Revolutie in Bahrein #2 Golflanden sturen troepen, Iran niet blij

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Op zondag 24 april 2011 01:27 schreef Chooselife het volgende:
Is Bahrein ooit wel eens in het NOS-journaal geweest?

Nee h�.

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Op zondag 24 april 2011 02:45 schreef Athlon_2o0o het volgende:
Iran zal Bahrein echt niet binnenvallen, dan ontploft het kruidvat in het MO. Bovendien is het Bahrein maar, een ministaatje. Dit is de reden dat het NOS Journaal er ook amper over bericht.

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Ze werden schuldig bevonden aan het doden van twee politieagenten

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Op vrijdag 29 april 2011 20:35 schreef Charismatisch het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

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http://www.guardian.co.uk(...)udi-arabia-iran-west

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Op vrijdag 6 mei 2011 12:42 schreef ChristianLebaneseFront het volgende:
Opstanden in Bahrein lijken beteugeld.

http://www.nu.nl/buitenla(...)ijken-beteugeld.html

De pro-Ayatollah rebellen hebben verloren. Zeer goed nieuws dit!

Former Lebanese Minister and Hizbullah Ally Compares Women Wearing the Niqab to Garbage Bags

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UK training Saudi forces used to crush Arab spring

• British military personnel run courses for snipers
• Human rights groups furious over Riyadh link

Britain is training Saudi Arabia's national guard – the elite security force deployed during the recent protests in Bahrain – in public order enforcement measures and the use of sniper rifles. The revelation has outraged human rights groups, which point out that the Foreign Office recognises that the kingdom's human rights record is "a major concern".

In response to questions made under the Freedom of Information Act, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed that British personnel regularly run courses for the national guard in "weapons, fieldcraft and general military skills training, as well as incident handling, bomb disposal, search, public order and sniper training". The courses are organised through the British Military Mission to the Saudi Arabian National Guard, an obscure unit that consists of 11 British army personnel under the command of a brigadier.

The MoD response, obtained yesterday by the Observer, reveals that Britain sends up to 20 training teams to the kingdom a year. Saudi Arabia pays for "all BMM personnel, as well as support costs such as accommodation and transport".

Bahrain's royal family used 1,200 Saudi troops to help put down demonstrations in March. At the time the British government said it was "deeply concerned" about reports of human rights abuses being perpetrated by the troops.

"Britain's important role in training the Saudi Arabian national guard in internal security over many years has enabled them to develop tactics to help suppress the popular uprising in Bahrain," said Nicholas Gilby of the Campaign Against Arms Trade.

Analysts believe the Saudi royal family is desperate to shore up its position in the region by preserving existing regimes in the Gulf that will help check the increasing power of Iran.

"Last year we raised concerns that the Saudis had been using UK-supplied and UK-maintained arms in secret attacks in Yemen that left scores of Yemeni civilians dead," said Oliver Sprague, director of Amnesty International's UK Arms Programme.

Defence minister Nick Harvey confirmed to parliament last week that the UK's armed forces provided training to the Saudi national guard. "It is possible that some members of the Saudi Arabian national guard which were deployed in Bahrain may have undertaken some training provided by the British military mission," he said.

The confirmation that this training is focused on maintaining public order in the kingdom is potentially embarrassing for the government. Coming at the end of a week in which the G8 summit in France approved funding for countries embracing democracy in the wake of the Arab spring, it has led to accusations that the government's foreign policy is at conflict with itself.

Jonathan Edwards, a Plaid Cymru MP who has tabled parliamentary questions to the MoD about its links to Saudi Arabia, said he found it difficult to understand why Britain was training troops for "repressive undemocratic regimes". "This is the shocking face of our democracy to many people in the world, as we prop up regimes of this sort," Edwards said. "It is intensely hypocritical of our leadership in the UK – Labour or Conservative – to talk of supporting freedoms in the Middle East and elsewhere while at the same time training crack troops of dictatorships."

The MoD's response was made in 2006, but when questioned this week it confirmed Britain has been providing training for the Saudi national guard to improve their "internal security and counter-terrorism" capabilities since 1964 and continues to do so. Members of the guard, which was established by the kingdom's royal family because it feared its regular army would not support it in the event of a popular uprising, are also provided places on flagship UK military courses at Sandhurst and Dartmouth. In Saudi Arabia, Britain continues to train the guard in "urban sharpshooter" programmes, the MoD confirmed.

Last year, Britain approved 163 export licences for military equipment to Saudi Arabia, worth �110m. Exports included armoured personnel carriers, sniper rifles, small arms ammunition and weapon sights. In 2009, the UK supplied Saudi Arabia with CS hand grenades, teargas and riot control agents.

Sprague said a shake-up of the system licensing the supply of military expertise and weapons to foreign governments was overdue. "We need a far more rigorous case-by-case examination of the human rights records of those who want to buy our equipment or receive training."

An MoD spokesman described the Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, as "key partners" in the fight against terrorism. "By providing training for countries to the same high standards used by UK armed forces we help to save lives and raise awareness of human rights," said the spokesman.

Labour MP Mike Gapes, the former chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said British military support for Saudi Arabia was about achieving a "difficult balance".

"On the one hand Saudi Arabia faces the threat of al-Qaida but on the other its human rights record is dreadful. This is the constant dilemma you have when dealing with autocratic regimes: do you ignore them or try to improve them?"

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Op zondag 29 mei 2011 00:42 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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UK training suppressive Saudi forces

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F1-coureur Webber: GP Bahrein boycotten


Mark Webber wil niet dat het circuit van de Formule 1 dit seizoen Bahrein nog aandoet. De Australische coureur van Red Bull vindt het moreel onjuist. 'Het gaat om mensenrechten. We hadden al veel eerder een duidelijk standpunt moeten innemen en duidelijk moeten maken dat we in deze jaargang niet komen.'

De wedstrijd zou aanvankelijk in maart worden gehouden, maar werd geschrapt vanwege de politieke onrust in het land. De internationale autosportfederatie FIA maakte gisteren bekend dat de race nu op 30 oktober wordt verreden.

Het nog steeds onrustig is in het land. Een petitie waarin de teams wordt opgeroepen om de F1-race in Bahrein te boycotten is al 300.000 keer ondertekend.

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http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/(...)-de-been-in-bahrein/

Meer dan tienduizend demonstranten gingen vandaag de straat op voor de eerste gesanctioneerde betoging in maanden. Met de demonstratie laat de shi’itische oppositie zien dat ze blijft vasthouden aan de eis voor meer politieke rechten, ondanks het harde optreden van de Bahreinse autoriteiten.

De veiligheidstroepen bleven tijdens de demonstratie op de achtergrond en grepen niet in. Politiehelikopters cirkelden boven de menigte die zich in het noordwesten van de Bahreinse hoofdstad Manamah had verzameld. Er zijn berichten van ongeregeldheden.

De sunnitische leiders van Bahrein gaven toestemming voor de demonstratie van vandaag, nadat twee weken geleden de staat van beleg in het land werd opgeheven. De staat van beleg was afgekondigd om de protestacties van de shi’ieten de kop in te drukken. In totaal kwamen bij de onrust in Bahrein sinds februari 31 mensen om het leven.

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Op maandag 9 mei 2011 22:50 schreef Rambolin het volgende:

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Goed nieuws voor jou dat de pro-wahabi koning thugs gewonnen hebben terwijl jij maar 7 riyal waard bent in hun ogen?

Former Lebanese Minister and Hizbullah Ally Compares Women Wearing the Niqab to Garbage Bags

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Bahrain to sue Independent newspaper over articles

Official accuses newspaper of 'defamatory and premeditated media campaign' against Gulf state and Saudi Arabia

Bahrain is to sue the Independent newspaper, accusing it of "orchestrating a defamatory and premeditated media campaign" against the Gulf state and neighbouring Saudi Arabia. It singled out for criticism the newspaper's award-winning Middle East correspondent, Robert Fisk.

A UK-based legal firm has been hired, according to a report by the state news agency in Bahrain, where the ruling regime has been suppressing popular uprisings for months. Last week the Bahrain grand prix was cancelled following complaints by Formula One teams.

"The Independent has deliberately published a series of unrealistic and provocative articles targeting Bahrain and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia", Bahrain's state news agency (BNA) was told by Nawaf Mohammed Al-Maawda of the country's information affairs authority.

The BNA said he had cited Fisk in particular and accused the newspaper of "orchestrating a defamatory and premeditated media campaign against both countries, failing to abide by professional impartiality and credibility in its one-sided news-coverage and reports".

The Independent issued no immediate comment in response to the report.

"Has the Khalifa family gone mad?" Fisk wrote in an article on Tuesday, in which he accused the Bahraini royal family of allegedly starting "an utterly fraudulent trial" of surgeons, doctors, paramedics and nurses who had tended the injured four months ago after security forces opened fire on protesters.

