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Kidnapped, Tortured, Killed: the 19th Victim of Police Brutality in Bahrain
![[A photo of Hani Abdul-Aziz Abdullah Jumah. Image from unknown archive]](/content_images/3/sm_habi.jpg "[A photo of Hani Abdul-Aziz Abdullah Jumah. Image from unknown archive]")
Hani Abdul-Aziz Abdullah Jumah, 32, is the nineteenth victim to fall prey to the Bahraini security forces' brutal attack on peaceful bystanders and protesters. Hani was killed on Saturday March 19th, 2011, but his family, who had been looking for him since, were only informed of his death on the evening of Thursday March 24th when security forces contacted them to pick up his body the next day. Hani was buried in Boori on Friday afternoon. Human Rights Watch called on the Bahraini government to investigate the killing of this young man and hold those responsible accountable for his death. HRW also provided a clear description of the attack against ...
Keep Reading »Bahraini Response to al-Qaradawi's Sectarian Accusation
![[Image from unknown archive.]](/content_images/3/sm_3HJQ6SRpbYW.jpg "[Image from unknown archive.]")
[The below letter in Arabic was issued in the name of "The People of Bahrain" on 20 March 2011. It responds to Shaykh Yusef al-Qaradawi's accusation that the uprising in Bahrain was a Shi'a sectarian movement targeting Sunnis. While the letter criticiszes and counters al-Qaradawi's portrayl of the uprising as a sectarian one, it invites him to oversee the formation and implementation of an independent committee to "meet with all groups in order to discover the truth." For more on the Bahraini uprising, see Jadaliyya's "Let's Talk About Sect," "Distortions of Dialogue," and "When Petro-Dictators Unite: The Bahraini Opposition's ...
Keep Reading »Saudi Arabia's Week of Shame
![[Image from www.alriyadh.com]](/content_images/3/sm_19-1.jpg "[Image from www.alriyadh.com]")
Since King Abdullah returned to Riyadh last month, members of his ruling family have resorted to myriad political, economic, and personal measures to prevent public expressions of dissent against the Al Saud. The Ministry of Interior issued a statement warning that any act of public protest is prohibited in Saudi Arabia and punishable by law. The country’s senior ulema were quick to legitimize this criminalization of protest with religious justifications, reminding everyone that “conspiring” against the political leadership is an unIslamic act akin to conspiring against god. The ulema then issued an official memorandum requesting that preachers at mosques discuss the ...
Keep Reading »An Account of the Arrest of One of Bahrain's Opposition Leaders
![[Ebrahim Sharif Alsayed Campaign Poster for 2010 Parliamentary Elections. Image from unknown archive.]](/content_images/3/sm_esopentent.jpg "[Ebrahim Sharif Alsayed Campaign Poster for 2010 Parliamentary Elections. Image from unknown archive.]")
[Late last night, early this morning Thursday March 17, 2011, Ebrahim Sharif Alsayed--who is Secretary General of the National Democractic Action Society, Wa'd (a Bahraini opposition group)--was taken from his home by plain-clothed men that identified themselves as amn al-dawlah [state security]. Below is a letter by his Daughter Yara Ebrahim Alsayed which provides an account of the arrest/abduction. The letter is being circulated on the internet and has been sent out by several Bahraini groups based in the country.] 1:50 AM bell rings at Ebrahim Sharif’s residence. There are a lot of boys/men outside. My mother assumes they are um-alhassam boys/men who trashed the ...
Keep Reading »Darker Than Black Tuesday [Notes From the Bahraini Field- Update 6]
![[Bahrainis protesting at Saudi Embassy in Manama. Image from washingtontimes.com]](/content_images/3/sm_Mideast_Bahrain_Prote_Lea_s640x473.jpg "[Bahrainis protesting at Saudi Embassy in Manama. Image from washingtontimes.com]")
Amid an atmosphere of extreme tension a number of Asian men, mostly from Pakistan, have reportedly been attacked with swords and iron rods during the last two days. The government seems to have taken up their cause to point blame at opposition protesters although as of yet the circumstances in which they were attacked, and who attacked them are not clear. The men attacked were all civilian residents who have in the past borne the brunt of anti-government sentiment. Mostly Pakistanis, they are often recruited by the hundreds into Bahrain's security forces, their citizenship fast tracked and social benefits guaranteed. They are then used in riot police squads to mete out ...
