11th December 2014

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

Will General Reform
Ever Come to
Bahrain?
Nineteen days ago Bahrain
held its first parliamentary
election since 2011. The
government claimed a voter
turnout of 51%, the same
figure it announced after the
2011 elections. In actuality,
in 2011, only 17% of eligible
voters cast a ballot in the
districts that were
contested. That same year,
Arab Spring-inspired
protests shook the ruling Al
Khalifa regime, which

Britain in the Middle

East: Were back
IN 1968 a cash-strapped
Labour government,
asserting its anti-colonialist
credentials, announced
Britains military withdrawal
from all its bases east of
Aden (a portpictured in
1864in what is now
Yemen, that was a coaling
station on the way to India).
For many, what became
known as the East of
Suez declaration marked
the formal end of the British

crushed the largely

peaceful movement with
military assistance from
neighboring Saudi Arabia
and the United Arab
Emirates.
Of the four elections held
since 2002, the opposition
has boycotted three, largely
in protest against what is
sees as a rigged electoral
game. In 2006, the year in
which the main opposition
party, al-Wefaq, took part in
elections, it won just 18 out
of 40 seats in parliaments
lower house. Conveniently,
this was less than the
majority it would have
needed to pass needed
reforms.
Read More
empire. Now, nearly 50
years later, the Royal Navy
is to get a new permanent
base at Mina Salman in
Bahrain.
In reality, Britain never left
the Gulf. It has longstanding security ties with
Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia
and the United Arab
Emirates (where the Royal
Air Force operates a
Typhoon fighter-jet
squadron from Al-Minhad, a
base in Dubai that has also
acted as a logistical bridge
for operations in
Afghanistan).
Read More

Britain in Bahrain:
eyes wide shut
The British government
announced on 6 December
2014 that it was expanding
its use of port facilities at
Mina Salman in Bahrain
into a full naval base. The
news was greeted by
protests from the Shia
majority in the Gulf
kingdom; many called for
the removal of the United
Kingdom's ambassador,
Iain Lindsay.
A potent argument now
circulating is that the Sunnidominated government is
paying most of the cost of
the new base as a reward
for Britains turning a blind

Deadly violence
escalates in Bahrain
after failure of
opposition boycott
Two people, including a
Jordanian policeman, were
killed in bomb blasts in
Shiite villages of Bahrain,
the scene of simmering
unrest since antigovernment protests were
crushed in 2011, officials
said Tuesday.

eye to human-rights abuses

in Bahrain - especially since
protests erupted there in
the early months of the
"Arab spring". Bahrain
Watch and other humanrights groups have long
criticised the government in
Manama, but they have had
little impact on British
government policy.
The UK base will not be
large in comparison to the
substantial United States
naval headquarters for its
fifth fleet, just up the coast.
But is still significant, as the
first permanent presence
"east of Suez" since the
Britain withdrew from the
region in 1971
Read More

An explosion in Karzakan
on Tuesday killed a
Bahraini and slightly
wounded an Asian national,
the interior ministry said,
describing it as a "terrorist"
attack.
Witnesses said the bomb
was planted on a corner of
the road under a tree.
Late on Monday, a separate
attack in Damistan, a
nearby Shiite village, killed
a policeman, the authorities
said.
Read More

Bahrain court
sentences prodemocracy activist
Zainab al-Khawaja to
16 months in jail
Pro-democracy activist
Zainab al-Khawaja has
been handed a 16 month
prison sentence by a court
in Bahrain after being found
guilty of insulting a
government employee and
damaging public property,
her lawyer said.

It follows a previous
conviction for insulting King
Hamad by tearing up his
photograph. She was
sentenced on December 4
to three years in jail and
fined 3,000 dinars ($7,960)
for that charge.
She was free on bail and
that sentence was
suspended pending an
appeal. However Tuesday's
verdict was effective
immediately.
Read More