Masaud Jahromi, who is on the faculty at Ahlia University, in Bahrain, was arrested on April 14, says his wife, Elham Shakeri, who is shown here with him and their son. He is one of a few academics in the country who have been detained and have lost contact with their families.

Enlarge Image

Courtesy of Jahromi family

Masaud Jahromi, who is on the faculty at Ahlia University, in Bahrain, was arrested on April 14, says his wife, Elham Shakeri, who is shown here with him and their son. He is one of a few academics in the country who have been detained and have lost contact with their families.

By David L. Wheeler

[Updated at 11:55 a.m. to include news of scholarship terminations in the United States.]

The Bahraini government is conducting sweeping retributions against academics believed to have participated in recent pro-democracy protests, firing professors and administrators and expelling students.

At the University of Bahrain, the largest public institution in the kingdom, a committee of pro-government academics is questioning other academics about their participation in protests and their loyalty to the existing regime. A few professors have been detained, and have had no contact with family members or lawyers since.

"There is undoubtedly an atmosphere of intimidation and fear at colleges and universities in Bahrain," said Gwenn Okruhlik, a member of an academic-freedom committee for the Middle East Studies Association and a visiting scholar at Trinity University, in San Antonio, Tex., who has been compiling information about the situation.

On Wednesday, daily newspapers in Bahrain reported that, with the prime minister's authorization, the Ministry of Education was forming a committee to review the political activities of students with scholarships and to suspend the scholarships of students who have not been loyal to the government. In Britain, Bahraini students who attended sympathy protests there told The Guardian that their stipends and tuition payments have been stopped and that the government has contacted their families about their activities.

Marcia C. Inhorn, a professor of anthropology at Yale University and a member of the Board of Directors of the Middle East Studies Association, said that Bahraini students in the United States were also losing their scholarships. (She was reluctant to name the institutions where that is happening because so few Bahraini students are in the United States that their identities would be at risk of being revealed and their families could be harassed.)

The terminations of scholarships and the firings of academics are part of a larger campaign of retribution in Bahrain, an archipelago whose main island is connected by a long causeway to Saudi Arabia, following a month of demonstrations in the capital city of Al Manamah. The protests ended on March 16 when security forces cleared demonstrators from an area known as the Pearl Roundabout. The campaign of retribution, human-rights activists say, is being focused by the Sunni Muslim-led government on the majority Shiite Muslim population, and many of the fired academics are Shiite.

Telephone calls and an e-mail message to the Bahraini Embassy in Washington were not returned. The embassy's Web page expresses pride in Bahraini higher education: "As Bahrain's investment grows, so too will opportunities for international investors to establish world-class academic and training facilities in the kingdom."

E-mails, text messages, and Facebook posts from those who have been fired and expelled provide details on the retributions. In an e-mail to colleagues and human-rights groups, Abdulla Alderazi, a lecturer at the University of Bahrain who is also the secretary general of the Bahrain Human Rights Society, wrote: "The University of Bahrain has just informed me that I have been stopped from lecturing today, 17th of April, 2011, until a final decision is taken by the UOB interrogation committee, which [it] seems will not be positive."

A student at a private university who has been expelled for pro-democracy comments on television said in an e-mail that he was about to graduate, and will now lose the $17,000 he has invested in his education.

Political Interrogations

Faculty members who have been questioned by the University of Bahrain committee said that their loyalty to the existing government was scrutinized: "First, I thought questions will be limited to what have happened in university," wrote one person, who requested that his identity be protected. "But it was about my political views." Questions focused on what political groups those being interviewed belonged to, what comments they had made in their Facebook accounts, what television channels they watched, and what protests they might have participated in. An attack made on the university on March 13 by a group of outsiders that included at least two police officers was used as a pretext for accusing protesters of vandalism, students who were at the scene of the attack said.

The exact number of those who have been fired or expelled is difficult to determine. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights, whose members largely operate on the Internet under the cloak of anonymity to avoid being arrested themselves, has said that 50 students have been expelled. At the Ministry of Education, 111 civil servants have been fired, and referred for legal action, although their job roles are not clear, according to Ms. Okruhlik. Those firings may have been in retribution for a call for a strike. A government news agency reported that 19 faculty members and 25 administrators were fired at the University of Bahrain. Bahrain state television reported that 120 students at the University of Bahrain were expelled and 10 suspended for a year, and the government's most recent statement, released on Tuesday, said that a total of 200 employees and students at the University of Bahrain had been punished.