Keep Reading »Bahrain's "Coalition for a Republic" Responds
![[GCC Peninsula Shield Forces entering Bahrain. Image from aljazeera.net]](/content_images/3/sm_201131418317212436_20.jpg "[GCC Peninsula Shield Forces entering Bahrain. Image from aljazeera.net]")
[The following statement was issued by the Bahraini Coalition for a Republic on March 14, 2011. Both English and Arabic versions of the statement have been circulated together. For more information on the Coalition, see our reports on their formation's announcement as well as their first statement.] The position of the "Coalition for a Republic" on recent events in Bahrain This statement will discuss the Coalition’s Position on: Dialogue with the regime, the invasion Saudi Arabia, armed government militia, the American role, the responsibility of the international community, general labor strikes and acts of civil ...
Keep Reading »Notes from the Bahraini Field [Update 5]
![[Anti-government demonstrators block the King Faisal Road to Bahrain Financial Harbour. Image from yfrog.com]](/content_images/3/sm_257612687.jpg "[Anti-government demonstrators block the King Faisal Road to Bahrain Financial Harbour. Image from yfrog.com]")
[The following is part of a series of email reports from Jadaliyya affiliates in Manama. They will be updated regularly to reflect the latest developments in Bahrain.] Friday March 11, 2011 Thousands of protesters marched towards the King's Court in Riffa, an area where many members of the royal family live. The march was stopped at a barricade constructed by the police, backed up by a small BDF (Bahrain Defence Force) presence at a clock tower on the road leading to the royal court. Pro-government individuals, including members of Parliament, and what appears to be baltajiyya (thugs) were also stationed behind the barricade, many carrying makeshift weapons ...
Keep Reading »Shades of Solidarity: Notes On Race-talk, Intervention, and Revolution
![[A Saudi mujahid teaches Bosnian soldiers how to shoot. Image fron unknown archive.]](/content_images/3/sm_bahadhiq4.jpg "[A Saudi mujahid teaches Bosnian soldiers how to shoot. Image fron unknown archive.]")
In this season of revolution, the early and stunning toppling of dictators – if not necessarily entire regimes – in Tunisia and Egypt has been followed by what appear for the moment to be stalemates in Bahrain and Libya. And in these latter two countries, despite wildly different circumstances, a curious phenomenon has emerged: a concern over foreign, and often racially marked, “mercenaries.” In Tunisia and Egypt, armies have acted as relatively cohesive national institutions, able to define their interests distinctly from those of rulers and move accordingly to preserve their own positions in society. But in Libya and Bahrain, we are told, regimes have relied ...
Keep Reading »Meeting Slogans With Gunfire: Saudi Security Forces Use Live Ammunition Against Protesters (Video)
![[Demonstrators in Qatif. Image from independent.co.uk]](/content_images/3/sm_Pg-09-Saudi-Arabia_574986a.jpg "[Demonstrators in Qatif. Image from independent.co.uk]")
On the eve of Saudi Arabia's "Day of Rage," country-wide protests planned for Friday March 11, 200-300 protesters took to the streets in the city of Qatif, located in the eastern province of the Kingdom. Participants chanted a range of slogans, inlcuding "peaceful, peaceful" and "freedom, freedom, for the prisoners, freedom." Various media outlets have confirmed the use of live amunition to disperse demonstrators. Reports of at least three people injured have already been confirmed. The White House did not make any statements beyond acknowledging that it had received reports of live gunshots being used to disperse protesters in the ...
Keep Reading »Bahraini "Coalition for a Republic" Issues First Statement
![[Bahraini demonstrator. Image from Reuters.com]](/content_images/3/sm_downwithcrown.jpg "[Bahraini demonstrator. Image from Reuters.com]")
[The following statement was released on March 7, 2011, by the "Coalition for a Republic" in Bahrain shortly after their creation was announced. Both English and Arabic versions of the statement have been circulated together.] A statement on behalf of the Coalition for a Republic In the name of our glorious religion and international conventions on human rights and on the principle of the right of nations to decide their destiny, and based on our long struggle and sacrifices against the oppressive and corrupt Al-Khalifa regime, we hereby declare a tripartite coalition between the Wafa’a, Haqq and Bahrain Freedom Movements that has chosen to fight for a ...
Keep Reading »All Sorts of Interventions
The focal point of the “Arab Spring” has shifted from the successful uprisings of Tunisia and Egypt to the bleak developments in Bahrain and Libya. As the military forces of Britain, France, and the United States are taking “all necessary measures” to topple the Qaddafi regime, troops from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Peninsula Shield Force continue to “stabilize” the al-Khalifa regime in the face of a peaceful democratic uprising in Bahrain. The discrepancies between intervention for regime ...
