Watch Bahrain Police NOT fire Chemical Gas directly into Home

Bahrain slams tear gas death claims
9 August, 2012 – Trade Arabia

Bahrain has strongly denied claims that anyone has died or suffered serious injuries as a result of tear gas, with the Information Affairs Authority (IAA) saying there was no evidence to prove the tear gas used by police was lethal.

‘Any means that have been exercised by security forces adhere to international standards of riot control,’ said a spokesman.

A recent report by the US-based Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) organisation alleged it had resulted in the ‘maiming, blinding and even killing of protesters’.

‘It is increasingly evident that tear gas has effects far more severe than commonly understood,’ said its deputy director Richard Sollom.

‘Suggestions that the use of tear gas in Bahrain is severely injurious or even lethal are simply not backed up by any research or proof,” the spokesman said.

‘The government of Bahrain denies and condemns the use of lethal force or unlawful means in controlling demonstrations in the kingdom.’

The IAA said it was also important to consider the situation faced by the security forces when they are forced to resort to using tear gas.

‘Where there has been a response by the Interior Ministry, it is in response to illegal, violent or disruptive acts being committed and has no bearing on what the person committing the acts believes in or which community he or she belongs to,’ said the spokesman.

‘The disruptions to others’ lives and economic interests are not acceptable and it is the government’s responsibility to create a safe environment for both of those to survive.’

The spokesman said while the United Nation’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognised the right of people to protest in states they must conform with the law in the ‘interests of national security or public safety, public order/or the protection of the rights and freedom of others’.

Injured

‘It is imperative to establish that any allegations regarding the use of force are taken very seriously,’ he said. …more

Shia Child from Qatif Abducted by Saudi Security Forces
shiapost – 9 August, 2012

On Sunday August 5, 2012, the security forces at the check-point of al-Nasera in Qatif abducted the Shia child “Mustafa Abdul Wahid al-Jamid “.

Mustafa al-Jamid passed in front of al-Nasera check-point when some security members called him and picked him up in a police squad and then driven to an unknown location.

Mustafa’s parents are waiting to hear any news about him , and no one gave them justification for his abduction . …more

Clashes continue in Egypt’s Sinai
9 August, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Egyptian police and gunmen traded fire in the Sinai town of El-Arish on Thursday as security forces pressed an unprecedented campaign to quell Islamist militants, state television reported.

The state-owned Nile News television reported that the clashes were taking place outside a police station in the north Sinai town, a day after reported airstrikes killed 20 militants in a neighboring village.

The fighting comes a day after the Egyptian army declared success in the campaign against militants in Sinai.

“Elements from the armed forces and interior ministry supported by the air force began a plan to restore security by pursuing and targeting armed terrorist elements in Sinai, and it has accomplished this task with complete success,” the military said in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement also added that the military would continue its campaign, without elaborating.

The clashes come after a militant attack on Sunday killed 16 Egyptian soldiers in an attempt to infiltrate Israel.

The soldiers were killed when the militants raided a border guard base under the cover of mortar fire, and commandeered a military vehicle into Israel before they were stopped by an Israeli helicopter strike.

Israel stepped up pressure on Egypt’s government to get a grip on lawlessness near the border, despite Egypt requiring Israeli permission to send forces to the Sinai region.

A 1979 peace treaty between the two states prohibits Egypt from deploying a large military presence in the Sinai, restricting Cairo’s ability to deal with rogue militants.

Israel granted Egypt permission following Sunday’s attack to deploy larger forces in the region to strike the militants.

But the Sinai attacks prompted Egypt’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood to call for a review of the treaty with Israel to allow Egypt to deploy forces in the region at its will.

The Brotherhood blamed Israel’s Mossad for the attack, a charge denied by the Jewish state. …more

Bahrain: Two boys among those held after protest
7 August, 2012 – Amnesty International

URGENT ACTION

TWO BOYS AMONG THOSE HELD AFTER PROTEST

Two men and two boys under the age of 18 are currently held in a prison in Bahrain after they participated in a protest. None had access to family members until nearly 48 hours after their arrest.

Jehad Sadeq Aziz Salman (15), Ebrahim Ahmed Radi al-Moqdad (15), Naser Saeed Hassan (20) and Hassan Abdul Jalil al-Ekri (20) were arrested on 23 July 2012 during an anti-government protest in Bilad al-Qadeem, west of Manama, the capital of Bahrain. After their arrest, they were first taken to a police station in Gudaibiya neighbourhood in Manama; then to the Criminal Investigation Department for interrogation, before being taken to the Public Prosecutor Office for further questioning. They were not allowed to speak to their families or to contact lawyers until nearly 48 hours after the arrest, and there was no lawyer present during their interrogation. They finally called their families nearly 48 hours after their arrest to inform them where they were being held.

All four are currently held in the Dry Dock prison in Manama and their detention has been extended until 23 September 2012. They have been charged with rioting and “illegal gathering”. They have now had access to their families although some of them have not seen their lawyers yet. At least one of the juveniles told his family he was participating in a peaceful protest. If some or all are held solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of assembly, they should be released immediately and unconditionally.

The age of criminal responsibility in Bahraini law is 15 years old. However being under 18, Jehad Sadeq Aziz Salman and Ebrahim Ahmed Radi al-Moqdad are children and should be exposed only to Bahrain’s Juvenile Justice system and not the regular criminal justice system. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has stated that ‘every person under the age of 18 years at the time of the alleged commission of an offence must be treated in accordance with the rules of juvenile justice’ (CRC General Comment No. 10,CRC/C/GC/10, 2007, paragraph 37). According to international standards on detention, young prisoners should be kept separate from adults.

