Peaceful protesters killed in Bahrain today

[bareed]

A mosque is more than walls and a ceiling. This man defies that in Kuwaikbat Mosque's ruins.

 

[High_Gravity]

Bahrain called on to stop hospital crackdown

MANAMA (Reuters) - Three non-governmental groups said Bahrain must halt human rights violations and a crackdown on hospitals where doctors and patients suspected of having joined pro-democracy protests were being arrested.

Last month, the Sunni-led Gulf Arab kingdom crushed mainly Shi'ite protests by declaring martial law, inviting in troops from Sunni neighbours such as Saudi Arabia and arresting hundreds of people, many of them activists or doctors.

Hundreds have been sacked from government jobs, rights and opposition groups say. Bahrain says it targets only those who committed crimes during the unrest in March.

London-based Amnesty International called on Bahrain's Western partners to urge Manama to end arrests of medical staff and opposition activists.

It accused Western governments of staying silent because of Bahrain's strategic location as home of the U.S. Fifth Fleet and its importance as a Gulf trade partner.

"North American and European governments, so vocal recently in espousing the cause of human rights in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt, need also to speak out loudly about what is going on in Bahrain," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Paris-based Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) Friday said Bahrain had turned hospitals into "places to be feared," where both doctors and patients suspected of having a role in the protests were detained.

"Wounds are used to identify demonstrators, restricted access to health care is being used to deter people from protesting, and those who dare to seek treatment in health facilities are being arrested," the aid group said.

Bahrain called on to stop hospital crackdown | World | Reuters

 

[bareed]

Dear High_Gravity, i appreciate your efforts you will be part of our victory against tyrants.

 

[High_Gravity]

Dear High_Gravity, i appreciate your efforts you will be part of our victory against tyrants.

I really hope so Bareed, I really do.

 

[High_Gravity]

Bahrain crackdown fueling tensions between Iran, Saudi Arabia

TEHRAN — A month after a brutal crackdown on Shiite protesters there, Bahrain is exacerbating tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, dragging relations between the Persian Gulf rivals to their lowest level in at least a decade and setting the stage for confrontations elsewhere in the region.

On Thursday, a large crowd of students rallied outside the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, chanting anti-Saudi slogans in what official news accounts described as a three-day “strike” protesting the suppression of anti-government demonstrations in Bahrain. The latest protests capped a week of rising tensions in which Iranian youths hurled stones and firebombs at the Saudi Embassy while Riyadh threatened to withdraw its diplomats.

Although few believe that an armed clash between the two countries is likely, U.S. officials and Middle East experts see the beginnings of a prolonged freeze in diplomatic relations along with growing risks of conflict between proxy groups in a region where Iranian-backed Shiites and Saudi-funded Sunnis have long competed for dominance.

“The real battlefields are in Lebanon, Iraq and Bahrain,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have been in regional competition for decades. Both nations depend heavily on oil revenue, which Iran has employed for keeping its 1979 Islamic revolution afloat, while Saudi Arabia has used its oil and financial leverage to position itself as a main ally of the United States in the Persian Gulf region.

With the fall of other Sunni bulwarks, including Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, Saudi Arabia increasingly regards itself as the last defense against Iranian Shiite influence in the region.

For now, the focal point of the conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia is Bahrain, the tiny island kingdom that is tethered to Saudi Arabia by a 16-mile causeway and is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. Responding to an appeal from Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy, at least 1,000 Saudi troops entered Bahrain on March 14 to help drive out protesters who had paralyzed the central business district in the capital for nearly a month.

Bahrain crackdown fueling tensions between Iran, Saudi Arabia - The Washington Post

 

[High_Gravity]

Bahrain seeks death sentence for protesters on trial

Reuters) - Bahrain is seeking death penalty for a group of protesters accused of killing two policemen during anti-government demonstrations in the Gulf island kingdom, state media reported on Monday.

The government has stamped the demonstrations in a security crackdown since February when mainly Shi'ite protesters took to the streets demanding more say in the Sunni-ruled country's affairs.

Security forces have arrested hundreds of people since then and a number of them died while in official custody. Hundreds of mostly Shi'ite workers have been sacked from government jobs and state-linked companies, rights and opposition groups say.

On Sunday, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) said the military prosecutor would seek the death sentence for seven men accused of killing the policemen at the Lower National Safety Court.

It quoted the prosecutor as saying the men had "committed their crime for terrorist reasons." It gave no other details of the incident.

BNA added the defendants pleaded not guilty and that the case would be heard again on April 28.

At least 13 protesters and four police were killed during the clashes.