The anti-Shiite retribution, said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division, has taken a "sinister turn" in recent days with the government's bulldozing of Shiite mosques and community centers. On Monday, unidentified assailants hurled tear-gas grenades at the home of Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and its only member who openly identifies himself, who has helped to document the retribution against the academics. Checkpoints dot the island, police officers wear balaclava masks concealing their identity, and a late-evening curfew limits the restaurant and club activity that once drew customers from around the Gulf.

Many expelled students and family members of fired and detained faculty members are pleading for political pressure from the West. "My husband, Dr. Masaud Jahromi, chairman of the engineering department at Ahlia University, in Bahrain, was arrested at 2:30 a.m. on 14th April 2011; in a frightening manner," wrote Elham Shakeri in an e-mail. "Still after one week of his capture we are unaware of him and his health. We are really hopeless and defenseless these days."

+44-7587303080 / +1(401)572-6597

Names and other identifying information have been removed and/or redacted in order to protect the safety of the sender[s].

csc

I am quite depressed I must admit though, we are kept in the dark, if someone is missing, we don't know if they're hiding or arrested or injured or the worst, dead. They just announced another martyr too, BDF military hospital called his family, Isa Al Radhi from Sitra, he's been missing since their attack on Sitra 15 Mar 2011. The other half of the time when I'm not depressed, I'm angry and hopeful at the same time. I am surviving because of the hope I have. I can't explain it or justify it, but I am quite hopeful throughout, even my sadness feels like it's a matter of time, is that naive of me? [redacted]

Our government just proves to be more incredible by the minute. Yesterday the Minister of Foreign Affairs Khalid AlKhalifa had a press conference, he was asked why are they demolishing the Pearl roundabout and monument despite it's historical significance to Bahrain, he said "we want to remove all the bad memories!" You gotta love this dude's answers, he's the same person who made another remarkable comment after the massacre on 17 Feb 2011, when they raided the roundabout at 3 am. There was a press conference for him and other officials, he was asked about the reason behind the timing of the attack, why did it take place at 3 am when people were sleeping, whole families were there and people of all ages, his answer was "because it was easier". By the way, for royalists, he is the liberal reasonable diplomatic figure; they adore him.

Now news are surfacing that they have given the Iranian ambassador 72 hours to leave Bahrain, actions supporting their Iranian threat propaganda. I marvel at the people falling for this, I mean really! Worried about the possibility of an interference from Iran because they have interests in Bahrain, yet, not even remotely recognizing the significance of the actual blunt Saudi interference that is taking place right now!!

They have vandalized several Shia religious facilities in several areas.

Popular joke these days: a kid asks his mother "Mother, why did they demolish Lulu?" The mother replies: "You know how when you play with your friend and you win, then he gets angry and breaks the game, but it still doesn't change the fact that you won? It's the same."

[redacted]

The question is whether it will take another 20+ years (1968-1989) for regional (Arab) dictatorships to be replaced by governments that rule with the express consent of the governed. Egypt and Tunisia have taken the first step. Yemen and Libya may follow, but whether these revolutions will result in genuine political reforms or just pave the way to dictatorships by another name is the question. Past experience is not always encouraging: Farouk–Mubarak; Idris–Gaddafi; Shah-mullahs; and earlier Louis XVI–Robespierre, Reign of Terror, Napoleon; Tsar–Stalin, etc.

As the Chinese (supposedly) say: We live in interesting times.

[redacted]

The Crackdown in Bahrain & The Silencing of the Opposition

By:Â Freedom Writer

I feel like I’m back in the 90s only it’s slightly worse. At least in the 90s, the curfew wasn’t official and it started at 9 or 10 p.m., and the random shooting was less than now in quantity and less widely spread.

It is official now:  the king and the crown prince are not the main commanders or, at least, not directly. Officially, the king delegated BDF Commander-in-Chief Marshal Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa to be in charge during the next three months under the emergency state law or, as the government calls it, the “State of National Safety”; of course, they mean the safety of the royal family and their slaves from extinction.