Please write immediately in English or Arabic:

Express concern that Jehad Sadeq Aziz Salman and Ebrahim Ahmed Radi al-Moqdad are being treated as adults despite being under the age of 18; and urge the authorities to ensure that they are treated in accordance with the rules of juvenile justice, particularly with respect to their detention and any proceedings against them;

Urge the Bahraini authorities to allow all four detainees immediate access to their lawyers;

Urge them to release all four immediately and unconditionally, if they are only held solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression. …more

Moscow include Bahrain revolution on the agenda of the Security Council
9 August, 2012 – Shafaqna

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Diplomatic sources said that the UN representative of Russia in the Security Council suggested the crisis of Bahrain on the agenda of the UN Security Council. The Russian representative proposal will be a surprise move to America, Britain and France who will oppose to put the crisis of Bahrain on the agenda of the Security Council.

These sources explained that Moscow’s proposal to shows the new approach of Russia in dealing with crises in the Middle East, without double standards.

Meanwhile the representative of China said earlier that the double standards of UN Security Council dealing in crises has damaged the credibility of the Council by world public opinion.

It is known that America, Britain and France pushed the UN Security Council to convene a hundred times to discuss the situation in Syria as these countries kept silent about the ongoing repression and murder against the Bahraini people a year and a half. …source

Bahrain, militarizing the state
15 September, 2011 – by Activist – Bahrain Youth

Bahrain, home to U.S. Fifth Fleet, is a group of islands with an area of 750 square kilometres and a population of no more than 1.3 million 55% of them are expats.

Bahrain was subjected to the British protection for more than 150 years by the exclusive conventions concluded with Britain in the years 1820, 1847, 1856, 1861, 1880, 1892, resulting in a series of obligations on the Shaikhdom. In return Britain promised to protect Bahrain against external aggression, maintain the autonomy of its entity, political and economic interests, protect the interests of its citizens in the abscess, and oversee its foreign affairs.

Those treaties took effect till 14th of August 1971 when they were ended allowing Bahrain to announce its semi-political independence, when the British military presence was replaced by the U.S.!
In 1968 Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) was founded by an Amiri Decree by Emir Isa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, where his eldest son Crown Prince Hamad, who had just graduated from The Mons Officer Cadet School, was ready to head the armed forces.

Since then, the Commander in Chief Hamad bin Isa has ensured keeping BDF loyal to the Ruling Family and pursued to keep that military force formed from close tribes and families in addition to mercenaries, where the supreme positions were monopolized by members of the Ruling Family. This intended discrimination prevented the wide majority from being recruited only because they are “Shiites”!
BDF has more than 12,000 personnel, a large number among them are naturalized Bahrainis who were not born in Bahrain.

By law, military personnel are prohibited from joining political parties or campaigns. However, they have to obey orders that direct them to vote to candidates supported by the government. It’s not a choice for them to vote freely or oppose orders.

In general, the military structure is similar to the tribal hierarchy, where orders are issued from the Supreme Commander. This structure guarantees a level of loyalty and obedience that serves the tribal mentality of dealing with people as subjects rather than citizens!
Although Bahrain has a small area, there are lots of military bases, zones, and barracks. Vast areas and most islands are classified as military zones and prohibited areas where nobody is allowed to reach.
Currently, there are 10 Military and Security bodies which are:
1.Royal Bahraini Army
2.Royal Bahraini Air Force
3.Royal Bahraini Navy
4.Royal Guard
5.National Guard
6.National Security Agency
7.Special Security Force Command
8.Public Security Forces
9.Coast Guard
10.Police Community Services

Civilian positions were also affected by military influence. The three main public hospitals are under the control of the army. Five ministers on the current cabinet have a military background; one of them is the Minister of Education:
1.Majid AlNaimi, Minister of Education
2.Basim AlHamar, Minister of Housing
3.Mohammed Bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, Minister of Military Affairs
4.Rashid Bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, Minister of Interior
5.Abdulaziz AlFadhel, Minister of Shura Council and Representative Council Affairs

Besides the King himself, two of his sons have graduated from Military Colleges, Nasser, who heads the Royal Guard and Khalid. The BDF also sends personnel to the United States for military training, where members of the Royal family are mostly sent to Sandhurst in the United Kingdom.
The government allocated around $1.6 billion annually for defense and security for the current two years 2011-2012, about 20% of current expenditures. This number is more than the allocated budget for education and health which did not exceed 18%.

Even more, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior, and National Guard are excluded from being audited by the Financial Control Office regarding expenses related to national security and classified as “SECRET”!
…source

Point of information: CS gas, AKA Tear Gas comes in a variety of grades. It is not actually a “weaponized gas” but it is a “weaponized chemical” dispersed as an aerosol just as “weaponized Anthrax” would be. In its civilian grade – mildest form – it is used for dispersing crowds. In its most dangerous form – military grade – it is used as a combat weapon. The military grade CS Gas was used to clear tunnels in Vietnam and against al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The military grade CS Gas is being used in the streets in Bahrain against political opposition groups. It is supplied by the US, UK and Brazil.

