Earlier this year, VICE News correspondent Ben Anderson traveled to Bahrain undercover to document the ongoing protests there. Bahrainis — inspired by the Arab Spring — have been taking to the streets every night for almost four years, calling for democracy.
One of the people Ben interviewed was Yousif Badah. His son, Ali Badah, was killed while protesting three years ago, when a police SUV repeatedly ran into him, pinning him against a wall.
On the third anniversary of his son's death, Yousif and others held a vigil for Ali. That vigil turned into a march, and was similarly met with police violence, this time resulting in injury to Yousif himself.
Showing posts with label bahrain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bahrain. Show all posts
15 Dec 2014
Bahrain: More Bloodshed
11 May 2014
Prince Andrew praises Bahrain, island of torture
The British Duke of York will be the keynote speaker at a conference in London this Friday celebrating Bahrain as a place of religious freedom and tolerance of divergent opinions. Speaking during a visit to Bahrain last month, he said: "I believe that what's happening in Bahrain is a source of hope for many people in the world and a source of pride for Bahrainis."
This is very strange, as the island kingdom of Bahrain has a proven record of jailing and torturing protesters demanding democratic rights for the Shia majority, an estimated 60 per cent of Bahraini citizens, from the Sunni al-Khalifa monarchy. In its annual report on human rights, the US State Department identifies many abuses, the most serious of which include "citizens' inability to change their government peacefully; arrest and detention of protesters on vague charges, in some cases leading to their torture in detention". It draws attention to the fact that "discrimination [has] continued against the Shia population".
None of this should be too surprising. In March 2011, the government in Bahrain crushed the Bahraini version of the Arab Spring, treating protesters and anybody associated with them, such as doctors who treated injured demonstrators, with extreme brutality. The Bahrain independent commission of inquiry, set up by the Bahraini government itself, described at least 18 different techniques used to mistreat or torture detainees including electric shocks, beating on the soles of the feet with rubber hoses, sleep deprivation and threats of rape. More than 30 Shia mosques, religious meeting places and holy sites were bulldozed on the pretext that they had no planning permission.
21 Apr 2012
Call to Cancel F1 in Bahrain Amid Protests
The Bahrain Grand Prix will act as a unifying force amid the nation's unrest, the Bahraini government said Friday, while opposition activists accused the Gulf kingdom's rulers of cracking down on demonstrations. Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa told reporters that cancelling the race would play into extremists' hands, according to a report Friday in the state-run Bahrain News Agency. (CNN)
An anti-government protester has been found dead following clashes with riot police on the eve of the controversial Bahrain Grand Prix , according to opposition activists. (The Guardian)
14 Apr 2012
Bloodshed feared as Bahrain Formula One grand prix given go-ahead
Human rights activists fear further bloodshed and a violent crackdown by authorities in Bahrain after race organisers gave the green light to next weekend's Formula One grand prix in the troubled Gulf kingdom.
As the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) said it was satisfied that all proper security measures were in place for the race on 22 April, Nabeel Rajab, from the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), said: "I'm afraid we might see local people who will be killed in the coming days because of the F1."
Anti-government protesters have called for the event to be cancelled, arguing that it lends legitimacy to a regime which continues to perpetrate human rights abuses.
The FIA, the sport's governing authority, confirmed that it would go ahead, with beefed-up security, after receiving reassurances. John Yates, the former assistant commissioner of the Met who is in Bahrain advising on police reform, wrote to the FIA president, Jean Todt, to say he felt safer living in Bahrain "than I have often felt in London".
3 Jan 2012
American and British Police Chiefs Step Up Repression in Bahrain
Two former police chiefs from the US and Britain have brought discernible Western “expertise” to the Bahraini force only weeks following their appointments – a surge in repression and state terrorism.
Former Miami police chief John Timoney and his British counterpart, John Yates, formerly commander at London’s Scotland Yard, were assigned last month by Bahrain’s royal rulers to “oversee reform” of the Persian Gulf kingdom’s security forces. Officially, the appointment of the American and Briton was to bring Western professional policing to the Bahraini force and specifically to upgrade the human rights record of Bahrain’s ministry of interior and National Security Agency.
The assignments were announced by King Hamad Al Khalifa following a report by an international commission of inquiry into widespread human rights violations in the US-backed oil kingdom since pro-democracy protests erupted there last February.
Human rights activists and several political sources say that state forces have dramatically stepped up violence towards protesters and targeting of the Shia community generally. The diminutive island state of less than 600,000 nationals is comprised mainly of Shia muslims (70 per cent) who are ruled over by a Sunni elite installed by Britain when the kingdom gained nominal independence in 1971. American and British government support for the unelected Al Khalifa monarchy is viewed by the majority of Bahrainis as being at odds with their claims for democratic rights.