Some news are surfacing saying the Crown Prince is angry because he was marginalized by the elderly of his family and that his chance to reach an agreement for dialogue was ruined because of their rash actions.  As much as I understand the optimism and hope those people advocating this news have, it still makes me laugh inside. Everyone with the least bit of experience with the Al Khalifa and an open mind knows that they don’t have a sincere bone in their body.  It is naive for anyone to assume the Crown Prince meant to implement real change.  The first indication of this was that in his appearances on Bahrain TV during the past month he made a lot of contradictions in his statements; in one sentence, he would say that there is no limit to the oppositions’ demands, then, he would add that one party cannot control the terms of dialogue!  Also, during the first interview he had on the 18^th February 2011, he said that all protesters have the right to demonstrate and express their views, but, meanwhile outside, they were being shot with live ammunition on their way to Lulu (i.e. the Pearl Roundabout)!  That was the day that our martyr, Ridha BuHumaid, was hit by a sniper with two bullets in his head.  He was marching bare-chested and shouting peaceful slogans with a number of protesters who wanted to return to Lulu after attending the funeral of our first martyr, Ali Mushaima.  Ridha passed away two days later.  The Crown Prince disappeared after that shooting for two to three weeks and then came out with his second interview, adding nothing new to the first one and repeating the same contradictions with no tangible response to the opposition’s terms to begin dialogue.  On Sunday 13^th of March 2011, after the protesters sitting in front of Bahrain Financial Harbor were raided and the scandals of the brutality of the police were broadcast all over the international media, the Crown Prince issued a statement, that was read on Bahrain national television, saying he accepted the opposition’s terms for dialogue, i.e. a parliament with full legislative powers, a government that represents the people, and beginning to look into the files of state property (a case previously brought up by Wefaq representatives in parliamentary sessions asking to investigate royal properties and how state property was taken over by and used for projects for the benefit of the royal court and the royal family).  To an outsider, and to some people inside of Bahrain, accepting such terms seems like a pretty decent offer; however, the Crown Prince neglected two very important points in this weak concession.  First, he ignored a vital term of the opposition’s original request, which was to hold accountable all persons sharing the responsibility for political persecutions, imprisoning resisters of conscience, and the deaths and injuries caused during the Lulu uprising, considering the human rights violations in those cases. The second reason why his apparent acceptance of the opposition’s terms of dialogue was weak is that it was clear that he was merely throwing in his last card so as to appear as if he was sincere. To the contrary, however, it was obvious that he wasn’t serious about accepting any terms of the opposition because of the following reasons: first, he didn’t deliver this apparent “acceptance” himself; second, Ministry of Interior agents dressed in civilian clothing had already spread out around the country that evening and started creating chaos everywhere and intimidating people, using, for example, fire arms in Janabeya/Sar area and in Aali; thirdly, people received the news about the arrival of the Peninsula Shield that night indicating that a brutal crackdown was imminent.  If there’s anything I believe in as regards the Crown Prince, it is that I think he’s probably very furious right now for losing the spotlight and a chance to overthrow or usurp the power from his father.  So forgive me if I don’t hold so much faith in him or any of the Al Khalifa to begin with.

In all cases, the Crown Prince isn’t the only one furious at the current situation; for very different reasons, of course, we in the opposition are also frustrated.  These people in charge now are quite medieval and uncivilized.  Massive arrests have been taking and are continuing to take place, including arrests of all of our opposition leaders.  They are being charged with treason and collaboration with foreign forces in an attempt to corrupt Bahrain!  Rumors are now circulating that they’ve been taken to Saudi Arabia.  I don’t know about that, for Bahraini prisons are horrible enough as they are.  I’ll be quite worried if they are in Saudi Arabia for real though.  Two of them, Ebrahim Sharif and Hassan Mushaimae, had their arrests videotaped and were taken with heavy police presence.  Ebrahim Sharif was escorted away from his house by 40 policemen!  Abdul Wahhab Hussain, however, was taken roughly, and his home was ransacked in the process.  Evidence of this description is in my footnotes below.

We all know that the state of emergency is just a cover for all the crimes committed and yet to be committed by the Al Khalifa.  Besides all the past killing and injuring, it’s now time for retribution on the opposition.  We’ve been through this before.  They start by arresting the key figures, then they arrest the less-famous activists, and then random people are rounded up based on family names and/or areas they live in; after that are the fabricated accusations against anyone else.  During this and afterwards, they will fire people from their jobs and discrimination in employment will worsen.

We already know that curfew laws apply only in Shia areas and villages.  We’ve already received text messages from phone companies and outlets letting us know that they are open in Riffa and Muharraq—areas habituated by predominantly Sunni and/or royalists.

Currently, as I’m typing this, SMC (Salmaniya Medical Complex), the main hospital in Bahrain that has all the injured from before 15^th of March 2011 when the Bahrain Defense Force (BDF) took it over, is being emptied of all documents referring to the cases of the injured in Lulu or Lulu related attacks.  Nurses are barred from using elevators by riot police. The injured are all being moved to a Ministry of Interior facility (prison) in AlHodh AlJaf—a remote area in Muharraq.  This facility is infamous for torture; even the windows there are secured form outside, but, from the inside, the glass is broken slightly, so that no one can touch it or be able to use the glass to commit suicide when desperate.

Today, they brought in tanks to my area and neighboring areas to make sure Friday prayers don’t develop into something more.  The numbers of people who gathered in response were phenomenal despite the incredible amount of military force present.

