also apply to the “many peaceful activists in detention”.

Rights groups say tens of thousands of people have been detained since the start of the revolt.

“If president Assad is serious about his amnesty, he should open the doors of all his prisons to independent monitors to check who is actually detained and why,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

“Otherwise, this amnesty will be yet another false promise, with released detainees soon replaced by other activists, humanitarians, and journalists locked up for peacefully doing their jobs.”

The statement said widespread rights violations were taking place in detention facilities.

“Peaceful activists, human rights defenders, aid workers, lawyers, doctors, writers, and journalists continue to be held, often arbitrarily, in incommunicado detention, and subject to torture and ill-treatment,” it said
…source

Judiciary System Proves One More Time Its Complicity with Bahrain’s Crackdown by Upholding The Convictions for Teacher Unionists
25 October, 2012 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

The Bahrain Centre for human rights (BCHR) expresses its deepest concern over the recent court verdicts in appeal of the imprisoned prominent teacher unionists Mahdi Abudeeb the President of the Bahrain Teachers Association (BTA) and its Vice President Jalila Al-Salman due to their legitimate peaceful activism for rights and democracy.

On 22 October 2012, the appeal court in Bahrain sentenced Mahdi Abudeeb to five years’ and Jalila Al Salman to six months’ imprisonment. The new ruling reduces their initial sentence on 23 September 2011 when Abudeeb and Al Salman were sentenced to ten years’ and three years’ imprisonment, respectively, by a military court with charges of, among other things, inciting hatred towards the regime, calling for a teachers strike, participating and calling for illegal gatherings. AbuDeeb has been in prison since April 2011. Both of them have reported torture to the court, however the allegations went without investigation and the court issued its verdicts in the case.

YouTube (Amnesty International : Jalila’s urgent call to you, October 2012)

The BCHR believes that it is a politicized sentence; linked closely to the role the Teachers Association has played since the beginning of demonstrations in Bahrain.

The Association has shown solidarity with the people’s popular demands and has called on teachers to go on strikes to protest the fierce attack on peaceful demonstrators that took place in February 2011 and to put pressure on the government to respect human rights.

On 7 April 2011, the BTA was dissolved by the regime for “issuing statements and speeches inciting teachers and students” and “calling for a strike at schools”. The government’s accusations were made to delegitimize the Association, in order to start a campaign of repression and harassment against its members. Many members of the BTA were subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, military tribunals, suspension of work, salary cuts, prosecutions, investigation and harassment and violations continues till date.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights call on the Bahraini government to revoke the sentence issued against Mehdi Abudeeb and Jalila Al-Salman and to respect the trade union’s freedom to work. We call on the authorities to stop arbitrary procedures against the Teachers Association of Bahrain and allow it to work freely. …source

Bahrain: ill-treatment and denial of medical care for political detainees
25 October, 2012 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) urgently appeals upon the UN, the US, the UK and all governments that are close alleys of the Bahraini authorities to take action to stop the violations against prisoners of conscience. The BCHR expresses grave concern over the well-being of political detainees in Bahraini prisons who are having sham charges made against them, are being ill-treated and tortured, and are being denied adequate medical care. Many reports confirm the poor conditions of the prisons in Bahrain which adds to the suffering of their prisoners. Hussain Al Aali, Jaffar Eid and Mohammed Al Moghani are further examples of what prisoners are going through in Bahraini prisons.

ussain Abdulla Al Aali is a 28 year old father of three. He was arrested on 26 July 2012 after his house, his in-laws’ and his sister’s house were raided several times at dawn over a period of two months as his mother stated to a local newspaper. Hussain’s family started a search after his arrest but were told by the authorities that they did not have him in their custody. Finally, and after weeks of not knowing anything about Hussain’s whereabouts and well-being, they were allowed a visit him. According to his family, Hussain is in solitary confinement to date in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

He was allegedly subjected to torture to force a confession out of him and he was kept in a very small cell under intensive monitoring where he was not even allowed private time in the toilet where there are surveillance cameras and he had no exposure to sun for weeks. Hussain’s health is deteriorating because of the prison’s poor conditions, ill-treatment and insufficient medical care. He suffers from disc problems in his back and because he is being denied medical treatment, his condition is worsening daily. His family added that they have learnt he is not being given sufficient food which will cause him malnutrition and a worsening of his mental and physical well-being. Hussain’s family are gravely concerned about their son’s health condition. He is charged with “the making and possession of explosive materials”, though he only attended elementary school, cannot read and write and his family have affirmed that their son was far from the political situation.

Jaffar Eid and Mohammed Al Moghani are also being detained in the same case. Jaffar is Hussain’s brother-in-law and his family said after their first visit that he was not well. On the second visit, he looked worse, he couldn’t walk or stand and the family noticed torture marks on his legs. Mohammed Al Moghani, 35 years old, was detained on 22 July from the airport after arriving in Bahrain. His family did not know anything about his location for a while and despite the fact that he was in detention, his house was raided several times and many personal items were taken.

