{"id":6017,"date":"2012-02-16T15:49:35","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T22:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=6017"},"modified":"2012-02-16T15:49:35","modified_gmt":"2012-02-16T22:49:35","slug":"congressman-mcgovern-denounces-bahraini-government%e2%80%99s-use-of-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=6017","title":{"rendered":"Congressman McGovern Denounces Bahraini Government\u2019s Use of Force"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Congressman McGovern Denounces Bahraini Government\u2019s Use of Force<\/strong><br \/>\n16 February, 2012 &#8211; POMED<\/p>\n<p>In a statement released yesterday, Congressman James P. McGovern (D-MA) denounced the use of force by Bahraini authorities preventing Bahrainis from assembling to commemorate the one-year anniversary of mass demonstrations. The use of tear gas, armored personnel carriers, and other forceful actions by security forces to impede Bahrainis from freely gathering in public spaces is \u201cinconsistent with the fundamental human rights to assemble peaceable and express one\u2019s views.\u201d The Congressman went on to urge the Bahrain government to make lasting reforms that ensure greater freedom, address the human rights abuses, and implement all of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry\u2019s recommendations. \u201cBahrain will be a stronger country when the rights of all of its citizens are fully respected,\u201d said McGovern.<\/p>\n<p>The one-year anniversary was marked by arrests and over 120 protesters injured, with medics reporting some of the casualties had been hit by birdshot \u2013 a controversial ammunition Bahraini police deny using. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights said the Bahraini authorities were working to \u201cbrutally suppress the protests,\u201d and cited excessive use of tear gas, stun grenades, and shotguns. Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa stated on his website, \u201cthe heightened security presence at this time aims to spread security and reassure all citizens and residents\u2026 Expressing opinion must be within the space allowed by the law.\u201d Meanwhile, Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the U.N., released a statement urging all parties to exercise \u201cmaximum restraint and expects the Bahraini authorities to act in accordance with their international human rights obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In related news, the Washington Times has reported that secret talks took place between senior government officials and the top opposition bloc to discuss resuming formal talks. \u201cIf we notice that there is serious will by the government to have a dialogue and that the main things we demanded will be put on the agenda \u2026 we will welcome such a serious dialogue,\u201d said Jawa Fairoz, a former Wefaq lawmaker jailed during last year\u2019s unrest.  <a href=\"http:\/\/pomed.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/congressman-mcgovern-denounces-bahraini-government%E2%80%99s-use-of-force.html\/#.Tz2GS_IToQB\" target=\"_blank\"> &#8230;more<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"igit_tsb_button\" style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.crookedbough.com%2F%3Fp%3D6017&amp;text=Congressman+McGovern+Denounces+Bahraini+Government%E2%80%99s+Use+of+Force&amp;count=horizontal&amp;via=\" style=\"\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congressman McGovern Denounces Bahraini Government\u2019s Use of Force 16 February, 2012 &#8211; POMED In a statement released yesterday, Congressman James P. McGovern (D-MA) denounced the use of force by Bahraini authorities preventing Bahrainis from assembling to commemorate the one-year anniversary of mass demonstrations. The use of tear gas, armored personnel carriers, and other forceful actions <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=6017#more-'\" class=\"more-link\">more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[2476],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6017"}],"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=6017"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6018,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6017\/revisions\/6018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}