A hospital source told Reuters last month that at least two of the four policemen killed had been run over by cars on March 16. The government says it has only targeted those who committed crimes during the protests.

The state banned protests when it imposed martial law in March and invited troops from Sunni-led Gulf neighbors to help quash the unrest.

The state news agency said three more men also were charged with attempting to kill policemen in separate court cases.

Bahrain seeks death sentence for protesters on trial | Reuters

 

[High_Gravity]

Why Bahrain is Trying Civilians Before a Military Court

The seven men who went on trial in Bahrain on Thursday have made history as the country's first-ever civilians to be tried before a military court. Facing the death penalty, they've been sequestered in an unknown location for weeks and accused of murdering two policemen by running them over with a car. They've had no communication with family or friends since being taken into custody last month. Human rights activists fear they have been subjected to torture. More worrisome, they have been denied access to legal counsel and face trial proceedings sealed to the public. The Bahrain News Agency said the seven men have pleaded not guilty to all charges against them.

It is the first trial to be publicly announced since the country fell under martial law on March 15, when the Sunni regime (and U.S. ally) began a severe crackdown on the opposition, a campaign that has seen about 500 mostly Shi'a anti-government supporters arrested and held incommunicado. "Putting civilians to military court is a surprise," says Nabeel Rajab, head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. "The government has taken it too far." Rights advocates fear that a conviction in this case may start a wave of death penalties for activists in the island Kingdom, which has rarely imposed such a sentence. The last time Bahrain handed out a death penalty was two years ago. (And according to state media, the military court in Bahrain convicted four Shi'ite protesters and sentenced them to death for the killing of two policemen during anti-government demonstrations last month in the Gulf kingdom. The three other Shi'ite activists, who were also on trial, were sentenced to life in prison for their role in the policemen's deaths.)

Under martial law, almost all civil liberties have been curtailed — as well as judicial recourse. The April 15 arrest of prominent defense attorney Mohammed al-Tajer sent a chill through the opposition: he is now incarcerated alongside many of his clients. "We have this legal black hole where no one knows what their rights are, what their access is, and they're really at the mercy of the regime," says Shadi Hamid, director of research at Brookings Doha Institute. "Essentially, legal protection is suspended — this is a part of martial law. Almost anything can be justified under the pretense of 'national security.' So all bets are off, and it should be very worrying to the opposition."

Bahrain's military prosecutor said the seven men are being tried under a 2006 anti-terrorism law which mandates the death penalty. The statue has long been criticized by international rights groups as being vague, providing a too-broad definition of what qualifies as terrorism (as in its reference to "threats to national unity"). "Anything interfering with the government's sway can be labeled 'terrorism,'" says Joe Stork, deputy director the Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch. "So the risk of a capital sentence is very great."

Read more: Why Bahrain is Trying Civilians Before a Military Court - TIME

 

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Inconsistencies in Televised Confession of Bahraini Protesters Who Were Sentenced to Death

A military court in Sunni-ruled Bahrain sentenced four Shiite Muslim protesters to death for killing two policemen during demonstrations last month. Three other activists were sentenced to life in prison for their role in the policemen's deaths. But human rights activists have argued that the verdicts were the result of a number of legal abuses, including the arrest of one of the defendants' lawyers during the trial, the fact that the suspects weren't able to meet with their families, and the closed nature of the military trial. Despite the fact that the media were barred from the courtroom itself, the suspects' "confessions" (for some reason, Bahrainis on Twitter keep using scare quotes around that) were aired on national TV. The 24-minute segment, which includes a voice-over and dramatic score, plays like a Dateline reenactment.

Inconsistencies in Televised Confession of Bahraini Protesters Who Were Sentenced to Death -- Daily Intel

 

[bareed]

Bahrain govt. blocked its owned site!!!!

http://www.jwd.gov.bh/

 

[Jos]

Site Blocked

This web site has been blocked for violating regulations and laws of Kingdom of Bahrain.

 

[Jos]

Inconsistencies in Televised Confession of Bahraini Protesters Who Were Sentenced to Death

A military court in Sunni-ruled Bahrain sentenced four Shiite Muslim protesters to death for killing two policemen during demonstrations last month. Three other activists were sentenced to life in prison for their role in the policemen's deaths. But human rights activists have argued that the verdicts were the result of a number of legal abuses, including the arrest of one of the defendants' lawyers during the trial, the fact that the suspects weren't able to meet with their families, and the closed nature of the military trial. Despite the fact that the media were barred from the courtroom itself, the suspects' "confessions" (for some reason, Bahrainis on Twitter keep using scare quotes around that) were aired on national TV. The 24-minute segment, which includes a voice-over and dramatic score, plays like a Dateline reenactment.