To aggravate matters in Bahrain, its poorly trained and unsupervised “police” are let lose in the Villages where they fire Combat Grade CS gas into home while people sleep, transforming them into “gas chambers”. The victims that die are usually infants, elderly and the disabled who can’t get out of harms way quickly enough. They often use CS gas grenades as a lethal projectile against protesters. This too has been a cause of numerous deaths – direct shots to the head and face. One of the more notable leaders, Zainab AlKhawaja, is now imprisoned with a leg injury after being shot at close range with a CS Gas grenade weeks ago during a protest. – Phlipn.

Tear gas causing death, serious injuries in Bahrain
8 August, 2012 – The Media Line Staff

Bahrain Linda Gradstein/The Media – Last year, Miriam Abdullah was looking forward to the Muslim holiday of Id al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, and had planned a festive meal for her family.

But that celebration never happened. Her 14-year-old son Ali was on his way home from the mosque when he encountered a demonstration calling for “freedom and dignity,” she said.

“The youth were not doing anything and the police fired on them from very close-range,” she told The Media Line. “Ali was hit in the head with a tear gas canister and he became a martyr.”

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights say that 35 people have been killed either by being hit with tear gas or from respiratory complications from the tear gas. They also say that dozens of people have lost an eye after being hit by a tear gas canister.

“Mohammed (not his real name) attended a peaceful protest in al-Juffair, a Shi’ite village, very close to where the US Fifth Fleet is housed,” Said Yousef of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights told The Media Line. “The police came and fired from a short distance and he lost his eye.”

Almost every night, the acrid smell of tear gas hangs in the air all over the tiny Gulf state of Bahrain. The country’s Sunni minority is using tear gas to tamp down protests by the Shi’ite majority, especially in villages around the capital of Manama.

“We don’t call it tear gas, we call it toxic gas,” Dr. Taha al-Derazi told The Media Line. “This gas can cause abdominal pain, vomiting, nausea, muscle cramps and seizures,”

The Sunni rulers of Bahrain have cracked down hard on the pro-democracy protests that have come to be called the Arab Spring. Human rights groups say that the way they are using tear gas violates human rights.

“They do not use it to disperse protestors but like a gun,” Said Yousef, of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) told The Media Line. “They shoot it directly at people’s heads.”

Dr. Terazi said that police also yank open windows of people’s homes and cars and shoot tear gas directly inside. Tear gas is meant to be fired in the open air and to quickly disperse. It can be lethal when fired at short-range.

Some Bahrainis are even moving to be away from neighborhoods with frequent demonstrations and frequent tear gas.

“I moved from Budaiya Road, where I was living, to a safer area when I was in my last trimester of pregnancy,” Amira Hussein, a journalist wrote The Media Line in an email. “I also don’t go out on weekend because that is when the tear gas bonanza kicks off.”

Now Physicians for Human Rights has unleashed a new report on the use of tear gas by Bahraini authorities.

“So-called tear gas, often considered a crowd control method with no lasting harmful effects, can cause permanent injuries, miscarriages and even fatalities as used by Bahrain’s security forces,” the report warns. “Those tactics include firing tear gas canisters directly at civilians or into their cars, houses or other closed spaces where toxic effects are greatly exaggerated.”

The report documents a number of examples based on interviews with more than 100 Bahrainis. In one case, a 27 year old bystander suffered a fractured skull and intracranial bleeding when struck in the head with a tear gas canister. In another, an asthmatic man routinely exposed to tear gas died of respiratory failure.

Said Yousef of the BCHR said the tear gas comes from the United States, France and Holland. He urged these countries to stop selling tear gas to the government.

The US has hesitated to be critical of the Bahraini government. Bahrain is home to the Fifth Fleet, which keeps an eye on Iran just 120 miles across the Persian Gulf. The US considers Bahrain an important strategic ally and has provided the government with $20 million dollars annually in aid.

Human rights groups want the US to pressure the government of Bahrain to stop using tear gas. …source

Sitra, Bahrain – August 2012 – Protesters under attack with Chemical Gas as Youths of the February 14 Coalition came out in military-style parade. Riot police and members of the security forces later broke up the rally.

Venezuela Rejects the False and Defamatory Content of the “Country Reports on Terrorism 2011″
8 August, 2012

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela rejects most firmly and categorically the false and defamatory content of the “Country Reports on Terrorism 2011″ published by the State Department of the United States of America on July 31, 2012.

The government of the United States, once again, presents these unilateral and interventionist reports which express a tendentious and distorted opinion of the policies of other countries, on a matter such as terrorism about which, moreover, that country has no moral ground on which to make pronouncements.

It is precisely the government of that country and its double morality which has been widely denounced by Venezuela at the United Nations for giving shelter and protection to recognized international terrorists, as is the case with Luís Posada Carriles, sought by Venezuelan justice for placing a bomb on flight 455 of Cubana de Aviación, which cost the lives of 73 people in 1976; and the case of Raúl Díaz Peña, a terrorist sentenced under Venezuelan law for having placed explosives in the diplomatic missions of Spain and Colombia in Caracas in 2003. Both are protected by the hypocritical anti-terrorist policy of the U.S. government.

It is lamentable that for those countries such as ours that are truly committed to the anti-terrorist struggle on an international level, that countries like the United States maintain the practice of issuing reports that have no validity because they contain no verified information, and, therefore, are obviously political instruments for defamation. An example of their malicious lies is the list of “State Sponsors of International Terrorism,” which is unilaterally and arbitrarily includes the Republic of Cuba, a country that complies with periodically presenting true and exact information to the pertinent mechanisms of the United Nations for matters relating to confronting terrorism.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela considers the publication of this defamatory document an unfriendly act and rejects it in its totality, while reiterating its complaint against the United States for continuing to allow its territory to serve as a refuge for international terrorists sought by Venezuelan justice.

