16th September 2013

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

"functioning outside the law."

Bahrain files lawsuit to shut Shiite clerics council

Bahraini authorities have led a lawsuit to close a Shiite Muslim clerics' council, accusing it of operating illegally and being involved in politics, the justice ministry said on Monday. The ministry said it wanted the ofce of the Olamaa Islamic Council to be closed and its assets liquidated for

The lawsuit came as authorities in the Sunniruled monarchy crack down on opposition action by Shiites, who make up the majority of the population in the Gulf archipelago. The council, which is led by prominent cleric Issa Qassem, "violates the constitution and the laws of the kingdom," the ministry said, accusing its members of "using it to practise politics under a confessional cover." Read More Ms. Khawajas sister, Maryam al-Khawaja, who is in exile. In it, Zainab alKhawaja recites what she says is one of her fathers favorite poems and dedicates it to to the brave people of Bahrain who I miss greatly, and to all freedom-loving people of the world. Ms. Khawajas father, Abdulhadi alKhawaja, is also in prison, serving a life sentence for charges of plotting to overthrow the government. Read More leaving little left to move us so deeply that it will impact us for the rest of our lives. The region has witnessed too much to mention in the last half century, without even mentioning the current ongoing wars in Syria and Iraq with no end in sight. The violence intensies, the suffering unstoppable, the dead pile up until the next day, when it starts all over again. Read More

Case filed to dissolve Islamic Scholars Council in Bahrain

Bahrains justice, Islamic affairs and endowments ministry on Monday led a suit to dissolve the Islamic Scholars Council, saying that it was an illegal entity founded in violation of the provisions of the constitution and the law.

The ministry said that its quest to dissolve the council, shut down its ofce and liquidate its nancial assets was based on the insistence of the entity on carrying on with its activities outside the law despite repeated warnings to its leaders that it was in violation of the constitution and the laws in the kingdom. Read More On September 12, 2013, the European Parliament issued a further resolution on the deteriorating rights situation in Bahrain, urging it, among other things, to respect the rights of juveniles, to refrain from detaining them in adult facilities, and to treat juveniles in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Bahrain is a party. Read More

Bahrain: Security Forces Detaining Children

Bahrainsecurity forces routinely detain children without cause and subject them to ill-treatment that may rise to the level of torture, Human Rights Watch said today, based on reports from victims, family members and legal rights activists.

A Bahraini Activists Message From Prison

Zainab al-Khawaja, an opposition activist in Bahrain who charted the uprising in the country on her @AngryArabiya Twitter feed until she was detained this year, has sent an audio message to her supporters from prison. The audio recording was passed on to The Times by

members and legal rights activists.

Bahrain: Security Forces Detaining Children, Says HRW

Bahrain security forces routinely detain children without cause and subject them to ill-treatment that may rise to the level of torture, Human Rights Watch said today, based on reports from victims, family

Eye on the East Human Rights Watch reports: Children tortured in Bahrain
We live in a world where violence has become common place, suffering a regular feeling we have learned to cope with and the dead just one more number. Or maybe this is the world that the Middle East and Arab World has taken to be its daily bread,

On September 12, 2013, the European Parliament issued a further resolution on the deteriorating rights situation in Bahrain, urging it, among other things, to respect the rights of juveniles, to refrain from detaining them in adult facilities, and to treat juveniles in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Bahrain is a party.

Watch said in areport this week. Rounding up kids, throwing them in jail and beating and threatening them is no way for a country to treat its children, saidJoe Stork, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch (HRW). The Bahraini authorities need to look into these allegations and immediately call a halt to any arbitrary arrests and mistreatment of children. Read More in the village of Daih in Bahrain. The ghting has taken place after the third day of funeral rituals for a 22-year-old activist. Video watch here

In US-Backed Bahrain, Detention and Torture of Children is Routine

Bahrainsecurity forces routinely detain children without cause and subject them to ill-treatment that may rise to the level of torture, Human Rights

Report: Bahrain Routinely Detaining, Beating Children

A new report by Human Rights Watch accuses security forces in the Gulf island nation of Bahrain of routinely detaining children without cause and imposing "ill-treatment that may rise to the level of torture." According to the report, children in Bahrain are

often held for long periods of time, threatened with torture and beaten. The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights recorded 15 detentions of children suspected of involvement in pro-democracy protests in the month of August alone. The report came amid clashes between protesters and security forces following the death of a 22year-old protester. Bahrain is a key U.S. ally and home to the U.S. Navys Fifth Fleet. Read More

Clashes continue in Bahrain

Fresh clashes have taken place between police and anti-government protesters

Bahrain mulls tougher laws against Web misuse

Tougher punishments for misusing websites and social media are being studied by the Bahraini government, a report said.

The Cabinet approved a proposal to amend existing legislation during its weekly session yesterday (September 15), reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication. It has now been referred to the ministerial committee concerned to recommend necessary action. Read More