Inconsistencies in Televised Confession of Bahraini Protesters Who Were Sentenced to Death -- Daily Intel

Now you know how the "Royal" Family should be treated when they are brought to trial

 

[High_Gravity]

BAHRAIN: Medical staff face prosecution, alleged torture after aiding anti-government protesters

Nearly 50 doctors, nurses and other medical staff have been detained in Bahrain in connection with treating anti-government protesters, human-rights officials said Wednesday.

Those detained included 24 doctors and 23 nurses and paramedics, according to Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

“All of them were held somewhere nobody knows — we think they are in a military base,” Rajab said. "Reports we are receiving say that almost all of them were tortured.”

Fareeda Dallal, a medical professional married to a doctor who also was detained, appeared on Al Jazeera satellite network Tuesday with a black eye to say she had been harassed by her captors and forced to dance for them.

"They beat me with a hose, a big hose, on the arms and the legs. They kicked me on the back, mostly slaps on the back," she said. "They were humiliating us verbally with a lot of improper words like 'dirty Shia,' like 'whore,' that we are worthless, we can't think, we are not loyal, that we do not deserve to wear our uniform."
On Tuesday, the leader of the Persian Gulf nation’s medical society was arrested, and the leader of the dental society was also in government custody, Rajab said.

“Most of the respected doctors are behind bars today, all suspended from their work. People are getting treated mostly at home now because the main hospitals are being occupied by the military,” he said. "Nobody goes to the hospital now, even those people who have been shot and have bullets inside their body. They are afraid to be arrested and tortured there.”

At a press conference on Tuesday, Bahrain's justice minister read the charges against the medical staff, including incitement to the forceful overthrow of a political regime, dissemination of false news and malicious rumors that could harm public interest and participation in unauthorized rallies and meetings, according to the Bahrain News Agency.

Rajab said Bahrain’s security forces are clearly lashing out at medical staff for exposing the toll of the violent suppression on the populace by Bahrain's king, Sheik Hamed ibn Isa Khalifa, documenting the number of dead and injured for the international press.

“This is the punishment for them for treating the wounded people,” Rajab said.

But he said the government detentions and repression that followed the February protests in Manama’s Pearl Square have not been limited to medical personnel.

“After the crackdown, the government targeted every group of people who supported the uprising — they targeted teachers, politicians, academics, students — all of them were targeted group by group,” Rajab said. “Many thousands of people were terminated from their jobs, their houses being raided, their money stolen, including doctors.”

BAHRAIN: Medical staff face prosecution, alleged torture after aiding anti-government protesters | Babylon & Beyond | Los Angeles Times

 

[bareed]

News about stopping the martial law by the end of this month..


Thanks High_Gravity for continue in posting news about Bahrain.

 

[High_Gravity]

News about stopping the martial law by the end of this month..


Thanks High_Gravity for continue in posting news about Bahrain.

No problem Bareed.

 

[High_Gravity]

Applying pressure on Bahrain

GIVEN THE CIVIL WAR in Libya and serial massacres of opposition demonstrators in Syria , it’s not surprising that another ugly campaign of repression, in the Persian Gulf emirate of Bahrain, hasn’t gotten much attention. In its own way, however, Bahrain could prove crucial to the outcome of this year’s Arab uprisings — and to whether it advances or damages the strategic interests of the United States.

Bahrain is host to the U.S. 5th Fleet, which patrols the Persian Gulf and is vital to the containment of Iran. But the island’s ruling al-Khalifa family, which has long been closely allied with the United States, is ignoring the objections of the Obama administration by systematically persecuting those who joined a pro-democracy movement earlier this year. Since the crackdown began March 14 more than 800 people have been arrested, mostly from the majority Shiite community; many have been tortured and four have died in custody. More than 1,000 people have been fired from their jobs in a country of 700,000. Government employeees are being pressured to sign oaths of loyalty to the Sunni regime.


On Sunday authorities began a trial for 21 leading activists accused of plotting to overthrow the government. The unlikely conspirators range from the leader of Bahrain’s most militant Shiite organization, who returned from exile in London during the protests, to the head of a secular and liberal Sunni party, whose headquarters were recently burned down. Others hauled before the court include prominent human rights activists, Shiite clerics and bloggers. The accused have not been allowed contact with their lawyers and were granted a single phone call with their families. Most say they have been tortured and some have been seriously injured.