He concluded: "Bahrain is no longer the kingdom of the Khalifas. It has become a Saudi palatinate, a confederated province of Saudi Arabia, a pocket-size weasel state from which all journalists should in future use the dateline: Manama, Occupied Bahrain."

Bahrain has defied international criticism by continuing military trials against dozens of medical personnel. Twenty doctors pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges ranging from stealing medicines to stockpiling weapons during the unprecedented unrest that erupted in the small Gulf island state in February, between the uprisings that overthrew the presidents of Tunisia and then Egypt.

Bahrain's Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty, which rules over a restive Shia majority, has been attempting to restore calm and repair the government's battered reputation after facing widespread condemnation of its suppression of unrest.

A state of emergency imposed when the trouble erupted was lifted this month.

The BNA also reported that Al-Maawda had "called upon all media to observe accuracy and objectivity and project the true image", adding that all doors remain open to visit Bahrain and gauge the real situation on the ground as the Kingdom is steadily regaining normality and stability.

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Op woensdag 15 juni 2011 08:41 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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I saw these brave doctors trying to save lives – these charges are a pack of lies

Robert Fisk

Eyewitness: Bahrain didn't invite the Saudis to send their troops; the Saudis invaded and received a post-dated invitation

Has the Khalifa family gone mad? Yesterday, the Bahraini royal family started an utterly fraudulent trial of 48 surgeons, doctors, paramedics and nurses, accusing them of trying to topple the tin-pot monarchy of this Sunni minority emirate. The defendants in this flagrantly unfair military court are, of course, members of the majority Shia people of Bahrain. And since I was a witness to their heroic efforts to save lives in February, I can say – let us speak with a frankness that the Bahraini rulers would normally demand – that the charges are a pack of lies.

Doctors I saw, drenched in their patients' blood, desperately trying to staunch the bullet wounds of pro-democracy demonstrators shot in cold blood by Bahraini soldiers and police, are now on trial. I watched armed policemen refusing to allow ambulances to collect the wounded from the roads where they had been cut down.

These are the very same doctors and nurses I stood beside four months ago in the Sulaimaniya emergency room, some of them weeping as they tried to deal with gunshot wounds the like of which they had never seen before.

"How could they do this to these people?" one of them asked me. "We have never dealt with trauma wounds like these before." Next to us lay a man with bullet wounds in the chest and thigh, coughing blood on to the floor.

The surgeons were frightened that they did not have the skills to save these victims of police violence. Now the police have accused the doctors and staff of killing the patients whom the police themselves shot.

How could these fine medical men and women have been trying to "topple" the monarchy?

The idea that these 48 defendants are guilty of such a vicious charge is not just preposterous. It is insane, a total perversion – no, the total opposite – of the truth. The police were firing at demonstrators from helicopters.

The idea that a woman and child died because they were rejected by doctors and refused medical treatment is a fantasy. The only problems medical staff encountered at the Sulaimaniya hospital – and again, I was a witness and, unlike the Bahraini security authorities, I do not tell lies – was from the cruel policemen who blocked patients from reaching the medical facility.

In truth, of course, the Khalifa family is not mad. Nor are the Sunni minority of Bahrain intrinsically bad or sectarian. The reality is clear for anyone to see in Bahrain. The Saudis are now running the country. They never received an invitation to send their own soldiers to support the Bahraini "security forces" from the Bahraini Crown Prince, who is a decent man. They simply invaded and received a post-dated invitation.

The subsequent destruction of ancient Shia mosques in Bahrain was a Saudi project, entirely in line with the kingdom's Taliban-style hatred of all things Shia. Could the Bahraini prime minister be elected, I asked a member of the royal court last February? "The Saudis would not permit this," he replied. Of course not. Because they now control Bahrain. Hence the Saudi-style doctors' trial.

Bahrain is no longer the kingdom of the Khalifas. It has become a Saudi palatinate, a confederated province of Saudi Arabia, a pocket-size weasel state from which all journalists should in future use the dateline: Manama, Occupied Bahrain.

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Op zondag 29 mei 2011 01:38 schreef rakotto het volgende:
Tja, Saudie Arabie mag niet vallen h�.

Ik hoop serieus dat zij het snelste vallen.

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The Saudi Arabian Protectorate of Bahrain


Location of Bahrain relative to Saudi Arabian Oil Infrastructure. The orange outline shows the relevant maritime borders.

Quite obviously, Bahrain sits within throwing distance (as few as 25 miles) from critical Saudi oil infrastructure. Shown on the map are nearby Saudi oil fields (Ghawar, Abqaiq, Abu Safah, Qatif, and Berri), the oil export terminals (Ras Tanura, Al Juaymah), the critical oil processing facilities at Abqaiq, and the equally critical water treatment facilities of Qurayyah which enable water injection of many fields including Ghawar, Abqaiq, Berri, and Khurais. The even slight possibility that Iran could gain control over land so close to these facilities has motivated a surprising amount of largess towards Bahrain. This largess begins with the deal giving Bahrain half of the Abu Safah output (albeit under treaty), but there is more to the story. And while there are other factors besides security of the oil infrastructure which likely contribute to the largesse, it is probably true that Bahrain would not exist as an independent nation if not for it.

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Bahrain riot police fire tear gas at protesters

Associated Press= DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Riot police in Bahrain fired tear gas at anti-government protesters denouncing reconciliation talks between the Gulf kingdom's rulers and the Shiite-led opposition on Saturday just hours after the dialogue began.

The renewed unrest — described by witnesses — underlines the deep tensions on the island nation after more than four months of harsh security crackdowns by the Western-allied monarchy.

It also points to the political risks for Bahrain's biggest Shiite party, Al Wefaq, which decided to join the U.S.-encouraged talks despite widespread anger among the majority Shiites — who claim they suffer systematic discrimination at the hands of the Sunni dynasty ruling Bahrain.

The protesters gathered near a landmark square in Manama, which was the epicenter of the Shiite uprising for greater rights that began in February. The witnesses said several hundred marchers chanted "No dialogue" just hours after a ceremony to open the talks in the strategic nation, which is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of harassment by authorities.

There were no immediate reports of injuries during the demonstrations that started after a funeral for a protester, who died on Thursday in a military hospital from injuries sustained during the unrest in March.

The death of 30-year-old protester, Majid Ahmed Mohammed, brings to 32 the number of those killed since February. Bahrain's Shiites account for 70 percent of the population, but say they face second-class status such as being effectively frozen out of top political and military posts.

Hundreds of opposition supporters, activists and others have been taken into custody and many other perceived protest backers have been purged from jobs and universities.

Washington has strongly pushed for dialogue in Bahrain. The Sunni monarchy has made token concessions ahead of the so-called "national dialogue," including sanctioning an international investigation that will include probes into the conduct of security forces during the revolt.

The White House said Saturday that it welcomes the formation of a commission of inquiry into the events and the launch of the political dialogue. "We urge all Bahrainis to seize this opportunity to forge a more just future together," said the statement.

But the government has not relented on opposition demands to free all detainees and clear others convicted of protest-linked charges, including eight activists sentenced to life in prison last month.

Parliament Speaker Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Dhahrani opened the forum Saturday by hailing the gathering as "a historic opportunity for all of us to overcome this critical stage of the nation's history through dialogue."

He said the goal is to bring "together different points of view to develop common visions" and added that the Sunni rulers are at the talks "without preconditions."

After a 45-minute ceremonial session, the approximately 300 participants adjourned. The talks are to last until the end of July, with delegates meeting three times a week.

Al Wefaq's participation "adds an important voice of Bahrain's political opposition to a process that has the potential to serve as a vehicle for reform and reconciliation," Toner added.

Al Wefaq's three delegates who attended Saturday's session, were not optimistic the dialogue will lead to meaningful reforms.

"It started as a monologue," said one of the three, Bushra al-Hindi. "The agenda has been previously set by the government in order to exclude talks about critical issues, such as moving along with a process that will reshape the country into a constitutional monarchy."

Al Wefaq's leader, Sheik Ali Salman, had told supporters on Friday that his group will stick to its calls for the Sunni monarchy to loosen the grip on power and allow people to elect a government.

Delegates from Bahrain's secular opposition party, Al Waad, also attended the talks. They held a picture of their leader, Ibrahim Sharif — the most prominent Sunni politician who has been imprisoned along with 20 other opposition leaders for plotting to overthrow Bahrain's 200-year-old monarchy.

Amid the crackdowns, Al Wefaq staged a mass resignation of its 18 lawmakers in the 40-member lower house of parliament. Two former lawmakers are in custody and on trial on anti-state crimes. Al Wefaq said one of them, Jawad Firooz, was listed on the party's five-member delegation to the talks although he didn't attend Saturday's opening session because he remains in detention.

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Bahrainis hold mass anti-regime rally

Thousands of anti-government protesters have poured into the streets in Bahraini to demand an end to the rule of the Al Khalifa dynasty.


The protest rally near the capital was organized by the country's largest opposition bloc, al-Wefaq, and was intended to show that protesters would not back down from their demands.