Hussain, Jaffer and Mohammed are among hundreds of political detainees in Bahrain’s prisons who are being held on sham charges. Prisoners are being kept in poorly conditioned prisons, many are suffering from serious pre-existing illnesses or injuries caused by torture or excessive use of force by the authorities and are being denied medical care. Mohammed Mushaima, 22 years old, died from a lack of adequate medical care while in custody. Also, Mohammed Sahwan, Ebrahim Al Moqdad (15) and Sadeq Al Haiki are currently in detention and are also being denied proper medical care by the authorities.

Therefore, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights demands the following:

• To immediately provide the necessary treatment to Hussain Al Aali, Jaffar Eid and all other prisoners in need of medical care in the prisons of Bahrain
• For the authorities in Bahrain to commit to international conventions which they have ratified, especially the rights of prisoners to receive full medical care
• The release of Hussain Al Aali, Jaffar Eid, Mohammed Al Moghani and others convicted in cases where the judgment is only based on confessions extracted under torture, which is internationally prohibited
• Accountability against those involved in torture and bringing them to a fair and independent judiciary
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Bahrain says it uncovered weapons cache inside unlicensed mosque
24 October, 2012 – By Al Arabiya

Police in Bahrain said on Wednesday they uncovered a weapons cache inside an unlicensed mosque where locally-made bombs were being produced.

Authorities said they seized electric detonators, stopwatches and other materials used to make bombs.

The cache was uncovered in the area of Abou Baham, a scene of violence attributed by official media to Shiite hardliners.

On Sunday authorities detained seven men over the killing of a policeman, as demonstrators tried to break through police checkpoints around the village where he lost his life.

Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, has been convulsed by unrest since February last year following mass demonstrations led by majority Shi’ites demanding democratic change in the Sunni-led monarchy.

The ruling Al Khalifa family brought in Gulf Arab troops, mainly from Saudi Arabia, and imposed over two months of martial law to end the uprising.

The incident in the early hours of Friday was the first in which a policeman had been killed since martial law ended in June 2011. Policemen were attacked by rioters with petrol bombs and an unspecified “explosive device”, the authorities said.

“Seven Bahrainis have been detained and have been referred to the public prosecution in the case of a bombing attack in al-Eker … in which one policeman was killed and a second critically wounded during a routine patrol,” a statement from the government’s Information Affairs Authority said.

It named the slain policeman as 19-year-old Imran Ahmed but did not give his nationality. Many Pakistanis and some Arab nationals serve in Bahrain’s riot police – a source of friction with protesters.

The opposition, which says more than 45 people have died in clashes since martial law ended, want full legislative powers for parliament and for the makeup of the Cabinet to be approved by parliament too. The Cabinet has been headed by an uncle of King Hamad bin Isa since 1971. …source

Protesters, U.S. Call for the Reformation of Lebanese Government
24 October, 2012 – POMED

March 14 members rallied in the Ashrafieh neighborhood of Beirut to protest the bombing assassination of General Wissam al-Hassan. The group issued a statement saying, “The fall of Hassan is the ultimate proof of the fall of the Lebanese state and its government. This is a new failure on behalf of this black government. We, as political parties and civil society organizations, have promised that we should not be cowardly, therefore, we will keep going until the end.” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, “We need a government that functions well, but more importantly, we need a government that can provide security in the country rather than insecurity, and that can work for a strong, pluralistic, unified Lebanon.” Pressed for specifics, Nuland said that “we support the process that [Lebanese] President [Suleiman] is undertaking, which is to form a new and responsible government.”

Nicholas Blanford wrote an article that discusses why Lebanon has not been thrust into a new civil war. Despite General al-Hassan’s assassination and the spillover of violence from Syria, Lebanon has remained relatively calm. He pointed out that memories of Lebanon’s 16-year conflict are still raw in the public psyche. Blanford noted that in 1975, Lebanon’s military balance between the factional rivals was more equally matched than it is today. Meanwhile, contemporary “leaders agree on the importance of maintaining stability in Lebanon and not allowing Syria’s woes to trigger domestic violence.” Echoing that sentiment, Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Endowment’s Middle East Center in Beirut said, “I don’t think there will be a civil war from this assassination because the leaders of March 14 and March 8 do not want instability at this time.”

David Schenker wrote a piece arguing that recent developments undermine Hezbollah’s position of influence in Lebanon. Schenker said “the organization has attempted to enforce ideological hegemony on its Lebanese co-religionists in an effort to assert political monopoly over Lebanon’s Shiite constituency,” which has not been well received. He concludes that Hezbollah’s support for the regime in Syria is evidence that the organization’s stature will be further diminished once Bashar al-Assad finally falls. …more

SEE Human Rights First article seeking to take an advisory role for US efforts in Syria HERE