BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

4th/ 5th/ 6th July 2014

Policeman wounded
in Bahrain bomb
blast - ministry
A bomb blast wounded a
policeman in Bahrain on
Friday night in what the
Interior Ministry said was a
terrorist act, the latest in a
string of attacks on security
forces in the U.S.-allied
island kingdom.
Violence has been on the
rise in the strategically
located Gulf Arab country,
which hosts the U.S. Fifth
Fleet, more than three
years after authorities
quelled Shi'ite Muslim-led
protests demanding reforms
and a bigger role in the
Sunni-led government.
The country has been
caught up in a region-wide
tussle for inuence between
Sunni Saudi Arabia and
Shi'ite Iran, across the Gulf.
Read More
Bahrain police officer
killed in terrorist
blast
A police ofcer died in a
terrorist blast in a Shiite-
populated village in the
Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom of
Bahrain, an interior ministry
ofcial announced
Saturday.
Police ofcer Mahmud
Farid died Saturday before
dawn from wounds
sustained in a terrorist
explosion at East Ekar,
near Manama, said national
security chief General
Tareq al-Hassan in a
statement published by
national news agency BNA.
An investigation has been
opened to identify and
arrest those behind the
attack, he added without
giving further details.
Attacks on security forces
have been on the rise in
Bahrain in recent months,
with three police ofcers,
one from the United Arab
Emirates, killed in a bomb
attack in a Shiite-populated
town on March 3.
Read More
Terrorist explosion
kills police officer in
Bahrain
A police ofcer died in a
"terrorist" blast in a Shiite-
populated village in the
Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom of
Bahrain, an interior ministry
ofcial announced
Saturday.
"Police ofcer Mahmud
Farid died Saturday before
dawn from wounds
sustained in a terrorist
explosion at East Ekar",
near Manama, said national
security chief General Tareq
al-Hassan in a statement
published by national news
agency BNA.
An investigation has been
opened to identify and
arrest those behind the
attack, he added without
giving further details.
Read More
Bahrain police officer
killed in terrorist
bombing
A Bahraini police ofcer
was killed in a terrorist
bombing that took place in
a village south of the capital
Manama, an interior
ministry ofcial announced
Saturday.
Ofcer Mahmud Farid died
Saturday of wounds
sustained in the blast,
which occurred the day
before in the village of East
Ekar, according to public
security chief Maj. Gen.
Tariq al-Hassan.
Police ofcer Mahmud
Farid died Saturday before
dawn from wounds
sustained in a terrorist
explosion at East Ekar," Ma.
Gen. Hassan said.
Read More
Manama: explosion
in Shiite village kills
police officer. Sunni
authorities denounce
"terrorism"
The police ofcer injured in
an "terrorist" bombing in a
Shiite majority village in
Bahrain yesterday evening
died this morning just
before dawn . In an ofcial
statement, General Tariq al-
Hassan, head of national
security in the small Persian
Gulf emirate, reported that
"the policeman Mahmoud
Farid died from the injuries"
sustained in the attack that
hit the village of Ekar-East,
a predominantly Shiite area
a short distance from the
capital Manama. The
authorities have opened an
investigation to identify and
punish those responsible,
even if there are no further
news on the authors of the
attack or reasons behind
incident.
Read More
Medic to serve one
year in jail for
allegedly insulting
Bahraini king
In the early hours of 1 July
2014, Dr. Saeed Al-
Samahiji was arrested from
his home to serve a one-
year prison sentence for
insulting the King. The
alleged insult had taken
place on 18 September
2013 at the funeral of a
young protester who died
as a result of excessive use
of force by Bahraini
authorities.
Following the funeral, Dr.
Al-Samahiji was
immediately summoned for
interrogation by the
Criminal Investigation
Department (CID), where
he himself went voluntarily
the following day, 19
September 2013.
Read More
Gulf States urged to
release thousands of
prisoners of
conscience
Sunday will see Gulf rights
activists mark Gulf Detainee
Day with a conference in
Australia, in which they will
call on oil-rich GCC states
to release thousands of
prisoners of conscience.
In a statement released on
Thursday night, Anwar al-
Rasheed, head of the Gulf
Forum for Civil Societies,
announced their "call for the
release of prisoners and
detainees who have been
put behind bars for simply
expressing their opinion."
Rasheed said there are
"between 30,000 and
40,000 opinion prisoners
and detainees," in the six-
nation Gulf Cooperation
Council, which comprises
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia and
United Arab Emirates.
Read More
Bahraini Satirist
Blogger Takrooz
Arrested
The Bahrain Ministry of
Interior announced the
arrest of yet another
netizen, who reportedly
faces accusations of
inciting hatred against the
regime.
The satirist mirco-blogger,
nicknamed Takrooz, was
arrested at the Bahrain
International Airport, while
on his way back from
Thailand, said the ministry
in a statement on June 18,
2014, without disclosing his
name.
A day later, many Bahrainis
were fuming on Twitter,
saying the arrest was futile
and served no purpose
other than to further
demonstrate the
government's true colours
in stiing opposition voices
online. Scores of netizens
have been arrested by the
regime since anti-
government protests started
in Bahrain on February 14,
2011.
Read More
'Unfortunately we are
ruled by a tribe'
DW: You were imprisoned
for two years on charges
relating to your participation
in "unauthorized" protest
marches. Can you tell me
about your experience
inside?
Nabeel Rajab: Ninety
percent of people in prison
in Bahrain are there
because of the political
situation, and the
authorities were afraid I
would inuence them and
create an awareness of
human rights, so they
disconnected me. For two
years they kept me in a
separate at with an
average of three or four
people who mostly didn't
speak my language. They
didn't want me to mix with
the other prisoners during
break time or lunch time.
When I had to go to hospital
in the jail, they even
emptied the clinic. It was
very important for them that
I didn't see anybody and
that nobody saw me.
Read More
Bahrain upholds jail
terms in spying case
The Court of Cassation,
Bahrains highest court, has
upheld a prison sentence
against a defendant
accused of spying for a
foreign country. The High
Criminal Court had
sentenced the convict to ten
years in prison and
imposed a ne of
BD10,000.
Two other accomplices,
who are still at large, have
also been convicted in
absentia and handed the
same sentence, Attorney-
General Wael Bualley said
on Wednesday.
The trio were convicted for
spying between 2002 and
April 2010 on behalf of a
foreign country to damage
Bahrains national,
economic, military and
political interests.
Read More
Ancient division of
Shiites and Sunnis is
renewed
Black and yellow concrete
barricades block the roads
entering a wealthy Sunni
enclave, where foreign-born
Sunni soldiers in armored
personnel carriers guard
the mansions of the ruling
family and the business
elite.
Beyond the enclave are
impoverished villages of
Shiites, about 70 percent of
Bahrains more than
650,000 citizens, where the
police skirmish nightly with
young men wielding rocks
and, increasingly,
improvised weapons such
as homemade guns that
use re extinguishers to
shoot rebar.
Read More