23rd March 2012

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

that hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. Despite a wave of arrests and raids on the opposition supporters over the past year, anti-government protests continue. Clashes between security forces and protesters occur almost daily. Read More Reprinted here:
Bahrain Shiites keep up rallies to pressure rulers Bahrain Shiites keep up rallies to pressure rulers - Boston.com Bahrain Shiites keep up rallies to pressure rulers | ajc.com Bahrains Shiite opposition rallies to keep up pressure on Sunni authorities despite crackdown The Washington Post

Bahrain Shiites keep up rallies to pressure rulers - 23/03/12

Hundreds of opposition supporters in Bahrain are marching to demand greater rights for the country's Shiite majority, despite a yearlong crackdown on dissent. At least 50 people have been killed since Bahrain's Shiites took to the streets last year in unprecedented numbers to voice their grievances against the minority Sunni rulers in this strategic island nation

Bahraini protesters battle police outside Manama - 23/03/12

Bahraini protesters battled with riot police near Manama on Friday after the funeral of a woman whose family said she died after tear gas entered her home twice in the past week. A U.N. rights body this week expressed concern over the use of excessive force and tear gas by Bahraini security forces. Police moved in with water cannon and armored vehicles

to break up hundreds of protesters as they approached a checkpoint near 'Pearl Roundabout', hub of pro-democracy protests last year led by majority Shi'ite Muslims complaining of marginalization. The wind carried some of the tear gas away, allowing youths to lob petrol bombs at close range at the vehicles, scoring direct hits. The water cannon red hot water during the clashes in the district of Jidhafs on the edge of the capital. Read More Reprinted here:
Bahraini protesters battle police outside Manama chicagotribune.com

Thousands march in Bahrain for reforms: witnesses - 23/03/12

Thousands of Bahrainis took to the streets of Shiite villages around the capital on Friday to demand reforms, with some calling for the ouster of the Sunni-ruled regime, witnesses said. Muslim clerics, women, and elderly people, responding to calls from the opposition, set off from 10 villages near Manama, they said.

But the protesters stayed away from the centre of Manama city and the former Pearl Square, where deadly confrontations took place last year between protesters and security forces, the witnesses said, as security measures were stepped up. Read More Reprinted here:
Thousands march in Bahrain for reforms, say witnesses Thousands march in Bahrain for reforms: witnesses - Region World - Ahram Online Lebanon news - NOW Lebanon Thousands march in Bahrain for reforms, say witnesses

Bahrain activists hold pro-reform marches 23/03/12

Hundreds of opposition supporters have marched across the nation of Bahrain to demand greater rights for the country's Shia population, with some calling for the removal of the Sunni-ruled regime, witnesses said. Police on Friday fired tear gas at about 100 protesters who

tried to march to Manama's Pearl Square, which was the centre of the mainly Shia-led revolt last year. The Wefaq Party, the main Shia bloc, has been demanding greater human rights for prisoners detained during demonstrations last year. The opposition also called for the implementation of recommendations made by an international probe into last year's crackdown on the uprising. Read More A 59-year-old woman, Abde Ali, has died on Friday from inhaling tear gas fired by the Bahraini security forces. She had been exposed to the tear gas on Thursday, her family said, as the security forces were using the gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds of protesters in several towns outside the capital Manama. Thousands of people across the country have taken to the streets to mourn her death on Friday. Read More

Bahrainis Demand More Than Cosmetic Reforms - 23/03/12

IMonths after an independent commission presented damning evidence of the Bahraini government's crackdown on pro- democracy demonstrators, thousands press on with a reinvigorated protest movement for genuine reform.

Earlier this month, an estimated 100,000 civilians filled the streets in what, according to observers, has been the largest demonstrations the gulf nation has experienced since protests began last year. The continued crackdown of the near-daily protests since then prompted a U.N. condemnation on Tuesday of the Bahraini security officials' "disproportionate use of force" to suppress protesters. Read More

Bahrain cop crackdown: Woman dies, boy allegedly tortured - 23/03/12

An elderly woman has died after Bahraini security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at opposition rallies. Meanwhile, activists claim a young boy was beaten and sexually harassed by police during the latest crackdown.

police in the previous two days. "They beat us until they got tired, then other policemen would take over and beat us more," said one boy.

handful of medic-related cases being tried separately. But his story is very similar to those of the many others who were tortured, forced to confess, and subjected to a military trial. Ashooriwho at 60 and one of the oldest prisoners in Bahrainwas the administrator in the Muharaq Maternity and Geriatrics Hospital from mid-2010. Before that, he worked for about 30 years for Bahrains Department of Health, mostly as an administrator in the Salmaniya Medical Complex. Read More The victim, identified as Abde Ali, aged 59, died on Friday after she inhaled tear gas fired by Saudi-backed Al Khalifa regime forces at protesters in the Aali village, situated about three kilometers (1.8 miles) southeast of the capital, Manama. The development comes a day after security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse anti-government protesters in several towns and villages outside Manama. Read More

Tortured Justice 23/03/12

In a house at the end of a maze of narrow streets, I sat listening to a dozen young men as they described their close encounters with the full force of Bahrain's government crackdown. We were in one of the poor, Shiite villages scattered across the country, which have remained hotbeds for revolt despite the government's persistent attempts to suppress the uprising that began last year. The boys wore an assortment of soccer shirts, and those awful rat-tail haircuts teenage boys all over the world think look cool. They said they had been severely beaten by the

For all of the Bahraini government's efforts to show progress on human rights in response to the inquiry it commissioned last year, not much seems to have changed in places like this. The regime touts that "leading international legal, police and other experts" that have been shipped in "to advise on ... practical reforms," as Minister for Human Rights Fatima Al Balooshi toldthe U.N. Human Rights Council. These experts include John Yates, a former assistant commissioner to the London Metropolitan Police Service, and John Timoney, a former police chief in Miami and Philadelphia. Read More

Younis Ashoori: One of Bahrains Forgotten Prisoners - 23/03/12

Younis Ashoori is one of the forgotten prisoners in Bahrain. Though he is a hospital administrator, he has not received anything like the media attention given the other medics, who are being prosecuted in batches of two large groups 20 felony medics and 28 misdemeanor medics. His is one of a

Bahraini woman dies from inhaling tear gas fired by regime forces 23/03/12
Relatives of a woman in Bahrain say she has died from inhaling tear gas fired by Saudi-backed Bahraini forces during an anti-government protest in the Persian Gulf monarchy.

UK backs Bahrain reforms step 23/03/12

Britain last night hailed Bahrain's key reform steps and pledged its full support as 'a friend and ally'. Welcoming the National Commission report on implementation of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) recommendations, Foreign

Ofce Minister Alistair Burt spoke by telephone to Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa. He said: 'As the Foreign Secretary said at the time the BICI report was published, the commission's ndings were deeply worrying and we have consistently encouraged full implementation of its recommendations. Read More