WHY I AM CALLING FOR SHEIKH NASSER TO BE BANNED FROM THE LONDON OLYMPICS:

TIMELINE – 15th MAY 2012  UPDATED 16.50 GMT:

Following on from yesterday’s Home Page article, I have posted a petition  on AVAAZ.org to try and prevent Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa‘s attendance at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The petition calls on David Cameron, the UK’s Prime Minister, to declare the Sheikh’s presence in the UK as “undesirable” and on Jacques Rogge, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to withdraw their invitation to him.

As I say on the petition, I think it highly inappropriate that someone who has persecuted athletes for sectarian and political reasons and who has been accused of personally torturing some of them, should be invited to represent his country’s Olympic Committee at the Games and be treated as a VIP.

Personally, I don’t even think he should be allowed across the UK’s borders, ever.

I very much doubt I will ever be allowed to visit Bahrain while Sheikh Nasser and his family are in power either, and if they did let me in it would be for a “private tour” of the regime’s prisons and detention centres no doubt. That is the nature of fearful dictatorships – those who criticise them will be punished.

I will also probably be bombarded by the regime’s sycophantic supporters, but that is a risk an active supporter of democracy, freedom and human rights takes when confronting repressive and abusive governments who have no genuine respect for human rights.

Marc Owen Jones covers it well in his latest article “Bahrain Activists’ Trouble With Trolls”.

You can read the full text of the petition and add your own signature, HERE:

UPDATE 16.50 GMT: 6 hours after the petition was first published, there are more than 1,100 signatures and they are coming in at the rate of almost 200 per hour from all over the world, not just Bahrain.

PLEASE USE TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND EMAIL TO SPREAD THE WORD AND ENCOURAGE YOUR FRIENDS AND CONTACTS TO SIGN AND PASS THE INFORMATION ON.

IF WE GET ENOUGH SIGNATURES, WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND AVAAZ WILL DELIVER THE PETITION TO DAVID CAMERON AND JACQUES ROGGE OF THE IOC.

THE FULL PETITION ADDRESS IS: http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/To_Prevent_Sheikh_Nasser_bin_Hamad_alKhalifa_of_Bahrain_from_attending_the_London_Olympics_2012/?wNnUgbbon_Olympics_2012/?cNnUgbb

OR THE SHORTENED VERSION FOR TWITTER: http://bit.ly/StayAwayNasser0      (that’s a Zero at the end!)

THIS IS THE PETITION:

To Prevent Sheikh Nasser bin

Hamad al-Khalifa of Bahrain from

attending the London Olympics

2012

Why this is important

Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al-Khalifa is the President of the Bahrain Olympic Committee. As such he is entitled to attend all events at this year’s Olympic 2012 in London free of charge, receive discounted accommodation in a luxury hotel and be chauffeured to and from the Games in a BMW.

In last year’s “Arab Spring” protests in Bahrain he publicly called on TV for “a wall to fall on the heads” of all those who demonstrated against the Government, including athletes and went on to head a committee that targeted 150 sportsmen and sports officials, including a disabled athlete.

They were arrested, imprisoned and many were tortured. Some prisoners claim that they were personally beaten or tortured by Sheikh Nasser himself. Their crime? Peacefully demonstrating and calling for the downfall of the Al Khalifa ruling monarchy of which Sheikh Nasser is a leading member and the King’s son.

Two of Bahrain’s national football team players, the brothers A’ala and Mohammed Hubail, were also arrested and prosecuted. When Mohammed, capped 52 times for Bahrain, was sentenced to 2 years in prison, Sheikh Nasser Tweeted, “If it was up to me, I’d give them all life.”

At the very least, Sheikh Nasser has been directly responsible for wrecking the sports careers of these athletes and overseeing their removal from national and local teams.

As a supporter of universal human rights and democracy I do not believe that the UK and the IOC should favour someone who clearly uses sectarian prejudice against sportsmen, sports officials and athletes, destroys their careers and is implicated in their torture.

On these grounds I call on David Cameron to declare Sheikh Nasser’s presence in the UK as “undesirable” and prevent his entry on that basis and for Jacques Rogge to withdraw the IOC’s invitation to him to attend the London Olympic Games in July.

PLEASE SUPPORT THE PETITION AND GET YOUR FRIENDS TO SIGN TOO:

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RETRIAL OF ACTIVISTS POSTPONED UNTIL ALKHAWAJA COMES TO COURT IN 2 WEEKS TIME – HOW ARE THEY GOING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE?:

BAHRAIN GOVERNMENT SET TO IMPOSE HARDER CRACKDOWN AND  HARSHER PENALTIES:

MP CLAIMS “BOMBS ARE IMPORTED” AND “TERRORISTS ARE USING GUNS AND BULLETS” IN BANI JAMRA:

AL KHALIFAS TAKES SAUDI LINE ON SECTARIAN DIVISION AND INCREASED SUPPRESSION:

TIMELINE – 9th MAY 2012 12.28 GMT:

Amid tight security, with riot police surrounding the courtroom, 11 of the high profile Opposition activists being retried in a civilian court were brought before the Bahrain “judiciary” yesterday.

The defendants, including Hassan Mushaima, Abduljalil Al Singace, who was brought to the court in a wheelchair, Mohammed Habib Al Meqdad and National Democratic Action Society (Wa’ad) secretary-general Ebrahim Sharif, demanded that the charges against them be dropped as they were based on confessions extracted under torture. 

The defendants also objected to being placed behind a glass screen.

The 15 man defence team refused to continue the session until they had been allowed at least a 1 hour meeting with their clients in prison ahead of any further trial proceedings. 

Mohammed Al-Jishi, the lawyer representing Abdulahadi AlKhawaja complained that he had not been allowed to see his client for a month. “I can’t defend him if I can’t talk to him,” he said.

AlKhawaja, who today enters the 91st day of his hunger strike, was too ill to attend the court session yesterday.

The judges granted the lawyers request to meet with their clients (EDITOR: How generous and benign!), but insisted that AlKhawaja and Sheikh Abdulla Isa Al Mahroos, who is also in a prison hospital, be brought to the next session on 22nd May.

EDITOR: There is of course no way this would be possible for AlKhawaja, unless he is forcibly and substantially fed, having committed himself to “Freedom or Death”.

After brief contact with his family yesterday it was reported that he was very tired and weak.

Mohammed Al-jishi, confirmed this view, saying, “I don’t know how they will bring him (to court),” Jishi said it was also hard to hear the other defendants, appearing in public for the first time since September’s military appeal, speaking from behind the glass screen. The session was all over 30 minutes.

Outside the courtroom a small group of women Opposition supporters demonstrated and chanted, “We know our leaders, prison doesn’t scare them.”  Representatives of the French, British, US and Danish embassies attended the court proceedings.

BAHRAIN GOVERNMENT SET TO IMPOSE HARDER CRACKDOWN AND  HARSHER PENALTIES:

With the Opposition leaders in prison, now including Nabeel Rajab and Zainab AlKhawaja, and no sign of any talks or dialogue across the divide (EDITOR: And who with if they are all in prison?), the Bahrain Government looks set to impose an even harder crackdown on dissent.

Speaking on behalf of the Government, Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa said, “Because of the escalation in violence, we are looking into the perpetrators and people who use print, broadcast and social media to encourage illegal protest and violence around the country.

If applying the law means tougher action, then so be it,” he added.

EDITOR: To me this suggests further action against other Opposition supporters using Facebook and Twitter. Be careful my friends in Bahrain.

At the same time the Bahraini “Parliament” yesterday approved automatic mimimum sentences of life imprisonment if someone kills a member of the security services, even if unintentionally. The court additionally can still impose the death sentence.

The MPs also approved a minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment for anyone who injures a member of the security forces causing permanent disability.  The decisions will be reviewed by the Shura Council, which is likely to approve them.

MP CLAIMS “BOMBS ARE IMPORTED” AND “TERRORISTS ARE USING GUNS AND BULLETS” IN BANI JAMRA:

During yesterday’s debate in the lower House, the Public Utilities and Environment Affairs Committee chairman, Hassan Al Dossary, made some pretty wild statements on recent events in which policemen were injured.

 ”I assure everyone,” he said, “That they (bombs) are being imported” and “Some of the terrorists in Bani Jamra use guns and live bullets in their attacks on policemen and if the government doesn’t arm security personnel, we will volunteer to provide them with what they need”. 

You can read the full report, HERE:

EDITOR: Not only are the Bahrain Government afraid of “imported” bombs and bullets it seems but also flags!  In this bizarre video recorded yesterday by Nabeel Rajab’s house video system, police officers are seen removing several Bahrain national flags from his home.

A policeman rather disrespectfully, ties one of them in a knot. Now it is apparently illegal to possess the national flag?

