In Bahrain uprising, there’s no turning back

First Published: 2011-03-02

Bahrain's pro-democracy movement locked in deepening standoff with ruling dynasty.

Middle East Online

By Natacha Yazbeck - MANAMA

Capturing iconic moments of Bahrain's struggle for democracy Bahrain's ruling dynasty and an anti-regime movement are locked in a deepening standoff, and both sides agree there is no turning back as protesters continue to hit the streets in their thousands. The Shiite-led opposition said it wants to join the dialogue proposed by Crown Prince Salman following deadly protests, but only after the government resigns. An official said on Wednesday the government's patience "has its limits." "The situation in Bahrain is now irreversible. The regime knows it cannot turn back, and the opposition will certainly not back down," Ali Fakhro, a political analyst and former education minister, said. "I think the government is well aware that there is a problem that must be dealt with and that ignoring the demands of protesters... will only give rise to the same problems again." A string of popular uprisings against regimes across the Arab world has spilled over into the majority Shiite kingdom of Bahrain, a strategic US ally that is just a boat ride from Iran. Since February 14, thousands of mainly Shiite protesters have daily taken to the streets of the capital Manama, home of the US Fifth Fleet, to demand the fall of the Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty which has ruled unchallenged for 200 years. Calls to end decades of oppression and rights deprivation They are also calling for major reforms to end what they say are decades of oppression and rights deprivation. The tiny archipelago carries special significance as it neighbours Saudi Arabia, which has its own Shiite minority concentrated in Eastern Province, close to Bahrain. The Shiite-led coalition of Bahraini opposition groups is adamant in demanding the resignation of the government before the wide-reaching talks offered by Crown Prince Salman. "Our primary demand is the resignation of the current government and its replacement with a government of national salvation," said MP Jalil Khalil, head of the Shiite Al-Wefaq parliamentary bloc which is spearheading the seven-group opposition alliance. Such a government should be "formed of technocrats representing both the Sunni and Shiite communities," he said. "The opposition has not refused dialogue," said Khalil, whose bloc resigned from parliament in protest at the killing of seven demonstrators last month. "It is seeking guarantees before heading to the table, including a deadline and the clear outlining of the steps that will be taken, such as the implementation of the national charter." Bahrain's National Action Charter was passed in 2001 following a referendum, as part of a package of reforms introduced by King Hamad, ending a 1990s Shiite uprising and restoring the country to constitutional rule. But a year later a new constitution was adopted by royal decree, expanding the king’s powers and establishing the Shura consultative council, an upper chamber in parliament appointed by the king with the right to block legislation passed by the lower elected chamber. In response to demonstrations, King Hamad charged his son, Crown Prince Salman, with launching dialogue, a move the anti-government camp has dismissed as insufficient. Abduljalil al-Singace of the opposition Haq movement, who was among a group of political activists freed in a royal pardon last week, has warned of more bloodshed if the government ignores the protesters' demands. "My anticipation is that the situation will lead to more bloodshed if they continue to turn a blind eye on the protesters in the street," he said. But a government official accused the opposition of refusing to respond to the regime's attempts to reach out. "Continuing this sit-in and refusing to respond to the government's calls for dialogue will exhaust our patience and is causing losses in trade and the economy," said the official, requesting anonymity. "We have been calling for dialogue for 15 days and the opposition has not heeded that call," the official said. "Our patience has its limits."

Pro-sultan Omanis in support drive

First Published: 2011-03-02

Mixed feelings in Muscat: protestors support Sultan Qaboos, but accuse some government officials of corruption.

