4/5th August 2012

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

Gulf Arab countries to discuss unity in September: paper
The foreign ministers of six Gulf Arab countries will meet in September to discuss a plan for closer integration of the mostly Sunni Muslim monarchies, Saudi Arabia's English-language Arab News reported on Sunday. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah proposed last December that the Gulf Cooperation Council, which also includes Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, should move "to the stage of unity in a single entity" in response to uprisings in the Arab world and the perceived threat from Iran. "The initiative to move to a Gulf union will be discussed by the GCC foreign ministers when they convene next month," said Abdulatif alZayani, the group's secretary general, in comments carried by Arab News. Read More Abdullateef Al-Zayani, GCC secretary-general, said: "The study to form the Gulf Union, which has been completed by the GCC panel entrusted with the task to examine the plan for Gulf Union, will be reviewed by the alliance foreign ministers soon." Al-Zayani said the commission tasked with studying the initiative had completed its work and submitted it to the council of foreign ministers. Read More determination. The small island is ruled by a brutal tribal monarchy, the royal family have made it clear that they are to crush any element challenging their authority. Security forces in Bahrain have been found guilty of murdering protesters, vandalizing public and private property, and most shockingly, torturing activists to death whilst behind bars. All of this had happened in the last 18 months, since the uprising started on the 14th of February 2011. Read More At least 45 people were injured in the security forces operation to break up the three separate protests across the Gulf Arab island kingdom late on Thursday, they said. Bahrain crushed an uprising led by majority Shiite Muslims last year, after successful popular revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, but protest marches and rallies continue, leading at times to clashes between police and Shiite youths. Read More Commission of Inquiry (BICI) held at the US Congress on Wednesday. "We are ready for talks and have invited His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for dialogue but there was no positive response," he said. He emphasised the difference between constitutional monarchy and absolute monarchy, which he later used to describe the situation in Bahrain. Read More

Gulf ministers consider formal union

Gulf foreign ministers will meet next month to consider proposals to form a Gulf Union, Saudi Arabia's Englishlanguage paper, the Saudi Gazette, reported yesterday. The proposed union would bring the Gulf Cooperation Council's six countries into a closer political and economic alliance. But analysts said that differences over economic

policy, as well as a preoccupation with the crisis in Syria, would likely stall implementation of any plans. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain had enthusiastically advocated for a Gulf Union when it was rst proposed in May, arguing that a more unied region would form a bulwark against Iran. At a summit in Riyadh, the Saudi foreign minister, Saud Al Faisal, said Tehran should "keep out" of regional affairs. Read More

Bahrain Holds 41 Protesters

The daughter of a prominent Bahraini opposition activist and 40 other people were arrested early on Friday, hours after security forces used tear gas and birdshot to disperse hundreds of protesters demanding political reforms, activists said.

Ministers set to discuss proposed Gulf Union

The historic move to transform the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) into a Gulf Union inched closer yesterday with the announcement of the plan to discuss the nal proposal by GCC foreign ministers within a few weeks from now.

Protests in Bahrain call for self-determination in governance

Protests erupt throughout small villages in Bahrain, with citizens demanding more inuence in governance and self-determination. The unrest has resulted in many arrests and injuries. Protests have erupted in several villages in the small island of Bahrain. The protesters have been demanding their right of self

Bahrain opposition 'ready for dialogue'

Al Wefaq member Mattar Ibrahim Mattar said the "opposition is ready for dialogue" expressing hope that August 1 would be a "historic day after which an open dialogue between all parties would take place". He was speaking at a session on the implementation of a report by Bahrain Independent

Sectarian conflict? Portraying it so serves Gulf rulers interests

Saudi authorities claim that a teenager who was killed during a protest in Qatif had attacked an army patrol, killing one soldier and injuring another. Rights activists, though, say it was part of a violent police crackdown on the Shia minority. According to Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour

Al Turki, the shooting took place after Fridays demonstration, when a security patrol came under heavy re from four armed rioters on motorcycles. "A security patrol was exposed to heavy re from four armed rioters on a motorbike when pausing at a street intersection in Qatif," said Turki, as cited by state news agency SPA. One soldier was killed and another wounded and taken to hospital as a result of the attack, he added. Read More between police and protesters.