Caracas, August 2, 2012

Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
1099 30th Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20007
(202) 342-2214
…source

Resistance axis more potent against enemy: Nasrallah
shiapost – 8 August, 2012

Hezbollah’s Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah says the resistance front in the region will counter the US and Israeli plots more forcefully as it has successfully weathered their previous schemes.

“At the current juncture when nations have awakened and taken a stand against the American and Zionist (Israeli) plots, the resistance axis will, with popular support, react more forcefully in confronting the enemy,” said Nasrallah in a Tuesday meeting with visiting General Secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council of National Security Saeed Jalili in Beirut.

Reiterating that Hezbollah has all along been aware of the “American and Zionist conspiracies” against the resistance front, the Hezbollah secretary general added, “We have already experienced such crises and been able to overcome them with resistance and endurance.”

Nasrallah further voiced gratitude for the unwavering support and position of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei as well as the Iranian nation and government “against Western and Zionist schemes” and emphasized the significance of the role the Islamic Republic can play during the current sensitive circumstance in the region.

Jalili in turn described Iran’s support for “the oppressed nations in the region against ploys by the global hegemony and international Zionism” as an underlying principle of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and said, “Just as we have supported the oppressed Palestinian people despite all difficulties regarding the Palestine issue, we will extend our support to regional nations amid the Islamic Awakening trend and the revolution against the global hegemony.”

The senior Iranian national security official also described the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance against Israeli aggressions as “an honor for the Arab world,” adding that the ongoing Islamic Awakening movements are among the accomplishments of such resistance.

Referring to the situation in Syria, Jalili said, “The Syrian nation and authorities are the ones that must make the decision for the fate and future of their country and democracy is the only solution to the Syrian troubles.”

During their meeting Jalili and Nasrallah reviewed the recent regional developments, particularly the renewed Western plots against the resistance front, specifically targeting Lebanon and Syria. …more

The slogan “Bashar must go!” was supposed to be chanted by crowds of protesters in Damascus and Aleppo. In the absence of such demonstrations, it has been taken over by Western leaders themselves even though it goes against all the conventional rules of diplomacy. Why?

Western leaders slip back into their childhood
by Thierry Meyssan – Voltaire Network – 8 August 2012

In 1985, a social scientist, Gene Sharp, published a study commissioned by NATO on Making Europe Unconquerable. He pointed out that ultimately a government only exists because people agree to obey it. The USSR could never control Western Europe if people refused to obey Communist governments.

A few years later, in 1989, Sharp was tasked by the CIA with conducting the practical application of his theoretical research in China. The United States wanted to topple Deng Xiaoping in favor of Zhao Ziyang. The intention was to stage a coup with a veneer of legitimacy by organizing street protests, in much the same way as the CIA had given a popular facade to the overthrow of Mohammed Mossadegh by hiring Tehran demonstrators (Operation Ajax, 1953). The difference here is that Gene Sharp had to rely on a mix of pro-Zhao and pro-US youth to make the coup look like a revolution. But Deng had Sharp arrested in Tiananmen Square and expelled from the country. The coup failed, but not before the CIA spurred the youth groups into a vain attack to discredit Deng through the crackdown that followed. The failure of the operation was attributed to the difficulties of mobilizing young activists in the desired direction.

Ever since the work of French sociologist Gustave Le Bon in the late nineteenth century, we know that adults behave like children when they are in the throes of collective emotion. They become susceptible, even if for just a critical fleeting moment, to the suggestions of a leader-of-men who for them embodies a father figure. In 1990, Sharp got close to Colonel Reuven Gal, then chief psychologist of the Israeli Army (he later became deputy national security adviser to Ariel Sharon and now runs operations designed to manipulate young Israeli non-Jews). Combining the discoveries of Le Bon and Sigmund Freud, Gal reached the conclusion that it was also possible to exploit the “Oedipus complex” in adolescents and steer a crowd of young people to oppose a head of state, as a symbolic father figure.

On this basis, Sharp and Gal set up training programs for young activists with the objective of organizing coups. After a few successes in Russia and the Baltics, it was in 1998 that Gene Sharp perfected the method of “color revolutions” with the overthrow of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. …more

Backfire in Bahrain
By Editorial Board – 7 august, 2012 – Washington Post

WHEN THE Obama administration resumed military sales to the Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain in 2012, it explained the decision as an effort to bolster moderate elements in the monarchy, whose Sunni ruling family has resisted demands for greater democracy from the mostly Shiite population. In particular, the aim was to strengthen Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, who was visiting Washington at the time and who had led an abortive effort to negotiate a settlement with opposition leaders.

Three months later, it’s worth asking whether the concession to a regime that has been a close U.S. ally paid off. Unfortunately, the answer is a resounding “no.” Bahrain remains locked in a standoff between a largely intransigent government and a slowly radicalizing opposition — and the regime has failed to fulfill its repeated pledges to end repression of peaceful dissent and undertake meaningful reforms.

As Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner reported in testimony to Congress’s Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission last week, the Bahraini government has continued to prosecute 20 leading political activists; “despite assurances to the contrary,” it obtained the conviction of nine medical professionals who treated opposition activists during demonstrations last year. The country’s best-known human rights activist, Nabeel Rajab, is serving prison time for a tweet that called for the resignation of the hard-line prime minister.