The people are also responding positively to the demolishing of the Lulu (or Pearl) roundabout and monument.  First, the people were heartbroken, but then shortly afterwards they were making jokes about the regime’s folly for thinking this will diminish their spirits.   Sayings like “they couldn’t take down the protesters, so they vented out on the roundabout” –it rhymes in Arabic—and others are pretty much everywhere.  Everywhere you turn, this sarcasm and criticism of the regime is expressed in one way or another.  The best point to me was that people were saying that the demolition of the Lulu roundabout and monument is a victory to us in some way.  The Pearl Monument consisted of six pillars representing the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, and the Pearl on top represented the significance of pearl diving in our history.  It took the arrival of the so-called Peninsula Shield to unjustly evacuate the roundabout. They still didn’t beat down the people’s will, and they demolished the one visible monument symbolizing the cooperation of the six monarchs, thus symbolizing their own downfall. How ironic that these autocratic leaders are forewshadowing their own destruction!  It’s when you see people interpreting things so positively in the middle of all that has been going on that you realize these people will not surrender easily if at all.

People are continuing to resist and make small gestures of self-expression still.  Every day now, since the curfew was enforced, two times per day, people go up on their rooftops all over the surrounding areas and shout “Allah Akbar” (Allah is greater) in unison, as in “greater than all the injustice coming from the regime.”  It’s quite amusing to see how this provokes the police.  The minute people break into chorus, riot police jeeps start going up and down the streets firing sound bombs and tear gas and helicopters start hovering pretty low and aiming spotlights on rooftops.  There were incidents where riot police got carried away and started chasing people inside villages for shouting “Allah Akbar”, and it was reported that the military even used bird shotguns as well and vandalized people’s cars that were parked outside in the Jidhafs and Daih areas.

One of our tragedies now is that even during daytime and before the curfew starts, there are checkpoints where riot police are free to inspect cars, people, and confiscate whatever the hell they please if they believe the person is “suspicious.”  Of course, it is not specified anywhere what is their criteria for a “suspicious” person.  This has throttled people’s willingness to go out and fulfill their needs even during daytime, simply to avoid trouble.  Isn’t it ironic that these people are reportedly on our streets under the pretext of ‘safety and security’?  Then again, in a monarchy, everything is about the monarch and not about the people. Who are we to demand security and free will, much less freedom of speech, belief, and association?  In my footnotes below, I refer to a couple of incidents with checkpoints.  That aside, there are the occasional drive-by shootings of tear gas and sound bombs in our area and, if they feel like it, hey, they’ll shoot at a few houses or at passersby with rubber bullets or others, just to show people who is in charge!

Speaking of the submission a monarchy demands of people, let me just express my frustration with some Bahrainis.  I won’t get into the topic of royalists, of course, who treat the king as a God who cannot be questioned, even though their religion—which they hold so much pride in—says they should question their rulers and be honest with them.  Let me talk instead about those who say that we didn’t seize the chance and accept the dialogue with the Crown Prince or that we aimed too high by calling for the fall of the regime.  Besides my long argument above about why I, or many others, didn’t believe in the Crown Prince, do these Bahrainis really think so low of themselves to feel that they don’t deserve more?  They think that a king or a state official is gracious for “letting” us have partial rights?  Really? Again, I’m not talking about royalists here whose interests lie with the continuity of the monarchy—they’ve been bought and paid for.  I’m talking instead about ordinary people, getting squat from the government. Some ordinary Bahrainis are neutral about the uprising and some are in the opposition. But there is a segment of the Bahraini population that really believes that we shouldn’t aim high and that we are not “ready for a democracy”!!!  These are the ones that really make me speechless! I don’t see what legitimacy they find in the current regime. Â

Twenty-four parliament members from the National Assembly and Shura Council collectively have resigned; fourteen judges, including the king’s advisor to the Supreme Judicial Council have resigned; two members of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and three ministers as well have resigned!  Somehow, all of this is not alarming the royalists, international leaders, or international media.  Don’t they realize the significance of this in a small country like Bahrain? The regime has no legitimacy!

Of course, I won’t deny that our government goes out of its way to brainwash the willfully ignorant.  Besides the previously-mentioned blunt attempts to stain the uprising and its supporters, the regime has moved up a notch to be just plain disrespectful. They have published in AlAyam newspaper—a  royalist publication—the picture of one of the martyrs, Ahmed Abdulla, saying he was a policeman that fell in confrontation!  Links explaining this are in my footnotes.  Also, they showed the picture of another martyr, Ahmed Farhan (the one that got hit by a fission bullet that spilled his brains on the ground—graphic pictures were linked in previous emails of the Bahrain Update), saying that it was an archived picture from Palestine, consciously ignoring that there are videos and pictures documenting his injuries in a Bahraini neighborhood then at a Bahraini hospital (Sitra Health Center).  I haven’t seen this propaganda myself, so I’m not sure how accurate it is, but I wouldn’t put it past them at this point. Royalist publications are seldom read nor believed by those who do read them .