Reports say protesters traveled from all over the Persian Gulf sheikhdom to join the "Friday of determination" rally.

Protesters also condemned Manama's violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators and called for an end to the suppression of dissidents.

The massive protest rally came shortly after top Bahraini cleric, Sheikh Isa Qassim, said that the government's harsh crackdown on anti-regime protesters has strengthened their resolve to fight for their rights and that use of ''politics of fear'' by authorities has failed to silence Bahrainis.

Thousands of anti-government protesters have been staging demonstrations in Bahrain since mid-February, demanding political reforms and a constitutional monarchy -- a demand that later changed to an outright call for the ouster of the ruling Al Khalifa family following its brutal crackdown on popular protests.

Scores of people have also been killed and many others have been injured in the Saudi-backed crackdown on peaceful protesters in Bahrain.

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Bahraini protesters cause traffic jam

Anti-government protesters in Bahrain have created massive traffic jams in the capital, Manama, to send a message of defiance to Bahraini authorities.


Despite the Manama regime threatening to confiscate the driving licenses of protesters and to bar them from driving for up to four years, hundreds of Bahrainis flooded the roads with their cars during the morning commute on Wednesday in a show of strength ahead of the parliamentary elections.

The Bahraini opposition had organized the gathering, which was named the "Dignity Blockade".

The call to bring the traffic in central Manama to a standstill by parking cars in major streets came after the government warned of a harsh response to any attempt at disrupting the elections later this week.

Some reports, however, suggest that the gathering was planned to protest against the daily suppression of anti-regime demonstrations and to demand the reinstatement of employees sacked for joining the protest movement.

Manama is planning to hold parliamentary elections to replace the opposition lawmakers who resigned in protest to Manama's crackdown on anti-government protesters later this week.

Eighteen Bahraini lawmakers from the main Shia opposition party, al-Wefaq, walked out of the parliament in February after security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters, killing and wounding scores of them.

Al-Wefaq has boycotted the by-elections, saying that the 40-member parliament has lost its legitimacy and that it does not represent the will of the Bahraini people.

Bahrainis have been holding anti-government rallies since mid-February, demanding an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty, which has ruled the country for over 40 years.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds more arrested in a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters in Bahrain, home to a huge American military installation for the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf.

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New video shows Bahraini police cruelty

Reddit
Bahraini riot police chase and beat protesters in Manama. (File photo)
A newly surfaced video shows another instance of police brutality in Bahrain as Saudi-backed security forces continue their violent crackdown on anti-regime protests.


Activists in Bahrain released new footage on Thursday, showing several policemen beating up a young man in the street.

The policemen then left the scene without arresting the youngster, who is rushed to a nearby home by some neighbors who witnessed the incident.

Activists said that the unidentified man was severely injured.

Bahraini forces continue their brutal suppression of anti-regime protesters despite the lifting of martial law back in June.

On Thursday, anti-regime protesters once again poured into the streets of the city of Sitra, chanting slogans against the country's Saudi-backed Al Khalifa monarchy.

Bahrainis have been demanding an end to the four-decade rule of Al Khalifa dynasty since mid-February when massive demonstrations erupted in the Persian Gulf sheikhdom.

Manama plans to hold parliamentary elections later this week to replace opposition lawmakers that resigned to protest the regime's brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds more arrested in a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters in Bahrain, home to a huge military installation for the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf.

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‘Marteling en excessief geweld gebruikt tijdens neerslaan protesten Bahrein’

De autoriteiten in Bahrein hebben marteling en excessief geweld gebruikt tegen gedetineerden die gevangen zijn gezet tijdens de opstand in het land. Dat zegt het hoofd van een speciaal ingestelde commissie die onderzoek deed naar de onrust in Bahrein.

De opmerkingen van Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni zijn de eerste details van een langverwacht rapport dat vandaag is vrijgegeven.

Uit het onderzoek blijkt dat de Golftroepen, die half maart het land binnenvielen, geen mensenrechten hebben geschonden. De militairen werden ingezet om de koning van Bahrein bij te staan omdat de protesten tegen zijn regime aanhielden. De sji’itische inwoners van het kleine oliestaatje kwamen in opstand tegen het regime van de heersende soennitische minderheid.

Bij gevechten tussen veiligheidsdiensten en betogers zijn in Bahrein 35 doden gevallen, van wie vijf door marteling, zo blijkt uit het onderzoeksrapport. Er is geen bewijs gevonden dat de onrust in Bahrein iets te maken heeft met Iran, zoals vaker is beweerd.

Het onderzoek, gefinancierd en gefaciliteerd door het Bahreinse regime, is gebaseerd op meer dan 5.000 interviews.

Koning Bahrein: misbruik moet bestraft worden

Volgens de koning van Bahrein, Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, moeten de betrokkenen bij de misstanden tijdens het hardhandige optreden tegen de anti-regeringsprotesten verantwoordelijk worden gehouden en worden vervangen.

“We moeten onze wetten hervormen om ze in overeenstemming te brengen met internationale normen”, voegde hij eraan toe.

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In pictures: Violence follows Bahrain funeral

After Abdulnabi Kadhem's body was laid to rest, mourners' impromptu protest ended with clashes with police.

Early on Wednesday morning, witnesses say that Abdulnabi Kadhem was killed in his car when it was struck by a police Land Cruiser in A'ali village in Bahrain. His family told Al Jazeera that Kadhem, a 44-year-old farmer who was working in his fields that morning, usually wrapped his head in a traditional scarf to stay warm in the early morning hours and was likely mistaken for a protester by riot police.

He died only hours before the release of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry. People in his home village told Al Jazeera that they were not optimistic that it would lead to major democratic reforms in the country, and, during Kadhem's funeral, they continued their calls for the toppling of the al-Khalifa monarchy.

Kadhem is the second person to be recently killed in a collision with a police vehicle. On Saturday morning, 16-year-old protester Ali al-Badah died after being struck in Juffair village.

Al Jazeera's Gregg Carlstrom and Mohamed Vall also reported from the funeral in A'ali on Thursday.

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Former Metropolitan police assistant commissioner John Yates, who resigned from his post in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal, has been appointed by Bahrain to oversee reform of its police force after reports of human rights abuse.

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Op zaterdag 3 december 2011 02:42 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:
Former Metropolitan police chief John Yates hired by Bahrain to reform force

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Op zaterdag 3 december 2011 02:42 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:
Former Metropolitan police chief John Yates hired by Bahrain to reform force

[..]

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Duizenden betogers Bahrein door politie bestookt met traangas

Duizenden demonstranten in Bahrein zijn vandaag met traangas aangevallen door de politie. Ze riepen slogans tegen de regering bij een begrafenis in de hoofdstad Manama.

De uitvaart van een 73-jarige man, die zou zijn gestorven na het inademen van traangas bij een demonstratie gisteren, was de veertigste aan regeringsgeweld gelieerde sinds de opstand in februari begon. Zeker veertig mensen zijn omgekomen sinds de sjiitische meerderheid meer democratie eist van de sunnitische leiders.

De regering beweert dat de 73-jarige man een natuurlijke dood stierf. Sinds donderdag wordt in Manama langs de strategisch belangrijke autoweg Budaiya gedemonstreerd.Deze leidt naar een kruispunt die ongeveer 500 meter van het parelplein ligt.

Dat plein was in de eerste periode van demonstraties het epicentrum van demonstraties, maar werd door ordetroepen in maart platgewalst. Sindsdien wordt het constant bewaakt omdat betogers het symbolische plein weer proberen te claimen.

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Opposition supporters rally in Bahrain despite ban

Associated Press= MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Anti-government protesters converged on the headquarters of Bahrain's main opposition party Saturday, defying a government ban on the gathering and pressing ahead with their campaign for greater political and civil rights for the nation's Shiite Muslims.

The protest in front of Al Wefaq's offices in the capital of Manama was a show of defiance by the party that has been the main backer of the Shiite majority's 10-month-old protest movement, which is aimed at breaking the Sunni dynasty's monopoly on power in the strategically important Arab kingdom in the Persian Gulf.

The government rejected the party's permit request for the demonstration, but thousands of protesters came anyway. They waved Bahraini flags and chanted anti-government slogans despite a massive security presence across the capital.

Opposition supporters poured into Manama from the predominantly Shiite villages that ring the capital. The villages have been the site of almost daily clashes between demonstrators and security forces since the government intensified a punishing crackdown on dissent in March.

Shiites represent about 70 percent of Bahrain's population but are denied top political and security jobs.

In the past decade, Al Wefaq has led a campaign for greater rights for the Shiite majority, but with inspiration from the Arab Spring uprisings, Shiite protesters took to the streets in February in numbers never seen before in the island nation.

A month later, the party's 18 lawmakers resigned from parliament to protest the crackdown.

The party also walked out of government-designed reconciliation talks in July, claiming authorities had no intention of compromising with the opposition. The party also boycotted September elections for the vacated seats because of the detention of several of its officials.