Perhaps the Bahrain Government would like to ask John Yates to get his mates at Scotland Yard to come and collect the one I have in my office? I shall resist!  You can see the strange video, HERE:

Internationally yesterday, Amnesty called for the immediate release of Nabeel Rajab, saying he was a prisoner of conscience, HERE: and Marietje Schaake, a Dutch member of the EU Parliament, sent a letter about the situation in Bahrain, along with 17 of her colleagues, to Baroness Catherine Ashton, the EU’s High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs.

In their letter the MEPs commented on the arrest of Rajab and reminded  Ashton that the EU as recently as March had previously called upon Bahrain for “the immediate and unconditional release of all peaceful demonstrators, political activists, human rights defenders, doctors and paramedics, bloggers and journalists”.

The letter went on to urge the EU to set a deadline to meet these requests and if it was not met to enforce an EU embargo on the sale of weapons to Bahrain and target asset and visa bans on individuals connected with the Government, as it has done with the Assad regime in Syria. You can read the full text, HERE:

BAHRAIN GOVERNMENT TAKES SAUDI LINE ON SECTARIAN DIVISION AND INCREASED SUPPRESSION:

Lastly, it is clear that the Bahrain Government is no longer interested in dialogue, but encouraged by the Saudis, is going down the “suppress all the dissent, violently if necessary” route. 

That augers a tough time for the citizens of Bahrain, but the Opposition is too strong and too widespread to be silenced now. It has no choice but to keep up the campaign and replace every leader that the Government isolates by several more.

Like the Saudis, the Al Khalifas are more than happy to play the sectarian and Iran card game.

Nobody, including the American embassy and the CIA, has ever found any evidence of Iranian involvement, but the Bahrain Government revells in stirring up the Sunni minority with spectres of Shia control and some vague allignment with the theocracy in Iran.

Much more likely is the Saudi Arabian sponsored “intergration” of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. Most of the Gulfs monarchies seem less than enthusiastic for such a union.  Not so the Al Khalifas who seem to be encouraging it.

When they have become swallowed up in a rigid Wahabi sect Saudi ruled alliance, that is something they may yet come to regret.

There is an excellent article on these issues by Joost Hilterman in the New York Review of Books, HERE:

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BAHRAIN – “PRISON ISLAND” – NOW HOLDS MORE THAN 700 POLITICAL PRISONERS AND CONTINUES TO ARREST ACTIVISTS:

DUAL NATIONALS NOW A TARGET IN BAHRAIN – “CHOOSE WHICH LAW YOU WANT TO BE PROSECUTED UNDER”:

PARANOID GOVERNMENT NOW CLAIMS YOUNG MEN GET PAID TO ATTACK THEM – THEY NEED MONEY TO BE ANGRY?:

NEUROTIC BAHRAIN GOVERNMENT SAYS VIOLENT OPPOSITION BEING “DIRECTED FROM LONDON”:

TIMELINE – 8th MAY 2012 11.58 GMT:

To borrow a phrase from the title of Tom Malinowski’s excellent Foreign Policy magazine article, Bahrain is now becoming known as “Prison Island”.

In Bahrain there are currently more than 700 political prisoners. As well arresting well known human rights activist Nabeel Rajab because the Government did not like his Tweets or interviews he gave to the BBC last weekend, more than 200 other people have been arrested in the last month without warrants.

Zainab AlKhawaja, another prominent activist, is also being held and is due in court again tomorrow.

Her internationally known Father, Abdulhadi AlKhawaja, today entered the 90th day of his “Freedom or Death” hunger strike.

His wife, Khadija Al-Moussawi, has not heard from him since last Friday and believes that he is probably being force-fed again against his will, ahead of another appeal session today over his life imprisonment conviction and the sentences on 19 others.

Not content with holding significant leaders of the protest movement in prison, while bleating about “constitutional amendments”, the “march of reform and democracy” and “freedom of expression”, the Al Khalifa government seems to be co-ordinating a media and Twitter campaign against anyone who opposes them.

EDITOR: According to the rabid pro-Bahrain Government posters on Twitter I am an “Iranian Government Agent” apparently.

Just for the record, if I had the time and energy I would be happily opposing the suppressive and abusive anti-human rights Government of Iran too. 

Allowing women to be stoned to death for allegations of “adultery” is not my idea of “justice” and “democracy” either.

But for the moment it is the abusive Government of Bahrain that concerns me, particularly because it goes out of its way to pretend otherwise.

DUAL NATIONALS NOW A TARGET IN BAHRAIN – “CHOOSE WHICH LAW YOU WANT TO BE PROSECUTED UNDER”:

In a letter published by the Gulf Daily News yesterday under the heading “Multi-Nationality Disorder”, a “correspondent” calls for action against those Bahrainis who hold dual citizenship, Abdulhadi AlKhawaja being a case in point.

“Generally those who hold dual nationality are opportunists or jokers”, says the writer Abu Mohammed, “Who play one card to stir violence and cover their actions using the other card.

They are not smart cookies, as many people might think, but confused people who have lost courage and ingenuity”.

“If they feel patriotic to their nation (Bahrain)”, he continues, “they should disown the other citizenship and play the game as Bahrainis – and be willing to accept the consequences of being on the wrong side of the law.

It is high time that the government correctly spelled out that dual nationality cannot be recognised and that those who hold double citizenships should have to stick to the citizenship of their choice, so that they can be treated accordingly.

They should be reminded that having two legs doesn’t mean that they can climb two trees at the same time”.(EDITOR: It would be even more difficult to climb 1 tree with 1 leg I would have thought!).

The writer also mentions the Bahraini activist Dr.Alaa Al Shehabi, who holds both Bahraini and British citizenship, and seems relieved she was only held in custody for a short while recently.

Far from sympathy this is probably only because, “had she been kept behind bars for some time, the UK would have been involved and a diplomatic row between Bahrain and the UK would have ensued – a row which could spoil the age-old relationships that exist between the two countries”.

You can read the full letter, HERE:

There is also an interesting Al Jazeera interview with Dr Shehabi, Nabeel Rajab and others, HERE:

EDITOR: Personally, I am finding the UK/Bahrain “age-old relationship” clouding the British Government’s moral vision somewhat.

The letter echoes the same theme on dual-nationals which has been raised in Parliament recently and may well be brought into law in Bahrain shortly.

PARANOID GOVERNMENT NOW CLAIMS YOUNG MEN GET PAID TO ATTACK THEM – THEY NEED MONEY TO BE ANGRY?:

Today, Tuesday, the Gulf Daily News ramps up the “foreign connection” with 2 articles. In one, headlined “Terror Tactics”, obviously written after some deep “investigative journalism”, “sources involved in investigating crimes against the security forces” are quoted as saying,“Ringleaders have been paying youths to target police as part of a campaign of street violence orchestrated from abroad”.

The “article” goes on to claim that the young men involved get paid as much as “BD5 to attack policemen with stones, homemade weapons and Molotov cocktails”. (EDITOR: Probably the same money source that “pays” me to write these blog posts!)

“Most of these youths have expensive photographic equipment” the “source” goes on, “Which they use to capture videos or images that are posted on their social networking websites”.

Not only that but they used “a television remote control, wireless door bell and a mobile phone …..to detonate homemade bombs which have seriously injured 16 policemen during a spate of attacks in the past five weeks”.

“Saboteurs have also reportedly been mixing petrol canisters with explosive chemicals, nails, glass pieces and other objects to create maximum damage”, according to the same sources “involved in investigating the crimes”.

“In all the homemade bomb cases, the protesters provoke policemen to draw them close to where the explosive is kept and then set it off,” says the same “source”. “The tactics used by these groups show they have received training in Iraq and Lebanon,” he said”.

EDITOR: Bearing in mind that Bahrain is an island and entry and exit is tightly controlled and monitored, how come that no-one noticed all these young men going back and forth to Iraq and Lebanon?  Perhaps they slipped through by traveling First Class using all the BD 5 they collected from throwing Molotovs?!

You can read the whole xenophobic piece (“xenophobia” – hate of foreigners, for that is what it seems the Sunni Government of Bahrain would like to turn the Shi’ite population in to – foreigners not welcome in their own country), HERE:

NEUROTIC BAHRAIN GOVERNMENT SAYS VIOLENT OPPOSITION BEING “DIRECTED FROM LONDON”:

The second article in today’s Gulf Daily News is even more paranoid. Headlined, “Saboteurs ‘receiving orders from abroad’” (EDITOR: At least it had the decency to put inverted commas around that one!), the report claims that, “Rioters in trouble hotspots co-ordinate with a local ringleader who passes on directions from the London-based outlawed opposition group the Bahrain Freedom Movement”.

The origin of these piece of fiction is the same “sources involved in investigating attacks against policemen and collecting evidence”.  (EDITOR: What a surprise!  Sounds like a deep and thorough investigation all round.)