Other than that, there are the claims referred to in your last email by some pro-monarch supporter trying to stain the uprising and cover the inhumanity of the oppression by creating incriminating stories about the opposition. The opposition itself published the video of the Asian Ministry of Interior employees being caught in Manama attacking citizens; Bahrain TV then used this video to claim that protesters attacked Asians without mercy.  Explanations about this and another video about a policeman being run over are also in the footnotes.  Of course, I’ve heard of some isolated incidents where royalists claimed protesters targeted Asians for being paid to participate in government rallies and become members of thug gang attacks, but I don’t personally know of anyone who harmed them; still, I cannot guarantee that there were no isolated incidents.  I just hate for neutral folks, more than royalists, to make such charges in an attempt to equate the opposition with the regime. Note that in every statement and speech made on the roundabout, people emphasized and reemphasized that the regime was the one to be targeted and no one else was to be harassed, as the others were understood to be helpless agents.  So I’d say shame on anyone trying to use those incidents in any way to demean the movement and the uprising and to say it wasn’t peaceful, because that’s just outrageous.  Of course, I refrain from even discussing anything with those saying that blocking a road is not civil disobedience and that it forces people not to go to work. Blocking the road leading to the Bahrain Financial Harbor was intended to last two hours only; the companies in question were alerted 12 hours earlier about this, and it was announced on media outlets; besides, alternative routes were accessible.  To the contrary, it was the violent crackdown by the regime that caused the protesters to go block the road completely and indefinitely and create protection barriers around Lulu and the BFH areas from all sides to prevent the entry of riot police and Ministry of Interior thugs who were set loose that day, starting with the violence at the University of Bahrain and the resulting destruction of the ELC and other places.

Another setback we’re facing is that the government is now more fiercely blocking the international media from entering the country. Some reporters, like Nick Kristof, received threats from members of the royal family directly as he tweeted.  AlAlam and Press TV reporters were expelled today. We received news that they were told to leave and were already in the airport this afternoon.  Others have been hassled as well (reference are available in footnotes below).

It’s two a.m. now.  I’m going to crash.  I have listed in my footnotes below some of what I’ve been documenting:  articles, pictures and videos.  I have done some translations for the Arabic articles and videos so that your readers can understand them.

Â

Footnotes:

·        Bahrain News Agency (BNA) statements

o  BNA on State of Emergency http://www.bna.bh/portal/en/news/449991

§ Their intention to use it as a cover for their crimes is clear in the statement.

o  BNA on arrests of political activists http://www.bna.bh/portal/en/news/450115

§ It’s quite amusing to see them accusing those activists of incitement to murder, since it was the royalist figures, including previous MP Jassim AlSaidi who publically announced it was legal to kill Shia.  Double standards anyone?

Â

·        Checkpoints:

o  Statement about ridiculous treatment at checkpoints:

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/9bn94g

o  Random beatings at checkpoints:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rds6hUMssgQ&feature=player_embedded

·        Kristof’s new article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/opinion/17kristof.html?_r=2

I don’t agree with some of his points, but here’s an extract that highlights an important issue regarding the ideology within the government in general and the Ministry of Interior specifically:

“My New York Times colleague Michael Slackman was caught by Bahrain security forces a few weeks ago.  He said that they pointed shotguns at him and that he was afraid they were about to shoot when he pulled out his passport and shouted that he was an American journalist.  Then, he says, the mood changed abruptly, and the leader of the group came over and took Mr. Slackman’s hand, saying warmly: “Don’t worry!  We love Americans!”

“We’re not after you.  We’re after Shia,” the policeman added.  Mr. Slackman recalls:  “It sounded like they were hunting rats.”

·        Prevention of medication and attacks on doctors:

o  The story about the nurse shot on her way to the hospital in the head and neck unveiled more details. It turned out that the nurse mentioned, Salwa AlDerazi, is fine; it was another doctor using her car who was shot.

o  Her fate is still unknown.  Floating news is that her name is Baheya AlAradi, not confirmed yet.

o  Floating picture of the car http://twitpic.com/4ac3nt

·        Medical cases documented:

o  Young man shot in his thigh…the bullet pierced his thigh and came out the other side

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSssbSjRE-0

Subtitles:  First up close to an old man…voice asking if he was brought from Bahrain International Hospital or from the American Mission Hospital.  The other man answers, “this one from AMH; the other one from BIH.”  He tells the lady videotaping to continue when the patient is in bed.