Security forces continue to employ harsh tactics to put down demonstrations in Shiite villages, including what a new report by Physicians for Human Rights calls the “indiscriminate use of tear gas as a weapon.” It said police regularly fire tear gas canisters “directly at civilians or into their cars, houses or other closed spaces” in an effort “not just to disperse crowds but to harm, harass, and intimidate the largely Shia neighborhoods that are home to many protesters.”

Bahrain’s repression doesn’t approach the murderous violence used by the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad against its opponents. But many in the Middle East understandably wonder why the United States demands the removal of Mr. Assad, an ally of Iran whose Alawite sect is close to Shiism, while continuing to back a Sunni regime that represses its Shiite opposition. The administration’s answer is that it is not, like Bahrain’s neighbor Saudi Arabia, pursuing a sectarian agenda, but attempting to steer its ally toward peaceful reform. …more

Protesters across Bahrain demand release of women prisoners
8 August, 2012 – ABNA

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Bahraini people have staged protest rallies across the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom in a show of solidarity with female political prisoners.

On Monday night, Bahraini protesters took to the streets in more than 21 districts across the country, and condemned the Al Khalifa regime’s crackdown on peaceful protests.

Shouting slogans in support of political prisoners, they demanded an immediate and unconditional release of women protesters held in jail, including senior human rights activist Zainab al-Khawaja.

They also condemned Bahrain’s Supreme Council for Women for its silence for the continued detention of female activists and the violation of their rights.

The demonstrators blocked main streets by burning tires and called for unity among the Bahraini nation. Our might lies in our solidarity, they chanted.

Bahraini security forces rushed to disperse the protests by firing teargas, rubber bullets and birdshot pellets at the demonstrators.

The Saudi-backed regime forces also attacked civilian houses.

A large number of demonstrators were injured in the attacks. Opposition activists published photos of the protesters who were injured on social networking websites.

Anti-regime protests in Bahrain continue despite the heavy-handed crackdown by the Western-backed monarchy.

Scores of people have been killed and many others injured or arrested in the suppression of popular protests since they erupted in February 2011 in demand of the Al Khalifa regime’s downfall.

The anti-regime demonstrators hold King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa responsible for the deaths of the protesters during the popular uprising. …more

Bahrain: Verdict Expected for 57 Opposition Activists and Pro-democracy Demonstrators
8 August, 2012 – Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights expresses its deep concern regarding the verdicts are expected in 12-14 August of Court of Appeal against the prominent activists, political leaders and pro-democracy demonstrators.

The Court of Appeal will issue its final ruling against the 57 convicted among them Mr. Nabeel Rajab (director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, and president of the Bahrain Center for Human rights) …source

Russian general denies report he died in Syria
8 August, 2012 – Reuters – The Daily Star

MOSCOW: A Russian general met reporters at the Defence Ministry in Moscow on Wednesday to deny reports that he had been killed by rebel forces in Syria and was shown on television looking well.

“I want to confirm that I am alive and well. I am in good health and I’m living in Moscow,” Vladimir Petrovich Kuzheyev, a reserve general, was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass news agency.

Russian television briefly showed footage of Kuzheyev, in a blue shirt and no tie, at the Defence Ministry.

A Syrian rebel group said it had killed a Russian general working as an adviser to Syria’s defence ministry in an operation in the western Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus.

The video, sent to Reuters, showed what the rebels said was a copy of the general’s ID, as issued by the Syrian military, and named him as Vladimir Petrovich Kochyev.
…more

Jordan king fears breakup of Syria
Reuters – 8 August, 2012 – by Tom Perry

(Reuters) – President Bashar al-Assad could seek to establish an enclave for his Alawite sect if he cannot keep control of the whole of war-torn Syria, an outcome that would be the “worst case scenario” for its neighbors, King Abdullah of Jordan has said.

Any such move could prompt decades of further problems for the region, King Abdullah told U.S. broadcaster CBS.

“I have a feeling that if he can’t rule greater Syria then maybe an Alawi enclave is plan B,” King Abdullah said in an interview published on the channel’s website on Tuesday.

“That would be, I think for us, the worst case scenario because that means then the breakup of greater Syria, and that means that everybody starts land grabbing, which makes no sense to me. If Syria then implodes on itself that would create problems that would take us decades to come back from,” he said.

The rebellion against Assad’s rule is predominantly made up of Sunni Muslims who form the majority of Syria’s population. The Alawites are a minority sect whose beliefs are an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam.

King Abdullah, whose mainly Sunni Muslim kingdom borders Syria to the south, forecast that Assad would not give ground. His administration has deployed military force in an effort to crush the uprising, drawing on air power and heavy artillery.

“I think that in his mentality he is going to stick to his guns. He believes that he is in the right. I think that the regime feels that it has no alternative but to continue,” Abdullah said.

He added: “I don’t think it’s just Bashar, it’s not the individual, it’s the system of the regime. So if Bashar was to exit under whatever circumstances, does whoever replaces him have the ability to reach out and transform Syria politically?

“So for Bashar at the moment, if I am reading the way he is thinking, he is going to do what he is going to do indefinitely.”

US accused of “anti-British bias” over Standard Chartered
8 August, 2012 – Al Akhbar

A threat by a New York regulator to strip Standard Chartered Plc of its state banking license and its description of the British bank as a “rogue institution” that hid $250 billion in Iranian transactions, has touched a nerve with some in London.

Several of the bank’s top shareholders and a leading opposition lawmaker have questioned whether US authorities are seeking to undermine London as a global financial center.