Keep Reading »When Petro-Dictators Unite: The Bahraini Opposition's Struggle for Survival
For at least several decades, geopolitical, economic, territorial and ideological considerations have led to serious tensions, if not outright feuds, between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states. In recent weeks, however, the regimes of GCC states have shown their citizens that when their authoritarian rule is at stake, they will put aside their differences and put up a united front. Exceptional times, it seems, do call for exceptional measures. As such, the GCC endorsed NSC Resolution ...
Keep Reading »Pearl No More: Demolishing the Infrastructure of Revolution
The Pearl Roundabout is gone. On Friday, March 18, Bahraini government forces exploded the structure that had been built in 1982 as a commemoration to the importance of pearl diving to Bahrain's pre-oil economy. The six twisted arms of the sculpture (meant to be dhow sails) that held the concrete Pearl in place symbolized the different emirates that together form the Gulf Cooperation Council. More recently, the site had become the focal point of ongoing anti-government protests and violence unleashed ...
Keep Reading »A State of Violence [Notes from the Bahraini Field- Update 7]
In the early hours of the morning on Wednesday March 16th, the Bahraini army attacked and “cleansed” (the word used on national TV was تطهير) the Pearl roundabout using helicopters, tear gas and live ammunition. Below is a first-hand account from a Human Rights Watch Correspondent in Bahrain: "At 7.30 this morning I tried to go to Salmaniya hospital. But the whole area is surrounded by riot police diverting cars away from the area. I walked around for a little while trying to assess the ...
Keep Reading »Bahraini Protesters to Obama: Foreign Troops Unleash Violence Against Bahrainis And Claim to Have American Green Light!
[This is a public letter addressed to US President Barack Obama from by protesters in Bahrain under the name “Movement of 14 February.” The letter was circulated on March 15, 2011] Mr President, You certainly know about the Saudi and other gulf troops arriving to Bahrain to aid the government in clamping down the peaceful protesters. If you can find any legal, logical or ethical justification for this intervention, can you find any justification as well to them forming thugs attacking peaceful ...
Keep Reading »Different Kinds of Intervention: Groups Respond to GCC Troops Entering Bahrain
Troops from the GCC Peninsula Shield Forces, originating mostly from Saudi Arabia but also the United Arab Emirates, arrived in Bahrain today. When the Bahraini Crown Prince visited Saudi Arabia last week, he was given an ultimatum and a deadline: either the Bahraini government takes control of the situation and ends the month old anti-government protests, or Saudi Arabia would send its troops to do the job. While Bahrain’s ruler did issue an appeal for help to the GCC, critics have said that this was in ...
Keep Reading »Bahrain this Weekend: An Invitation to Dialogue Through Violence (Videos)
Today, Sunday March 13, 2011, on the same day that Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa claimed the regime was open to a national dialogue on all issues, security forces violently dispersed peaceful protesters at several locations--inlcuding the Bahrain Financial Harbor and the Pearl Roundabout--with the use of batons, tear gas, and rubber bullets. Some of today's protests were organized in reponse to the attack on a demonstration in al-Riffa' on Saturday March 12, when protesters ...
Keep Reading »Notes from the Bahraini Field [Update 4]
[The following is part of a series of email reports from Jadaliyya affiliates in Manama. They will be updated regularly to reflect the latest developments in Bahrain.] Friday March 11, 2011 Ahead of a protest march to the King's Court in Riffa today (where most of the royal family live), tensions are high. For reasons of pragmatism or principle, many protesters have decided not to join the rally, but hundreds (at least) have already gathered. On the pro-government side, the rhetoric of "mob ...
Keep Reading »Distortions of Dialogue
"I've had nothing yet,” Alice replied in an offended tone, “so I can't take more.” “You mean you can't take less,” said the Hatter, “it's very easy to take more than nothing." Recent news reports on the current uprising in Bahrain are all talking about the talk; we hear, or read, that, “Clinton, Saudi minister support Bahrain dialogue,” and that “UAE-Qatar support Dialogue Initiative.” Days later, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey “Feltman praises ...
Keep Reading »"Coalition for a Republic" Announced in Bahrain (Video)
On Monday, March 7, 2011, Hassan Mushaimi, Secretary General of al-Haq Movement, one of the leading opposition groups in Bahrain, announced the formation of the "Coalition for a Republic" in Bahrain, comprised of al-Haq Movement for Liberty and Democracy, al-Wafa National Islamic Movement, and Bahrain Islamic Freedom Movement. The Coalition will hold a press conference on Tuesday, March 8th, at 4:15pm (Bahrain time) to address their position on "dialogue with the government - ...
Keep Reading »Infomous
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