The regime’s crude political strategy is to claim that its opposition is inspired and controlled by Iran — though there is no evidence that Tehran had anything to do with the mass protests or their secular, pro-democracy agenda. Those on trial are accused, implausibly, of having ties to “a terrorist organization abroad working for a foreign country.” In the end, Iran is likely to be the beneficiary of the repression, which has had the effect of polarizing the country along sectarian lines and eliminating proponents of moderate political reform.

The Obama administration encouraged the reform route, which was briefly pursued by the regime’s most liberal member, Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa. But since Saudi Arabia sent troops to the island on March 14,the regime has practiced unrelenting sectarian repression, with Riyadh’s backing. Reluctant to criticize massacres even by U.S. adversary Syria, the administration has been especially circumspect about Bahrain. Its mild message, reiterated last week by the State Department, is that “there is no security solution to resolve the challenges Bahrain faces.”

Applying pressure on Bahrain - The Washington Post

 

[bigrebnc1775]

The second Amendment don't leave home without it.

 

[High_Gravity]

Bahrain rights activist's wife details torture, unfair trial

Prominent Bahraini rights activist tried to tell a judge today how he was sexually assaulted and threatened with rape while in government custody. But Abdulhadi al-Khawaja was forcefully removed from the courtroom.

Bahrain sentences four protesters to death, deepening anger among Shiites How Bahrain's crackdown is pushing both sides to extremes Amid unrest, Bahrain companies fire hundreds of Shiites Another defendant, the elderly Mohammed Hassan Mohammed Jawad, also tried to show the judge signs of torture on his body, but was also silenced, say witnesses.

Mr. Khawaja and Mr. Jawad are among 21 Bahrainis – mostly Shiite human rights activists, clerics, and political leaders – charged with trying to overthrow the Sunni monarchy that rules this small kingdom and of having links to a “terrorist organization." They were arrested amid the country's pro-democracy uprising that began in February and though many have experienced jail before, family members say they have been treated much more harshly this time.


"It has never been like this," says Khawaja's wife, Khadija Moussawi, who was present at the court hearing today and was reached by phone in Manama. "Before he was in jail, [but] he wasn't tortured like this, he wasn't beaten up like this, he wasn't psychologically tortured.”

Detainees' allegations of sexual assault and physical abuse contradict the monarchy's attempt to show the kingdom is getting back to normal.

Last week, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa announced that emergency declared in March would be lifted June 1. Supplementary elections will be held in September to replace the parliamentary members who resigned over the government crackdown. Bahrain Grand Prix officials have said they were ready to hold a Formula One race, which had been called off amid the protests.

But activists say the widespread crackdown has simply moved from the streets to courtrooms, workplaces, and schools.

At least 1,000 still detained; 2,000 fired

Along with the abuse alleged by detainees, at least 2,000 people have been arrested since February, and at least half of them are still jailed, says Nabeel Rajab, head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

A wave of firings of Shiite employees is continuing “every day,” with at least 2,000 fired so far, according to Shiite political bloc Al Wefaq. The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights said Monday that students at Bahrain University are being forced to sign a pledge of loyalty to the government. And at the beginning of the month, authorities arrested two members of the biggest opposition bloc, Al Wefaq, a moderate Shiite group.

“The crackdown is not over. This is ongoing,” says Toby Jones, a historian of the modern Gulf at Rutgers University. The government’s actions indicate that, far from preparing for a political solution, it is retrenching to its autocracy of the 1990s and abandoning the attempts at reform it had embarked on in the past decade, he says. “I interpret all of this as a sign that there will be no liberal autocracy anymore, it's simply going to be old-fashioned autocratic politics. Because look at what happens when they open a little bit – people have expectations, and they demand things, and they threaten power.”

Bahrain rights activist's wife details torture, unfair trial - CSMonitor.com

 

[High_Gravity]

IRAN: Tensions increase as second Iranian flotilla to Bahrain is blocked

Iranian supporters of Shiite dissidents in Bahrain saw their second flotilla in less than a month turned back from the Persian Gulf kingdom Monday.

The 120 people aboard the two-ship "flotilla of solidarity" included a mix of workers, athletes, lawmakers, physicians and nurses, according to the semi-official Iranian Mehr News Agency. They had left the Iranian port of Bushehr, traveled a dozen nautical miles and were approaching international waters when they were forced to return to port by the Iranian coast guard, according to Mehr News.

There was speculation that the ships, including one named Ayat al-Ghermezi after the late Bahraini dissident poet allegedly raped and murdered by security forces, were barred from entering Bahraini waters after being intercepted by Gulf warships.

Shaykh Fawwaz Bin-Muhammad Al-Khalifah, president of the Bahraini Information Affairs Authority, told Al Arabiya satellite network that the Persian Gulf states had responded to what he believed was "Iranian interference."