Al Wefaq has been staging weekly public gatherings in the past months, but it has usually refrained from doing so without a permit from authorities. In return, Al Wefaq's applications are usually granted, but the request for Saturday's gathering was rejected.

Bahrain's Interior Ministry said Al Wefaq's request to stage a gathering on one of Manama's vital roads was not approved for security reasons.

"If the event were to be held on such a vital road ... it could hinder traffic, disturb security and affect the interests of the public," the ministry said in a statement that was posted on its website late Friday.

Riot police encircled the party's headquarters and prevented protesters from marching to the highway, just east of the building. But the protest ended peacefully.

At least 40 people have died since the unrest began in February.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said in a statement Saturday that embassy officials in Manama met with human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, who was injured during a demonstration on Friday, and Bahraini government officials.

"We strongly urge the Government of Bahrain to undertake a full investigation to determine if excessive force was employed by police," the statement said.

Bahrain is a critical U.S. ally and is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. Washington has taken a cautious line with authorities, urging Bahrain's leaders to open more dialogue with the opposition, but avoiding too much public pressure.

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Tienduizenden betogers protesteren in Bahrein

Tienduizenden demonstranten hebben zich vandaag in Bahrein aangesloten bij een protestmars van de oppositie. Die hoopt met de mars nieuw leven te blazen in de sjiitische opstand tegen de soennitische monarchie van het Golfstaatje.

Ordetroepen versperden enkele betogers met wolken traangas de weg naar het zwaarbewaakte Parelplein, dat het kloppende hart van de opstand vormde tot de politie het vorig jaar met harde hand schoonveegde. Het merendeel van de mensenmenigte trok echter in alle rust over een belangrijke hoofdweg door de hoofdstad Manamah.

Formule 1-race
De oppositie schreef de protestmars uit om de regering te tonen dat zij aan vastberadenheid en kracht niets heeft ingeboet. De regering beweerde, met een schuin oog naar de Formule 1-race die volgende maand in het oliestaatje plaatsvindt, dat de protestbeweging was geluwd. Zo hoopt zij te voorkomen dat de lucratieve race net als volgend jaar wordt geschrapt.

De regering hoopte met een mengeling van welwillendheid en brute kracht de oppositie de wind uit de zeilen te nemen. Maar de betogers nemen geen genoegen met kleine concessies als de uitbreiding van de bevoegdheden van het parlement. Zij eisen dat de soennitische bestuurselite het recht wordt ontnomen de premier en andere bestuurders aan te stellen.

Iraakse geloofsgenoten
De sjiieten, die in Bahrein zo'n zeventig procent van de bevolking uitmaken, klagen dat ze worden benadeeld en dat hoge ambten voor hen gesloten blijven. Zij kregen vandaag morele steun van Iraakse geloofsgenoten. Ongeveer tweeduizend Iraakse sjiieten riepen in de hoofdstad Bagdad op de koning van Bahrein de toegang te ontzeggen tot de top van de Arabische Liga die daar later deze maand plaatsvindt.

Sommige oppositieleiders telden vrijdag tot honderdduizend deelnemers aan de kilometerslange proteststoet in Manamah. Klopt dat getal, dan is de mars een van de grootste betogingen sinds ontevreden burgers in februari vorig jaar de straat opgingen. Sinds de opstand tegen het bewind in het oliestaatje uitbrak zijn zeker 45 mensen omgekomen.

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Op zondag 20 maart 2011 23:48 schreef ChristianLebaneseFront het volgende:

[..]

Muqtada al Sadr, Khamenei en Nasrallah. Leuke "vrienden" hebben ze.

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Op woensdag 16 maart 2011 21:31 schreef ChristianLebaneseFront het volgende:
Is gewoon een rubberen kogel.

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Massale demonstratie tegen bewind Bahrein

Optocht
De demonstranten liepen op een snelweg net buiten de hoofdstad Manama. In een kilometerslange tocht eisten de demonstranten het einde van de dictatuur en de vrijlating van politieke gevangenen.

Grootste betoging in een jaar
De hoogste sjiitische geestelijke in Bahrein, Sjeik Isa Qassim, had opgeroepen tot de demonstratie. Volgens persbureau AP is het een van de grootste betogingen sinds februari vorig jaar.

Rellen bij herdenking opstand
Bahrein is al een tijd onrustig. Vorige maand waren er rellen in Manama tijdens een herdenking van de opstand, een jaar geleden. Het afgelopen jaar zijn er bij demonstraties tientallen doden gevallen.

Grand Prix
Ondanks de onrust in het land gaat de Grand Prix in Bahrein definitief door. Dat heeft Formule 1-baas Bernie Ecclestone al eerder gezegd. De race staat voor 22 april op de kalender.

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Vijanden van het internet

Bahrein is een nieuwkomer, omdat ze in de strijd tegen de sjiitische opstandelingen bloggers heeft lastiggevallen en de nieuwsvoorziening heeft geblokkeerd. ‘Bahrein gebruikte veel indrukwekkende maatregelen tegen de opstand’, aldus VzG. ‘Het land sloot buitenlandse media uit, viel mensenrechtenactivisten lastig, arresteerde bloggers en internetters en verstoorde de communicatie.’

De organisatie voegt er ook aan toe dat het belang van het internet extra duidelijk geworden is door de Arabische Lente. ‘Internet en sociale media zijn nu definitief gevestigd als hulpmiddelen voor protesten, het voeren van campagnes en het rondsturen van informatie. Het is een vehikel voor vrijheid geworden.’

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http://www.enduringameric(...)her-90-die.html#2036

2200 GMT: We're closing yet another crazy Friday. Here's a summary.

In Bahrain, there were 9 very large protests, most or all of which were attacked by police who used teargas to disperse the crowds. Though protests were planned, they were larger and more energetic today upon hearing the news that a man died last night from teargas inhalation.

Some protesters destroyed closed-circuit TV cameras and threw rocks at police. Apparently, there was at least one occurrence of youth throwing molotov cocktails at police.

However, this anger was sparked by what the activists consider widespread police brutality. Large parts of the island nation were covered in teargas again today, and riot vehicles reportedly chased down protesters in an attempt to run them over. There are also more unconfirmed reports of injured children, and another unconfirmed report that police sexually molested a young girl. Earlier in the week activists say that the police molested and tortured a 16 year old boy, Ali.

At the end of the day, resolution to this conflict seems further away than it has ever been.

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Radio Times poll provokes online battle for Baftas

Fierce opposition to al-Jazeera's Bahrain documentary generates a million votes

This year's Bafta award for the best current affairs television programme, to be awarded later this month, has provoked an international struggle to undermine the content of at least one of the four powerful documentaries on the shortlist – a film about the uprising in Bahrain last spring.

A fortnight ago the Radio Times magazine launched an online poll to allow readers to vote for their favourite Bafta nominees. There are no prizes on offer, but the current affairs category has now registered an incredible one million votes, even though participants will not decide the final outcome. While fans of Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal of Sherlock Holmes or of Dominic West's role as Fred West have together clocked up only 4,000 votes in the best leading actor poll, more than half a million voters across the world have backed the film Shouting in the Dark, made in Bahrain by journalist May Ying Welsh for al-Jazeera. Another half a million have voted for Channel 4's film Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, fronted by Jon Snow.

Welsh's film, which was shot undercover over three months, went out on al-Jazeera's English-speaking channel last summer and provoked outrage among officials in Bahrain. They claimed it painted an unfair picture of police brutality during the uprising and played down the involvement of Iranian-backed subversives among the crowds. But since then the controversial film has won a Royal Television Society nomination, a UK Foreign Press Association award and a series of prestigious US prizes.

The fight for the top spot in an innocuous British magazine poll first became part of an international public relations war last weekend, soon after Khalid al-Khalifa, Bahrain's foreign minister and a member of the ruling family, tweeted a call for his 80,000 Twitter followers to cast a vote for any one of the other nominees in the Radio Times poll.

"I invite everyone to stand with Bahrain and vote against the harmful al-Jazeera film," he wrote. The tweet caused a Twitter storm of support from the Middle East for the Sri Lankan film. One user called Jaguar wrote: "Oh noble people of the Gulf, vote for Sri Lanka and prevent the Shia infidels from defaming Bahrain." Another typical tweet came from Ahmed, who wrote: "Everyone vote more than once for the film Sri Lanka in order to make al-Jazeera's film which harms Bahrain fail to win."

In response, others began to urge support for Welsh's documentary. A tweet from Nuwaidrat read: "Urgent – by the time you finish reading this line the thugs will have turned the tables on us – vote for the film Shouting in the Dark." Another, from a user called Allah Gifted us with Martyrdom, wrote: "Please intensify voting efforts for al-Jazeera's film Bahrain Shouting in the Dark which uncovers part of the truth about the situation in Bahrain."

RadioTimes.com acting editor Tim Glanfield said: "For a British entertainment website to become a battleground between Bahrain government loyalists and its opponents has been an unexpected and extraordinary turn of events."

