democracynow on Feb 28, 2014
Image by Al Jazeera English via Flickr
democracynow – We go to Bahrain to speak with human rights activist Zainab Alkhawaja, just after she was released from prison by the Bahraini government. “One year in prison is nothing,” Alkhawaja says of her time behind bars. “Because it’s nothing compared to what we’re willing to sacrifice for our goals, for democracy in our country.” Continue reading
RT on Feb 13, 2014
Image by Al Jazeera English via Flickr
Shia villages outside Bahrain’s capital have been left shrouded in tear gas after fierce clashes between police and anti-government demonstrators. The protest movement is marking three years of its uprising against the ruling Sunni monarchy, which has been met with a relentless crackdown and thousands of arrests. RT’s Alexey Yaroshevsky reports on the long-running standoff.
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RT on Feb 4, 2014
If you don’t think much of the King of Bahrain, maybe it’s better to keep it to yourself – or else you could face 7 years in prison, thanks to some new laws to defend the monarchy. Previously, the punishment was a few days in jail, but now, any Twitter post, Facebook comment or casual disparaging word could land you a hefty term. For more RT talks to Rodney Shakespeare, Chair of the Committee Against Torture in Bahrain. READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/xweqti
by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
December 9, 2013
Image by malyousif via Flickr
In a breathtaking display of absurdity, US secretary of defense Chuck Hagel and Britain’s Foreign Minister William Hague were among senior Western delegates to address the annual conference on “regional security” held in Bahrain at the weekend.
These officials pontificated about regional threats, conflict, international law, human rights and so on; meanwhile out on the streets of Bahrain, not far from the venue, peaceful protesters calling for democratic freedom were being bludgeoned by regime police thugs.
by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
November 17, 2013
Image by joegaza via Flickr
The violation of children’s rights by the Israeli and Bahraini regimes is more than mere coincidence. It is indicative of a much broader strategic alignment that has emerged between the Zionist regime and the Persian Gulf Arab monarchies.
The use of state terrorism against children by Israeli military and Bahrain regime forces is not some random, isolated aberration. The scale and systematic pattern of the violations strongly suggests that the regimes are collaborating closely in methods of counter-insurgency.
Sent to Dandelion Salad from a personal contact who wishes to remain anonymous
Nov. 15, 2013
Ali Al Taweel is an extreme example of the illegal, violent nature of the Bahrain legal system. It also shows that torture is widespread in the prisons to degrade detainees and extract confessions.
Ali is an uneducated young man, unable to read or write and the son of a fisherman. He was picked up because he was in Sitra when the demos were going on. He was tortured for weeks including being strung up like a chicken and sexually abused. There has not been an execution of a Bahraini since 1990s, the last execution was of a Bangladeshi in 2010.
by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
October 26, 2013
Image by Al Jazeera English via Flickr
The US-backed Bahraini regime is mounting an undeclared, merciless war on the majority Shia population of the tiny Persian Gulf island.
Yet, this systematic crime against humanity is proceeding with impunity and barely a murmur of international protest. The regime may be the ones holding the gun, but it is the tacit support of Washington and London that allows these despots to pull the trigger on civilians.
Image by Al Jazeera English via Flickr
Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights
Oct. 22, 2013
On 22 October 2013, prominent human rights defender Mr Mohammed Al-Maskati was summoned to Khamis Police Station for interrogation.
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PressTV on Oct 9, 2013
Bahrain’s main opposition party, al-Wefaq, says the regime’s harsh crackdown on pro-democracy activists has intensified over the past month, with the highest levels of violence since the uprising began in 2011. In a report, al-Wefaq has documented nineteen hundred cases of human rights violations only in the month of September 2013, including incidents in which regime forces used excessive force or torture.
According to the report, last month 214 anti-regime protesters were arrested, including two women and 40 children — the highest number since the uprising began. The al-Wefaq report also said that 111 activists — who were convicted by a Bahraini court and given sentences of up to 15 years — were tried based on fabricated charges.
Image by malyousif via Flickr
by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
October 1, 2013
Bahrain’s despotic Al Khalifa rulers have gone into a huff over US President Barack Obama’s comparison of the Persian Gulf island state with Syria.
In his address to the UN General Assembly last week, Obama made vague mention of sectarianism in Syria and Bahrain in the same sentence.
Bahrain Center for Human Rights
September 29, 2013
The court sentenced today political detainees, including activists and an human rights defender, to total of more than 400 years’ imprisonment and upheld the sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment against two children. All of the sentences were delivered under the internationally criticized and vague terrorism law. The court also reduced the sentences of two police officers who tortured a detainee to death from 10 years’, to 2 years’ imprisonment. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights is gravely concerned over the politically motivated charges and sentences delivered against dissents, and urgently calls for an end to Bahrain’s biased judicial system.
by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
September 25, 2013
Image by Al Jazeera English via Flickr
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, President Barack Obama delivered his usual barrage of myth and mendacity concerning the role of the US in the world.
Some commentators have since swooned at the possibility of dialogue between Iran and US and a new era of diplomacy – all because of a few positive-sounding words uttered by the American president.
by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
August 13, 2013
Image by UNARMED CIVILIAN via Flickr
The scene is being prepared in Bahrain for a bloodbath following a hate-filled speech this week by Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman al Khalifa in which he effectively declared war on the population, equating pro-democracy protesters with terrorists and foreign agents.
“This island will burn to a cinder all those who seek to tamper with its security and stability,” said the Khalifa premier. This corrupt ruler should be arrested for inciting mass murder, and yet the British and American government sponsors of the Bahraini regime say nothing of condemnation. Continue reading
by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
July 18, 2013
Image by FreedomHouseDC via Flickr
Little Sajida Faisal had only just come into this world. But five days after her birth, she was dead, killed by suffocation from tear gas. She died on 11 December, a Sunday, in 2011 in her family home in the Bahraini village of Belad al-Qadeem.
Her father later told how Bahraini riot police had been firing tear gas into the streets for several days without stop. The whole village was under a toxic cloud of chemical gas, and with military checkpoints everywhere, the residents of Belad al-Qadeem were effectively held hostage, forced to breathe in the deadly fumes.
This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.
Dandelion Salad
PressTVGlobalNews on Jul 1, 2013
Press TV’s documentary program “The Clouds of Death” depicts the excessive use of tear gas in Bahrain by the police, as a means to suppress the unrest, which has resulted in the death of innocent people and disabilities in some.
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