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

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UN rights chief slams military takeover of Bahrain hospitals

UN rights chief Navi Pillay on Thursday slammed security forces' takeover of Bahrain hospitals and medical facilities as "a blatant violation of international law."

The top UN human rights official urged Bahrain on Thursday to rein in its security forces, citing allegations that they had killed, beaten and carried out arbitrary arrests of protesters, and attacked medical workers.

Pillay said in a statement she was "deeply alarmed by the escalation of violence by security forces in Bahrain, in particular the reported takeover of hospitals and medical centres" in the country, which she called a "shocking and a blatant violation of international law."

"There are reports of arbitrary arrests, killings, beatings of protesters and of medical personnel, and of the takeover of hospitals and medical centres by various security forces," Pillay, a former UN war crimes judge, said in a statement. "This is shocking and illegal conduct."

Rights activists have deplored a bloody crackdown mounted by Sunni rulers against Shiite-led protests, accusing security forces of preventing the injured from reaching hospitals and of beating medics trying to collect the wounded from the streets.

Manama's main hospital was sealed off by police armed with shotguns, and

Bahrain's Health Minister Nizar Baharna, a Shiite, announced his resignation after police allegedly burst into a Manama hospital.

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Top Shia cleric slams Bahrain violence

Top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has called on Bahraini authorities to end a violent crackdown on anti-government protesters in the kingdom.

Expressing grave concerns about Manama's harsh measures against unarmed civilians over the past few days, the highly influential Ayatollah Sistani emphasized Wednesday on the necessity to resolve problems in the Shia-majority country through peaceful means, his spokesman Hamad al-Khaffaf, told AFP.

The statement came after hundreds of Bahraini riot police and Saudi forces, backed by tanks and helicopters, attacked demonstrators in Manama's Pearl Square, the epicenter of anti-government protests, where demonstrators have camped out for weeks, killing at least six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.

The city's main hospital, where the injured were being treated, was also attacked by Saudi forces and everyone inside the building, including doctors and nurses, were taken hostage.

Shias around the world have condemned the brutal crackdown by the ruling Sunni dynasty.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Qatar have dispatched their armed forces to crisis-hit Bahrain to assist the rulers in Manama with their brutal crackdown on nationwide protests against the Sunni-led monarchy's persistent suppression of the majority Shia population.

Foreign military intervention in Bahrain has also concerned UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who has called for a meaningful and broad-based national dialogue.

The UN chief also urged Bahrain's regional neighbors and the international community to support a dialogue process and an environment conducive to credible reform in Bahrain.

Bahraini demonstrators maintain that they will hold their ground until their demands for freedom, constitutional monarchy and a voice in the government are met.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iraq and Kuwait have staged demonstrations in support of protesters in Bahrain.

HM/PKH/MB

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Shiites in Iraq's holy city of Karbala rally against Saudi-led Sunni troops sent to Bahrain

By The Associated Press (CP) 1 hour ago

BAGHDAD A local Iraqi official says thousands of Shiites are rallying in the holy city of Karbala against troops sent from Sunni Arab states to Bahrain to help the tiny island's Sunni monarchy deal with Shiite-led opposition protesters.

Karbala provincial councilman Hussein Shadhan al-Aboudi says about 3,000 people gathered Thursday on the clearing between the city's two Shiite holy shrines. He says larger demonstrations in Baghdad and Shiite-dominated cities in Iraq's south are planned for after Friday prayers.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said he fears that anti-riot Saudi and United Arab Emirates forces deployed in Bahrain will inflame sectarian violence in the Mideast.

Two prominent Iraqi Shiite clerics have criticized Bahrain's crackdown against protesters.

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Op donderdag 17 maart 2011 12:33 schreef ChristianLebaneseFront het volgende:
Goed om te zien dat de Golfstaten elkaar te hulp schieten bij het stoppen van extremisten.

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Kuwait will not send forces to Bahrain

29 mins ago

(Reuters) - Kuwait will not send forces to Bahrain to help put down anti-government demonstrations but may try to mediate, an Arabic newspaper reported on Thursday.
On Monday, Bahrain asked for support under a Gulf defence pact after weeks of protests by pro-democracy activists, mainly majority Shi'ites who complain of discrimination in the country led by a Sunni monarchy. I will leave today (Wednesday) to Bahrain to hand over a
letter from His Highness the Emir to his brother King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, the daily al-Jarida quoted Foreign Affairs Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah as saying.
The newspaper said Kuwait would not send forces and is looking into playing a mediating role, but it did not name its sources.
Some 1,000 Saudi soldiers and 500 UAE police officers entered Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, this week.
On Wednesday Bahraini forces used tanks and helicopters to drive protesters off the streets and clear a camp that had become a symbol of their demand for more democratic rights.
The crackdown prompted sympathy protests from Shi'ites across the region. Kuwait has a large Shi'ite minority which could object to Kuwait sending troops.

