9 January 2012

A military court in Bahrain has sentenced a policeman to more than 12 years in jail for joining protests against the royal family last year.

Ali al-Ghanami, a 25-year-old junior police officer, had left his guard post and joined protesters on 17 February 2011 after security forces had cleared a major traffic circle in the capital Manama.

Bahraini protesters gather at Pearl Roundabout on February 19 / AP

An English instructor living in Manama saw a would-be revolution brutally repressed outside his window, so he tried to document it on video, and that's when his troubles started

Note: These are short excerpt from the story, read it in full here

We moved to another part of the car park, where I filmed the protesters hurrying away to their cars from the roundabout toward the direction of Dana Mall. The police were chasing them and still firing teargas. A few defiant protesters tried to stand their ground but were overcome by the fumes and eventually retreated. Soon the fumes wafted up to our position and our eyes began to sting, forcing us to return to our apartment.

Systematic, violent repression that killed a 14-year-old boy continues to torment his family

Ali AlShaikh- nytimes.com

December 17, 2011

WHEN President Obama decides soon whether to approve a $53 million arms sale to our close but despotic ally Bahrain, he must weigh the fact that America has a major naval base here and that Bahrain is a moderate, modernizing bulwark against Iran.

Yet he should also understand the systematic, violent repression here, the kind that apparently killed a 14-year-old boy, Ali al-Sheikh, and continues to torment his family.

On 09 Dec 2011, New York Times columnist Nick Kristof was detained by police while covering a protest in Bahrain on Friday. Kristof and his videographer, Adam Ellick, were held in two separate police cars as tear gas was fired on protesters. The two journalists were also tear gassed. The camera man Adam was roughly handled. His camera damaged.

Dec 4, 2011 3
(Reuters) - A military court in Bahrain has sentenced three sportsmen to one year in prison for taking part in pro-democracy protests that the Gulf Arab state crushed earlier this year, a lawyer said.

The three, all members of Bahrain's majority Shi'ite community, are bodybuilder Tareq al-Fursani, a gold medallist in several Asian championships, Ali Said, a goalkeeper in the national soccer team, and Mohammed Hassan al-Dirazi, a member of the national basketball team, said lawyer Mohsen al-Alawi, who was in court when the verdicts were read on Sunday.

3 Dec 2011
Pomed - As Bahrain’s Interior Ministry stated that Mr. John Timoney, the former Miami Police Chief, will lead training programs for Bahraini security forces, the Bahraini Youth Society for Human Rights expressed concern over the appointment due to Timoney’s past human rights violations. He is known for the mishandling of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) Protests in 2003. Tens of thousands of demonstrators were met with “police harassment, provocation, and brutality. More than 100 protesters were treated for injuries, 12 were hospitalized and an estimated 250 were arrested.”

Photo: Noor Alderazi - expelled student.

November 27, 2011

By David L. Wheeler
Two reports released last week sharply condemn Bahrain for attacks on academic freedom, including the dismissals of professors and students for participating in political demonstrations last spring.

Human-rights activists say that the reports need to be followed by action, and that one of the reports does not go far enough in its conclusions.

24 Nov 2011

On morning of 23 nov 2011, Abdul Nabi Kadhem, 44, from Aali Town was fatally wounded when his car was intentionally hit by fast-moving police vehicle, forcing him to collide with a standing wall of a building.

Financial Times- Simeon Kerr:

12.05 Back to Bahrain, where Mazen Mahdi (@mazenmahdi), a Bahraini photographer with German news agency DPA, was arrested this morning by riot police while covering events in Aali

["All the blood, martyrs, and crimes were [the result of] individual acts?" Protest outside BICI office in August. Image from gulf-times.com]

by Alaa Shehabi
Published on Jadaliyya

Nov 22 2011

Tomorrow, 23 November 2011, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), comprised of an international panel of law experts, is due to submit its report following a four-month investigation of the violence that broke out since the February 14 Uprising in Bahrain. Aside from questions of partiality raised by ongoing statements made by its Chairperson, Professor Bassiouni, the more serious question centers on the political purpose that this report will serve. Will it offer justice for victims of the most brutal crackdown in Bahrain’s history? Or will it whitewash the findings by avoiding high-level accountability and offering a political shield for the regime against its critics?

By Simon Atkinson
Business reporter, BBC News
15 November 2011

WATCH: It's your cue: LuaLua TV is using technology to make sure that although the service is blocked in Bahrain, every effort is made to broadcast as widely as possible

Rim Abdolah delivers her news bulletin with admirable gusto for a woman who knows hardly any of the target audience is watching.