They note Standard Chartered is the third British bank to be ensnared in US law enforcement probes in recent weeks. The New York state’s Department of Financial Services said the bank hid the transactions that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in fees over nearly a decade.

The accusation comes after Barclays Plc agreed in June to pay $453 million to settle US and British probes that it rigged Libor, a global lending benchmark.

A month later, a US Senate panel issued a scathing report that criticized HSBC Holding’s efforts to police suspect transactions. It said HSBC did regular business in countries tied to drug cartels, terrorist funding and tax cheats.

“I think it’s a concerted effort that’s been organized at the top of the US government. I think this is Washington trying to win a commercial battle to have trading from London shifted to New York,” said John Mann, a member of parliament’s finance committee who also called for a parliamentary inquiry.

Mann, from the center-left Labour party, has become a public scourge of London bankers’ greed and immorality during the financial crisis. But he told Reuters he saw “anti-British bias” behind “disproportionate publicity that’s given to British banking problems, as opposed to American banking problems”.

“This is a political onslaught,” he said.

However, there are signs that US regulators themselves are not in lockstep.

Sources told Reuters that US federal regulators feel angry and blindsided by the way the New York banking regulator took action against Standard Chartered, including the publication of embarrassing communications from senior executives of the bank.

The US Treasury Department declined to comment on the views from London. A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in London also declined to comment on Mann’s remarks.

But a number of British fund managers holding shares in Standard Chartered also expressed consternation about the New York broadside and questioned what it might mean.

A British executive at an institution, which ranks among the top 25 shareholders in Standard Chartered, saw a politically motivated move by US officials irked by the major role London plays in the global financial industry.

“Are we starting to see an anti-London bias in US regulatory activities?” the executive asked. “Oh yes. Is there any subtle form of banking sector protectionism going on? Yes.”

Another British investment official at a top 20 shareholder in the bank suggested US politics might be an element in the threat by the New York regulator to pull Standard Chartered’s state banking license.

“I wonder if this has more to do with the point we are at in the U.S. election cycle or if this is just an accident of the U.S. legislative system in terms of timing,” the investor said.

Skepticism in Britain of US motives was not universal, however. An executive at a top 10 investor in Standard Chartered said he was reviewing his shareholding and that the depth of the issues needed to be acknowledged by the City of London.

“London is looking like a pretty disreputable place at the moment,” he said. “Rather than fall into the British them-versus-us-mindset, let’s really bang our chests and figure out just how dirty London really is as a place to do business.” …source

Times Photographer Is Arrested on Assignment
By THE NEW YORK TIMES – 5 August, 2012

A freelance photographer for The New York Times was arrested on Saturday night while on assignment with two reporters who were conducting street interviews in the Bronx.

The photographer, Robert Stolarik, 43, who has worked regularly for The Times for more than a decade, was charged with obstructing government administration and with resisting arrest. He was taking photographs of a brewing street fight at McClellan Street and Sheridan Avenue in the Concourse neighborhood.

Mr. Stolarik was taking photographs of the arrest of a teenage girl about 10:30 p.m., when a police officer instructed him to stop doing so. Mr. Stolarik said he identified himself as a journalist for The Times and continued taking pictures. A second officer appeared, grabbed his camera and “slammed” it into his face, he said.

Mr. Stolarik said he asked for the officers’ badge numbers, and the officers then took his cameras and dragged him to the ground; he said that he was kicked in the back and that he received scrapes and bruises to his arms, legs and face.

The Police Department said in a statement that officers had been trying to disperse the crowd and had given “numerous lawful orders” for both the crowd and Mr. Stolarik to move back, but that he tried to push forward, “inadvertently” striking an officer in the face with his camera.

The police said that Mr. Stolarik then “violently resisted being handcuffed” and that, in the process, a second officer was cut on the hand.A video of the episode taken by one of the reporters who was with Mr. Stolarik shows Mr. Stolarik face down on the sidewalk, beneath a huddle of about six officers.

Mr. Stolarik was taken to the 44th Precinct station and was released at 4:40 a.m. On Sunday, he checked himself into NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center for X-rays. Later, he said he had no broken bones or internal bleeding. …more

“Anti-Occupy” Law Ends U.S. Right to Protest
7 August – The Washington Times – by Paul A. Samakow

Thanks to almost zero media coverage, few of us know about a law passed this past March, severely limiting our right to protest. The silence may have been due to the lack of controversy in bringing the bill to law: Only three of our federal elected officials voted against the bill’s passage.

The First Amendment to our Constitution guarantees us the rights of free speech and assembly. A fundamental purpose of our free speech guarantee is to invite dispute. Protests can and have been the catalyst for positive change. Thus while we despise that protestors can burn our flag as protected political speech, and we hate that Neo-Nazis can march down our streets, we recognize the rights of these groups to do what they do and we send our troops across the world to fight for these rights.

Last year’s “occupy movement” scared the government. On March 8, President Obama signed a law that makes protesting more difficult and more criminal. The law is titled the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act, and it passed unanimously in the Senate and with only three “no” votes in the House. It was called the “Trespass Bill” by Congress and the “anti-Occupy law” by everyone else who commented.

The law “improves” public grounds by forcing people – protestors – elsewhere. It amends an older law that made it a federal crime to “willfully and knowingly” enter a restricted space. Now you will be found guilty of this offense if you simply “knowingly” enter a restricted area, even if you did not know it was illegal to do so. The Department of Homeland Security can designate an event as one of “national significance,” making protests or demonstrations near the event illegal.