In the piece, direct blame falls on the head of the Bahrain Freedom Movement, Dr Saeed Al Shehabi, “who was jailed for life in absentia for being part of a 21-man plot to overthrow the government”. 

The other “ringleader” according to the GDN is “Ali Mushaima who was convicted in absentia and jailed for 15 years in the same case” and whose Father, Hassan Mushaima, is also incarcerated in Manama with Abdulhadi AlKhawaja.

Ali Mushaima became more well known recently when he and Moosa Al Sitrawi staged a more than 24 hour occupation of the roof of the Bahraini embassy in London last month.

According to the GDN, “The protest only ended after British police scrambled phone signals through which they had been receiving instructions”, which is probably news to the protesters as well as to the rest of us!.

“Mr Mushaima,” the GDN article continues, “Was earlier named by Bahraini authorities as being one of two men accused of masterminding a plot that allegedly targeted key locations in Bahrain and had links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and the Basij force”.

Warming to his neurotic theme, the “source” claimed that “Dr Al Shehabi and Mr Mushaima continue to pass on instructions to saboteurs in Bahrain who are part of the anonymous February 14 Coalition group. In every village for every 15 people there is a leader, who is in constant touch with other leaders in different areas.

All these leaders report to a common person based in Bahrain, who shares information with Bahrain Freedom Movement members.”

The article then goes on to repeat the BD 5 payments allegation again and the then tries to blame it all on the political groups.

“We know for a fact that some political groups collect money on the pretext of charity in their authorised marches,” says the “source”. “They collect millions of dinars through this practice which we do not see being deposited in banks. So how is this money utilised?” You can read this second article, HERE:

EDITOR: This would all be hysterically funny if it were not so frightening, A) because a Government sponsored publication is putting this out, B) because a lot of paranoid Government supporters will want to believe it and C) because it smacks of a co-ordinated Government attack on the youth of Bahrain and Opposition supporters overseas.

Frankly, I doubt whether any right thinking citizen needs to be paid to oppose this absurd, despotic, divisively sectarian , self-serving and preserving, anti-democratic Government, which twists, turns and distorts to cover human rights abuse, torture and false imprisonment.

I am quite sure the people of Bahrain, young and old, can make up their own on what they think about that by themselves, without any help or inducements from outsiders at all.

Immediately prior to his  arrest, Nabeel Rajab gave an interview to Julian Assange of WikiLeaks and it was released today.  You can watch it HERE:

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AL KHALIFA REGIME TREADING DANGEROUS GROUND BY ARRESTING AND INTIMIDATING LEADING HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

TIMELINE – 6th May 2012 UPDATED 16.04 GMT:

Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was arrested at Bahrain’s international airport in Manama last night, Saturday, after arriving on a flight from Beirut and detained overnight in police custody.

Nabeel was unlikely to be surprised.

Yesterday he issued a statement which said, “Given that Bahrain in essence lacks a judiciary system that is independent and/or fair, and is far from being in line with international standards of a fair trial, I have decided to boycott the trial against myself.

The judiciary system in Bahrain, today, is a tool used against human rights defenders and people calling for democracy and justice.”

Nabeel was due in court today on charges of “participating in illegal assembly and calling others to join” but has now been held at Al-Hoora police station and is reportedly due at the Public Prosecutor’s office this afternoon for interrogation on charges of “insulting the statutory bodies” . Latest reports say that he has been remanded in custody for 7 days.

The Ministry of Interior belatedly put out a statement today which said, ” The General Director of Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security has announced that Nabeel Rajab was arrested on Saturday evening. He was detained under suspicion of committing several punishable crimes.  

The General Director said that legal procedures were being finalised to refer him to the Public Prosecutor”.

The authorities may be particularly incensed because he has recently given a video interview to Julian Assange of Wikkileaks which is due to be broadcast on May 8th and for remarks he made about king Hamad in a HARDTalk interview with the BBC. You can reprise the video interview, HERE: 

Zainabl AlKhawaja, who has staged peaceful protests in support of her Father, imprisoned human rights campaigner Abdulhadi AlKhawaja, and has now been held in prison for 2 weeks, is also due in court again today.

In addition Zainab is  due in court on the 9th May and the 15th to answer 2 further charges of “insulting an officer” and another of “swearing at an officer”.

Her Father is in the 88th day of his “Freedom or Death” hunger strike and has told his family today that in view of the ongoing human rights violations  he is returning to only drinking water and refusing IV infusions.

By continuing to hold these 2 leading Bahraini human rights campaigners, the Bahraini regime risks both an internal backlash of increased opposition protest and international condemnation from worldwide human rights groups, democractic governments and organisations, and others.

In response to the arrest of Nabeel Rajab, the  international hacktivist group Anonymous staged a disruption of service (DOS) attack on the Bahrain Ministry of Interior sites in both Arabic and English and the official Government news agency site BNA (Bahrain News Agency), though all appear to be operating again this morning. 

Anonymoous has promised further “attention” to these sites until Nabeel Rajab is released.

The police reported the explosion of an “improvised fire bomb ” in the village of Bani Jamra at around 1.30am on Saturday morning which they claim was “remotely detonated”. One policeman was critically injured and 3 others wounded.

BAHRAIN – NEWS:  SOME OTHER RECENT ARTICLES ON BAHRAIN CAN BE SEEN IN THE RIGHTHAND COLUMN OF THIS PAGE UNDER “RECENT POSTS” AND BY SCROLLING DOWN FURTHER BELOW.

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THE ALKHAWAJAS – THE FAMILY THAT FIGHTS FOR JUSTICE AND REFUSES TO STAND DOWN:

TIMELINE – 2nd May 2012 12.48 GMT:

While her Father, Abdulhadi, remains in prison, now on the 84th day of his “Freedom or Death” hunger strike, Zainab Alkhawaja is also in custody and in court this morning, Wednesday, on three charges and another one tomorrow.

AN EARLIER PHOTO OF THE ALKHAWAJA FAMILY IN COURT – COURTESY @NNoora

When the family were allowed to visit Abdulhadi last Sunday, they were also allowed to talk with Zainab. Her Mother and 2 sisters were accompanied by Wafi Kamel Al-Majed, Zainab’s husband and their 2 year old daughter Jude.

Wafi Al-Majed, himself spent 10 months in Bahrain’s prisons, so he knows exactly what Zainab is going through. During the half-hour visit last Sunday, they were allowed to all talk together in a small room, but a guard remained present throughout.

Zainab told the family about her arrest over a week ago as she staged a one-woman sit-down protest in the main road near the Financial Harbour district. She says that riot police surrounded her as she knelt on the ground, kicked her with their boots and jabbed her with their police batons.

Although the police filmed her arrest, the camera focused on her face and upper body, while police aimed their attacks out of camera view lower down, an observation made by other protesters in the area at the time.

At one point Zainab shouted at the Police, “why are you treating us like dogs?” to which a police woman responded by putting her baton to Zainab’s neck and choking her.

So far this morning, Zainab has been cleared of one charge relating to a protest outside the Bahrain Defence Force hospital where her Father is being held, but knowing the Bahrain judicial system it will conspire to keep her “off the streets” as long as possible.

Whatever the final outcome tomorrow, Wafi is not too worried about his wife because he knows how strong she is.

“I’m more worried about our daughter,” he says, “How will she cope with this later in her life, having had both her mother and father in prison at different times during her childhood?”.

You can read the full interview with Wafi Al-Majed, HERE:

Surprisingly, Frank Gardner, the BBC’s Security Correspondent, was also allowed yesterday a (literally) 5 minute interview with Abdulhadi AlKhawaja before it was terminated. Abdulhadi, dressed in overalls was able to sit up on the side of the bed and said for the last 3 days he had been walking.

He confirmed that he had been force fed for five days but agreed to an intravenous fluid drip last Friday when the feeding tube became blocked. He is apparently considering refusing to take any liquids once again, starting this week and intends to continue his hunger strike.

BBC’s FRANK GARDNER TALKS TO ALKHAWAJA IN HIS BDF HOSPITAL ROOM:

The BBC correspondent says that AlKhawaja was very thin but alert and was aware of Sunday’s court ruling over the “retrial” as he gets up to 4 papers a day. Little else was discussed as time ran out and the interview was ended. You can read the full report HERE:

Khadija al-Moussawi, Abdulhadi’s wife, who was able to visit him on Sunday confirmed the force-feeding issue and said on Monday that she supported his decision to continue his hunger strike if that is what he wished.

Describing the decision to send AlKhawaja and 19 others for retrial in a civilian court as “ridiculous”, Khadija said,”They are playing for time, and should have transferred his case to a civilian court at the first hearing not the third”.

Maryam AlKhawaja, Abdulhadi’s other activist daughter who is the articulate Foreign Affairs spokeswoman for the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights and travels around the world speaking up both for the Opposition in Bahrain and her father’s case, said that if Bahrain had an independent judicial system none of the dissidents would have been jailed in the first place. “My Father said “Freedom or Death” not “Freedom or Retrial”, Mayam wrote on Twitter.

