22nd June 2012

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

Bahrain opposition leader injured in protest
Bahraini riot police fired tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets Friday, injuring the head of the Shiite majority's main political bloc while trying to break up protests in the country's capital, the opposition said. Al Wefaq's secretary-general Sheik Ali Salman told The Associated Press he was hit in the shoulder and back by either a tear gas canister or stun grenade during demonstrations in Manama, which are common following Friday prayers. He had red welts on his skin but seemed otherwise in good health. Al Wefaq had earlier said that rubber bullets had caused the injury. He said he was leading about 40 protesters on the way to a march when they encountered police who ordered them to disperse and then started firing into the crowd. Read More Reprinted here:
Bahrain opposition leader injured in protest | HeraldTribune.com Bahrain opposition leader injured in protest - KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar Bluff Bahrain opposition leader injured in protest Bahrain opposition leader injured in protest - Times Union lacrossetribune.com/news/world/ middle-east/bahrain-oppositionleader-injured-in-protest/ article_9ea14c7e-6304-5ceb-9838 -87a5a04d70b3.html Bahrain opposition says leader injured by rubber bullets in protest - The Washington Post www.mysanantonio.com/news/ article/Bahrain-opposition-leaderinjured-in-protest-3655502.php abcnews.go.com/International/ wireStory/bahrain-oppositionleader-injured-protest-16628916

Manama, it said in a statement.

Bahrain police disperse rally, opposition head hurt

Bahraini security forces on Friday red rubber bullets to disperse an unauthorised rally by the opposition Al-Wefaq wounding its leader, the Shiite bloc said. Sheikh Ali Salman was "wounded with rubber bullets in his shoulder and back when security forces red at a peaceful demonstration held in Bilad al-Qadeem," three kilometres (two miles) from

It said two other leading opposition gures -- AlWefaq's Jawad Fairouz and Hasan al-Marzouq -- were also wounded. "Security forces besieged the area, chased citizens and repressed them brutally, beating them up and ring live rounds at them," it added. Read More Reprinted here:
Lebanon news - NOW Lebanon Bahrain police disperse rally, opposition head hurt

Democracys March

The Twisted Arc of History

This has been a week, or two, to try men's souls. Egypt's military rulers, tiring of the flimsy trappings of democracy, dissolved the parliament, reinstated martial law, and promulgated a constitutional declaration arrogating virtually all legislative power to themselves. That was the banner headline, but Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, not wishing to be outdone, instructed the "executive agencies" to take "the necessary legal measures" to deal with those who criticize the military, whose chief business over the last year

Michael Posner, assistant secretary of State for democracy, human rights, and labor, discusses the challenges of balancing U.S. had been beating and jailing security interests with support protestors. And let's not forget for democracy in Bahrain and the Libyan militia leaders who other Arab Spring countries. kidnapped and imprisoned Bahrain is home to the U.S. officials from the International 5th Fleet and is an ally that Criminal Court. serves as a bulwark against Iran in the Persian Gulf. The At such moments we must remind ourselves that the path Sunni kingdom has cracked down on the mostly to democracy is long and winding, the arc of history Shiite pro-democracy protests bends towards justice, and so that erupted last February. forth. Michael Posner, the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor, worked in Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s and Eastern Europe in the 1990s, and he reminded me a few days ago that democratizing Jailed Bahrain doctor states which regress do, in the goes on hunger strike end, "fall back on the institutions they've had in the A Bahrain doctor who was past." sentenced to jail for aiding anti-government protesters Read More has entered a hunger strike, activists said. Saeed al-Samaheeji was one of 9 medical professionals sentenced last week to prison terms ranging from one

Human-rights concerns prompted the Obama administration to delay the original $53 million arms package announced last October. Edited excerpts from Posners interview follow. NJ Your trip to Bahrain is your fifth in the last year and a half. Whats the way forward there? POSNER The government has declared its desire to hold a political dialogue or negotiation. It has not gone as far or as fast as we would like to see or, frankly, they would like to see. Read More month to five years, a decision that has been condemned by international rights groups and Bahraini activists. Nine others were freed, and 15-year sentences were upheld against two doctors who fled the country. The 58-year-old Samaheeji remains free while he considers appealing his oneyear sentence. Read More

Bahrain: Campaign to arrest Alkhalifa dictators torturer son as repression intensifies

The arrest, torture and abuse of a young female University student by the men of John Timoney and John Yates has shaken the country to the core. Zahra Al Shaikh, 21, from Karbabad, was arrested for taking part in an antiregime peaceful protest. She was subjected to horrific treatment, stripped and indecent images of her were taken by the security forces. She is accused of anti-regime

activities and is threatened with a long term prison sentence. Bahrainis have been horrified at the treatment Bahrain shuts down of this young Bahraini girl and illegal nurseries have vowed not to accept Alkhalifa rule and to resist it at Bahrain authorities have shut any cost. down four illegal nursery schools for operating without As the Alkhalifa regime legal permits and have intensified its crackdown warned seven other for against Bahrainis, operating in unlicensed Mohammad Al Buflasa has buildings. been arrested and taken to the torture chambers. Mr Al The illegal nurseries include Buflasa is a young Bahraini Al Rayaheen, Al Nojoom, who was the first to be Aqra and a Hamad Town imprisoned after the Revolution following a speech branch of Al Jenan Nursery, who have been referred to at the Pearl Roundabout in February 2011. Read More

the Public Prosecution for violating the law. It came following an urgent report by the ministry, which found that several facilities had breached law 25 of 1998, which relates to educational establishments and special training institutes. Seven others were warned by the Education Ministry for illegally moving premises or operating in unlicensed buildings and were given a grace period to rectify the violations. Read More international, conventional bond. Bankers said Bahrain's first conventional debt offering since 2010 would be open to qualified investors in the United States and elsewhere, and might be as large as US$1.25 billion. Bahrain last tapped the international market in November with a US$750 million, seven-year sukuk (Islamic bond), which was largely sold to investors in the Middle East. The upcoming issue will not be able to count on interest from a deep pool of Islamic investment money in the Gulf, so it will be a tougher test of market confidence in Bahrain. Read More

Investors to buy Bahrain despite deficit, unrest

Running a state budget deficit and facing a prolonged period of civil unrest, Bahrain is not in the same league for investors as the Gulf's wealthier oil exporters. But good timing and strong demand for regional assets in general mean a planned bond issue by the tiny kingdom is likely to go well. Bahrain is sounding out investor appetite at roadshows this week for a possible issue of an