{"id":3351,"date":"2011-10-04T07:13:23","date_gmt":"2011-10-04T14:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=3351"},"modified":"2011-10-04T08:11:25","modified_gmt":"2011-10-04T15:11:25","slug":"how-long-will-the-cycles-of-oppression-detentions-and-brutality-be-repeated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=3351","title":{"rendered":"How long must the cycle of oppression, detention and brutality repeat?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crackdown in Bahrain Hints of End to Reforms
\nBy THANASSIS CAMBANIS – NYT
\n
\nThis article was published just over one year ago – Published: August 26, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n

The government said the detainees were suspected of security and terrorism violations, and were not being held for expressing dissident political views.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe king said 10 years ago<\/strong> we would have freedom,\u201d said Sheik Mohammed Ali al-Mahfoodh<\/strong>, a Shiite cleric and opposition leader who backs an election boycott. \u201cThe experiment is now over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many detainees have been held without charge or access to lawyers and family members, human rights advocates said.<\/em><\/p>\n

MANAMA, Bahrain \u2014 The three women in head scarves and black abayas surged into the main atrium of the Seef Mall at 11 p.m. the other night, unfurling a banner outside the Next clothing boutique that read, \u201cIt is forbidden to arbitrarily arrest and detain people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three women in head scarves and black abayas surged into the main atrium of the Seef Mall at 11 pm the other night, unfurling a banner outside the Next clothing boutique that read, \u201cIt is forbidden to arrest, detain and exile people.\u201d<\/p>\n

A picture was taken, and in less than a minute they had dispersed. As they tried to leave, more than a dozen plainclothes and uniformed police officers surrounded one of them, Fakhria al-Singace, pinning her spread-eagled on a cafe table.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have no right to arrest me!\u201d she shouted.<\/p>\n

\u201cShut your mouth!\u201d a female officer said as she tried to handcuff Ms. Singace, pulling off her cloaklike abaya in the process. Officers shooed shoppers away and questioned a journalist.<\/p>\n

The arrest at one of Bahrain\u2019s busiest late-night spots occurred in the second week of a sweeping crackdown in this island kingdom in the Persian Gulf, a strategic American ally that is home to the United States Navy\u2019s Fifth Fleet and that appears to be reconsidering its decade-long flirtation with reform.<\/p>\n

Contentious parliamentary elections, in which the Sunni governing family could lose some power to the restive Shiite majority, are scheduled for Oct. 23. Bahrain\u2019s rulers worry that tensions between the West and Iran could provoke instability here, partly because of the close ties between the Shiites and Iran, and partly because of the American naval base, though Bahrain has said it will not allow any attack on neighboring countries from its soil.<\/p>\n

Initially, the arrests seemed to single out high-profile Shiite political and human rights leaders, but by Thursday the number of detainees had swelled to 159, and appeared to include many young men not known as activists.<\/p>\n

The government said the detainees were suspected of security and terrorism violations, and were not being held for expressing dissident political views.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe king said 10 years ago we would have freedom,\u201d said Sheik Mohammed Ali al-Mahfoodh, a Shiite cleric and opposition leader who backs an election boycott. \u201cThe experiment is now over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many detainees have been held without charge or access to lawyers and family members, human rights advocates said. Local Web sites \u2014 blocked this week by the government but accessible through proxy servers \u2014 chronicled clashes with riot police officers and allegations of torture, supported by photographs circulated almost instantaneously by BlackBerry.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the government have been clamoring for tough action all year. \u201cThe only thing the government did wrong was that it went too easy at first,\u201d said Jamal Fakhro, a member of the Shura Council, a body appointed by the king to limit the power of the elected Parliament. \u201cThe government has taken hard measures to reinstate security and stability. The people want order.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around 3 a.m., at the same time that Ms. Singace was being questioned at the Sanabis police station, Mr. Fakhro received a picture on his BlackBerry of her hoisting the protest banner.<\/p>\n

The government said this week that it would no longer tolerate unrest among the Shiite majority, who make up about two-thirds of the population but are barred from many government jobs and face a chronic housing shortage.<\/p>\n