The Danish ambassador to Bahrain, who has been denied access to AlKhawaja for over a week, renewed his call for AlKhawaja to be transferred to Denmark, where he also holds citizenship and the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Navi Pillay, welcomed the move away from military “justice” but urged the authorities to move him to a civilian hospital.

Her spokesman, Rupert Colville,said yesterday, “There is no reason for him to be held incommunicado. He should be given immediate access to his family, the Danish ambassador, a doctor and a lawyer of his own choosing”.

In an interview with the BBC on Monday, Khadija al-Moussawi, AlKhawaja’s wife gave a very articulate account of the current position, confirming the general view that the “retrial” is just another form of torture for the prisoners and a manipulation of the judicial system to keep them in jail as long as possible.

When asked about connections with Iran, she rightly rebutted this, saying the situation in Bahrain had nothing to do with Iran, any more than it did in the 20′s, 30′s and 50′s – it was, as it always has been, about justice and democracy.  You can watch the full video interview, HERE:

SOME GOOD NEWS:

Horr al-Sumaikh, who was one of the 21 held with Alkhawaja, has been released as the Cassation Court reduced his sentence to 6 months, a time that he has already served.

He was given a hero’s welcome in his village of Nuweidrat on Monday night and  greeted with clapping and flowers.

SOME BAD NEWS:

This morning the Appeals Court once again postponed the hearing for the leaders of the Teacher’s Association, Jalila Al Salman and Mahdi Abu Deeb until May 30th. As before, Mahdi Abu Deeb was retained in custody, despite an appeal to let him out on bail like his colleague.

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REFORMS? WHAT REFORMS? THIS VILE, UNCIVILISED REGIME STILL ALLOWS ITS POLICE TO TORTURE AND MURDER:

YATES SAYS SALAH DEATH “TRAGIC CONSEQUENCE OF UNREST” – BLOODY RESULT OF ILL DISCIPLINED, UNTRAINED, MURDERING POLICE ACTUALLY:

MOI’s KEYSTONE KOPS PLAY “ROBOT-WARS” WITH “DANGEROUS” HOMEMADE RACING CAR:

TIMELINE – 24th APRIL 2012 14.22 GMT:

At the weekend, the Al-Khalifa Government returned to his family for burial the body of Salah Habib Abbas.

This video is believed to be one of police abusing and torturing Salah Habib Abbas  with a rifle barrel the night before he was found dead, HERE:   It gets worse.

The pre-burial pictures show irrefutably that he has been shot with birdshot at close range and tortured by burning on his chest and stomach. 

An examination by a doctor in the presence of lawyers and members of the Al Wefaq Party also revealed that his neck had been broken and there were bruises on his hand and leg.

The official death certificate listed “internal bleeding and gunshot wounds” as the cause of death.

There is a full examination report, HERE:

According to the official Bahrain News Agency, various members of the Al-Khalifa family and their sycophants have spent the last 2 days sending “cables” self-congratulating each other on the “success” of the Bahrain F1.

In one the antique Prime Minister, Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa, sent to King Hamad, he “hailed HM the King’s firm determination and citizens’ efforts to project Bahrain’s civilized  image and ensure economic, social and media dividends”.

Well if what the King’s “police force” did to Salah Abbas is “civilised”, then there is no hope for legitimacy, judicial responsibility and accountability in Bahrain. 

What they did to Salah Abbas has more in common with President Assad’s behaviour in Syria than anything else, a country whose government the Al-Khalifa’s are keen to remove.

The police officers involved in the death of Salah Abbas should be arrested immediately, charged with kidnapping, abuse and murder and prosected with the full force of the law, receiving the long sentences that the crime demands. 

If not then the people of Bahrain have every right to demand the overthrow of King Hamad and his miserable self-serving family. They will never receive justice or democracy otherwise.

So far there has not been one single conviction of a police officer or security official in Bahrain following the reported deaths of as many as 80 people, a number of them while in police custody.

An estimated 15,000 people turned out yesterday for the funeral of Salah Abbas, most clearly holding the King ultimately responsible for the death and calling for his downfall.  There is video, HERE:

YATES SAYS SALAH DEATH “TRAGIC CONSEQUENCE OF UNREST” – BLOODY RESULT OF ILL DISCIPLINED, UNTRAINED, MURDERING POLICE ACTUALLY:

John Yates, the former assistant commander from the UK’s Scotland Yard, who was retained by the Bahraini Government to reform its police force, wrote a piece in the London Telegraph yesterday in which he says that “The abiding image I have of the Grand Prix last weekend was of thousands of people enjoying themselves at the post‑event parties”.

While Yates and his friends were “enjoying themselves”, Yates’ officers were torturing Salah Abbas to death.

Yates comment in the same article is “The death over the weekend of Salah Abbas al-Qattan, an anti-government protester, is also a powerful reminder of the tragic consequences of the unrest”.

EDITOR: If the murder of Salah Abbas is just a “tragic consequence of the unrest”, I suggest Yates stays in Bahrain and does not return to the UK where for many, and for a number of reasons, his prescence is now unwelcome.

Lets hope his record is better than his former Bahrain security adviser predecessor, Ian Henderson, who became known universally as the “Butcher of Bahrain” and was the subject of a recent BBC TV programme.  Lets hope they enjoy a happy retirement together, they deserve each other.

Yates’ Telegraph article can be read, HERE:

MOI’s KEYSTONE KOPS PLAY “ROBOT-WARS” WITH “DANGEROUS” HOMEMADE RACING CAR:

Against all the horror, pain and suffering endured in Bahrain, many of those oppressed maintain a creative and very funny sense of humour. 

None better than this video of Bahrain’s Police employing all their extensive resources to “investigate” a racing car that appeared on a roundabout in Manama while the F1 race was running at the Sakhir circuit last Sunday, HERE:

If you are not familiar with the Hollywood stars of the silent movie era, the Keystone Kops, take a look,  HERE:  

You will soon see the similarities with Bahrain’s police force, though as far as we know the Keystone Kops never killed anyone.

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SEBASTIAN VETTEL IN POLE POSITION FOR ARROGANCE AND INSENSITIVITY ON PROTESTS: “IT’S ALL HYPE, TYRE TEMPERATURES AND CARS MORE IMPORTANT”:

AS F1 GOERS PARTY, GOVERNMENT SECURITY ACCUSED OF YET ANOTHER BRUTAL MURDER:

#STOPBUYINGWORLDWIDE PRODUCTS FROM F1 SPONSORS CAMPAIGN STRIKES A NERVE WITH VODAFONE:

ON 74th DAY OF HUNGER STRIKE ALKHAWAJA REFUSES IV DRIP AND DAUGHTER ZAINAB IMPRISONED ONCE AGAIN:

TIMELINE – 22nd APRIL 12.36 GMT:

On the final day of the F1 Grand Prix In Bahrain, which will be attended by King Hamad himself, tyres are burning not on the Sakhir track but in the villages surrounding it and Manama, pouring black smoke into the atmosphere.

How else do the Opposition villages display their anger and frustration at a money – grubbing international spectacle that has scant regard for people’s rights or feelings?

The arrogant and blind disregard exhibited by the Bahraini authorities, Bernie Ecclestone and the F1 Teams and drivers, was no better exemplified than by Sebastian Vettel, the lead driver for the Red Bull Team, who is in pole position to take the lead in today’s race.

On arriving in Bahrain on Thursday Vettel was quoted as saying that he thought much of what was being reported about the unrest in the country was “hype”.

He was looking forward much more to getting in the car and dealing with the “stuff that really matters – tyre temperatures, cars”.

EDITOR: Frankly, I find such crass ignorance appalling. Rich “sportsmen” like this one, travelling around in their protected, self-important bubble, do not deserve our support or respect – and certainly not our admiration.

Robert Fisk, the award-winning Middle East Correspondent for the Independent, had a reaction that was similar to mine. Under the headline “This is politics not sport. If drivers can’t see that, they are the pits”, he wrote: “Hype? HYPE? … And Master Vettel – is there anything left of the old cliche ‘moral compass’? – claims ‘it’s a lot of hype’.  What a disgraceful man”

“The days have gone when sportsmen and sportswomen can dissociate themselves from the moral values in which we claim to believe in the 21st century. If they want to behave like the sporting clods of 50 years ago, they should be forced to drive round the Bahrain circuit in Alfa Romeo 6Cs, Triumph Roadsters and Crosley Hotshots. Cars of the past for men of the past”.

You can read more of the article by Robert Fisk, who was banned from Bahrain after his coverage last year, HERE:

Jean Todt, the President of the FIA, motorsports ruling body, was not much better than Vettel in his own comments.