Over the past year, Bahraini state forces have killed some 50 people; thousands have been maimed, wounded and detained, many of the latter tortured. Proportionate to its population, such state violence is comparable to what Washington and London have loudly denounced the Libyan and Syrian regimes for – indeed mounting a military invasion of the former and threatening to do so in the latter – under the guise of “protecting human rights”. By contrast, there is hardly a word of denunciation from Washington or London towards the Bahraini regime, which hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
29 Sept 2011
Bahrain medical staff sentenced over protests
Thirteen doctors and nurses who treated anti-government protesters during demonstrations in Bahrain earlier this year have been jailed for 15 years for crimes against the state.
Seven other medical professionals were given sentences of between five and 10 years by a special tribunal on Thursday that was set up during the emergency rule that followed the demonstrations.
The doctors' trial has been closely watched and criticised by rights groups for Bahrain's use of the security court, which has military prosecutors and both civilian and military judges, in prosecuting civilians.
Most of the medics worked at the Salmaniya Medical Centre in Manama, which was stormed by security forces after they drove protesters on March 16 out of the nearby Pearl Square - the focal point of Bahrain's protest movement.
22 Jun 2011
Bahrain activists jailed for life
Bahrain has sentenced eight prominent activists to life in prison for plotting a coup during protests that rocked the Sunni-ruled Gulf island kingdom earlier this year.
The court on Wednesday also sentenced other defendants, from among the 21 suspects on trial, to between two and five years in jail. The Bahrain News Agency says the life sentences were issued against prominent Shia political leader Hassan Mushaima; activists Abdulhady al-Khawaja, Abduljalil Al Singace and five others. Mushaima returned to Bahrain in February, from self-imposed exile in the UK after authorities dropped charges against him.
Ibrahim Sharif, the Sunni leader of the secular leftist group Waad, was sentenced to five years. Waad had joined the largest Shia opposition group Wefaq in calling for reforms to the constitutional monarchy. Authorities claimed the activists had sought to overthrow Bahrain's Sunni monarchy and have links to "a terrorist organisation abroad" - a veiled reference to Iran.
14 May 2011
Mass sackings in Bahrain crackdown
More than 2,000 private sector employees, most of them Shia, have either been sacked or suspended in an expanding Bahraini crackdown on anti-government protests, an Al Jazeera investigation has found.
The General Federation of Bahrain's Trade Unions puts the figure of those who have been fired at 1,300, with Bahraini rights groups reporting that hundreds more have been suspended from their government jobs. The International Labour Organisation says that the number of people dismissed or suspended currently stands at over 2,000.
Al Jazeera spoke to a number of people who had been fired in recent weeks. They spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing government reprisals.
One man said that lawyers asked him questions related to anti-government protests the day he was fired. "He kept asking if I went to the Pearl Roundabout, if I went to the protests. If I met any of the opposition leaders. If I was a member of any political societies. If I made donations to the protesters. These questions were repeated again and again," he said. Another man who lost his job told Al Jazeera that he was struggling to support his family. He said that the mass dismissals were completely unexpected. "We have never faced this before. We have no idea how to deal with it. We are waiting for news from the company. Will they let us back? Will i be compensated?" he asked.
Also read: 'US supports crackdown in Bahrain' on Press TV (with video)
3 May 2011
Bahraini forces abduct school kids
Saudi-backed Bahraini forces have attacked a number of schools across the Persian Gulf kingdom, abducting several students, witnesses say.
Bahraini forces took away two students from a school in the capital Manama and eight others from a school in the north-eastern town of Busaiteen on Monday. It was not immediately clear why the students were taken away.
Security forces also snatched a wounded anti-government protester from Salmaniyah hospital in the capital.
Since the beginning of anti-regime protest rallies in Bahrain in mid-February, authorities have brutally suppressed those voicing support for the opposition. Last month, Bahraini authorities expelled 33 students from Shahrakan primary school after they chanted anti-government slogans in a school bus.
Bahraini security forces have repeatedly attacked medical centers across the country, arresting wounded anti-government protesters and medical staff. Physicians for Human Rights says doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured or disappeared because they have "evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces and riot police" in the crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Protesters are demanding an end to the rule of the Al Khalifa dynasty.
29 Apr 2011
Bahrain sentences protesters to death
A Bahraini military court has sentenced four Shia protesters to death and three to life jail terms for the killing of two policemen during demonstrations last month, state media has reported. Thursday's verdicts are the first related to the uprising against the Gulf kingdom's ruling family, which began in February. The seven defendants were tried behind closed doors on charges of premeditated murder of government employees, which their lawyers have denied.
