26th March 2013

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

Bahrain sickle cell death rise causes concern
A large rise in the number of sickle cell disease deaths in Bahrain has prompted concern. The Gulf island kingdom has a high incidence of the genetic red blood cell disease, but in 2012 the number of people in Bahrain who died from sickle cell disease (SCD) rose from 32 the previous year to 50. Two experts contacted by the BBC have said that the rise may be linked to the heavy use of teargas by security forces policing unrest in the kingdom. SCD causes red blood cells to lose their shape and become sickle-shaped (like a crescent moon). Read More Abdulhadi, co-founder of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) and in prison since April 2011, has been taken to hospital after his condition deteriorated, his sister and acting president of BCHR Maryam al-Khawaja toldIBTimes UK. Zainab, a 29-year-old mother of a three-year-old girl, was "coughing up blood from her throat and nose". A doctor said that she was at high risk of organ failure, cardiac arrest or coma. Read More Khawaja was accepting uids and denied that her father, leading Shiite activist Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja, was on any form of hunger strike. Bahrain has been in turmoil since 2011, when the Shiiteled opposition intensied demands for an end to alleged discrimination and for full powers for parliament. Read More a week and began refusing uids Sunday, putting her life at imminent risk, according to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Zainabs father, Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, who is serving a life term for his role in the pro-democracy uprising, is also said to be on hunger strike. Zainab released a letter from jail, writing: "Not wearing the convicts clothes, because I have committed no crime, that became my small act of civil disobedience. Read More

Rights groups fears for hunger strikers in Bahrain

A rights group says two imprisoned pro-democracy activists on hunger strike to protest their detention in crisis-hit Bahrain have started refusing water. Freedom House said in a statement Tuesday that it is

"deeply concerned" for Zainab al-Khawaja and her father Abdulhadi alKhawaja, who started a hunger strike March 17 to protest. They went on "dry hunger strike" on Sunday after being denied a family visit in prison, it said. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights said doctors warned Zainab al-Khawaja that she risks "organ failure, cardiac arrest or coma" if she continues. Read More Doctors said Tuesday that Zainab's weakened condition put her at a high risk of cardiac arrest, coma, or organ failure,said the International Business Times. The news comes as 13 anti-government activists were handed 10-year jail terms on Tuesday on charges of attacking the police during uprisings there two years ago, according to ABC. Read More

Bahrain: Jailed Hunger Strikers Abdulhadi and Zainab al-Khawaja Resume Drinking Water
Bahraini hunger strikers Zainab al-Khawaja and her father Abdulhadi have resumed drinking water but will continue their hunger strike in protest against their unlawful detention by the Bahraini regime, according to reports.

Bahrain: Fatherdaughter activist duo debilitated by hunger strike as more activists arrested
Rights groups in Bahrain expressed concern over jailed activists of Zainab alKhawaja and her father, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, as they continue a potentially deadly hunger strike in protest against the government, reported ABC News.

Disagreement over Bahraini hunger strikers

Two jailed activists on hunger strike in Bahrain are also refusing uids in protest at being denied visits from their family, a rights organisation said on Monday. But the Bahraini government said Zainab Al

Jailed Bahraini Activists Refuse Fluids After Family Visits Denied

Two jailed Bahraini activists are on hunger strike and refusing uids after being denied visits from their family. Zainab Alkhawaja was sentenced to three months in jail earlier this month for insulting a public ofcial. She has been on hunger strike for more than

Stop supporting dictators

The two year anniversary of the Bahraini revolution has recently passed, and while media coverage has died down, the cumulative rage inside the country has done nothing but soar. Protesters take to the streetsevery week to demand their right to freedom and selfdetermination. The geopolitical cards are stacked against them, but politics cannot stand in the way of human will - it can only delay the eventual outcome.

The daily humiliation and indignities the population there suffers at the hands of their own regime is beyond unacceptable. Villages are raided nightly as the government tries to hunt down protest leaders or those who are "inciting hatred against the regime". A raid, for those who have never experienced it, is absolutely horric - imagine that without warning your streets are lled with poisonous tear gas that leaks into open windows, you hear screams and people around you are all running for cover. Read More

College of surgeons Bahrain head quits over conference permit

The Bahrain i governments ofcial spokeswoman has accused Prof Tom Collins, the president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RSCI) Bahrain campus, of utter lies after Prof Collins said he was resigning because a conference he helped organise on medical ethics failed to get a permit. Prof Collins informed staff and students at the weekend that he was

stepping down in protest over the cancellation of the two-day event which was to examine medical ethics and dilemmas in situations of political discord or violence and was cosponsored by medical charity Mdecins Sans Frontires. The theme of the conference was sensitive in Bahrain given the continuing fallout from the rounding up of scores of medics in early 2011 as Bahraini security forces tried to snuff out prodemocracy rallies. Read More