22nd November 2012

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

Bahrain Government Defends Changes
The government responded Wednesday to criticism by Amnesty International and others who have charged that the Persian Gulf monarchy is intensifying its repression of dissidents, and abandoning reforms it promised after cracking down on a popular uprising last year. The government cited progress on several fronts, saying it had worked toward overhauling its security services and had reinstated workers who were red for political reasons. Amnesty and other groups have cited recent moves by the government, including banning protests and stripping 31 dissidents of their citizenship, as evidence of an intensifying crackdown. The government drew fresh criticism on Wednesday, when a court sentenced 23 medical workers to three months in prison on the charge of illegal gathering, according to Physicians for Human Rights. Read More human-rights lawyer whose scathing report a year ago accused the Bahraini government of torturing detainees and using excessive force against protesters, told The Wall Street Journal that the island is mired in a deeper crisis than it was 12 months ago, as a schism widens between increasingly radicalized wings of the opposition and the regime, fueling more violence. Read More (subscription needed) In November 2011, a panel of human rights experts investigated the uprising in Bahrain and its aftermath and released the Bahraini Independent Commission of Enquiry (BICI) report. In June 2012, the panel sent a follow up unit to monitor Bahrain's progress in implementing the reports recommendations. Amnesty International has found that human rights activists are being arrested and harassed at increasing rates. Read More

Bahrain accused of failing to follow through political reforms

Authorities cited a series of measures taken since an independent report on the crisis came out last November, including giving more oversight to parliament. Amnesty International says any progress has been overshadowed by harsh steps recently in attempts to quell the 21-month-old protests, including a ban on demonstrations and stripping 31 activists of citizenship.

"Bahrain is facing a stark choice between the rule of law or sliding into a downward spiral of repression and instability," Amnesty said in a report, issued on the anniversary of the independent fact-nding inquiry into Bahrain's unrest. The inquiry, led by Egyptianborn legal scholar Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni, called for sweeping overhauls in Bahrain's political system and investigations into alleged abuses by security forces after protests began in February 2011. Read More

Bahrain Is Criticized for Slow Pace of Change

The head of an ofcial investigation into Bahrain's unrest last year sharply criticized the Gulf state's slow pace of change and said the country has failed to bring to justice those guilty of abuses. Cherif Bassiouni, a respected Egyptian-born

Bahrain says it's made clear progress on reform

A year ago, Egyptian human rights lawyer M Cherif Bassiouni presented a 500page report condeming Bahrain's response to a wave of protests in the kingdom that spring.

Now, on the rst anniversary of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), Bahrain's government has issued a forceful defence of progress made towards reform. Amid continuing tensions, a government spokesman said that the justice minister was working with numerous political groups to nd "common ground". Read More Unleashed comes a year after an independent inquiry set up by the Bahraini authorities found that the government had committed "gross human rights violations" in response to prodemocracy demonstrations in 2011. The commission recommended that authorities investigate allegations of torture and arbitrary detention and bring abusers to account. Read More

Bahrain repressed protesters with West's tacit approval Amnesty International

A year after an eruption of protests in Bahrain, the ruling monarchy continues to commit serious human rights abuses against activists. Amnesty International has criticized the US and UK for ignoring the repression, and urged action.

Bahrain breaks pledge of reform

Bahrain's rulers are "making a mockery" of their promises to reform, Amnesty International warned today. The rights group said the Gulf kingdom risked "sliding into a downward spiral of repression and instability." Amnesty's report Bahrain: Reform Shelved, Repression

'Concerns' over Bahrain weapons

The human rights group Amnesty International has accused the authorities in Bahrain of making a mockery of their promises on reform and calls on Britain and the US to condemn the government there for human rights violations. The British government, however, continues to do

business with the Gulf state. Last month Britain signed an agreement with Bahrain to provide it with military and security assistance, but no press release announced it and David Cameron made little mention of it on his recent visit to the Gulf.

23 Medics Jailed In Bahrain For Participating In 'Illegal Protests'

abuses that occurred during an uprising against the Sunni monarchy and spelled out a series of reforms. The kingdom has said it's committed to the report's recommendations but has come over criticism for a series of incidents in recent weeks. The government stripped citizenship from dissenters who were said to pose security threats. Public demonstrations were banned temporarily, meanwhile, while the government tackles national security concerns. Read More when Arab Spring demonstrations in Bahrain were in full swing. According to the verdict, the health workers have the option of paying 200 Bahraini dinars ($530) each to have their prison terms suspended. Following a popular uprising on the island in February 2011, Bahrain has seen regular anti-government protests. Read More dictatorships brutal crackdown on peaceful prodemocracy demonstrations in the region. The meeting titled Bahrain: 365 Days of Broken Promises, will discuss the failure of the ruling regime of the tiny Persian Gulf island to implement recommendations made by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) last year. Read More

The Ministry of Defence describes it as a continuation Bahrain risks sliding back into of an existing relationship which will help provide security protracted instability unless it to a critically important region. takes seriously reforms spelled out by an independent rights panel, Read More Amnesty International said. and Jawad Fairouz, both of whom are former members of parliament with the Al-Wefaq movement, Said Al-Shihabi, head of the Bahrain Freedom Movement, and three Shia clerics, Hussein Mirza, Khaled Mansour Sanad and Alawi Sharaf. The Interior Ministry said the revocation of their citizenship was done based on Article 10 of the citizenship law that allows the re-evaluation of nationality. All public demonstrations were banned a few days later, further limiting a key method that the opposition had to press its demands. Read More Bahrain as an opportunity to "set the record straight" and, as a source close to her said, to "raise awareness about important issues in the area," including the political situation. Her Gaza tweetswhich she later deletedwere initially viewed as pro-Israeli, and then were attacked for mentioning Palestinians. The Twitter tension got so out of hand that she took to her personal blog to clarify that she will pray for all the countless innocent people in this conict and similar crossres. Read More The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry last year highlighted a series of

Bahrainis stripped of citizenship

Shock and dismay were the reactions of the 31 Bahrainis who were stripped of their citizenship by the Bahraini government on 7 November for allegedly breaching national security and damaging the supreme interests of the country, according to Information Minister Samira Ibrahim bin Rajab. All are Shia and gures active in the opposition to the ruling Al-Khalifa family. Included in the 31 are two brothers, Jalal

Twenty-three Bahraini health workers sentenced to prison

A court in Bahrain sentenced 23 medics to three months in jail after they treated protesters and took part in demonstrations. The doctors and nurses sentenced on Wednesday are among the 95 health workers arrested between February and March 2011,

Kim Kardashians Mideast Peace Plan

At least that's the message the people of Bahrain have gotten yet again this week as American socialite Kim Kardashian announced plans for an upcoming visit to the Persian Gulf island nation. Just days after a controversy erupted on Twitter following things she tweeted about the conict in Gaza, Kardashian has announced a trip to

UK activists to slam Bahraini regimes crimes

The press conference, organized by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) for November 22 in Fielden House on Little College Street, is expected bring together key human rights and activist groups that oppose the Bahraini