The law makes it punishable by up to ten years in jail to protest anywhere the Secret Service “is or will be temporarily visiting,” or anywhere they might be guarding someone. Does the name Secret tell you anything about your chances of knowing where they are? The law allows for conviction if you are “disorderly or disruptive,” or if you “impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions.” You can no longer heckle or “boo” at a political candidate’s speech, as that would be disruptive.

After you swallow all of this and correctly conclude that it is now very easy to be prosecuted for virtually any public protest, you should brace yourself and appreciate that it is even worse. Today, any event that is officially defined as a National Special Security Event has Secret Service protection. This can include sporting events and concerts.

The timing of the law was not coincidental. The bill was presented to the Senate, after House passage, on November 17, 2011, during an intense nationwide effort to stop the Occupy Wall Street protests. Two days before, hundreds of New York police conducted a raid on the demonstrators’ encampment in Zucotti Park, shutting it down and placing barricades.

This law chips away our First Amendment rights. Its motivation is 100 percent politically based, as it was designed to silence those who would protest around politicians giving speeches. Both Republicans and Democrats agreed they did not want hecklers at their rallies. If you want to protest a politician speaking to a crowd now, you can do so maybe a half mile or so away. …more

Watchdog’s Iran ambush leaves StanChart reeling
7 August, 2012 – Reuters – By Lawrence White and Steve Slater

(Reuters) – A New York bank regulator’s broadside against Standard Chartered Plc for allegedly hiding $250 billion in transactions tied to Iran left investors and the bank questioning the motive for the ambush, which wiped $17 billion off its value.

London-based Standard Chartered hit back at the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) threat to tear up its state banking license on Tuesday, dismissing the charge that it was a “rogue institution” that “schemed” with the Iranian government as a distortion of the facts.

Bank insiders were as shocked as investors by the ferocity of the DFS accusations over its involvement with Iran, which is subject to U.S. sanctions over its nuclear program.

Chief Executive Peter Sands scrambled back from his vacation as the bank held hastily convened conference calls to plan its defense and try to limit the damage caused to its reputation.

The U.S. agency said Standard Chartered hid 60,000 secret transactions to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in fees over nearly 10 years.

Shares in Standard Chartered closed down 16.4 percent at 12.28 pounds, taking their losses to 24 percent since the news surfaced just before Monday’s close. They had earlier slumped as low as 10.92, their lowest for three years.

“Even the so-called ‘safe’ banks like StanChart and HSBC seem to be crumbling, with their reputation in tatters. No one, it seems, is immune,” said one institutional investor, who asked not to be named.

“Some of the language used is very disturbing. Of course, it could be that the Americans are exaggerating, but somehow that doesn’t seem to be the case here,” the investor said.

A fund manager for a major institutional shareholder in the bank, however, commented that “sensational language” used by the regulator “diminished” its allegations. …more

Come-on Pepe, the issue regarding Iran Nuclear Weapons is really about “containing Iranian” and its regional influence as well as curbing the influence or Russia and China. The nukes are just a scare tactic that helps grease the skids of ‘popular support’ to make war more acceptable to the people who will have to foot the bill and suffer the consequences of Western oil greed and weapons market adventurism. – Phlipn.

Bomb Iran fever
Pepe Escobar – THE ROVING EYE – 8 August, 2012 – Asia Time

Where’s the great Christopher Walken when we need him? “I’ve got a fever! And the only prescription is … Bomb Iran!” That’s the story, at least in Israel. Fever pitch will rule at least for the next six months.

This past weekend, the Israel Hayom newspaper – financed by casino mogul and Mitt Romney groupie Sheldon Adelson – dedicated a whole supplement to the fever. Lead articles had titles such as “Bomb or Bombing: Poker with the Cards Close to the Vest.”

Yet earlier last week, a leak to the Yediot Ahronot daily revealed that the cream of Israel’s military leaders are against war on Iran – known in its aseptic version as “preemptive strike”.

It’s an impressive cast of characters. Here we have chief of the general staff Benny Gantz; the chief of operations of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Ya’akov Ayash; Tamir Pardo, the head of Mossad; Aviv Kochavi, in charge of Aman, the military intelligence directorate; the department heads of Mossad; the head of the Israeli Air Force Amir Eshel; not to mention at least four ministers of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s eight-man “kitchen cabinet”.

There are qualifiers. Some admit they would only support an attack on Iran if Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei – or International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors – announced a major weaponization game changer. Some others admit they will only support an attack if the US is on board; that’s the case of retired Mossad heads Meir Dagan and Efraim Halevy and former chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi. …more

URGENT REPORT: IMMINENT DISPLACEMENT PLANNED, GROWING TERROR IN SAN MARCOS AVILÉS
From the Movement for Justice in El Barrio, New York

August 6, 2012

Compañer@s:
Greetings to you all from Movement for Justice in El Barrio, the Other Campaign New York.
In view of the seriousness of the latest acts of hostility and aggression in the community of San Marcos Avilés, the Zapatista support bases (BAZ) have urged us to share this report with you:

FIRST: We report that, at this very moment, a NEW FULL DISPLACEMENT of the BAZ community of San Marcos Avilés is being planned, to be carried out within the next few days by local party supporters, members of the ‘attack group’ that has plagued the BAZ of San Marcos Avilés since 2010. The party supporters are meeting in extraordinary assemblies to discuss these matters.