Middle East Online

Pro-Sultan, anti-corruption MUSCAT - Hundreds of Omanis demonstrated on Wednesday in support of Sultan Qaboos as more than 400 activists camped outside the Gulf state's consultative council, continuing a series of anti-corruption protests. A procession of some 200 cars drove from central Muscat to the Al-Alam Palace, one of the residences of Qaboos who has ruled Oman since 1970. "With our blood and souls, we sacrifice ourselves for you, sultan," chanted demonstrators in cars festooned with portraits of Qaboos. Meanwhile, some 50 people camped outside Oman's consultative council on Wednesday protesting against corruption and demanding higher wages. Their number later swelled to more than 400. The protesters, who set up three small tents outside the council, held banners reading: "No to corruption, no to favouritism." No police presence was reported as the demonstrators vowed to stay until their demands are met by the government. "Our demands are rightful as Omani citizens,"said one protester, Muaweya Rashdi, a day after the army tanks peacefully dispersed a four-day protest in the northern industrial city of Sohar after at least one protester was killed in clashes with police. "We are demanding higher wages and social security benefits... We want transparent figures," said the electrician who receives a monthly salary of 200 riyals ($519). In a move aimed at addressing protesters' grievances, Qaboos has announced the creation of 50,000 new jobs and a monthly allowance of 150 riyals (390 dollars/283 euros) for registered job seekers. He also ordered the formation of a ministerial committee to draw up proposals to meet calls for the elected consultative council to be given more powers. On Wednesday, Qaboos told the 83 members of the consultative council that he intends to "introduce reforms soon," and "promised to expand the authorities" of the elected council which has no legislative powers, said a council member. Qaboos also considered protesters who are demanding reforms as "children of Oman who should be treated wisely," he added. Last month, Oman raised the minimum wage for nationals working in the private sector from $364 to $520. Normally placid Oman is the latest country to be hit by the wave of popular protests that has rattled several Arab countries and swept from power the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt. Mass demonstrations also threaten the regimes of Bahrain, Libya and Yemen. Oman guards the strategic Strait of Hormuz through which 40 percent of the world's oil supply passes and Muscat is a key Western ally in the region. Iran borders the waterway's northern flank.

Belarus jails three over election protests

Policemen arrest an activist of the Belarus youth organization Mlady Front (Young Front) during their rally in front of the government building in Minsk in December 2010. Belarus on Wednesday handed jail terms of up to four years to three activists accused of rioting offences for taking part in December's protests against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko.

AFP - Belarus on Wednesday handed jail terms of up to four years to three activists accused of rioting offences for taking part in December's protests against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko.

A Minsk court jailed Alexander Molchanov for three years and Dmitry Novik for three-and-a-half years, an AFP correspondent in court said.

Alexander Otroshchenkov, a spokesman of opposition candidate Andrei Sannikov, received a four-year term.

Belarus on February 17 handed out the first jail sentence to a protestor over the December demonstrations, which were followed by a crackdown on the opposition that sparked an outcry in the West.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Misnk on December 19 to protest the results of presidential polls that gave Lukashenko a crushing victory but were criticised by international observers as flawed.

But baton-wielding security forces dispersed the protestors and arrested hundreds of people, several dozen of whom are now set to stand trial for public order offences and could face lengthy jail terms.

The trials of the most prominent accused, including Sannikov himself and fellow ex-presidential candidate Vladimir Nekliayev, have yet to take place.

The opposition crackdown -- which affected a whole swathe of the country's opposition activists and media -- triggered a new crisis between the West and the president who the United States once called Europe's last dictator.

Otroshchenkov vehemently denied the charges of using violence in a bid to enter government buildings, saying in his closing arguments that "I have done none of the things of which I am accused."

Both Novik and Molchanov admitted to pushing aside a wooden barrier that had been put around the government headquarters in Minsk.

Another opposition candidate, Ales Mikhalevich, said this week was repeatedly tortured after being imprisoned along with other opposition candidates.

Unidentified people wearing masks twisted prisoners' arms in handcuffs "until the joints started to crack," he said, and forced him to stand naked against the wall with his legs stretched into a near split.

His captors also refused to allow him to speak to his lawyer alone and deprived him of sleep, he said, calling the jail run by the KGB security services "a concentration camp in central Minsk".

Mikhalevich was imprisoned in December and released by the KGB earlier this month, after he signed an agreement to cooperate with the authorities, although he is still awaiting trial.

A total of five former candidates and 37 opposition activists are due to stand trial over t

Thousands of Croatians stage anti-government protest

3 March 2011 - 00H42

A protestor holds a banner reading "Jadranka go away" demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor's cabinet in the capital Zagreb, on February 28. Several thousand anti-government protestors, mostly young people, marched through the Croatian capital on Wednesday calling on conservative Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor to step down.