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Amnesty International heeft donderdag een kort rapport gepubliceerd over de wreedheden die de veiligheidstroepen van het kleine Golfstaatje Bahrein begingen tijdens de bloedige onderdrukking van de protesten in de hoofstad Manamah in februari 2011. Ze maakten daarbij systematisch gebruik van buitensporig geweld om demonstranten neer te slaan.

De internationale mensenrechtenbeweging Amnesty International roept de Bahreinse overheid op om het geweld onmiddellijk te stoppen en de verantwoordelijken voor het buitensporige politie-optreden gepast te vervolgen. Straffeloosheid kan niet, vindt Amnesty.

Het nieuwste AI-rapport 'Bloodied but Unbowed: Unwarranted State Violence against Bahraini protesters' beschrijft hoe veiligheidstroepen in februari zonder waarschuwing met scherp schoten op demonstranten en extreem geweld gebruikten. Ze belemmerden het medisch personeel die de gewonden probeerden te helpen en vielen ze zelfs aan.

Het rapport is het resultaat van een onderzoeksmissie die een team van Amnesty International in Bahrein uitvoerde tussen 20 tot 26 februari 2011. Het team sprak er met slachtoffers, getuigen van het geweld, medisch personeel, lokale mensenrechtenactivisten en de overheid.

De lancering van het rapport gaat gepaard met een nieuwe escalatie van geweld in het kleine koninkrijk aan de Perzische Golf. Troepen van Saoedi-Arabi� en de Verenigde Arabische Emiraten (VAE) arriveerden begin deze week in het land en de koning kondigde de noodtoestand af.

Opnieuw toevlucht tot buitensporig geweld
"Het is verontrustend te zien hoe de Bahreinse autoriteiten opnieuw hun toevlucht nemen tot dezelfde tactieken om demonstranten aan te pakken als in februari, zelfs op en nog intensievere manier", zegt Amnesty International.

"De overheid moet de veiligheidstroepen onmiddellijk in bedwang houden en het recht op vrije meningsuiting respecteren en garanderen. Het doden van vreedzame demonstranten en ander geweld tegen demonstranten en medisch personeel mag niet onbestraft blijven. De misdaden van de veiligheidstroepen moeten grondig en onafhankelijk onderzocht worden. De daders en opdrachtgevers moeten worden gestraft."

Dokter Hani Mowafi, delegatielid van Amnestys onderzoeksmissie in februari, stelde telkens dezelfde ernstige en soms fatale verwondingen vast. Deze tonen aan dat de veiligheidsdiensten van op korte afstand met scherp op de demonstranten schoten en het daarbij vaak gemunt hadden op het hoofd, de borst en de buik van de betogers.

Amnesty International kon restanten van wapens en munitie identificeren die werden gevonden op het Parelplein na de aanval op 17 februari. De organisatie verzamelde onder meer traangasbussen en kogelhulzen van rubberkogels van Amerikaanse makelij en Franse traangasgranaten en cluster-rubbergranaten die in 18 stukken uit elkaar spatten.

Verschillende landen en regios keurden exportlicenties goed voor wapenleveringen aan Bahrein, ook Belgische wapens werden naar Bahrein uitgevoerd. De Vlaamse en Waalse gewestregeringen leverden uitvoerlicenties af.

Amnesty vraagt daarom met aandrang om alle export op te schorten van wapens, munitie en daaraan gerelateerd materieel aan de oproerpolitie en veiligheidsdiensten van Bahrein.

Als reactie op het extreme geweld van de veiligheidstroepen heeft het Verenigd Koninkrijk enkele licenties voor wapenhandel aan Bahrein ingetrokken. De Franse overheid schortte alle export van veiligheidsmaterieel aan Bahrein op.

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Op donderdag 17 maart 2011 13:59 schreef Drifter__ het volgende:

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lol
CFL redenering: Sjiet = Iran = extremist.....

اطلاق رصاص حي في البحرين