The Frenchman, apparently so enraged all week by negative coverage of Bahrain in the British Press that he refused to speak to any of them yesterday, told the BBC, “We know protests can have a negative result. We are a governing body running sport. I am not sure the protests would not have happened if the grand prix would not have happened.”

Incredibly, Todt also added the comment that the FIA would take the same decision to race here if it had a vote today. “I am convinced there is no new evidence that would make the decision (to hold it) different”.

EDITOR: Just how blind can people be? Unless things change dramatically in Bahrain in the next 12 months in terms of political, judicial and economic reform, then I openly DARE them to try this again. 

The world’s objections will be overwhelming and – I suspect – so will those of sponsors and Teams.  Depending on how things go today, I even suspect that in the long term this could be the death knell of Formula 1 as it becomes the target for protests all around the world.

According to reports, the police have placed barbed wire at the entrances to some villages and along the main highway. 

One reporter counted 86 police cars on the highway between central Manama and the Sakhir track this morning – but of course, according to the Bahraini Government and race organisers, there are “no extra security measures” in place.

The BBC has a video report HERE:

Photographic evidence suggests that this is the lowest attendance ever at an F1 Grand Prix.

AS F1 GOERS PARTY, GOVERNMENT SECURITY ACCUSED OF YET ANOTHER BRUTAL MURDER:

Clearly the death of a leading protest activist on Friday night has left the F1 people unmoved.  For those of us truly concerned with what is happening in Bahrain it is shocking.

On Friday night riot police, who have arrested more than 60 people in the run-up to F1, stormed the village of Abu Saibaa and detained at least another 11 people following a peaceful protest. After torturing and brutally beating them the police release the detainees, all except 36 year old Salah Abbas Habib, known as an activist leader in the village community.

Salah’s dead body, clearly displaying a broken left leg, was found lying on the galvanised roof of a one storey building early on Saturday morning in the village of Al Shakhoura.

Activists on the scene, who confirmed that his body had birdshot and torture injuries, were dispersed by the police with stun grenades, along with his family and members of the press.

The police even attempted to arrest well known local photographer Mazen Mahdi, who works for the EPA international press agency.

Human rights activists and members of the victim’s family were not allowed to examine the body and confirm the allegations of torture. 

Salah, who was the Father of 5 children, had previously been a political prisoner in the 90′s  His body, which villagers say was dumped on the roof in the early hours of the morning, was found wearing a gas mask.

However, the torture and beating marks on the bodies of Salah’s fellow villagers, who were eventually released, are self-evident.

There are reports that a number of them suffered broken bones as a result of their treatment.

You can read more HERE:

There is a video of the murder scene, which concludes when the police realise they are being filmed and start firing at the cameraman, HERE:

#STOPBUYINGWORLDWIDE PRODUCTS FROM F1 SPONSORS CAMPAIGN STRIKES A NERVE WITH VODAFONE:

EDITOR: The Twitter campaign that I started this week, #STOPBUYINGWORLWIDE the products and services from the leading companies sponsoring F1, has clearly struck a nerve.

Yesterday, I received a direct Tweet from Vodafone, one of the main sponsors of the McClaren team, saying:

“@Vodafone @PeterClifford1 Hi, please see the latest statement from the Vodafone Group here: http://goo.gl/8b9j0“

The statement says in part: “We are monitoring events very closely and are aware of international concern focused on the Bahrain Grand Prix.

We made the decision some time ago not to offer any form of hospitality this weekend, and have sent no employees to the Kingdom for this event. However, the decision whether or not to proceed with the Bahrain Grand Prix lies with McLaren, Formula One and the FIA rather than the sponsors.

Our Business Principles state that Vodafone respects and complies with all human rights legislation, regulations and standards in the countries in which we operate”.

Well obviously it needs to take another hard long look at “human rights legislation” in Bahrain.

Interesting how every party in this sorry mess says the decision is up to someone else, isn’t it?

You can read the full statement, HERE:

I Tweeted back that they should have thought of all this before and told the money-grabbing FIA to cancel the Bahrain F1. I also suggested that many people will now choose not to buy their phones from Vodafone shops.

If you want to boycott the products and services of F1 sponsors in future, the main ones are GulfAir, Vodafone, Acer, Casio, Dell, Fiat, Virgin, Pirelli, Santander, RedBull, HugoBoss, Total, Petronas, Tata, Intel, Microsoft, PhillipMorris, Shell, Gillette, JohnieWalker, Siemens, Reebok, Hilton, Visa, Proctor & Gamble – the full list is HERE:

ON 74th DAY OF HUNGER STRIKE ALKHAWAJA REFUSES IV DRIP AND DAUGHTER ZAINAB IMPRISONED ONCE AGAIN:

Abdulhadi AlKhawaja today entered the 74th day of his “Freedom or Death” hunger strike.

His daughter Zainab was arrested on Saturday night for the umpteenth time, after staging a sit down in the Financial Harbour district by sitting in the middle of the main road to the Formula One circuit. 

This morning she refused to go to the Public Prosecutor’s office and has been kept in prison.

The Danish Ambassador was allowed to visit AlKhawaja this morning, Sunday, and according to his wife, although the Dane implored him to accept an IV drip of salts and nutrients, AlKhawafa refused.

According to a Tweet from the Ministry of Interior today, AlKhawaja “is in good health”.  AlKhawaja’s appeal against his conviction is due to be heard in court again tomorrow, 23rd April – but in Bahrain such hearings are often meaningless and just an excuse for further delay.

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BAHRAIN F1 GETS MASSIVE GLOBAL PUBLICITY BUT FOR ALL THE “WRONG” REASONS:

JOURNALISTS ANGRY AFTER BEING DENIED ENTRY AND ANONYMOUS MOUNTS CYBER ATTACK ON F1:

ALKHAWAJA CRITICAL AND DICTATES HIS WILL, WHILE HIS DAUGHTER ZAINAB IS ARRESTED YET AGAIN TRYING TO SEE HIM:

TIMELINE – 20th APRIL 2012 23.36 GMT:

Well the Al-Khalifa Government is certainly getting the massive amount of publicity it hoped to get for its F1 weekend – “unfortunately” for them much of it is not the kind it wanted.

A good example is the headline on the UK’s Daily Mirror Internet website, Mirror Online  this morning which was “Formula gun: The scandal of the F1 grand prix in blood-soaked Bahrain”.

Many other newspapers and websites across the globe have expressed similar statements and feelings – the publicity now surrounding Bahrain’s Grand Prix is all about the protests and very little about the race, the drivers and the Teams.

The tussle in Bahrain between F1 and protesters was the top item for 4 minutes or more on the BBC main news bulletin tonight at 6.00pm – so virtually everyone in the UK now knows what is going on, if they did not already.

Both Ed Milliband, the leader of the UK’s largest opposition party, Labour, and his shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper have both made strong statements in the last 24 hours calling for the race to be cancelled.

By contrast, Britain’s Prime Minister, David Cameron, in an entirely naive and uniformed interview said, “We should be clear: Bahrain is not Syria; there is a process of reform under way”.

Following an incident Wednesday night when a petrol bomb landed near a hire car driving 4 mechanics from the Force India Team back to their hotel in Manama from the F1 circuit at Sakhir, 2 of the team have now left Bahrain to return to the UK. 

The Force India Team also called off their second practice run today as they did not want staff returning to Manama after dark.

It is unprecedented for an F1 Team to reduce its chances of success by backing out of practice runs voluntarily without a technical problem, runs which are crucial in identifying tyre, temperature and car problems on the track prior to the main race.

The Sauber Team also reported an incident on the main highway back to Manama late last night when they saw the carriageway blocked by flames across the road, but no-one was hurt or decided to leave Bahrain afterwards.

While on the surface the Teams, drivers and managers seem to be towing the F1 line, “everything is normal”, journalists report that behind the scenes there is a lot of nervousness and many do not want to be in Bahrain.  For them Monday cannot come soon enough.

In an attempt to get the focus back on the race, Bernie Ecclestone and the Crown Prince of Bahrain appeared in the race paddock this afternoon to talk to the Media.

Ecclestone made a series of ridiculous remarks as usual and the Crown Prince burbled on about not giving into “extremists” and using the race to “build bridges across communities”.

They both insist that Sunday’s F1 race will go ahead as scheduled.

Ticket sales to the F1 event though are believed to be well down on previous years and corporate hospitality companies who make a lot of money entertaining clients at F1 report business down by as much as 90%. You can see the BBC video report HERE:  and another from the Telegraph, HERE:

JOURNALISTS ANGRY AFTER BEING DENIED ENTRY AND ANONYMOUS MOUNTS CYBER ATTACK ON F1:

Giving the lie once again to Bahrain’s “press freedom”, there are also a lot off very angry international journalists who were denied access to the country, despite having visas.

Reporters from Reuters, Associated Press, the AFP news agency, the London Financial Times and even from Sky TV ( along with the BBC one of the 2 main stations contracted to broadcast the event), plus many others have not been allowed to enter.

