3rd/ 4th/ 5th May 2013

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

government, witnesses said.

Bahrain Shiites protest to demand prisoners be freed

Hundreds of people from Bahrain's Shiite Muslim majority clashed with police on Friday as they demonstrated to demand the release of Shiite prisoners held by the kingdom's Sunni-dominated

Demonstrators, who included women, shouted "Free the prisoners!" and held up photos of people being held. The protests in Shiite villages near the capital Manama were in response to a call from the radical February 14 Revolution Youth Commission. Read More island, a hotbed of protests since early 2011 when Bahrains majority Shiites began an uprising seeking a greater political voice in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom. The court decision Sunday could touch off more unrest. Defense layer Mohamed alTajir said the charges stemmed from clashes last year when protesters pelted riot police and their vehicles with homeland rebombs. The charges included attempted murder. Read More

Bahrain seeks to end US envoy 'interference'

Bahrain's cabinet on Sunday approved a parliamentary proposal to stop "interference" by the US envoy in the kingdom's affairs, the government spokeswoman said, without clarifying what measures would be taken.

"The cabinet has approved a proposal by the parliament to put an end to the interference of US Ambassador Thomas Krajeski in Bahrain's internal affairs," the ofcial BNA news agency reported Samira Rajab as saying. It also aims at putting an end to "his repeated meetings with instigators of sedition" -- a government term for Shiite protesters who frequently clash with police. Read More setting a police car ablaze, in addition to rioting and possessing petrol bombs, said the lawyer who requested anonymity. Fourteen of the defendants remain at large. Another lawyer said the defendants had denied the charges and claimed that they had been tortured into making confessions. Read More

Bahrain court sentences 31 protesters to 15 years prison each over police attack
A defense lawyer in Bahrain says a court has sentenced 31 protesters to 15 years in prison each for roles in rebomb attacks against security forces during an anti-government demonstration last year. The defendants, aged 16 to 34, all come from Sitra

Bahrain Hands 31 Long Jail Terms over Police Attack

A Bahraini court jailed 31 people for 15 years on Sunday after convicting them of attacking a police patrol in the village of Sitra, a lawyer said. The group was accused of attempted murder and

Bahrain court sentences 31 to jail for bid to murder policeman

Bahrains high criminal court on Sunday sentenced 31 defendants to 15 years in prison for targeting policemen. The court said the 31 men were guilty of the premeditated murder

attempt of the policemen, setting a police patrol on re, illegal gathering and possessing and using Molotov cocktails in Sitra, a small town south of the capital Manama. Fourteen of the defendants remain at large. The suspects lawyers last month called for their acquittal. Read More

Bahrain Hands 31 Long Jail Terms over Police Attack

Bahrains court has sentenced 31 protesters to 15 years in prison for attacking a police patrol in a Shiite village, media reported. The accused claim they were coerced into confessing. The protesters were charged with attempted

murder, setting a police car ablaze, protesting and possession of petrol bombs, The Daily Star Lebanon quoted one of the lawyers as saying. The whereabouts of 14 other defendants remain unknown. Another lawyer has conrmed that the accused have denied the charges against them and have been tortured into confessing. Read More

Bahrain's medics politicised by crisis

A group of Bahraini health workers have found themselves on the frontlines of a battle over medical neutrality as the aftershocks of the Arab Spring continue to rumble through the Gulf island kingdom.

In theory, medical neutrality is a simple concept: physicians must be allowed to care for the sick and wounded; soldiers must receive care regardless of their political afliations; and all parties must refrain from attacking and misusing medical facilities, transport, and personnel. Violations constitute a crime under the Geneva Conventions. Read More Puddington wrote on Bahrain. "Many domestic journalists have been arrested and detained without warrants and confessions have been extracted through torture." The British government, however, takes a sunnier view of its longtime ally's attitude toward the media. On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, the British embassy in Manama publishedtwo articles on media freedoms -- one written by the editor-in-chief of a Bahraini governmentcontrolled newspaper, and the other by a political group sympathetic to the ruling monarchy. Read More In a statement on Twitter, the Foreign Ofce said:

Heres what they came up with. Anwar Abdulrahman, editor of a Bahraini daily, fumed that:

Britain, undermining press freedom in Bahrain

On World Press Freedom Day, someone in the British Embassy in Bahrain decided that it would be a good idea to solicit some views from Bahraini journalists and commentators on their views on the freedom of expression in Bahrain. Sounds reasonable, right?