With arrogance and hatred, they have made public this violent plan of displacement. At the same time, according to information sent from San Marcos Avilés, it is reported that these party supporters are trying to get more people from the communities of Panteló, Corralito, and La Providencia to help them carry out the displacement. Furthermore, they have boasted that they feel very capable of doing this, as the candidate Leonardo Guirao Aguilar (PVEM) won the recent local elections in the Municipality of Chilón, and the PRI won at the federal level.

Here we publish the names of the members of this ‘attack group’, according to the reports, and their respective political affiliations:

· Lorenzo Ruiz Gómez of the PVEM; Vicente Ruiz López of the PRI; José Cruz Hernández of the PRI; Manuel Díaz Ruiz of the PVEM; Carmelino Hernández Hernández of the PRI; Ernesto López Núñez, Ejidal Commissioner, of the PRI; Manuel Vázquez Gómez, Security Board, of the PRI; Aristeo Núñez Ruiz of the PRI; Alejandro Núñez Ruiz of the PRI.

Recently, in addition to the announcement of the plan for displacement, there has been a worrying increase in abuse, destruction of flowers and crops, and theft in the community. As a result of these acts of aggression, the BAZ do not have enough food for this year.

These reports confirm once again what we have always known, that these attacks are part of the plan of extermination which has been carried out since 1994 against the indigenous Zapatista population. Today it is more urgent than ever to disseminate the truth about the situation in San Marcos Avilés, the repression from the bad government, and the dignified resistance of all the Zapatistas.
SECOND: We report that many people from around the world have already joined our worldwide campaign, forming “Committees of the True Word” in their respective communities. A direct result of this is that we now have content on the San Marcos Avilés website in NINE LANGUAGES! : Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, German, Bulgarian, Japanese, Italian, and Greek. …more

A mosque burned to the ground in Missouri on Monday, in what worshippers suspect was a hate attack, less than a day after six people were killed in a shooting at a Sikh temple.

US mosque burned to ground
6 August, 2012 – Telegraph UK

Firefighters and police were called to a blaze at the Islamic Center in Joplin, Missouri – where around 125 members of the local Muslim community pray – at around 3:40am (0840 GMT), according to the FBI’s Kansas City office.

“The building was completely destroyed,” said Sharon Rhine, a spokesman for the local Jasper County Sheriff’s office. No one was wounded in the incident.

“No one was apprehended. They don’t want to call it a hate crime without information or knowledge of having someone to charge,” Rhine said.

Monday’s fire followed an attack on July 4, when an unidentified suspect threw a petrol bomb onto the roof of the same mosque, causing minor damage.

The mosque’s surveillance cameras captured an image of the assailant’s face, and the FBI offered a $15,000 (£9,600) reward for information related to the July incident, but no one has been apprehended.
Related Articles

Sikh leaders fear Wisconsin gunman believed he was targeting Muslims
06 Aug 2012

Temple gunman named as Wade Michael Page
06 Aug 2012

Sikh massacre gunman was lead singer in neo-Nazi band
06 Aug 2012

“It does seem coincidental that there was a fire a month ago and there was another one this month,” Rhine said.

FBI spokesman Bridget Patton said both incidents occurred in the middle of the night, but said the FBI would “wait to determine the cause of the fire.”

“If it is determined that the attack was intentional, we will conduct and investigation to see if there is any correlation between this fire and that of July 4,” Patton added.

Local community members say this is one of a series of attacks on their mosque since it was founded in 2007.

“Since the establishment of the mosque, we’ve been constantly under attack,” said former mosque board member Navid Zaidi, 47. “Our sign has been burnt … Our mailbox was smashed multiple times. We had bullets shot at our sign.”

Zaidi says the local community is lucky the attack occurred in the early morning, when no one was there.

“During Ramadan is a time when more people attend the services. We are fortunate that no one was hurt today,” he said, referring to the ongoing Muslim holy month of fasting and prayer.

Zaidi complained that no suspects have been apprehended in the month since the July 4 attack. “I don’t recall in my 27 years in the US, ever seeing perpetrators apprehended,” he said. …source

Bahrain: Pregnant woman attacked by regime forces whilst breaking fast
7 August, 2012 – Global Movement of Resistance

Bahraini regime forces raided two homes in Sanad last night, brutally assaulting a woman in the process. They verbally insulted another women whilst aiming their guns at others.

On Friday 3rd August the Darkness Gangs raided a home at dusk, as people were preparing to break their fast, insulting, attacking and humiliating those inside.

In an inhumane and outrageous way, Darkness Gangs brutally attacked a pregnant woman by kicking her in the stomach and insulting her with all manner of disrespectful words, showing a lack of any moral or religious values. Such actions reveal the appalling mentality of the security forces that behave more as thugs in a gang than a decent security system.

The gang that raided the home consisted of both civil police and riot police, with one member pointing a gun at a group of people who had gathered near the house.

The regime forces, raiding homes, assaulting citizens and more, are continually perpetrating such violations.

The regime is consistently targeting women in a disrespectful manner that is angering the Bahraini community.

Last night’s attack comes less than 24 hours after the authorities stopped Ahlam Al-Khozaei from travelling to Tunisia to participate in a human rights conference organised by Amnesty International. They arrested her from the airport and transferred her to a police station to be interrogated, before releasing her some hours later.

In addition, the regime forces arrested activist Zeinab Al-Khawaja whilst she was protesting peacefully yesterday evening, as well as a large number of other protesters for participating in a protest that had been banned by the regime. …source