Detainees can be held in secret for 15 days under Bahrain\u2019s anti-terrorism statutes, which are applied to people who criticize the government or take part in riots and tire burnings.<\/p>\n

Those convicted of compromising national security or slandering the nation can be deprived of health care and other state services, the government said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reform project leaves no excuse or justification, whatsoever, to illegally express opinions that harm the nation,\u201d Deputy Prime Minister Ali bin Khalifa al-Khalifa said.<\/p>\n

Bahrain\u2019s royal family ruled under a state of emergency until the current king, Sheik Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, took power in 1999. He created a Parliament, and his security forces disavowed torture.<\/p>\n

The kingdom beefed up its security forces with naturalized Sunnis, who are housed in brand new subdivisions in the island\u2019s interior. Shiite opposition groups estimate that 65,000 to 100,000 Sunnis were added to voter rolls in the last decade as part of what they say was sectarian gerrymandering.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Shias took control of the country, they would pop out one eye of every Sunni in the country,\u201d said Amed Abdallah al-Boainain, 21, a resident of Askar, a coastal settlement for Sunnis employed by the security services and the royal court. Two of his brothers work for the police, and he is applying to join them.<\/p>\n

Opposition leaders say the government is using a small number of acts of vandalism to fan public hysteria and justify taking down political rivals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government wanted only decorative democracy,\u201d said Khalil Ibrahim al-Marzook, a member of Parliament from the opposition Shiite party Al Wefaq. \u201cNow it is hijacking everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allegations of torture and police brutality circulate daily. A 23-year-old man nicknamed Abu Maryam showed marks on his ankles and feet, which he said were struck with hoses when he was interrogated about tire burnings.<\/p>\n

Still, Shiite youth are continuing to set the fires that so frustrate the government, burning electricity pylons, wiring and traffic lights as well as tires. On a recent night, one 24-year-old said the crackdown would only intensify Shiite anger. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he takes part in the nightly operations, posting photographs of burnings and clashes to opposition Web sites.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aren\u2019t provoking violence,\u201d he said. \u201cAll we do is burn tires. We don\u2019t hurt anybody. The government won\u2019t give us permits to protest peacefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shiite clerics and Wefaq leaders have condemned such acts but have rallied the anger of constituents against the government, which they maintain treats Shiites as second-class citizens.<\/p>\n

This year, opposition politicians united across sectarian lines to investigate official corruption. Sunni and Shiite legislators collaborated on a report that accused the royal family of illegally appropriating one-tenth of Bahrain\u2019s scarce public land.<\/p>\n

Opposition leaders have also accused the United States of turning a blind eye. \u201cBahrain is important to the United States for security issues,\u201d the American ambassador, J. Adam Ereli, said in a telephone interview. \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t raise human rights issues as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crackdown began on Aug. 13, when the opposition leader Abduljalil al-Singace was arrested after returning from a conference in London, where he criticized Bahrain for rights violations. The arrests of three other prominent Shiite activists followed, and his sister Fakhria was later detained at the Seef Mall.<\/p>\n

Thirteen days after Mr. Singace\u2019s arrest, around midnight on Thursday night, his lawyer was allowed to see him for the first time, Mr. Singace\u2019s daughter Zahra said. The public prosecutor had not yet brought any charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government is using anti-terrorism laws, but only against opposition members and human rights activists,\u201d said Nabeel Rajab, director of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. \u201cBahrain should be in the Guinness Book of World Records. This is a country that has discovered 20 supposed coup attempts in the last 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:<\/p>\n

Correction: September 16, 2010 …source<\/a><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crackdown in Bahrain Hints of End to Reforms By THANASSIS CAMBANIS – NYT This article was published just over one year ago – Published: August 26, 2010 The government said the detainees were suspected of security and terrorism violations, and were not being held for expressing dissident political views. \u201cThe king said 10 years ago more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[1840],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3351"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3351"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3352,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3351\/revisions\/3352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}