So-called human rights organisations, which unfortunately are largely administered by exideologists and even terrorists, today propagate their own version of the word freedom, solely to take it away from others. Read More

In a statement on Twitter, the Foreign Ofce said:

Britain burnishes Bahrain's record on press freedom

In an article for FP this week, Freedom House Vice President Arch Puddington laid out the 10 worst countries in the world to be a journalist. The list contained well-known dictatorships such as North Korea, Syria, and Cuba -and also the tiny island kingdom of Bahrain. "Restrictions on the press have steadily worsened since pro-democracy protests began in 2011,"

Foreign Office U-Turn on British Embassy Blog Praising Bahrain's 'Human Rights Record'
The Foreign Ofce has made a dramatic U-turn over two articles published on the website of the British embassy in Bahrain that boasted about the Gulf island state's human rights record on World Press Freedom Day.

The articles, one written by the editor-in-chief of a Bahraini-controlled newspaper, Anwar Abdulrahman, and the other by a pro-monarchy political group, depicts Bahrain as a place where Western media and leading rights organisations have tainted the countrys image and integrity and have ripped society apart through sectarian tension. Read More journalists were forbidden from entering the country to prevent them from announcing the events in Bahrain. On the other hand, "I am proud of our country in terms of press freedom" said Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, in a statement released on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, adding that journalists were allowed to express their views freely. Read More

Foreign Office U-Turn on British Embassy Blog Praising Bahrain's 'Human Rights Record'
The Foreign Ofce has made a dramatic U-turn over two articles published on the website of the British embassy in Bahrain that boasted about the Gulf island state's human rights record on World Press Freedom Day.

Worst period on press freedom in Bahrain- Wefaq

Bahrain's oppositionWefaq movement released a statement saying Bahrain have been witnessing the worst period in terms of press freedom. It was also stated that tens of press workers were red because of their anti-regime opinions, and many foreign

The articles, one written by the editor-in-chief of a Bahraini-controlled newspaper, Anwar Abdulrahman, and the other by a pro-monarchy political group, depicts Bahrain as a place where Western media and leading rights organisations have tainted the countrys image and integrity and have ripped society apart through sectarian tension. Read More

Bahrains Surreal Politics

Several weeks ago, Bahrain began its springtime celebrations. They were reected in ubiquitous banners, exhibitions, declarations, musical concerts, cultural festivals and workshops, all paid for out of the public coffers. The island country is lled with celebratory receptions for delegations of celebrities (artists, singers, musicians, authors and so on) whose arrival and every movement are hungrily recorded by the cameras. They have come from all over the world to a country whose income

depends on the charity of its neighbors. Perhaps most of them had never even heard of Bahrain before. But whether they intend to do so or not, they help to endow a dubious political arrangement with legitimacy. Bahrains main streets and roadways, and all its media outlets, have been crammed with promotional advertisements of various kinds. On the one hand, Bahraini ags utter across the length of the main highways, alongside old ags for the Formula 1 Grand Prix. Read More

grantedequal rights with the ruling Sunni minority.

Bahrain: Opposition Demands Political Prisoners To Be Released

An opposition rally has taken place near Bahrains capital Manama. The participants demanded to release political prisoners in the country.

According to Bahraini human rights activists, about 80 members of the countrys opposition are now in prisons. In February, Bahrains king Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa announced that he was ready for a dialogue with the opposition. However, several opposition movements, including an inuential group al-Wefaq, say that they are not going to stop rallies of protest. Read More Demonstrators, who included women, shouted Free the prisoners! and held up photos of people being held. The protests in Shia villages near the capital Manama were in response to a call from the radical February 14 Revolution Youth Commission. Read More

Representatives of the countrys Shiites also took part in the rally, demanding that they should be

Bahrain Shias protest to demand prisoners be freed

Hundreds of people from Bahrains Shia Muslim majority clashed with police on Friday as they demonstrated to demand the release of Shia prisoners held by the kingdoms Sunni-dominated government, witnesses said.