Bahrain societies urged to renounce violence

Bahrain has called upon political societies to completely renunciate street violence at disturbed villages. During a meeting with political societies on Saturday, Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Minister, Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa,

called for an unequivocal condemnation of violence, stressing the necessity not to harbour the perpetrators or condone their heinous acts. The heads and representatives of political societies outlined their vision regarding political development in Bahrain, stressing the need to reach common understandings towards ensuring further progress through constitutional institutions. Read More In a statement during a hearing hosted by Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in Washington,Posner said that His Majesty King Hamad 'deserves great credit' for establishing BICI, whose process was 'unprecedented both in its scope and the unfettered access the BICI team were granted', and allowing it to take a critical look at Bahrain's human rights record and report so extensively on its ndings. Read More 'As a result, we have expanded and are doing well in new markets,' Khalid Almoayed and Sons director Abdulrahman Almoayed told our sister publication the Gulf Daily News. 'On the other hand, businesses in Bahrain have also started to look up and the future looks promising.' Read More

US praises Bahrain for report, as clampdowns continue

The United States Assistant Secretary of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour Michael Posner told a congressional hearing last week that Bahrain is wracked by deep divisions within its society, compounded by nightly, violent confrontations

Posner and a host of US government ofcials along with Bahraini counterparts testied before a US congressional hearing on the implementation of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry Report, which set forth 28 recommendations for the government to ease tension within the country. Read More ruling Al-Khalifa dynasty, and for much of the past century its security backbone. Time and again, British support has enabled the Al-Khalifa regime to withstand local agitation for greater political freedoms and human rights. Britains protectorate relations with Bahrain may have formally ended on 15 August 1971, but they live on through informal channels and personal relationships in the royal, military, and commercial spheres. Read More

Bahrain now more stable says top US official

US Assistant Secretary of State Michael H Posner has afrmed that Bahrain now is more stable than it was a year ago, praising the government's bold initiative to invite global expert Cherif Bassiouni to chair Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI).

Britain and Bahrain: mutual interests and the politics of protection

For over a year protesters in Bahrain have demonstrated for democratic reforms, in the face of often brutal repression by the regime. British arms transfers to Bahrain continued throughout that period. This should not surprise. For nearly two centuries, Britain has been the guarantor of Bahrains

Bahraini firms expanding after unrest

Businesses in Bahrain have been expanding into neighbouring countries as they seek to bounce back from the unrest, said a top businessman, adding that the downturn forced them to diversify into other markets.

Bahrain: Calls for the immediate release of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), call on the authorities in Bahrain to immediately release Nabeel Rajab, President of the BCHR and director of the GCHR and to drop all charges against him. Read More

Bahraini protesters have blocked roads by setting re to tires in towns, following days of anti-regime protests across the country. Read More

Bahrain: Self-determination peaceful protests violently suppressed, numerous arrests, reports of beatings and ill treatment
On 2nd of August 2012, Bahrain witnessed numerous peaceful protests calling for democracy and freedom which were called by the February 14th Coalition in Bani Jamra, Bilad AlQadeem and AlDair and have spread in other areas under the title The People Demand Self-Determination. Read More

AlWefaq: Bahrain Regime uses teargases to kill, not to disperse

Al Wefaq stressed the regime uses toxic tear gas, as well as their canisters, to intentionally kill and harm citizens and not just to disperse protests. Regime forces are directly shooting tear gas canisters as live ammunition against pro-democracy protesters, causing tens of injuries and in some cases even deaths. Read More

Bahrain: Arrest and Ill-treatment of Human Rights Defender Zainab Al-Khawaja

Human rights activist Zainab Al-Khawaja was yet again arrested last night when she was protesting alone in Al Qadam roundabout. Read More

Bahrain: Pregnant woman attacked by regime forces whilst breaking fast

Bahraini regime forces raided two homes in Sanad last night, brutally assaulting a woman in the process. They verbally insulted another women whilst aiming their guns at others. Read More

Bahraini troops attack anti-regime protesters, many injured and arrested

At least 45 Bahraini demonstrators have been injured after Saudi-backed regime forces used tear gas and birdshot to break up three separate anti-government protests. Read More

Bahraini protesters block roads, set fire to tires Berlin calls for freedom, democracy in Bahrain Demonstrators voice support for Bahraini revolution at Saudi Embassy in Berlin
A demonstration has been held outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Berlin to protest against the Saudi intervention in Bahrain and to express solidarity with Bahraini revolutionaries. Read More Dozens of people protested outside the Saudi-Arabian Embassy in Berlin, calling for freedom and democracy in Bahrain. They condemned the violent crackdown of antigovernment protests in the Persian Gulf sheikdom since February last year, backed by Saudi forces. Read More