According to AFP, even their cameramen already in Bahrain were required to keep fluorescent orange stickers on their cameras so that they would be easily recognisable on the track and to ensure they do not cover any off-track events, such as ongoing protests.

The F1 sponsors, who spend tens of millions of dollars using the possibility of the estimated 600 million viewers of Formula One events seeing their brand name and making positive associations with it, must now be getting very nervous.

Damaging events, street fighting, images of burning roads, tyres and Molotovs is not what they want people to associate with their products.

EDITOR: To encourage the sponsors to put pressure on the Formula One management to cancel the F1 race, I have programmed a series of Tweets to go out automatically calling on people around the world to support calls for democracy and freedom in Bahrain by refusing to buy the sponsors products or services.

Follow my #STOPBUYINGWORLDWIDE Tweets on Twitter at @PeterClifford1 and ReTweet them to all your followers and ask them to do the same.  Many thanks.  We can make a difference.

The F1 situation in Bahrain has also drawn the attention once again of the international hackers group Anonymous. They issued an angry statement yesterday putting F1 on notice that it and its agents were now subject to random attacks.

In part the statement said, “Anonymous has watched with growing alarm the incredible human rights abuses of the Bahrain regime. We have watched this tyrannical government tear gas it’s own people literally to death, with over 30 fatalities so far.

We have watched as thousands of innocent protesters and activists have been jailed. We have suffered with our dear friend @AngryArabiya on Twitter as she watches her father slowly die of a hunger strike in prison to protest the atrocities committed by the regime of this “king” of Bahrain.

We have witnessed doctors and nurses imprisoned for simply treating the wounded protesters that your security forces have brutalized. And finally we have suffered in outrage the ignorance and out right lies of mainstream media regarding what is REALLY happening in Bahrain”.

Accordingly, Anonymous went on to take down the official F1 website, http://www.formula1.com for 2 hours today while the practice races were on, reducing it to a meaningless black screen.  From information I have received, they will repeat this tomorrow and during the race on Sunday.  You can read the full Anonymous statement, HERE:

ALKHAWAJA CRITICAL AND DICTATES HIS WILL, WHILE HIS DAUGHTER ZAINAB IS ARRESTED YET AGAIN TRYING TO SEE HIM:

Meanwhile, following yesterday’s protests and clashes in the villages last night, a massive demonstration took place on the Budaiya highway today but ended with police firing tear gas and stun grenades at protesters near the Country Mall with its, now famous, Costa Coffee shop.

At one point the coffee shop came under direct tear gas attack from the police, HERE: 

Protesters carried banners saying “No to Dictatorship” and “We Want An Elected Government”, calling for the release of Abdulhadi AlKhawaja and for the cancellation of F1.

There is video footage HERE:  and HERE:

Abdulhadi AlKhawaja, now in the 72nd day of his “Freedom or Death” hunger strike is at a critical stage.

To be frank, to survive beyond 75 days without food is rare.

Zaianab, his daughter, has reported that he has now refused to take even water and has asked for his lawyer so that he can make his will. So far the authorities are denying both his lawyer and his family access despite several requests over the last few days.

If he dies during the F1 weekend then the whole situation could explode.

Zainab is reported this evening, Friday, to have gone to the Military Hospital where her father is being held in order to see him, but in the attempt she has been arrested – again.

In a telephone conversation with him earlier today Zainab says he told her that if they won’t allow the lawyer to see him, he has three things he would like everyone to know :

“I don’t want anybody to be hurt in my name … If I die, in the next 24 hours, I ask the people to continue on path of peaceful resistance…” and lastly he requested that nobody attempts to go on a similar strike until death.

Zainab wrote finally on her Twitter account @angryarabiya “My father finished saying his will to us, the line was cut. He did not say goodbye”.

There have been no further Tweets from Zainab – everyone assumes, 23.00 GMT Friday, that she is in custody, though latest reports say she has since been released.

It could be a seriously sad and eventful weekend in Bahrain.

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CLASHES AT “MANAMA CITY OF JOY” EXHIBITION AS RIOT POLICE FIRE STUN GRENADES AND PEPPER SPRAY:

BAHRAIN GOVERNMENT IN USUAL DOUBLE-SPEAK ADMITS ARRESTS AFTER SAYING THERE WON’T BE ANY DURING F1:

DESPOTIC AL-KHALIFA RULING FAMILY REPORTED SPLIT OVER WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE “ALKHAWAJA PROBLEM”:

F1 CIRCUIT CHAIRMAN “WHY HAVE WE BECOME THE SEXY TOPIC ALL OF A SUDDEN?” – COMPLICITY IN TORTURE, BEATINGS & STAFF SACKINGS PERHAPS?:

TIMELINE – 19th APRIL 11.48 GMT:

Opposition protesters managed to penetrate the area of the heritage exhibition in the centre of Manama yesterday and displayed banners objecting to F1 and in support of Abdulhadi AlKhawaja, the imprisoned human rights activist.

Chants of “Down! Down! F1″ were heard as demonstrators pressed up close to stalls and shops displaying food, local handicrafts and other items in connection with the “Manama City of Joy” theme.  The central market area of Bab Al-Bahrain and old suq, is popular with tourists and other visitors to Bahrain.

In retaliation, the riot police fired stun grenades and pepper spray into the crowd causing some people to flee the market and leave their belongings behind. 

Some shops closed early to avoid further problems and while no-one was injured, several people were arrested.

For some strange reason the official government news agency, BNA and the leading English language newspaper, Gulf Daily News have failed to notice the event and in today’s editions it goes unreported.

Also on Wednesday, Bahrain’s Crown Prince, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, bravely attended a funeral in the Opposition stronghold of Sanabis, for a Shi’ite executive who had worked for one of his labour reform projects, Ali Radhi.

As he left the funeral he was confronted by a group of protesters who shouted anti-Government slogans including “Yasquot Hamad” (Down King Hamad), but he was quickly whisked away in an armoured black limousine. 

You can watch a video of the incident, HERE:

BAHRAIN GOVERNMENT IN USUAL DOUBLE-SPEAK ADMITS ARRESTS AFTER SAYING THERE WON’T BE ANY DURING F1:

Fahad al Binali, speaking for Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority (IAA), has been quoted on video (see below) as saying no-one will be arrested for protesting during the F1 week. Speaking to Al Jazeera he said, “No person will be arrested for merely protesting. Demonstrations have been ongoing this week and there will be more to go … so long as they follow the proper procedure and they don’t infringe upon anybody else’s rights those will be fine”.

This is in complete contradiction to a statement issued by the Chief of Public Security Major-General Tariq Al Hassan speaking for the Ministry of Interior (MOI).

In that statement he said, “that as part of the police duty to maintain security and stability in Bahrain and enforce the law, a number of rioters and vandals had been  arrested for taking part in illegal rallies and gatherings, hindering public and private interests by blocking roads and endangering people’s lives by attacking them as well as policemen with Molotov cocktails, iron rods and stones”.

In fact none of these accusations are proven, and activists are reporting between 80 – 100 young men arrested, without warrant, in night time police raids in villages this week.

30 of the arrests took place in the village of Bani Jamra over the last 3 days alone.  Their families have received no information on where they being held or for what reason.

Meanwhile, numerous demonstrations have continued across Bahrain against F1 and the continuing repressive nature of the Al-Khalifa Government and there has been a marked increase in shotgun pellet injuries as police retaliate with live ammunition. A video of a demonstration in Al Dair on Tuesday behind the airport is HERE:

There have also been reports of beatings in dark alleys, in complete contradiction to the stated “human rights” attitude of the Government.

The boy in the picture below was beaten by security forces, had his mobile phone stolen by them and was subjected to foul language.

On its website the MOI,  is trumpeting the holding of course at the Officers’ training College of the Royal Academy of Police to explain the “international law on human rights and the relevant agreements signed by Bahrain”.

(EDITOR: Or not signed by Bahrain perhaps?  It has yet to sign the international protocol in unannounced inspections of its prisons and prisoners.)

“The course covered,” the report  continues, “Human rights such as the right to live, (EDITOR: Always a good start), freedom, the right to a fair trial and the basics of detention”.

Lets  hope the group of “22 male and female officers from the Ministry of Interior” who took part in the course live in the real world and not the Al-Khalifa fantasy world where “human rights” or lack of them has a whole different meaning. (EDITOR: We won’t be holding our breath for any rapid  change though).

And (just posted) a video of their “well-trained” colleagues (while F1 people partied and drunk champagne down the road) practising their “human rights techniques” on a young boy in one of the villages last night by poking and hitting him with the barrel of a rifle and then having a laugh about it. Yates/Timoney training very effective – obviously, HERE:

DESPOTIC AL-KHALIFA RULING FAMILY REPORTED SPLIT OVER WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE “ALKHAWAJA PROBLEM”:

According to a report carried in yesterday’s London Independent the Bahraini “royal” family is decisively split over what to do over  Abdulahadi AlKhawaja, who is now on the 71st day of his “Freedom or Death” hunger strike.