She reveals his injury, then asks him “what’s wrong with you young man?”

He answers: “bullet.”  She asks:  “where did you get hit?”  He says:  “it pierced through my thigh and came out the other side.”  She repeats:  “it came out the other way. Where were you all this time?”  He answers:  “at the roundabout.”  Someone in the background says:  “BIH, BIH.” Interviewer asks him:  “which hospital have you been in?” He answers:  “BIH”. She says:  “that’s where you were.”  He nods. She asks:  “what time were you taken there?”  He shakes his head. She says: “you don’t know?” He shakes it again and mouths no. She says:  “okay, get well soon.”  Voice in background says:  “you were in Jidhafs health center, then BIH right?”  He nods. Interviewer repeats with him: “then to BIH, then here?” He nods.

o  Medics attacked on their way to help http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7DlJ56cT_xA

Subtitles: background voices. Beaten up medic  lying down. They’re asking him questions, he barely answers, someone else says he’s the driver of the ambulance.

Interviewer gets close, she asks him: “what did they do to you? Tell us here, what did they do to you?” he stares, she clarifies “tell us your story, how did you get away?” He begins “they got us out of the ambulance, myself and 3 doctors and a male nurse, they ganged up on us, they were asking us what did we do for a living and saying we kept weapons with us and that we didn’t treat sunni people and started beating us everywhere; every word came with a beating.” Interviewer asks “where did they stop you?”  He answers “near Al Fateh, on the left, there’s a sandy area there.” She asks “how did they hit you?”  He struggles to describe:  “pushed against a fence/wall, slapped right and left; we were just facing it and not knowing where the hits came from.”  She asks:  “how many persons hit you?” He answers:  “I don’t really know; my arms were like this–he demonstrates—there were too many, and I didn’t know where the hits came from; our arms were like this –he demonstrates again- and our heads were between our knees.” He aches from moving to demonstrate.

·        Denunciation by international organizations:

o  You will be able to view these links; however, in our Bahrain, they are blocked!

§ Amnesty Int'l: Evidence of Bahraini security forces’ brutality revealed http://ow.ly/1bNXdM

§  http://www.amnesty.org/ar/node/22340

§ Amnesty Int.: Bahrain witnesses describe bloody crackdown http://ow.ly/1bNXdL

§ UN human rights chief alarmed by military takeover of hospitals in Bahrain http://ow.ly/1bNXdK

§ UN human rights chief alarmed by military takeover of hospitals in Bahrain http://ow.ly/1bNXdK

§ Statement by the High Representative, Catherine Ashton, on Bahrain

http://goo.gl/0T1fY

·        Responses from the GCC countries

o  Kuwait

§ Kuwait parliament members and some organizations publically denounced the violence in Bahrain and attempted to pressure the government not to send Kuwaiti troops as part of the Peninsula Shield.

§ Unfortunately, even in the supposed constitutional monarchy of Kuwait, the monarch prevailed, as a Kuwaiti navy task force reportedly arrived today.

§ Rumors that a Kuwaiti medical team came to assist in the situation but was denied entry at the Saudi boarders.

§ A rally at the Bahraini embassy in Kuwait was organized by Kuwaiti people.

§ AlKout Kuwaiti channel broadcasted the events live, which included speeches and chanting of slogans.

o  Saudi Arabia

§ Rallies supporting Bahrainis came out in several areas on the Eastern side of Saudi Arabia close to Bahrain, which consists of a mixture of Shia and Sunni communities.

§ The rallies were oppressed by force as well.

o  Oman

§ Reportedly, a small rally went to the Bahraini Embassy there as well.

·        Death toll approximations

o  14 Feb 2011 = 1

o  15 Feb 2011 = 1

o  17 Feb 2011 = 4

o  20 Feb 2011 = 1

o  13 Mar 2011 = 1

o  15 Mar 2011 = 5-6 unconfirmed (including a Pakistani worker who was protecting women passing by during the attack)

o  16 Mar 2011 = 3 confirmed/ 8 confirmed brain-dead/ many unconfirmed still

·        Media reports:

o  AlJazeera Materials:

§ AlJazeera Spotlight on Bahrain

 http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/bahrain/

§ Riot Police Brutality

http://english.aljazeera.net/video/middleeast/2011/03/2011313142023354362.html

§ AlJazeera Live Blog on Bahrain

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/middle-east/live-blog-bahrain-unrest#update-14501

o  The Guardian: Bahrain's king will disgrace the royal wedding http://bit.ly/f9clgC or http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/17/bahrain-king-royal-wedding

o  On US claims that they didn’t know the GCC troops were coming

http://firedoglake.com/2011/03/17/us-fleet-commander-met-head-of-bahrain-defense-forces-before-crackdown-opposition-leaders-arrested/

o  Bahrain police round up opposition leaders, take over hospital – Telegraph

 http://bit.ly/dKvbqH

o  CBS news reporter shot at during riots in Bahrain

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20044298-503543.html?tag=stack

o  Press TV reporter attacked

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxMgsF6OgIw

o  CNN reporter expelled from Bahrain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtRj0SaHkLU&feature=player_embedded

o  Bahrain opposition figures on crackdown in Bahrain

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/03/17/bahrain.protests/index.html

o  Crown Prince upset upon Saudi interference in Bahrain and his marginalization by the Prime Minister

Article from AlQuds newspaper based in London

[Arabic] http://www.alquds.com/node/336568

Summary: Stating that the elders of the royal family are controlling the situation now and using these extreme measures. That Crown Prince is a more liberal person, while the Prime Minister (king’s uncle and prime minster for 40 years) and other royal elderly are very extreme and that the King is lost in between.

Article suggests that the interference wasn’t even requested by Bahrain, that Saudi forced it on them since Bahrain relies on Saudi Arabia, thus questions the sovereignty of the rule in Bahrain. Also mentioned is Bahrain’s dependency on Saudi Arabia due to their relatively lesser oil income and that Bahrain State TV is completely controlled by the office of the Prime Minister.

o  Article covering the story briefed in your last email about Dr. Haneed AlBosta, slapped and kicked away for wanting to help the injured:

[Arabic] http://www.alwasatnews.com/3113/news/read/532537/1.html

·        Ransacking the residence of Abdulwahab Hussain when arrested:

o  http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/196555_106368266112049_100002166282550_61880_2103156_n.jpg

o  http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/198239_106367652778777_100002166282550_61870_1945603_n.jpg

o  http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/188557_106367722778770_100002166282550_61872_5644142_n.jpg

·        Comments and posts from social networks:

o  “Occupation, checkpoints, searches, denial of medical access, army tanks, bulldozers, curfews, demographic engineering. Israel? No, Bahrain.”

o  @alialsaeed Ali Al Saeed (Bahraini Novelist)

“a very dear friend of mine, a nurse, was beaten with shotgun heel by riot police as he tried to assist injured ppl. he's bruised but fine.”

Â

·        Inhumanity and disrespect of royalist media:

o  Martyr Ahmed Abdulla got his picture published in the AlAyam pro-government newspaper saying he is a police man who passed away in confrontation!

This is a picture of Ahmed http://www.freewebtown.com/mojahd91/alsheed.jpg

This is his CPR http://www.freewebtown.com/mojahd91/5a22368eff.jpg

He worked in Adhari Fun Park. This is the newspaper clipping claiming he was a policeman: http://hh7.net/Mar4/hh7.net_13003864231.gif

The article’s bold headline reads: “Two policemen pass away during the operation of ‘cleansing/purifying’ the roundabout and Salmiya Complex”.

Their inhumanity is just immeasurable!

·        Pictures:

o  Picture of snipers on buildings (this particular one is on the Burger Land/La Marine building on Al Qadam roundabout) http://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/188788_137532656316152_134355829967168_201451_3304643_n.jpg

o  Archive picture:  Protesters preparing for their peaceful sit-in blocking the way to the Bahrain Financial Harbor, as part of their civil disobedience plan to pressure the government into meeting their political demands.  They formed the word “Leave” in Arabic "ارحلوا" and then the word ‘Game Over.’ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/8381142/Bahrain-protests-escalate-Saudi-Arabia-sends-troops-to-help-restore-security.html

This was the escalation point where the Bahraini government increased their planned thug attacks by Ministry of Interior agents in civilian clothing, which they extended to the University of Bahrain on Sunday 13^th of March 2011 and claimed the protesters had started a fight there!  Then they trashed university facilities which was aired on their demented channel footage of it. When eyewitness callers called to disagree with their story, television authorities hung up in their face.  Thug attacks increased over night, and the next thing we knew was that they were bringing in the Saudi troops  under the excuse of ‘instability’ which they fabricated themselves.