Al-Jazeera staff commented on the voting patterns in an article for the Radio Times site and drew attention to the abusive nature of some tweets, many of which urged supporters of the Baharaini authorities to vote more than once.

"For several days, thousands of Arabic language tweets – at peak hours several tweets a second – have been pouring out of Bahrain and the Gulf in a steady stream, many of them filled with religious epithets and hate speech," said the article.

After the al-Jazeera response went up on the site there was a brief hiatus in the flow of votes for the Sri Lankan film, which the commissioning team on the Arabic channel agree is a brilliant and worthy competitor.

Because of its "distressing images", Sri Lanka's Killing Fields went out in a late night slot and showed what Channel 4 said appeared to be "extrajudicial executions filmed by Sri Lankan soldiers as war trophies on their phones; the aftermath of shelling in civilian camps and hospitals alleged to have been deliberately targeted by Sri Lankan government forces; dead female Tamil fighters who appear to have been systematically raped; and pictures which document Tamil fighters alive in the custody of Sri Lankan government forces and then later dead, apparently having been executed."

The film, directed by Callum Macrae, also recognised atrocities alleged to have been carried out by the Tamil Tigers.

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The PR Octopus & Its Incredibly Long Tentacles

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3 weeks ago, a British PR and Strategic Communication firm called Dragon Associates forced the Guardian to take down an article from their Comment is Free section. Today the Guardian have put it back up. The article in question stated that the head of security at the BIC (Bahrain International Circuit) had been involved in torturing employees on the racetrack premises. Dragon Associates claimed that the article contained ‘considerable inaccuracies’. Despite this, the article has gone back up exactly the same as before, albeit with a footnote tacked on at the end. This footnote reads

. In its letter of complaint, the BIC makes the following points: while the BIC accepts that in April 2012 the police took some of its employees to the police station for interrogation, it denies the allegation that its security staff were involved in any repressive activities, or that its staff tortured, beat or mistreated BIC employees on BIC premises. The BIC says that if any of its employees were beaten or otherwise badly treated by BIC security staff – which it denies – it would have been without BIC’s knowledge, instructions or orders.

It is interesting to note that the Guardian were so quick to take down a piece that ended going back up unchanged. John Lubbock, the article’s co-author, also informed me that the piece was taken down prior to the Guardian actually receiving a formal complaint. Despite all these interesting oddities, Dragon Associates were obviously successful in stalling the incendiary article until Bahrain had more or less secured the hosting of the Grand Prix (tickets go on sale today). Furthermore, they also managed to get a footnote added to the article, which seems a bit unusual on ‘Comment is Free’. The footnote is also odd because it basically says that while the BIC deny that its security were involved in the mistreatment, it accepts that it could have happened without their knowledge. Essentially, this added paragraph does nothing to disprove the veracity of the preceding article, it merely serves to add an element of doubt to the story. Not quite sure how Dragon Associates managed to pull this off, maybe they used ‘Right of Reply’. All I know is, when these guys breathe fire, people get scared.

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Bahrain police battle biggest protests in weeks

Tens of thousands take to streets after opposition calls for major rallies in support of prominent rights activist Nabeel Rajab

Riot police in Bahrain fired teargas and stun grenades on Friday as tens of thousands of protesters staged the biggest anti-government demonstrations in weeks in the divided Gulf nation.

Opposition groups called for major rallies after a prominent rights activist, Nabeel Rajab, was placed back in detention earlier this week on fresh charges linked to his posts on social media such as Twitter.

Bahrain has experienced near daily protests for 16 months caused by an uprising by the kingdom's Shia majority seeking greater political rights from the western-backed Sunni monarchy. At least 50 people have died in the unrest since February 2011.

There were no immediate reports of injuries from Friday's street battles, which left piles of burning rubbish and clouds of stinging tear gas in the western outskirts of the capital, Manama.

Bahrain's rulers have crucial support from neighbouring Saudi Arabia, but are under pressure from their US allies to reopen dialogue with Shia opposition factions. A new government initiative for talks is expected to be announced next week. But main Shia groups have already signalled that negotiations are futile unless the ruling dynasty agrees to give up its near total control of government affairs in the strategic island, which is home to the US navy's 5th Fleet.

Earlier on Friday, a defence lawyer said a court hearing is planned next week for an 11-year-old boy detained for allegedly taking part in the anti-government protests.

The lawyer, Mohsen al-Alawi, said the sixth-grade student is scheduled to appear in court on Monday on charges of joining an illegal gathering and other claims related to the ongoing unrest.

Al-Alawi said the boy was arrested last month and took his school exams behind bars. He is among the youngest suspects detained in Bahrain.

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John Timoney: A tough cop with a tougher job

Special adviser to Bahrain police talks about life in the troubled island kingdom

Manama: Few go voluntarily behind the high white walls and new razor wire of the Ministry of Interior compound that occupies many city blocks here.

The compound is so large that a minibus picks visitors up at a fortified gatehouse and drives them past car parks filled with rows of large white 4x4s, each vehicle with protective wire grills over windows and front and back lights. Those brought involuntarily here are usually handcuffed and in the rear of one of those 4x4s.

Past the rows of white offices, practise rooms for the police band rooms and beyond a telecommunications centre, the blades of a police helicopter are slowly drooping and whirring to a stop where the aircraft has landed on one of the parade and marching grounds.

In an inner fort behind more walls in the heart of the compound, greying armed guards in green combat fatigues salute crisply as dark German cars with official number plates and stern drivers deliver sterner senior officers.

Those armed guards don’t ask for identification. If you have no business in being here, you won’t be here.

Through two sets of frosted and quietly sliding double doors, non-commissioned officers in white and blue uniforms sit at desks, answer telephones, fetch refreshments for the senior officers.

Upstairs, at the end of a end of a carpeted corridor, two double office doors are permanently open. There, working on a computer screen, beside two small, framed family photographs, sits John Timoney, special advisor on policing to the Bahrain Ministry of Interior.

For 45 years, Timoney has helped police New York, Philadelphia and Miami — though it’s difficult to know whether his career has taken him to such a military-like environment, parade grounds and sets of frosted doors.

His business in being here is to change the culture of policing, turn it from a police force into a police service, move it from a fortress mentality to take back the streets of this troubled island kingdom. He’s been here seven months.

“This,” Timoney says, sitting back in a soft leather armchair, “is more of a legacy of the Brits.”

“The colonial order of the Brits was to keep them under control and do what you have to do to keep them under control,” he says, slapping the armchair’s arm to hammer the point. “Don’t get too involved in the day-to-day lives of people. Not just here, but in Hong Kong, Burma — that’s how the British controlled their empire. Law and order policing ... The experiences here are a colonial one. And a lot of the police forces in the region are like this.”

There was little time for the British in getting to know and understand the community, develop a police service . It was all about being a force to police and to use force to do it.

For 17 months, the kingdom has been torn apart by political and sectarian divides. After six weeks of protests and violence at the site of the Pearl Roundabout — Bahrain’s equivalent of Cairo’s Tahrir Square — and in Shiite villages, 34 people died.

The violence and protests and resulted in the Gulf Cooperation Council members activating the Peninsula Shield security agreement. Troops and police reinforcements were moved in the kingdom to protect vital Bahraini installations, domestic security forces quelled the violence and Pearl Roundabout was demolished.

But all of this happened at a cost — not just to human life but also to the reputation of the kingdom’s police.

During the height of the violence, four police officers and one member of the Bahrain Defence Force died.

“I can understand police officers dying in what I would call the heat of battle,” Timoney says. “But what I cannot accept are the deaths of four civilians at some stage along the arrest continuum — either on the streets, being arrested in their homes, or in detention. The allegations of beatings, torture and alleged rape while people were in detention is most troubling.”

After the worst of the violence, the Bahrain government instigated an independent commission of inquiry, led by Egyptian jurist Mahmoud Sharif Bassiouni, to investigate the events of February and March 2011. His investigation into the violence that polarised Bahrain society was far reaching and brutally honest. But Bassiouni’s report was stingingly critical of Bahrain’s police, security and judicial processes — and the kingdom is determined to change for the better.

And that determination to change is why Timoney and former Scotland Yard counter-terrorism chief John Yates are advising Bahrain on police reform. But Timoney’s reputation is that of being a straight shooter used to difficult policing challenges and for cleaning up messes.

“When any police force comes under the type of scrutiny this one is under, they will generally begin to behave themselves,” he says. “Their actions won’t be as flagrant.”

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Timoney believes that the western media and human-rights activists are doing a terrible disservice to Bahrain in failing to distinguish between peaceful, lawful protests and the violence that occurs nightly.

Thats riotous behaviour, illegal and violent conduct and violence which Ive seen in the press described as reaction to police. He says by simply looking at the videos posted nightly by rioters, its possible to see a huge escalation of violence with Molotov cocktails, stone throwing and rioting by protesters. These are unprovoked attacks on police officers, he says. Police officers who are simply going about their daily duties and face Molotov cocktails and now, in the past month, bombings. To include these people as protesters is disingenuous and misleading and the overall coverage by the western press is nothing short of bias in a certain direction.