AFP - Several thousand anti-government protestors, mostly young people, marched through the Croatian capital on Wednesday calling on conservative Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor to step down.

It was another in a series of anti-government protests, organised on Facebook, since late February with demonstrators accusing the government of corruption and mismanaging the economy.

The protestors initially marched through downtown Zagreb without incident, four days after violent clashes between demonstrators and police left dozens injured.

However, late Wednesday the protestors burned a flag of the European Union, which Croatia aspires to join, and a flag of the main opposition Social Democrats, commercial Nova television reported. They also tore up a flag of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

"We will finish what we have started. ... The corrupt government will have to face reality," the main organiser Ivan Pernar, 25, told the protestors who initially gathered at Zagreb's central Cvjetni Trg square.

As during previous protests, the demonstrators tried to march towards the government seat where protests are banned, with hundreds of others joining them on their way, but riot police blocked them.

They then marched through the centre of Zagreb towards the seat of the HDZ.

"Citizens Hired You, Now You're Fired," read some of the banners carried by the protestors, who chanted "Come on the Streets," "We Want Elections" and "Jadranka Go Away."

Late Wednesday, some 300 demonstrators arrived in front of the building where Kosor lives, which was protected by riot police, and chanted anti-government slogans, local media reported.

On Saturday, 50 people including 32 police officers were injured in violence that erupted when several hundred people, among them football fans, clashed with riot police who prevented them from marching towards the government building.

Anti-government protests were held Wednesday in three other major Croatian towns -- Rijeka, Split and Djakovo -- gathering between 100 and 300 people in each.

Kosor took over the helm of the government in 2009 when her predecessor Ivo Sanader, currently detained on suspicion of corruption and abuse of power, suddenly stepped down.

Croatia, which aspires to become an EU member in 2012, was hard hit by the global economic crisis and has seen negative growth for the past two years.

Iran opposition: Over 200 'arrested' in Tuesday protest

The government has denied imprisoning Mr Karroubi and Mr Mousavi

Iran's opposition says more than 200 people were arrested on Tuesday while trying to protest in Tehran.

Opposition websites said security services rounded up protesters in several locations in the capital and were helped by police in plain clothes.

Another 40 people were said to have been detained in the city of Isfahan.

Opposition groups had called for rallies over the reported imprisonment of their leaders - Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.

The two men had been placed under house arrest several weeks ago as authorities cracked down on protests staged in solidarity with the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere.

Their families say that on Monday they were taken to prison, although the government denies this.

'Black vans'

Riot police and militia on motorcycles broke up attempts by a number of opposition supporters to protest in various parts of Tehran on Tuesday.

One website said eyewitnesses had reported 30 arrests on Felestin Street alone.

"Masked officers arrested men and women and put them into black vans and continued beating them even after they were put in the van," the Human Rights House of Iran reported.

There has been no independent confirmation of the number of arrests.

But the BBC has learned that Fakhrosadar Mohtashami, the wife of former minister Mostafa Tajzadeh, was one of those detained.

A relative told BBC Persian that Ms Mohtashami is being kept in Evin Prison and has not been allowed contact with her family for the time being.

Some Iranians in Malaysia staged their own demonstration on Tuesday

No Iranian officials have acknowledged Tuesday's protests, and they were ignored by Iranian state media.

Both Mr Mousavi and Mr Karroubi ran as opposition candidates in the disputed June 2009 presidential election.

Mr Mousavi said he was the actual winner and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was only re-elected through a rigged vote.

Hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters then took part in marches that were crushed by the security forces.

Wikileaks: Suspect Bradley Manning faces 22 new charges

2 March 2011 Last updated at 23:32 GMT

Intelligence analyst Bradley Manning served in Iraq

The US Army has charged a soldier held in connection with the leak of US government documents published by the Wikileaks website with 22 extra counts.

The new charges against Private First Class Bradley Manning include aiding the enemy, a capital offence, but prosecutors have said they will not seek the death penalty.