The paper quotes a “Bahraini source” who said, “They were going to release him three weeks ago but this was vetoed by hard-liners in the family”. Denmark, of which AlKhawaja is a dual national, has already offered to take him for emergency treatment but the opportunity was declined by the Bahraini authorities.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) warned this week that Bahrain was “a time-bomb” and that Mr al-Khawaja’s death would spark an anti-regime upsurge.

Contrary to the government’s claim that life in Bahrain is normal, the ICG says that “beneath a façade of normalisation, Bahrain is sliding towards another eruption of violence”.

Official Bahraini policy continues to  veer between promises of radical change, accompanied by continuing repression, says the Independent.

Many see the Crown Prince and the King Hamad on the side of reform and Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, the Prime Minister for 40 years, and two brothers, Khalid and Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, respectively, the Royal Court Minister and the army commander, as representing the hard-liners on the side of continued repression.

The Opposition say there will be no reform so long as these last three hold their jobs. You can read the full article, HERE:

AlKhawaja meanwhile, who is now extremely weak physically, told his family yesterday that he has removed the IV drip from his arm and will only accept water from now on, heightening concerns that his demise is imminent.  Both his blood sugar and blood pressure are very low.

The EU’s Foreign Affairs representative Catherine Ashton issued a request  on Tuesday for AlKhawaja’s release and asked the Bahraini authorities to “find a compassionate, pragmatic and humanitarian solution to Mr. Al-Khawaja’s deteriorating health situation as a matter of the utmost urgency”.

F1 CIRCUIT CHAIRMAN “WHY HAVE WE BECOME THE SEXY TOPIC ALL OF A SUDDEN?” – COMPLICITY IN TORTURE, BEATINGS & STAFF SACKINGS PERHAPS?

Zayed Al Zayani, the Chairman of Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) is quoted in the Gulf Daily News (GDN) as saying, ” The last thing I am worried about is security…. There are people in charge of security and they are doing their job,” and added that there were “fool-proof arrangements” for the event.

However, he appeared to be less confident and far more dismissive in a video interview yesterday with Al Jazeera.

Clearly annoyed with the Opposition’s success in getting the media to focus on the serious underlying problems in Bahrain, he said, “The Media is that conscious of human rights?  Get on a plane to Syria at 7.00am, an hour and a half to Syria and come back to dinner here.”

“Why are we worrying about a couple of thousand or a couple of hundred that come out to protest and go home?  Or 20 of them throw Molotov bombs?  Why such a big deal?  Why have we become the sexy topic all of a sudden”.

You can watch the video interview, along with the IAA statement and comment from Nabeel Rajab, HERE:

BIC staff complain that at the time of the unrest last year, some of them were dragged from their desks, beaten inside the reception area of the F1 building and later tortured at a police station before being fired from their jobs.

Clearly the ongoing problems around the Bahrain F1 have rattled some. The Porsche Supercup team MRS, which supports F1 with its own races has pulled out of this week’s Bahrain event citing concerns for the safety of its employees.  “This is the first time in our history we have cancelled a race,” a spokesman said.

And following an incident Wednesday night on the way back home to a Manama hotel from the Sakhir circuit, a member of the Force India team has decided to return home.

A hire car with 4 Force India mechanics was accidentally caught up in a clash between protesters and police on the main highway to Manama and after being brought to a halt, a Molotov cocktail exploded nearby, though no-one was injured.

Although the 4 mechanics returned safely to their hotel, the event was enough to make another member of the team decide to leave Bahrain.  The full report is HERE:

Another withdrawal is the respected F1 correspondent from the O Estado newspaper in Brazil, Livio Oricchio. Oricchio said in a statement,  “Like many journalists, I will not be at Sakhir. I always believed that the race would not take place, and I’m still not 100 per cent sure that something will not happen that will lead the FIA or FOM to cancel”.

The journalist joins a sacked member of the Williams F1 Team catering staff and the TV broadcasters Sky Deutschland, Fuji TV from Japan and MTV3 Finland, who have all decided not to take part directly in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

In the UK yesterday some British Members of Parliament joined in with their own objections when a cross-party group launched a last minute campaign calling for a halt to this weekend’s race.  As the F1 teams arrived in the country yesterday, Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn  won support for an early day motion from Conservative and Liberal Party colleagues.

The motion says, “This House is astonished that the Bahrain Formula One race is going ahead despite huge concerns over abuse of human rights expressed by Amnesty International and others.

“It notes that a trial is continuing of 52 medical professionals who tried to help victims of the suppression of protests. It believes that the Formula One race will be used by the Bahrain government as an endorsement of its policies of suppression of dissent. And it accordingly calls for its cancellation.”

The British shadow (opposition) foreign secretary Douglas Alexander also called for the race to be cancelled. “F1 bosses should call off the scheduled Bahrain Grand Prix. To go ahead at present risks sending the wrong signal at a time when the authorities in Bahrain should be focused on delivering real reform,” he said.

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BAHRAIN GOVERNMENT FURIOUS AT ROOF PROTEST ATOP ITS LONDON EMBASSY IN SUPPORT OF ALKHAWAJA AND MUSHAIMA:

AMNESTY: “BE UNDER NO ILLUSION BAHRAIN’S CRISIS IS OVER -  FLAWED REFORMS, INADEQUATE RESPONSE AND NO-ONE HELD ACCOUNTABLE”:

DOZENS ARRESTED AND TEAR GASSED AS GOVERNMENT CULTURE MINISTER OPENS F1 CARNIVAL CALLED “MANAMA CITY OF JOY”:

TIMELINE – 17th APRIL 2012 UPDATED 14.45 GMT:

UPDATE 14.45 GMT: The protesters have now come down off the roof and are being checked over by medics.  The police have arrested them for “trespass” (EDITOR: But don’t worry, this is not a very serious offence in the UK – and they won’t get 15 years or be tortured!)

Much to the fury of the Bahrain Government, 2 Bahraini Opposition supporters got onto the roof of the their 4 storey embassy in Belgrave Square in London yesterday at around 1.30pm and stayed there until Tuesday afternoon.

The 2 demonstrators, Ali Mushaima and Moosa Satrawi, have been on a hunger strike outside the US embassy in London for 13 days in support of Abdulhadi AlKhawaja (now in the 69th day of his own “Freedom or Death” hunger strike in Bahrain) and also Ali’s Father, Hassan Mushaima, Secretary General of the Haq Movement.

Both of the Opposition leaders were sentenced to life imprisonment in a military court last year for “attempting to overthrow the monarchy”.

Yesterday, taking advantage of scaffolding erected for repairs at a nearby building in the same connected row, Ali and Moosa climbed up to get access to the Bahrain embassy roof and unfurled a banner displaying large photographs of the 2 imprisoned leaders. Hassan Mushaima was treated in London for lung cancer in 2010 and there are concerns that he is not receiving proper treatment and medication in prison.

Belgravia is a very expensive, up-market area of London with numerous embassies and the British police cordoned off an area around the Bahrain embassy building. 

According to reports the 2 men have threatened to jump if attempts are made to remove them.

Speaking to the London’s Independent newspaper by mobile phone, Ali Mushaima confirmed that their protest is in support of the 2 jailed Opposition leaders and called for them to be released.

“The rulers of Bahrain are dictators,” Ali said and commenting on the cosy relationship between the British Government and Bahrain added,  “What is the difference between Colonel Gaddafi and the al Khalifas? Both are torturers”.

With regard to the recent decision to go ahead this week with Formula 1 in Bahrain, Ali told the Independent, “If Formula 1 goes to Bahrain it is saying it supports dictatorship, torture and repression.

The Bahraini government welcomes Formula 1 because it makes them look good”.  You can read the Independent report, HERE:

As they waved the Bahraini flag and shouted “Yasquot Hamad” (Down with King Hamad) over the rooftops of central London in the full view of local media, their calls were echoed by a small crowd of supporters nearby. 

The pair were recently interviewed while undertaking their fast and vigil outside the US embassy and before the roof top protest at the Bahrain one. 

You can read their views and reasons and see photographs, HERE:

There are reports this morning that the police, in an attempt to drive them down, have refused to give them water. Night time temperatures in London at present are around freezing at 0 C. The BBC has a video report, HERE:

You can see other video footage recorded yesterday in London, HERE:  and HERE:

In its usual conciliatory manner the Bahrain Government described the 2 men on the roof of its embassy as “terrorists” and asked the British Foreign Office to evict the men from the building and “take legal action against them”.

The Bahraini Government also urged the UK authorities to “protect” its property, diplomats and employees “in conformity with the 1961 Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations”.

