Biyokulule Online

Iran Commentary Says US, UK Supporting Crimes in Bahrain
Hemayat Online
Friday, July 6, 2012

Al Wefaq`s secretary-general Sheik Ali Salman is seen Friday, June 22, 2012, at his home in Bilad al-Qadeem, Bahrain, on the edge of the capital of Manama, watching a security camera video of riot police firing at him and other opposition leaders on their way to lead an anti-government protest. Salman told The Associated Press he was hit in the shoulder and back by either a tear gas canister or stun grenade. He had red welts on his skin but seemed otherwise in good health. AP PHOTO

Unattributed report: “The Al Khalifah Crimes Continue With the Support of America and England: Suppressing the People of Bahrain With Poison Gas”

Once again, America and England have refrained from condemning the crimes of Al Khalifah in the UN Human Rights Commission. The security forces of the Bahraini regime have conducted intense military attacks against civilians and have suppressed Bahrain`s protesters with poison gas and bullets.

These days, Bahrain is witnessing the intensifying of popular protests and at the same time the suppression of Al Khalifah. Bahraini security forces have continued to suppress citizens and attack homes in many neighborhoods with poisonous gases and bullets. A large number of the Bahraini regime`s forces, with support of Saudi Arabia`s troops, have attacked urban areas of the city of Al-Shakhurah, and pursued and fired bullets at the people that were going out to participate in the protest demonstrations in this city.

Al Khalifa`s forces attacked a home in the Abu-Sayba neighborhood with poison gases. Its residents were compelled to leave their homes. Security forces also closed off streets and neighborhoods of the Bilad al-Qadim neighborhood and arrested a number of young people. In the last two days, Bahrain has witnessed the most powerful military attacks from apparatuses connected to the Ministry of the Interior and Security and assaults on tens of houses in the neighborhoods and various villages of Bahrain in a violent and inhumane manner. In this course of this, tens of innocent people were arrested. The 14 February Youth Coalition requested the holding of these demonstrations under the title “The Killing of Innocents,” in reference to the martyring of infants in the course of the Bahraini regime`s suppression. Officials of the Al Khalifah regime, in a violent manner, have conducted night attacks, blockaded villages and neighborhoods, intimidated the citizens, and thrown three tens of people into prison. This led to increased political inflammation in Bahrain and the return of the hand of the forces of the Ministry of the Interior without being asked or obeying international conventions and Islamic principles, which stress the sanctity of believers and their neighborhoods of residence. The most powerful wave of assault of the security forces and intimidation of the people were in the neighborhoods of Ali, Bani-Jamrah, Sitrah, Al-Sanabis, Al-Sahlah, and Al-Diraz. Many of Bahrain`s neighborhoods also witnessed injuries to a large number of innocent citizens following the security forces` use of weapons prohibited on the international level (lead shot weapons) and the transfer of a number of them to homes for treatment and some others to hospitals due to their condition deteriorating.

Following months of the killings and crimes, finally the UN Human Rights Council passed a document condemning the violations of civil freedoms and human rights abuses in Bahrain that Washington and London refrained from signing. In the document passed by the UN Human Rights Council it was written: “We announce our own concerns about the human rights condition in Bahrain, the human rights violations that happened in the months of February and March in 2011, and also in the related and continuing human rights violations in Bahrain.” This week, in their demonstrations, the people of Bahrain protested the siding of the governments of America and England with the Al Khalifa regime`s suppression.

Other news out of Bahrain is that the official news agency of the United Arab Emirates reported that the joint military exercise between this country and Bahrain named “Eagle Resolve” began. In the report of the UAE news agency, there was no reference to the precise area where the military exercise was held. However, it was said that the air forces of both countries are participating in this exercise. Many are emphasizing that this exercise is to cover up the current crisis conditions in the two countries. They are planning to pretend under the banner of these exercises that the internal conditions of their country are stable and in this manner cover up the suppression of the people.

(Description of Source: Tehran Hemayat Online in Persian -- Website of hardline conservative Tehran daily, owned by the state Prisons Organization and affiliated with the Judiciary; published since 2003; www.hemayat.net)

Bahraini Revolution Shifts Attention To US
Fars News Agency
Sunday, June 24, 2012

TEHRAN (FNA)- As Bahrain`s revolution moves forward, people are realizing more and better that neither the Al-Khalifa regime nor its backers can withstand their revolution, but that their main focus should be shifted to the United States as a main foe which has prolonged the ouster of the dictator.

