16th May 2012

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

However, Al Jazeera has exclusively obtained a report from a second autopsy performed by an independent forensic pathologist that concludes Mowali was electrically tortured and unconscious when he drowned.

Autopsy finds torture behind Bahrain drowning

On most mornings Yousef Mowali would leave his home near Bahrain's international airport to go for a stroll. The 23year-old had been diagnosed with schizophrenia a few years earlier and liked walking, both for exercising and relaxing. On January 11, Mowali left for his morning walk and never returned. Police said they found Mowali's body floating in the water on January 13 in the Amwaj area, not far from his family's home in Muharraq. A state doctor reported the cause of death as drowning and ruled out signs of violence. Mr Rajab is a fierce critic of the Bahraini authorities and very active on social network websites as well as in antigovernment protests.

If true, Mowali's death would be the first of a person in police custody since the government promised reforms, following the release of a report by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), which looked at the early months of unrest surrounding last years pro-democracy uprising. The government-sponsored commission found that Bahrain's Interior Ministry and national security agency employed "a systematic practice of physical and psychological mistreatment, which in many cases amounted to torture" during the early months of the crackdown in 2011. Read More free expression as part of crackdowns against opposition groups. Rajab, the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, was arrested May 5 and charged with using social media to insult Bahraini authorities and encourage demonstrations. Fifty-five lawyers attended his hearing in a show of solidarity with Rajab. The trial continues on Sunday. Read More was political, according to witnesses. I only practiced my right to free expression. I did not commit a crime. The decision to arrest me and put me on trial was a political decision, he said. More than 50 lawyers, both men and women, gathered at the court to defend Rajab, who has been leading protests following a brutal crackdown on Shiite-led demonstrations against the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty in March 2011. Read More

Bahraini activist Nabeel Rajab goes on trial

A prominent Bahraini human rights activist has appeared in court charged with inciting protests by using social networking sites. Nabeel Rajab was arrested on 5 May at Manama's airport, on his return from the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Jailed activist: Bahrain He described his trial as seeks to weaken "vindictive" and political, AFP uprising
news agency reports. Mr Rajab is often seen in the forefront of opposition demonstrations in Bahrain and is a vocal critic of the ruler, King Hamad al-Khalifa. Read More with using the online messaging service Twitter to insult authorities, his lawyer said. A prominent rights activist jailed in Bahrain says his detention is a political act aimed at weakening the uprising against the Gulf kingdom's rulers. Nabel Rajab also told a judge on Wednesday that authorities seek to muzzle

Bahrain seeks arrest of 20 over homemade bombs

Bahrain issued arrest warrants on Wednesday for 20 people accused of injuring policemen and civilians with homemade bombs during months of prodemocracy unrest in the island kingdom. In another sign of a crackdown on dissent, well known activist Nabeel Rajab appeared in court charged

Bahrain has been in turmoil since protesters, mainly from the Gulf Arab state's Shi'ite Muslim majority, took to the streets calling for democtratic reform in early 2011.

Bahrain activist says charge over tweets vindictive

Prominent Bahraini rights activist Nabeel Rajab told a court on Wednesday that a charge that he tweeted insults against the government was vindictive, as dozens of lawyers turned up to defend him.

More than a year later, protests have continued to erupt and recently intensified, with daily clashes between police firing teargas The charge against me is and youths throwing petrol vindictive and is due to my bombs. rights activism, Rajab told a judge at Manamas Minor Read More Criminal Court, insisting the decision to arrest and try him

Bahrain publishes list of 20 wanted for terrorist attacks

Bahrain released on Wednesday a list of names of 20 people wanted by the authorities over "terrorist bombings" in which policemen and civilians were wounded, state news agency BNA reported.

Investigation has shown that the 20 "committed terrorist crimes by making and using homemade bombs and carrying out criminal acts which have caused injuries among civilians and policemen and have terrorized citizens and residents," BNA said. The list, which BNA said was published with the consent of the attorney general to facilitate their arrest, urged all citizens to provide authorities with information on the 20 accused. Read More The Islamic Propagation Coordination Council, which organises state-backed protests, urged Iranians "to protest against the American plan to annex Bahrain to Saudi Arabia and express their anger against the lackey regimes of Al-Khalifa and Al-Saud." Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) discussed on Monday plans to turn the bloc into a union, starting with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Read More

Bahrain Releases Names of Suspects in Blasts Targeting Police

Bahrains Interior Ministry has released the names and images of 20 people wanted in connection with the preparation and detonation of homemade bombs that targeted policemen, the ministry said.