"The state of Kuwait has sent naval forces to the Kingdom of Bahrain. It is participating with its sister nations in the Peninsula Shield in deterring any assault against the Kingdom of Bahrain," Al-Khalifah said.
For weeks, Bahraini authorities have criticized Iran's decision to dispatch the ships, claiming it was an infringement on Bahraini sovereignty. The kingdom has faced opposition from anti-government protesters since February, many of whom have been detained in a bloody crackdown of pro-democracy movements.

Nasser Al Fadhala, a former member of Bahrain's parliament, announced Thursday that "Iran should stop interfering in our country's issues. By sending this aid flotilla to Bahrain they are highlighting their propaganda to support those people, who failed to overthrow our regime," according to the pro-Bahraini government Gulf Daily newspaper.

Bahraini scholar Shaykh Salah Al-Jowdir said the flotilla was an act of war and warned that anyone who tried to enter Bahraini national waters would be intercepted.

Iran's government has tried to support Shiites in Bahrain, which until 1960 was the 14th province of Iran. According to the semi-official news agency Fars News, Iranians paying tribute to those who died in the Iran-Iraq war signed a scroll in March showing their solidarity with Bahrain's “oppressed people.”

On Monday, the Iranian foreign ministry hosted Bahraini dissident Saeed Alshabi for a seminar addressing the uprising in Bahrain during which he accused western nations, Saudi and Jordanian monarchies of collaborating to suppress pro-democracy protests there.

IRAN: Tensions increase as second Iranian flotilla to Bahrain is blocked | Babylon & Beyond | Los Angeles Times

 

[High_Gravity]

Bahraini activist said threatened with rape: report

DUBAI: A prominent Bahraini human rights activist said he had been threatened with rape while in custody after he refused to apologise to the king over his role in anti-government protests.

During a demonstration on Tuesday, a protester drove his car into a group of policemen and injured nine of them, state television reported.

Human rights groups said Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, former president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), was removed from a military court on Monday on the third day of his trial after he told the judge about his treatment.

He said that despite prior complaints the court had not taken action to secure his safety.

“The judge refused to listen to these statements and Mr Alkhawaja was ordered out of the courtroom,” BHCR and Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights said in a joint statement.

The interior ministry media office said no one was available to comment on the report. Other officials could not be reached.

Khawaja is one of 21 activists charged with trying to topple the Sunni-led government during weeks of popular Shi’ite protests, calling for greater political freedoms, an end to sectarian discrimination and a constitutional monarchy.

Some hardline Shi’ite groups also called for a republic.

Khawaja has in all three trial sessions so far voiced allegations of abuse but was silenced by the judge on each occasion, the two rights groups said in their statement.

The rights groups said Khawaja told relatives and his lawyer that he had been taken by four men to an unknown location where a man there told him he was a representative of the king.

They asked him if he would apologise in a video message and he refused, then he was taken to a room where the men used “foul language and threatened him with rape”, the rights groups said, adding they also threatened to rape his activist daughter.

Bahraini activist said threatened with rape: report | World | DAWN.COM

 

[High_Gravity]

Bahrain Sentences 9 Protesters to 20 Years in Prison, BNA Says

May 19 (Bloomberg) -- Bahrain's Lower National Safety Court sentenced nine people to 20 years in prison after they were convicted of kidnapping a police officer, the state-run Bahrain News Agency said today.

The men, including a prominent cleric, were involved in anti-government demonstrations in the kingdom that began Feb. 14, the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights said in a statement today. All are Shiite Muslims, Mohammed Al-Maskati, head of the rights group, said in a telephone interview.

Last week, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa ordered a June 1 end to the country's state of emergency, which was declared in March as the government sought to quell Shiite-led demonstrations calling for more democracy and civil rights after popular uprisings ousted rulers in Egypt and Tunisia earlier this year. Gulf monarchies, led by Saudi Arabia, sent troops into Bahrain March 15 to help the government contain unrest.

Last month, the court sentenced four demonstrators to death for the murder of two police officers. The government issued a ban on April 9 of any reporting of cases at the National Safety Courts, which handle cases under the emergency law.

While Bahrain is ruled by a Sunni Muslim monarchy, Shiites make up about 70 percent of the population and many retain cultural and family ties to Shiite-led Iran. In March, Bahrain recalled its ambassador from Iran after the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, said the deployment of troops from Gulf Cooperation Council nations to Bahrain in response to the protests was "meddling."

Read more: Bahrain Sentences 9 Protesters to 20 Years in Prison, BNA Says