A Shia opposition official named those sentenced to death as Ali Abdullah Hasan, Qasim Hassan Mattar, Saeed Abdul Jalil Saeed, and Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ibrahim. He told the AFP news agency that Issa Abdullah Kazem, Sadiq Ali Mahdi, and Hussein Jaafar Abdul Karim were sentenced to life in prison. Sheikh Ali Salman, president of Bahrain's Al Wefaq, the largest Shia political group in the country, told Al Jazeera that the punishments did not fit the crime. "I believe that these sentences should be revised and the international community must intervene to stop this," he said.
24 Apr 2011
Bahrain military prosecutor demands death penalty for 7 Shiite protesters on trial
Look at this Bahrain billboard: It says: “We demand from the government…the maximum punishment. No to Amnesty…for the heads of fitnah and the misguided element.”
(image from A New Worlds in Birth)
Bahrain's state news agency says a military prosecutor has demanded death penalty for seven anti-government protesters on trial in the Gulf kingdom for the killing of two policemen during protests.
The Bahrain News Agency says the prosecutor presented evidence during a hearing Sunday that showed the opposition supporters attacked the policemen "on purpose and called for inflicting the capital punishment."
The seven were charged in a military court with premeditated murder of government employees. The defendants' lawyers denied the charges, the report said.
The next hearing is set for Thursday. Hundreds of protesters calling for greater rights and freedoms have been detained since Bahrain declared martial law last month.
A FOURTH detainee has died in Bahraini custody, the country's Shi'ite opposition claims, as Human Rights Watch urged the Gulf kingdom to investigate the deaths of arrested activists. Read more at news.com.au
17 Apr 2011
Bahrain braced for new wave of repression
Bahrain is braced for a fresh bout of violent repression as new arrests and the alleged death of a female student fuel sectarian tensions in the tiny Gulf state. Armoured vehicles and security forces were reported to be gathering in the streets of the capital, Manama, and in surrounding suburbs and villages.
Meanwhile, evidence has emerged that Saudi forces have been involved in violence against the opposition in the mainly Shia villages and suburbs around Manama. In a graphic eyewitness account of the repression given to the Observer, a Bahraini who has been caught up in the violence claimed that officers with Saudi accents, in plainclothes but armed with automatic weapons, had led attacks on members of the Shia opposition on several occasions over the past month.
Reports from the city said that a young woman – beaten up last month by government supporters at Bahrain University – had died. A family member confirmed her death but the circumstances remained unclear. Arrests of lawyers and doctors working for the opposition continued.
Bahrain protests will go nowhere while the US supports its government – The Guardian
10 Apr 2011
Bahrain Monarchy From British Empire to US Fifth Fleet
Bahrain's Kings dependent on British, American and now Saudi protection. The Real News
18 Mar 2011
Bahrain police killing people by drive by shootings
Police killer brutality. They are massacring the peaceful protesters . This happened today Sitra 16th March
17 Mar 2011
Bahrain unrest: UN rights chief criticises crackdown
The UN human rights chief has condemned the "shocking" use of force by security forces against protesters in Bahrain.
Navi Pillay said reports of a military takeover of hospitals was a blatant violation of international law. She urged the authorities to rein in their forces, citing reports of people being beaten and detained or killed.
At least six opposition figures have reportedly been detained in overnight raids in Bahrain, and soldiers are back on the streets of the capital, Manama. The crackdown on anti-government protesters in the city's centre left at least three civilians and three police officers dead on Wednesday.
Bahrain protester shot in cold blood - The Sun
More cold blood shooting:
17 Feb 2011
Bahrain: terror as protesters shot
What had been days of mostly peaceful demonstrations changed dramatically in Bahrain early Thursday morning when police swarmed into the capital city and forcibly removed protesters from the Pearl Roundabout.
Police came in with dozens of vehicles, surrounded the roundabout and began firing "pellet bullets," rubber bullets and tear gas at demonstrators, witnesses said.
At least three people were killed early Thursday morning during the incident, emergency hospital services said. (CNN)
13 Feb 2011
Bahrain promises media freedoms amid protest calls
Bahrain's leaders promised Sunday to expand media freedoms in another apparent attempt to quell plans for the first major anti-government protests in the Gulf since the uprising in Egypt.
The tiny kingdom of Bahrain is among the most politically volatile in the Gulf and holds important strategic value for the West as the home as the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. Bahrain's majority Shiites have long complained of discrimination by the ruling Sunni dynasty, whose crackdown on dissent last year touched off riots and clashes.
Shiite-led opposition groups and others have joined calls for demonstrations on Monday - the anniversary of Bahrain's 2002 constitution that brought some pro-democracy reforms such as an elected parliament.
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