Quoting an Under-Secretary, Abdulla Abdullatif, in a very short piece, the Gulf Daily News reported, “Work will resume as normal (on Tuesday); we will not allow terrorists to disrupt it”. You can see a Bahrain Government statement, HERE:

(EDITOR: P.S. However, there is no truth in the rumour that the Bahrain Government is planning  to drop their Foreign Minister on top of the 2 “terrorists” from a helicopter in order to critically disable them.

Er, sorry – could not resist that!  Or perhaps they could send John Yates quickly back to London to talk the “terrorists” down “nicely”?)

For interesting reading on ex- assistant commander at Scotland Yard John Yates, read Mike Diboll’s article, HERE:

There is also a spoof Bahrain police checkpoint video, making some serious points, which did make me laugh, HERE:

AMNESTY: “BE UNDER NO ILLUSION BAHRAIN’S CRISIS IS OVER – FLAWED REFORMS, INADEQUATE RESPONSE AND NO-ONE HELD ACCOUNTABLE”:

On a more serious note, Amnesty International issued another 58 page report on Bahrain yesterday, “Flawed Reforms: Bahrain fails to achieve justice for protesters”.

Stating the need for the report, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, said, “With the world’s eyes on Bahrain as it prepares to host the Grand Prix, no-one should be under any illusions that the country’s human rights crisis is over.

The authorities are trying to portray the country as being on the road to reform, but we continue to receive reports of torture and use of unnecessary and excessive force against protests. Their reforms have only scratched the surface.”

“The report reveals that piecemeal reforms have failed to provide justice for victims of human rights violations, despite the Bahrain Government’s insistence that it will learn from the events of February and March 2011 .  Following the November report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), Amnesty has found that despite some institutional and other reforms, the government’s overall response has been inadequate.

Amnesty is calling on the Bahraini government to immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience and to ensure that those suspected of torturing and killing, including those with command responsibility, are held accountable”.  Not one single single Government official has yet to be held accountable for the torture and abuse admitted by the Government.

You can read Amnesty’s statement HERE:  and the full report, HERE:

DOZENS ARRESTED AND TEAR GASSED AS GOVERNMENT CULTURE MINISTER OPENS CARNIVAL CALLED “MANAMA CITY OF JOY”:

Meanwhile, in Bahrain last night police raids and arrests continued in the villages of Bani Jamra, Daih, AlSehla, and Aali. Reports say that more than 100 have been arrested in the last few days ahead of the F1 Grand Prix at the Sakhir Circuit this weekend.

At the same time Bahrain’s Culture Minister, Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al-Khalifa, opened a “heritage carnival” at Bab Al-Bahrain and old suq yesterday, for “visitors and tourists to get a taste of daily Bahraini life and genuine hospitality”. 

The carnival is called, rather sickeningly,  “Manama City of Joy”.

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“PROTESTS? WHAT PROTESTS? NOBODY HAS BEEN SHOT” – BERNIE ON THE BALL AGAIN:

SWEDISH HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST VISITING FRIENDS DEPORTED BECAUSE OF HER TWITTER FEED:

ALKHAWAJA FAMILY FINALLY GET TO VISIT ABDULHADI – “HE WAS THE HAPPIEST MAN IN THE ROOM”:

TIMELINE – 16th APRIL 2012 15.32 GMT:

In the light of motorsports decision to continue with the F1 Grand prix in Bahrain this week, Al Wefaq, the main Opposition party in the kingdom, announced a week of demonstrations and sit-ins.

Under the heading of “steadfastness and challenge”, the first protest in the series took place in Manama yesterday. A protest is planned near the airport on Tuesday, when the F1 teams are expected to arrive.

Abdel Jalil Khalil, the leader of Al Wefaq, said that no protests were planned near the Sakhir racing circuit but they would certainly take advantage of any publicity surrounding the F1 event to “highlight our political and democratic demands”.

In Shanghai, where the Chinese F1 Grand Prix has just been held, Bernie Ecclestone, the organiser of Formula One, was asked by journalists on Sunday whether he had any comment on protests against F1 in Bahrain over the weekend.

“What protests?” he is reported as asking.

When asked about the shooting of 15 year old Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Aziz (scroll down to see the report below dated 14th April), he reportedly said, “Nobody has been shot. What are you talking about?

And before swearing and storming off, added, “Do you think that if we cancel the Formula One that all the problems will just disappear?”

EDITOR: On the ball, as usual, Bernie!  Perhaps you would like to show your F1 colleagues this video, uploaded on Friday? “No protests,” Bernie. “All peaceful and quiet.” “Just a few kids…..”  Take a look, HERE:

Predictably, Bahrain’s ancient Prime Minister (41 years on the “throne”), Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, welcomed the F1 decision and the his Cabinet said, “The move reflects confidence in Bahrain’s security and stability, as well as its capacity to host the key global sporting event”.

The Prime Minister,  with his usual compassion and understanding observed,  “Acts of sabotage and terror attacks perpetrated by outlaws and pariahs have been rejected nationally and internationally”.

The last word goes to the editorial in yesterday’s London Observer entitled “Formula One demeans itself with this event: Whoever participates in this race is tainted by association with a malign regime”

In part the editorial says:

“Perhaps it is too much to expect Ecclestone, who has enriched himself hugely out of Formula One, to show a moral backbone.

But the drivers, sponsors and team owners who participate should consider that they will be giving cover to a violently human rights-abusing regime by their participation and will be seen by many Bahrainis and others as accomplices in those continuing abuses.

We can act, too, by not watching. Because sport – despite the protestations of Formula One’s paid lobbyists – is not divorced from the moral world and this event, and Bahrain’s continuing behaviour, demands our disapproval”.

EDITOR: Hear! Hear! You can read the full article, HERE:

SWEDISH HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST VISITING FRIENDS DEPORTED BECAUSE OF HER TWITTER FEED:

It will be interesting to see how easy it is for journalists to enter Bahrain this week.  Normally around 500 follow the F1 circus around the world.

Certainly it is not easy for human rights supporters to enter Bahrain, and even when they gain entry their stay can be cut short or interrupted with a period in jail.

Two members of Human Rights Watch were arrested yesterday, Tom Malinowski and Nadim Houry, along with with local Bahrain Centre for Human Rights activist Said Yousif, as they were observing a demonstration. They were released a few hours later.

Not so lucky was Swedish activist Anna Hagberg who had lived in Bahrain from 2009 to 2011.  Anna entered Bahrain on the 6th April to visit old friends and was granted a tourist visa at the airport after a wait of around 20 minutes.  She had to leave a contact number, so gave the authorities the telephone number of oen of her best friends.

On the 11th April, the friend was telephoned and ordered to bring Anna to the Immigration Office.  When Anna arrived, she was “greeted” by 5 police officers in one room and another who looked like “the boss”.  “What are you really doing in Bahrain?” was the question.

When Anna kept answering to the repeated question, that she was visiting friends, “the boss” turned round his Ipad and showed Anna her Twitter feed.

He started screaming and demanded to know why she was supporting the F1 boycott and writing about Abdulahadi AlKhawaja?  “You are this human right,” (? sic) he said.

“What gives you the right to write these things about Bahrain?” he demanded. 

Anna writes, “I wanted to give him a lecture on freedom of speech but decided it was not the best time”.

Anna was also accused of taking pictures of anti-F1 graffiti and meeting in a cafe with Nabeel Rajab.

Anna was subsequently held for 13 hours without being given food or water, other than the 1 bottle she had with her and sent to the airport for deportation. You can read her full story, HERE:

(EDITOR: All I can add to this tale of visiting the “land of freedom and democracy”, is that I hope the authorities enjoy reading my Twitter feed – I shall do my best to hold their interest!)

ALKHAWAJA FAMILY FINALLY GET TO VISIT ABDULHADI – “HE WAS THE HAPPIEST MAN IN THE ROOM”:

The AlKhawaja family was finally allowed a 1 hour visit with Abdulhadi in prison yesterday, after being denied contact with him for more than a week.

His daughter Zainab said that they were searched several times and that despite her Father looking like someone “who is in the final days of a long fight with a terminal illness”, he was still “the happiest person in the room”.

Zainab reports that hands were “ice cold”, his body “skeletal” and something was wrong with his eyes which were “not normal, not focused”.

Addulhadi himself said, “I’m taking some juice & water, as this is my agreement with the Danish ambassador who tells me there’s hope.

I told the doctors here that this is the exception, if nothing changes in 2-3 days, I will go back to refusing liquids.”

Alkhawaja is now on the 68th day of his “Freedom or Death” hunger strike.

(EDITOR: I am sure we all wish Abdulhadi well. His case comes up again for an appeal hearing on 23rd April, a week away after the end of F1.

He has our hope, our best wishes and our sincere thanks for his stubborn courage.) You can read Zainab’s full account, courtesy of EAWorldview, HERE:

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