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Bahrain puts boy aged 11 on trial for alleged role in roadblock protest

Ali Hasan says he was just playing in the street when he was arrested. He was 'forced' to confess and was detained in jail

At a time when most 11-year-old boys are looking forward to the school holidays, Ali Hasan is preparing for his trial.

On Wednesday morning the primary school pupil from suburban Manama will stand in a Bahrain court and listen as the case against him is spelt out. The prosecution case: that Ali helped protesters block a street with rubbish containers and wood during demonstrations last month. Ali's defence: that he's a child who was just playing with friends in the street.

"On the day before I was arrested there was some fighting in the streets near my house between the demonstrators and the police," Ali told the Guardian by phone from his home in the Bilad al-Qadeem suburb. "The demonstrators had blocked the street by setting fire to tyres and using containers in which people dispose of their rubbish.

"The day after this I went to the street with two of my friends to play. It was around 3pm. While we were playing there, some police forces came towards us which made us panic. My friends managed to run away … but I was so scared by the guns they were carrying that I couldn't move … and I was arrested."

Bahrain's rulers have proved ruthless in the cases they have pursued against those accused of involvement in 15 months of protests against the Khalifa dynasty, with prosecutions against doctors, nurses and rights activists. Ali Hasan's case marks a new precedent in the legal crackdown against civil society. He is believed to be the youngest Bahraini to stand trial in connection with the uprising.

Ali has already spent weeks in jail before he was bailed last week, and even sat his exams in prison. After his arrest he was taken to various police stations where he said he was forced to confess to taking part in anti-government demonstrations. "I was crying all the time. I told them I'd confess to anything to go back home," he said.

Ali's father, Jasem Hasan, a car parts dealer, said his son was taken back to the detention centre the day after his arrest.

"I was abroad at the time and when I called Ali's mother was only crying. She was crying for all the time Ali was in prison," he said.

In jail Ali spent a month in a room with three other children and was made to clean the centre. "We would wake up early in the morning for breakfast, usually around 6.30, and then I had to do some job," he said. "The first day in jail was horrible. I cried all the time but I became friends with the other boys there and we could play for four hours every day – but had to spend all our other time in a locked room." Describing the centre, he said: "It's like putting a bear in a box, I felt just like that. I never want to go back to that place again."

Bahrain's chief prosecutor for those under 18, Noura Al-Khalifa, has said that Ali was detained while blocking the street and Bahraini information officials have alleged that Ali was participating in an "illegal gathering" along with other protesters. Ali's father said the allegations were lies. "They claimed that my son had accepted money in exchange for setting fire to tyres and blocking the road," he said. "I don't say I'm a rich person but I make enough money and my son doesn't need to go in streets looking for money. I always give enough money to him."

Ali's lawyer, Mohsen al-Alawi, said the boy was nothing to do with the demonstrations. "Ali was not a political activist or a demonstrator. He was only playing games like all other children of his age."

Human Rights Watch has expressed concerns about Ali's case. "He was not accompanied by a lawyer during his questioning," said HRW's Mariwan Hama-Saeed. "It seems the only evidence used against him is his own confession and the testimony of a police officer."

The UK and US governments have been criticised for maintaining close relations with the Bahraini leadership, and failing to address human rights abuses in an uprising that has left scores dead. The Foreign Office minister for the Middle East, Alistair Burt, who visited Bahrain last week, encouraged further reform in the country, saying that it was "clear there is much more to do".

Burt said: "While the Bahraini government has made some good progress on the recommendations of the Bahrain independent commission of inquiry (BICI), we are clear there is much more to do. Bringing about sustained, comprehensive reform will take time, but the government should build on the steps they have taken and ensure that BICI recommendations are implemented quickly and in full, including where they relate to human rights.

"We stand ready to assist Bahrain as it tackles the challenges ahead, including help with reform of the judicial system, promoting human rights training in the police and other government services, and reducing sectarian tension through reconciliation."

The Foreign Office did not respond to the Guardian's request for comments on Ali Hasan's case at the time of publication.

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa programme at Amnesty International, said: "Arresting an 11-year-old boy, interrogating him for hours without a lawyer before trying him on spurious charges shows a jaw-dropping lack of respect for his rights."

She added that such treatment was completely out of step with international standards, or even Bahrain's own penal code. "This case shows the excessive means the Bahraini authorities have resorted to in order to crush protest. I hope they will see sense and drop all the charges against Ali Hassan."

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New Bahrain crackdown: Opposition leaders wounded (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Riot police in Bahrain dispersed protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets as disorder in the country’s capital Manana continued. The opposition claims its leaders have been wounded in the clashes.

The Opposition Al Wefaq organization claims its secretary-general Sheik Ali Salman was shot in the shoulder and back with rubber bullets during demonstrations in Manama. Another opposition leader, Hassan al-Marzooq, was shot and wounded in the chest.

The Bahraini Interior Ministry has yet to comment on the incident, but promised to prevent the Al Wefaq from organizing a protest in the Sehla suburb district of the capital Manana.

The ministry claims the rallies are obstructing traffic. The ministry further says Al Wefaq has already been licensed to conduct a number of protests this year.

“Security forces have been careful in dealing professionally with political leaders but this time was different. It seems a gradual crackdown is going on," senior Al Wefaq party member Matar Matar told Reuters. "They are closing the small margin for freedom of expression.”

There have been reports of a heavy police presence in the suburb. Protesters were reportedly throwing Molotov cocktails at police, who responded with teargas grenades and rubber bullets.

The uprising in the Kingdom of Bahrain, which hosts America’s Fifth Fleet, has been ongoing for 16 months. The country’s Shia majority is rallying against the Western-backed Sunni monarchy to get broader political rights and participate more actively in the governing of their country.

The ruling Sunni Muslim Al Khalifa family has made some concessions to the Shia protesters. The parliament's powers of scrutiny over ministers and budgets have been extended, although the key demands for full legislative powers and elected governments was turned down.

The government accuses Al Wefaq supporters of following a sectarian Shiite agenda. The opposition party insists the Bahraini leadership is making excuses to avoid giving up its privileges.

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• The Bahraini government is lobbying for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council's advisory committee. Raza Kazim of the London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission urged other countries to block the bid because of Bahrain's "appalling human rights record". (see 9.25am).

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Op dinsdag 19 juni 2012 20:20 schreef Chooselife het volgende:
Gek. Hoor er nooit wat over in onze media.

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Op woensdag 4 juli 2012 21:55 schreef zuiderbuur het volgende:

[..]

Op Russia Today (inderdaad, die Engelstalige Russische zender) wordt op de dubbelzinnigheid van het westen tegenover regimes als dat in Bahrein vaak de nadruk gelegd.

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Op woensdag 4 juli 2012 21:55 schreef zuiderbuur het volgende:

[..]

Op Russia Today (inderdaad, die Engelstalige Russische zender) wordt op de dubbelzinnigheid van het westen tegenover regimes als dat in Bahrein vaak de nadruk gelegd.

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Opnieuw rellen in Bahrein – duizenden betogers de straat op

Duizenden anti-regeringsdemonstranten zijn tijdens betogingen in Bahrein slaags geraakt met de oproerpolitie. De straatgevechten vonden op diverse plekken plaats, zeggen journalisten van persbureau AP. De politie zette traangas in.

De betogers voerden actie tegen plannen van de regering om geen vergunningen meer uit te geven voor straatdemonstraties. Demonstraties zouden daarmee illegaal worden. Protesten verstoren het verkeer en het alledaagse leven te veel, aldus de Bahreinse overheid.

Het kleine koninkrijk in het Midden-Oosten is al zeventien maanden in de greep van de strijd tussen de regerende sunnitische minderheid en de shi’itische meerderheid die meer rechten eist en zegt te worden gediscrimineerd. Al sinds de jaren negentig eist de shi’itische meerderheid (ruwweg zeventig procent van de bevolking) meer rechten.

Regering Bahrein schildert opstand af als Iraans opzetje

Sinds het begin van de opstand zijn er zeker vijftig doden gevallen. Een aantal van de slachtoffers zou door marteling om het leven zij gekomen. NRC-redacteur Carolien Roelants schreef een maand geleden over de aanhoudende opstand in Bahrein:

. De shi’itische meerderheid in het Arabische Golfstaatje Bahrein liftte vorig jaar mee op de opstanden in Tunesi� en Egypte. Het shi’itische protest was in Bahrein immers al tientallen jaren aan de gang. Maar de sunnitische elite omschreef de shi’itische demonstraties als een Iraanse poging om de Bahreinse monarchie omver te werpen. Zij vaardigden Saoedische troepen af om koning Hamad te helpen overeind te blijven. Het Westen worstelt met de protesten in het land: enerzijds worden in Bahrein aantoonbaar de mensenrechten geschonden, anderzijds de koning is een nauwe bondgenoot, en Iran de boze vijand.