The explosions have resulted in injuries to both civilians and security personnel and also caused the spread of fear in the surrounding communities, the ministry said in a statement on its website. The suspects have evaded arrest and the search for them has been intensified, it said. Blasts in two Shiite villages last month injured at least 11 policemen, the Information Affairs Authority said in a statement in April. Read More for terrorist explosions," an interior ministry statement said. "The public prosecution has permitted publishing the images to allow ... speedy arrest(s)." It said the 20 were suspected of preparing and detonating home-made explosive devices that targeted policemen and injured both security personnel and civilians. Read More

Bahrain seeks arrests over home-made bombs

Bahrain issued arrest warrants on Wednesday for 20 people in an investigation into homemade bombs that injured policemen combating prodemocracy unrest in the Gulf Arab state. "The criminal investigations chief announced a list with photos of 20 individuals wanted

Iran urges rally against Saudi-Bahrain union

Iran hardened its tone against a plan to unite Bahrain with Saudi Arabia, calling on its people to protest Friday against what it described as a US plot to annex the tiny Gulf archipelago.

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain - Towards an (un)holy matrimony

The Gulf Co-Operation Council summit held in Riyadh on Sunday nally ended on Monday with an undertaking from Gulf leaders to further study the plans for a tighter political union. The Saudis and Bahrainis have been excitedly calling for this union for some months now,

but the other Gulf states have been less keen. If the Saudis have their way, the proposed Gulf Union will not be another superuous regional alliance with a catchy acronym. For one, the anticipation of an immediate union between Bahrain and Saudi is telling of a sentiment of selfpreservation informing the way the Saudis conduct themselves politically these days. Read More

Bahrain protests Iran criticism of GCC union plans

Bahrain has summoned Iran's charge d'affaires to protest against what it called a "gross violation of its sovereignty" in a row after Tehran criticised efforts by Gulf Arab states to forge closer political and military union. Sunni Muslim Arab heads of state met in Riyadh on Monday to discuss a call by Saudi King Abdullah to unite the sixmember Gulf Cooperation

Council (GCC) to counter Shi'ite Muslim Iran's growing influence in the Middle East and neutralise any threat of revolts by Shi'ite communities in their countries. They failed to agree on further integration but talks on the matter are to resume later this year. In the run-up to the Riyadh meeting, speculation was rife that an initial union would be announced between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, where antigovernment protests led by majority Shi'ites have gripped the island state since last year. Read More

Tensions over British queen's regal jubilee lunch

A glittering lunch for the world's sovereigns to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II was marked Thursday by a withdrawal, protests and sharp criticism of the guest list.

Spain's Queen Sophia has pulled out of Friday's event at Windsor Castle, west of London, amid tensions over Gibraltar, while there were protests over the reported attendance of Swaziland's King Mswati III. Bahrain ofcials also said King Hamad, whose Gulf island country is in a state of civil unrest following a deadly crackdown on protests, should be attending, angering rights groups. Read More

less attention, human rights groups have documented ongoing government abuses.

U.S. arms Bahrain, despite human rights concerns

While much of the world's focus has been on the civil war in Syria, the island kingdom of Bahrain continues to shake with anti-government protests that started in last year's "Arab Spring." While it has received

Those concerns were enough to put a halt on a weapons sale from the U.S. to Bahrain last fall, but the Obama administration announced last Friday that it has decided to proceed with the sale, despite the ongoing upheaval and protests from both Congress and human rights groups. Read More removal of old systems along with their entrenched leaders. The scenes a year later look markedly different.

Arab autocrats aiding terrorism

The rising specter of terrorism in Syria shows that by clinging to power and refusing to implement meaningful reforms, Arab autocrats in Syria, Bahrain, and elsewhere are indirectly contributing to the resurgence of terrorism in their societies. Arab protests

started peacefully, but almost in every country regime repression and torture ultimately pushed popular revolts toward violence. This cynical calculus allowed Arab autocrats to claim that protests were directed from the outside and resistance was the work of terrorist groups. In Egypt and Tunisia, regimes fell while popular protests were still peaceful. Read More Shia Muslims majority in Bahrain on May 25, 2012. The report details the atrocities committed by the AlKhalifa Monarchy against the people of Bahrain, a press release said Journalists, researchers, and human rights advocates interested in obtaining a copy before the release of a report may contact the organisation directly. Read More

Analysis: Why Arab Springs Falter - Bahrain

Is the Arab Spring over? Its a question on the minds of many observers of Middle East politics. Back in 2011, in Bahrain, Syria and Egypt, television stations broadcast scenes of defiant democracy movements and socially mobilized youth taking to the streets, in most cases peacefully demanding the

In Egypt, television images are now filled with semi-regular chaos in the streets of Cairo. Clashes erupt spontaneously Shia Rights Watch to outside ministry buildings. release report Security has eroded. Despite promises from the currently highlighting Bahrains ruling Supreme Council of the atrocities Armed Forces to hand over power as soon as a new Shia Rights Watch (SRW) is president is elected, the releasing a report cataloguing masses are not satisfied. human rights abuses against Read More