The intelligence analyst is being held at a military jail in Virginia.

He is suspected of leaking 620,000 diplomatic and military documents.

Pte Manning, who joined the US military in 2007, was initially charged in May with 12 counts of illegally downloading and sharing a secret video of a US military operation and secret military and diplomatic documents and cables.

The new charges accuse the soldier of using unauthorised software on government computers to download classified information and to make intelligence available to "the enemy".

Under the US Uniform Code of Military Justice, the offence is punishable by death.

But in a news release, the US Army said prosecutors would not seek the death penalty, although Pte Manning could face life in prison if tried and convicted.

Fresh details

Pte Manning's lawyer David Coombs said the soldier's defence team had been preparing for the possibility of additional charges over the past few weeks.

Pte Manning is being held in solitary confinement in a high-security military prison at Quantico marine base, Virginia.

Mr Coombs has said he expects a hearing to determine whether the military has enough evidence to try the soldier to be held in May or June.

The newly released list of charges offers fresh details on the records Pte Manning is accused of obtaining illegally.

Those include:

• More than 380,000 records from a database of military records from the Iraq war
• 90,000 records from a database of Afghan war files
• 250,000 records from a US state department diplomatic database
• 75 classified US state department cables, including one titled "Reykjavik-13"
• A video file named "12 JUL 07 CZ ENGAGEMENT ZONE 30 GC"

In recent months, Wikileaks has published troves of documents it titled the Iraq War Logs, the Afghan War Diary, and reams of secret US state department cables spanning five decades.

The site has also released a cable titled Reykjavik 13 that summarised US diplomats' discussions with Icelandic officials about that country's financial troubles, and a leaked video of a 2007 helicopter attack in Iraq that killed two Reuters news service employees.

Planned Tahrir demo for allegedly assaulted US reporter sparks controversy

Jordan Gerstler-Holton

Wed, 02/03/2011 - 22:03

Photographed by أدهم خورشيد

• 1

Protests planned in downtown Cairo on 4 March to demand justice for Lara Logan, the CBS news correspondent who was allegedly sexually assaulted by dozens of Egyptian men in Tahrir Square the night President Hosni Mubarak resigned on 11 February, has been met with widespread opposition in Egypt.

“I could never find any kind of official [Egyptian] response about what had happened,” said Karim Mohy, a 31-year-old Egyptian-American activist organizing the protests, in a conversation with Al-Masry Al-Youm.

Logan claims she was attacked from within densely packed crowds who were celebrating Mubarak’s ouster. Despite the large numbers of cameras and media personnel in the area at the time, however, no evidence of the alleged assault has been produced.

Having spent most of his life in the state of Utah in the United States, Mohy relocated to Egypt in 2003 to attend university at the Arab Academy in Cairo and currently works as a copy editor for Anayou.com, a social networking site.

“I’d say a great deal of the world has heard about it. It happened here, and most people here don’t know anything about it,” he explained, attempting to restrain the anger in his voice.

In a plea posted on Cairo Scholars, an online listserve dedicated to helping Cairo’s expats exchange information about life in Egypt, he expressed concern that “many substantial problems [in Egypt] have not changed at all.” He expects only “a small number” of protesters to attend the demonstration.

He created an event page on Facebook called “Protest to demand justice for Lara Logan” and a group page called “Brave Hero of Egypt's Revolution: Lara Logan.” According to a detailed description of the group in both Arabic and English, the protest aims to “create awareness,” demand that “the government and military bring her attackers to justice,” and shed light on the issue of “sexual assault and sexual harassment,” which it calls “a plague on [Egyptian] society.”

Comments on the group page reflected mostly opposition to the project.

“I would love to see this group fighting [sexual] harassment and not promoting the fact the one foreigner was assaulted,” wrote one female commentator by the name of Arwa Atef Shalaby.

“We all get assaulted; it happens everywhere to all of us. No girl in Egypt or any country was not harassed by a guy. I think that’s just life, there are perverts all over the world it has nothing to do with the revolution.”