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Why didn't CNN's international arm air its own documentary on Bahrain's Arab Spring repression?

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CNN's total cost for the documentary, ultimately titled "iRevolution: Online Warriors of the Arab Spring", was in excess of $100,000, an unusually high amount for a one-hour program of this type. The portion Lyon and her team produced on Bahrain ended up as a 13-minute segment in the documentary. That segment, which as of now is available on YouTube, is a hard-hitting and unflinching piece of reporting that depicts the regime in a very negative light.

In the segment, Lyon interviewed activists as they explicitly described their torture at the hands of government forces, while family members recounted their relatives' abrupt disappearances. She spoke with government officials justifying the imprisonment of activists. And the segment featured harrowing video footage of regime forces shooting unarmed demonstrators, along with the mass arrests of peaceful protesters. In sum, the early 2011 CNN segment on Bahrain presented one of the starkest reports to date of the brutal repression embraced by the US-backed regime.

On 19 June 2011 at 8pm, CNN's domestic outlet in the US aired "iRevolution" for the first and only time. The program received prestigious journalism awards, including a 2012 Gold Medal from New York Festival's Best TV and Films. Lyon, along with her segment producer Taryn Fixel, were named as finalists for the 2011 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists. A Facebook page created by Bahraini activists, entitled "Thank you Amber Lyon, CNN reporter | From people of Bahrain", received more than 8,000 "likes".

Despite these accolades, and despite the dangers their own journalists and their sources endured to produce it, CNN International (CNNi) never broadcast the documentary. Even in the face of numerous inquiries and complaints from their own employees inside CNN, it continued to refuse to broadcast the program or even provide any explanation for the decision. To date, this documentary has never aired on CNNi.

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"It became a standard joke around the office: the Bahrainis called to complain about you again," recounted Lyon. Lyon was also told by CNN employees stationed in the region that "the Bahrainis also sent delegations to our Abu Dhabi bureau to discuss the coverage."

Internal CNN emails reflect continuous pressure on Lyon and others to include claims from the Bahraini regime about the violence in their country even when, says Lyon, she knew first-hand that the claims were false. One April 2011 email to Lyon from a CNN producer demands that she include in her documentary a line stating that "Bahrain's foreign minister says security forces are not firing on unarmed civilians," and another line describing regime claims accusing "activists like Nabeel Rajab of doctoring photos fabricating injuries".

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In March 2012, Lyon was laid off from CNN as part of an unrelated move by the network to outsource its investigative documentaries. Now at work on a book, Lyon began in August to make reference to "iRevolution" on her Twitter account, followed by more than 20,000 people.

On 16 August, Lyon wrote three tweets about this episode. CNNi's refusal to broadcast "iRevolution", she wrote, "baffled producers". Linking to the YouTube clip of the Bahrain segment, she added that the "censorship was devastating to my crew and activists who risked lives to tell [the] story." She posted a picture of herself with Rajab and wrote:

. "A proponent of peace, @nabeelrajab risked his safety to show me how the regime oppresses the [people] of #Bahrain."

The following day, a representative of CNN's business affairs office called Lyon's acting agent, George Arquilla of Octagon Entertainment, and threatened that her severance payments and insurance benefits would be immediately terminated if she ever again spoke publicly about this matter, or spoke negatively about CNN.

Bahrain portion of iRevolution on CNN June 19 2011

#Bahrain Tens of Thousands Back on the streets

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Op donderdag 5 juli 2012 16:59 schreef waht het volgende:

[..]

Hilarisch vaak inderdaad. Mooie zender.

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Politie verdrijft demonstranten in Bahrein met traangas

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Tot de demonstraties was opgeroepen door de Jeugd van 14 februari, een beweging die geen banden heeft met de sji’itische oppositie maar oproept tot de mobilisatie van ras. Sommige demonstranten schreeuwden anti-regeringsleuzen voordat ze door de politie uiteen werden gedreven. Er zouden verschillende arrestaties zijn verricht. De minister van Binnenlandse Zaken zei dat “saboteurs” Molotovcocktails naar de politie hebben gegooid en dat de politie slechts ingreep om de orde te herstellen.

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Het kleine Golfstaatje Bahrein is een bondgenoot van het Westen, met name als haven van de Amerikaanse Vijfde Vloot. Het is niet al te vergezocht om de geringe belangstelling voor de opstand tegen de monarchie daarmee in verband te brengen. En aan de inspanning van het bewind om de protesten aan Iraanse opruierij toe te schrijven. De betogers zijn toch sji’ieten? Hoe dan ook gaan de demonstraties voor democratische hervormingen er nog altijd door.

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Two foreign workers have been killed in Bahrain's capital Manama after a series of blasts went off, authorities say.

The interior ministry said at least five homemade explosive devices exploded on Monday and described the blasts as "terrorist acts" - its term for violence by opposition activists.

The apparently co-ordinated explosions point to escalating levels of violence in the nearly 21-month uprising against the Gulf kingdom's rulers and come less than a week after Bahrain banned all protest gatherings in the country.

The official Bahrain News Agency said the explosions took place between 4.30am and 9.30am (01:30 and 06:30 GMT) in the Qudaibiya and Adliya districts of Manama.

"As always, we condemn violence but, given the Bahraini authorities' background in spreading disinformation, we call for an independent investigation"

- Maryam al-Khawaja,
opposition activist

One of the attacks occurred outside a cinema, where a street cleaner died when he kicked a package that blew up. The other man died from injuries in a separate blast, officials said, identifying the dead as a 29-year-old Indian and a 33-year-old Bangladeshi. Another Indian man was injured.

Rights group Amnesty International called for an independent investigation into Monday's attacks. "...those responsible [must be] brought to justice in proceedings that comply with internationally recognised standards for fair trial and with no possibility of the death penalty," a statement said.

Police have been targeted by explosions several times this year, as the government has stepped up efforts to quell an uprising that has simmered since protests broke out in early 2011.

But bombs targeting civilians are rare in the kingdom, where the Sunni Muslim Al Khalifa family rules over a majority Shia population.

'Strange incident'

Opposition politician Matar Matar of the Shia party al-Wefaq said he doubted that opposition activists were behind Monday's attacks.

He suggested the police or military might have been responsible, or a rogue unit.

"This incident is strange - why would anyone target workers?" he said. "I'm worried that police and military are losing control of their units or it is [preparation] before declaring martial law."

Maryam al-Khawaja, acting head of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, said: "As always, we condemn violence but, given the Bahraini authorities' background in spreading disinformation, we call for an independent investigation into the deaths of the two migrant workers."

Khawaja, who is based in Denmark, said the attacks were "not grounds to start a campaign of collective punishment, arbitrary arrests, and torture, as we've see happen before".
The army was called in to quell mass rallies in Manama last year[GALLO/GETTY]

Foreign ministers from the Gulf Co-operation Council - made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - plan to meet in Manama on Wednesday to discuss regional issues.

The meeting will discuss Bahrain's tensions and growing clashes in Kuwait between security forces and the opposition.

Thirty-five people were killed in Bahrain as the Shia-led opposition staged protests in February and March 2011 and the two months of martial law that followed. While mass protests in central Manama have been stamped out, clashes between protesters and riot police are still common in Shia districts.

Activists and rights groups say 50 civilians have been killed in the turmoil since the end of martial law, while the authorities say two policemen have died.

Shias make up about 70 per cent of Bahrain's 525,000 citizens. They complain of discrimination in the electoral system, jobs, housing and education, and say they are mistreated by government departments, the police and the army.

Bahrain's Western allies have urged renewed efforts at dialogue to ease the crisis, but opposition groups insist that talks cannot move forward unless the monarchy is willing to make greater concessions to loosen its hold on the country's affairs.

Bahrain's leaders have so far made reforms that include transferring more oversight powers to the elected parliament.

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ITV News crew forced to leave Bahrain ahead of grand prix

Rageh Omaar's team detained by police and asked to leave country as tensions mount ahead of weekend's F1 race

Rageh Omaar's ITV News team has been forced to leave Bahrain ahead of this weekend's controversial Formula One race following a dispute with the authorities.

Omaar, the former BBC foreign correspondent who joined ITV in February, and an ITV News cameraman and producer left the country on Friday morning after being detained by the police.

The Somalia-born reporter, who became a household name during the 2003 invasion of Iraq while reporting from Baghdad, and his team were in the Gulf state on official visas to cover news including potential political protest surrounding the race.

"Our news team were on assignment with visas approved by the Bahraini authorities," said a spokeswoman for ITV News. "Having filed a report last night [Thursday], they were stopped while filming this morning and taken to a local police station for discussions with officers. They have since been asked to leave the country, which they are in the process of doing."

It is understood that the team, which included two locals driving and translating who have not been asked to leave the country, was held by local police but not arrested. The police asked that the ITV News team leave Bahrain.