In a dark alleyway of a low-slung suburb in Manama, two dozen protesters gathered quietly and prepared to march toward a United States naval base. A teenager wrapped his scarf close to his mouth, bracing for tear gas. A man peeked out of his doorway, holding his infant daughter above his head, to show her a ritual of defiance that has become a grinding way of life.

For months, the protests have aimed at the ruling monarchy, but recently they have focused on a new target. To their familiar slogans - demanding freedoms, praising God and cursing the ruling family - the young protesters added a new demand, written on a placard in English, so the Americans might see: “USA Stop arming the killers.”

Hundreds of Thousands of Bahrainis rose up 16 months ago, demanding political liberties, social equality and an end to corruption. But the monarchy, seen by the United States and Saudi Arabia as a strategic ally, was never left to face the rage on its own.

More than a thousand Saudi troops helped put down the uprising and remain in Bahrain, making it a virtual protectorate. The United States, an unshakable friend, has strengthened its support for the government. Last month, the Obama administration resumed arms sales there.

Backed by powerful allies, the regime still continues tyrannical rule. Twenty-one of the most prominent dissidents still languish in prison, and no senior officials have been convicted of crimes, including dozens of killings, that occurred during the crackdown last year. Opposition activists are still regularly detained or interrogated for their words.

On Friday, in what activists called a dangerous escalation, riot police officers forcefully dispersed a rally by Bahrain`s largest opposition party, injuring its leader. Every night, protesters march and clashes erupt, in a violent standoff that often seems a breath away from an explosion.

A report, issued six months ago by a commission which was appointed by the ruling system itself, investigated the events of February and March 2011 and found that the security forces had used indiscriminate force and torture in putting down the uprising. King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa promised to heed the report`s findings and punish officials responsible for abuse, but he simply didn`t.

The possibility of a solution seems remote. Opposition groups and human rights activists say that the reforms leave the state`s undemocratic core intact, and that they fail to address central grievances like corruption and the institutionalized discrimination against the Shiite majority.

Nabi Saleh, an island suburb of the capital, graphically illustrates their complaints. A Shiite village in the center is surrounded by seafront homes or compounds that residents say belong to government loyalists, members of the royal family or expatriates. Two slivers of beach are available for the public.

During the day, police officers sit at the entrance to town, tear-gas launchers on their laps, waiting for the inevitable nightly skirmishes with young people in the village.

A few months ago, when one of the village`s few Sunni residents put his house up for sale - fed up with the nightly smell of tear gas - his neighbors begged him to reconsider, and he did.

“This government wants us to separate,” said the man, a business owner who requested anonymity, fearing retribution by the authorities. He added, speaking of the royal family, “When their chairs shake, they take action.”

Men like Ali, 22, a resident of the island, are shaking their chairs. Several months back, during an antigovernment protest, he lost an eye to a concussion grenade fired by the police. After he was fitted with a glass eye, he quickly returned to the streets. He said he had no intention of stopping now.

“Until they fall,” he said.

The march on the American naval base, the headquarters of the Fifth Fleet, never reached its destination. When the protesters got to the road leading to the base, riot officers surrounded them and fired tear gas.

It was one of several protests last month that focused on Bahrain`s decades-old alliance with the United States, which includes close military cooperation and a free-trade agreement. Days earlier, the Obama administration announced the resumption of arms sales after a seven-month suspension.

At the start of the uprising last year, a spokeswoman for the United States Navy said that the protests “were not against the United States or the United States military or anything of that nature.”

That has changed. In a Shiite village, protesters burned American flags, and in another, a young man held up a sign reading, “The American administration supports the dictatorship in Bahrain.”

A senior Obama administration official said last month that the weapons sales would not include arms used for crowd control like tear gas, but everyone knows that sales was meant to support Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, who was visiting Washington at the time.

(Description of Source: Tehran Fars News Agency in English -- hardline semi-official news agency, headed as of 24 July 2011 by Nezameddin Musavi; http://www.english.farsnews.com)