Indeed, incidents of sexual harassment and assault in Egypt have proliferated in recent years. According to studies conducted by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Right (ECWR) in 2008, 98 percent of foreign women and 83 percent of Egyptian women surveyed had experienced sexual harassment in Egypt. Meanwhile, 62 percent of Egyptian men confessed to harassing women and 53 percent of Egyptian men faulted women for "bringing it on."

More than one user cast doubt that the attack even occurred. “With all due respect, if that was true...it wouldn't have passed like this! CBS, Washington, human rights, women rights, etc. would have done something about it and making a big deal out such incident,” said Facebook user Ahmed Yaqub, apparently oblivious to the fact that Logan’s attack became an international issue following news reports by most major foreign media outlets, and that the US government had gotten involved. CBS reported on the incident, and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced soon after that US diplomats would help pursue Logan’s attackers.

“If what happened to Lara was something big enough,” wrote Ahmad Fahmy, another Facebook user, “it would have appeared in aljazeera or alarabiya.” Fahmy was at least partially correct: Al Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, two of the Arab world’s most popular TV news networks, both neglected to report the alleged incident. Al-Arabiya reported it on the English-language edition of its website ten days after the attack was said to have occurred.

Some posts denied that the protesters who called for Mubarak’s ouster during the 25 January revolution were the same people who allegedly assaulted Logan on 11 February.

“I am sure that [who] did this are the Mubarak thugs who were paid to ruin the victory,” wrote Abdallah Alkhouly in a Facebook group called “Apology to Lara Logan.”

In the same group, a user named Ahmed Tarek Osman adds: “The people who did that to you were some of the thugs who attacked us in Tahrir Square!” in reference to a group of Mubarak supporters that attacked Cairo’s pro-democracy demonstrators on 3 February.

However, Egyptians are not the only ones who oppose the idea of protests demanding justice for Logan. Judging by responses to Karim’s initiative on Cairo Scholars, it seems that many members of Egypt’s expat community reject Karim’s initiative, though for different reasons. Out of a total of nine people who responded to Karim’s message on Cairo Scholars, seven indicated their disapproval, mainly because they believed that protests should not focus on one foreigner.

“I think it would make more sense to make a sit-in against sexual harassment in general, as Egyptian women are the ones most affected by this [more] than American journalists,” wrote one woman named Simona.

One message addressed the issue of timing. “Given what else is going on… e.g., other revolutions in the region, you aren't going to get the media coverage you need to draw attention to the issue effectively right now,” wrote Kathy, who identified herself as a “community organizer” and “nonviolence trainer.”

Kathy cautioned that his efforts were likely to be “misconstrued or misrepresented in the media, especially the Egyptian media,” and she doubted whether Karim was the appropriate person to lead the protest. It would “be better if this effort were led by a respected Egyptian women's organization, like ECWR [The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights], to avoid being misperceived as putting foreigners first, or even worse, as anti-Egyptian, anti-Egyptian revolution, or Islamophobic,” she wrote.

Another respondent named Claudia indicated that though she “mainly agreed” with Kathy’s views, she had reservations. She wondered, “Will there ever be the right person and a good time for the demands?”

Mohy, for his part, rejected the idea that such actions should be put off any longer and seemed to perceive himself as filling a desperately needed role. “The rules of Egyptian society are basically being rewritten now,” he said. “I would suggest and hope that women activists take this opportunity to do something, and strike while the iron is hot.”

For the chairman of ECWR's board, Nehad Abu al-Komsan, seizing the opportunity presented by Egypt’s revolution means working behind the scenes to ensure that women’s rights are preserved in Egypt’s new constitution. She told Al-Masry Al-Youm that though her organization welcomed the idea of protests demanding an end to sexual abuse, it opposed the idea of holding protests to specifically demand justice for Logan. A narrowly centered approach focusing on one individual is tactically unsound, she contended.

She said ECWR had not made any immediate plans to stage demonstrations of its own.

“Women’s rights are not about any one individual,” she said. “If we hold protests exclusively for Lara Logan, the government would just say ‘this is one incident; we’re sorry’ and award compensation. Case closed… We want to preserve the interests not just of Lara Logan, but of women in general.”