o  Since Bahrain TV insists no military helicopters or shootings took place against protesters, a few pictures for their sake:

http://www.m5zn.com/uploads/2011/3/1…k2qcd2y9e9.jpg
http://www.m5zn.com/uploads/2011/3/1…8fnidxx4t0.jpg
http://www.m5zn.com/uploads/2011/3/1…6iuwkdv2gl.jpg
http://www.m5zn.com/uploads/2011/3/1…p4061ez382.jpg
http://www.m5zn.com/uploads/2011/3/1…5htoisoiz2.jpg
http://www.m5zn.com/uploads/2011/3/1…insd25pui0.jpg
http://www.m5zn.com/uploads/2011/3/1…ohown59yjt.jpg

·        Videos:

o  Drive-by shooting of protesters http://www.twitvid.com/YGFYI

o  Comments on videos sent in the last email:

§ In a video sent in your last email from a pro-monarchy supporter claiming that Shia were attacking Asians (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgbkGZzaYRs), this was in Ras Rumman, where [redacted] comes from.  These are Ministry of Interior employees; they were attacking people there as part of the government’s plan to create chaos and justify the arrival of GCC troops.  On top of it all, the voice in the background is clearly saying: “Nobody touch them; don’t hit them; nobody lay a hand….”  This group of people were taken to Salmaniya Hospital, and their IDs are shown on the Al Jazeera English video sent in the previous email.  They were treated and then sent away.  Show it to any Arabic speaker, and they’ll tell you what’s going on!  The sender should have muted the video before claiming what Bahrain (BTV) was alleging; at least BTV silenced the video when they aired it.

§ The other video, claiming to be of a corpse of a policeman’s body kicked and run over by cars, is another fabrication of BTV in their attempts to stain the image of the uprising.  It’s a doll on the ground obviously; look at the way it’s rising off the ground and twisting.  On top of it, this area, by Bahrain Mall (the supermarket Geant) — shown in the background, has been under the control of the government and blocked to pedestrians and has been full of police for days now.

o  Archive video: protesters march towards Lulu roundabout on 18^th of February 2011, chanting “peaceful, peaceful” after they were cleared from the roundabout on Bloody Thursday, the 17^th of February, when riot police raided the protesters camping at the roundabout while they were asleep at 3 a.m.

This was the day that Ridha BuHumaid, referred to above in my report, was shot in the head; minute 3.43 shows the incident.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANqPVaITyPQ&feature=player_embedded

·        List of resignations from Parliament and Government offices:

o  Parliament:

§ Elected Parliament Members:

·        18 members belonging to AlWefaq Party

§ Shura Council Members (appointed by the king):

·        Sayed Dhia AlMosawi

·        Nada Haffath

·        Mohamed Hadi AlHalwachi, also president of the Legislative Affairs Committee.

·        Mohamed Baqer Hasan Radhi

·        Nasser AlMubarak

·        Abdulhussain Abdughaffar, previous a labor union president

o  Ministers and Government officials:

§ Nizar AlBaharna: Minister of Health

§ Majeed AlAlawi: Minister of Housing–boycotted government

§ Mohamed Ali bin Sheikh Mansoor AlSitri:  King’s Advisor on Legislative Affairs and Vice-president of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs

o  Judges:

§ Sheikh Ahmed Al-Asfour:  Advisor of the Sypreme Judicial Council.

§ Sheikh Mansour Ali Hamadeh.

§ Sheikh Nasser ElShaikh Ahmed AL-Asfour.

§ Sheikh Hassan ElSheikh Ahmed AL-Asfour.

§ Sheikh Ali ElSheikh Ibrahim Al-Mubarak.

§ Sheikh Salah Abdul-Aziz El-Sitree.

§ Sheikh Faisal Jawad El-Mishaal.

§ Abdul-Nabi Sheikh Abbas Al-Haddad.

§ Sheikh Zakaria Abdullah AlSadadi.

§ Sheikh Ali Jassim Al-Jamri.

§ Sheikh Ali Abdul-Hadi Khalifa.

§ Sheikh Baqir Al-Mahroos.

o  Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs members:Â

§ Sheikh Jaafar Ali AlAali

§ Sheikh Mosa Al Oraibi

Keeping in mind Sheikh Ahmed AlAsfour, Mohamed Ali AlSitri and Sayed Dhia AlMosawi are also part of this council and have resigned.

Â

The political situation in Bahrain is escalating towards violence, class, ethnic, and sectarian conflict. The US, which stations the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, needs to answer the question clearly of whether or not it will continue to support the Al Khalifa regime which has ruled the 33-island nation for over 200 years or support the majority of the population who desire democratic governmental structures. At present, it does not appear that the stand-off can be abated; instead, both sides are entrenched. The likely outcome is either the overthrow of the monarchy or the opposition will be beaten into submission, resulting in a bloodbath, with US-supplied weaponry. US citizens should contact their representatives and encourage them to act now.