The spokeswoman said ITV will continue to cover the events around Bahrain's grand prix.

Last year, authorities denied entry to a number of journalists from a number of news organisations including Sky, which holds the UK TV rights to air the grand prix, in an attempt to stifle coverage of potential political unrest.

In 2012, Bahrain's authorities granted permission for journalists who regularly cover Formula One to enter the country, but denied visas to other reporters from news organisations including Sky News, CNN, Reuters and the Financial Times.

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Bahrain Raises Alarm Over Rising Violence

Bahrain's king urged lawmakers Sunday to move ahead with proposed harsher measures against escalating attacks by Shiite-led opposition factions, including banning protest gatherings in the capital, after top government officials joined an emergency parliament session to discuss the Gulf nation's nearly 30 months of unrest.

It was unclear what new steps could emerge more than two years after Bahrain lifted temporary martial law-style rule. But the endorsement for speedy action by the king virtually clears the way for tougher codes that also could include freezing bank accounts and stripping citizenship over links to violence.

The gathering also underscored the growing alarm in Bahrain that the Arab Spring-inspired uprising by the kingdom's majority Shiites could be drifting into an even more violent stage. A spate of recent bomb attacks, including a blast Saturday, has wounded several policemen and suggests that militant groups are operating with greater autonomy.

Bahrain's main Shiite political blocs have denounced the attacks, but also complain about widespread injuries among protesters from security forces using bird-shot fire and tear gas.

More than 60 people have died in Bahrain's upheaval as Shiites press for a greater political voice in the strategic Sunni-ruled kingdom, which is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. Activists and Shiite leaders place the death toll above 100.

The parliament session also appeared prompted by opposition calls for major protests Aug. 14 inspired by the crowds that helped topple Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi. Authorities have already warned of a tough response to attempts at organizing large-scale marches that day.

Abdul Jalil Khalil, a top official with the main Shiite political group Al Wefaq, criticized Sunday's emergency session and royal endorsement of tougher measures, saying "what came today is a green light to tighten laws that are incompatible with freedom of expression and human rights."

On the other side of the political divide, Justice Minister Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa told lawmakers that authorities must first quell "terrorism" before it can discuss reconciliation, but he stopped short of outlining any specific measures.

Samira Rajab, the information minister and government spokesman, said Bahrain should adopt a "zero-tolerance policy" against "violent acts that have affected the social fabric of its society."

Parliament members, however, pressed government officials to impose tougher punishments and steps to control violence, including banning all protest gatherings in the capital, Manama, whose Pearl Square was the center of the uprising in its early days. Shortly after clearing the square of demonstrators in early 2011, wrecking crews brought down the six-pronged monument that towered above the area and was one of the city's main landmarks. It is now ringed by razor wire and guarded round the clock.

"The dangerous escalation, which tries to pull the country into a whirlpool of insecurity and political tensions, should be faced," said the parliament's chairman, Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Dhahrani.

Nearly all the 80 members in both chambers of parliament back the Sunni monarchy. Shiite lawmakers walked out amid the crackdowns against protesters in early 2011.

One lawmaker, Latifa al-Qaood, urged authorities to wield "an iron fist against all traitors," according to the official Bahrain News Agency.

Another, Sawsan Taqawi, called for banning any gatherings or rallies "that endanger national security" and take more decisions to strip citizenship from people convicted of "terrorism." In November, Bahrain revoked citizenship for 31 Shiites for roles in the uprising — a move that brought widespread denunciations from international human rights groups.

Bahrain courts also have jailed prominent opposition figures and others, including some with alleged links to Iranian-backed groups such as Lebanon's Hezbollah. Bahrain and other Gulf states claim Shiite power Iran has a hand in the protests, but there has been no clear evidence presented. Iran denies any direct role in Bahrain's unrest.

Other lawmakers proposed freezing assets for suspects linked to attacks and ordering blanket curfews in areas of frequent clashes.

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Children injured 'planting bomb' in Bahrain

Interior ministry says children hurt in same village where policemen were killed by a bomb earlier this week.

Bahrain's interior ministry has said two children were injured after they were instructed to plant a bomb in the same village where a bomb killed two local policemen and a police officer from the United Arab Emirates earlier this week.

The two children, aged 10 and 11, had been instructed by "terrorists" to plant a bomb in Daih, west of the capital Manama, but it exploded as they were handling it causing serious injury to one of them, the statement by the ministry on Thursday said.

Monday's attack in Daih had raised fears of more violence in the Sunni Muslim-ruled kingdom, where opposition groups led by majority Shia have staged protests for the past three years demanding political reform and an end to perceived discrimination.

Bahrain blacklisted three anti-government groups as terrorist organisations after the blast took place, outlawing the February 14 movement, Saraya al-Ashtar (Ashtar Brigade) and Saraya al-Muqawama (Resistance Brigade), according to Reuters news agency.

The little known Saraya al-Ashtar claimed responsibility for Monday's attack in a message on social media that could not be immediately authenticated.

Bombing arrests

The interior ministry said late on Wednesday it had arrested four more people in connection with Monday's bombing.

Authorities said earlier this week that 25 suspects had been rounded up in relation to the Daih bombing.

"The statements of the (four) detained indicate that their roles varied from bomb making, to monitoring and photography, and it was learned that other key actors were responsible for luring the police to the scene," the statement said.

Bahrain's Shia have long complained of discrimination against their majority community in areas such as jobs and public services, charges that the Sunni-led government denies.

The Gulf island is a US ally which hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet. The Sunni al Khalifa family, which has ruled for two centuries, has resisted demands for an elected government, not one chosen by the king

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Op donderdag 6 maart 2014 23:58 schreef Frikandelbroodje het volgende:
Ik moet dat boek nog steeds lezen Maar Sharp stelt dus dat mensen altijd vreedzaam moeten blijven, zelfs als het regime jarenlang geweld kan inzetten zonder consequenties te ondervinden?

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Op vrijdag 7 maart 2014 00:00 schreef IPA35 het volgende:

[..]

De regel is dat 'revoluties' altijd uitmonden in massamoord en repressie.

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Op vrijdag 7 maart 2014 00:00 schreef IPA35 het volgende:

[..]

De regel is dat 'revoluties' altijd uitmonden in massamoord en repressie.

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Op vrijdag 7 maart 2014 00:06 schreef Frikandelbroodje het volgende:

[..]

Tsja regimes zijn hardnekkig, vooral als ze ten onder dreigen te gaan.

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Meestal zijn het de 'revolutionairen' die politieke tegenstanders uit de weg ruimen, mensen die hun 'revolutionaire idee�n' niet wenselijk achten op laten hangen en minderheden aanpakken.

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Neem de Franse en de Russische revoluties als voorbeeld. Die hebben alleen maar narigheid voortgebracht.

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Er is echter wel een ander type revolutie die wel goed kan uitpakken, zoals de Amerikaanse Revolutie of bijvoorbeeld in mindere mate de opstand tegen de Habsburgers in de Nederland.

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Op vrijdag 7 maart 2014 17:25 schreef Frikandelbroodje het volgende:
Die 80-jarige oorlog is aanvankelijk ook niet goed uitgepakt voor de minderheden in ons land, vooral niet voor 'de religie van de vijand'. Ik heb laatst nog eens in een essay gelezen wat de Geuzen zoal hebben uitgevreten met de Katholieken in Leiden. Daarna werden ze ook behandeld als tweederangsburgers, zoek maar eens op wat een schuilkerk is. Iets wat op echte godsdienstvrijheid leek kregen we pas na het rampjaar, toen Katholieken niet massaal overliepen naar de Fransen.

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Op de lange termijn hebben beide revoluties natuurlijk vooral goede dingen gebracht, dat zeker. Daarom kun je pas over een revolutie pas echt oordelen als je het bekijkt op de lange termijn.

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Daarom zei ik ook in mindere mate.

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Het zou mooi zijn geweest als Willem van Oranje zijn zin kreeg, maar bepaalde Katholieken liepen over met de Unie van Atrecht

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en radicalen in het Noorden bande het Katholicisme uit het publieke leven. De Unie van Utrecht is een spijtig gevolg geweest van het falen van een "heel-nederlandse" oplossing op basis van de Pacificatie van Gent, door godsdienstfanaten.

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Punt is wel de de opstand in feite geen 'revolutionair gedachtengoed' had zoals de Franse en Russische wel. Het was juist een 'conservatieve revolutie' omdat het een strijd was tegen radicale verandering.

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Allemaal leuk en aardig maar die duizenden mannen, vrouwen en zelfs kinderen die bij Nantes verzopen werden, of de Bretoense kinderen die onder dwang de Franse taal werden opgedrongen. Of de Krim-Tataren die gedeporteerd werden door gekke rooien, als we iets actueels willen noemen.
"Oh ja, maar het heeft wel verbeteringen voortgebracht." gaat er bij mij niet in.

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Als de Revolutionairen minder ver waren gegaan was Frankrijk gewoon een constitutionele monarchie geweest.