Bahrain Special: The Killing of Hussam AlHaddad and the Unanswered Questions

Left: Hussam AlHaddad, killed by police Friday night. Right: Hussam's father says his final goodbye

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Late Friday night, news began circulating on social media that 16-year-old Hussam AlHaddad was in critical condition after he was shot by security forces in Muharraq. Soon word came through that he had died in hospital from his injuries.

The circumstances of Hassam's killing remain murky, with allegations that he was beaten by citizens in civilian dress following the fatal shooting. Footage of Hussam's corpse shows that he was shot in the back and side, challenging the police narrative that the shooting was in self-defence. Marks on his back and shoulder also support the claim that he was hit as well as shot.

Late Saturday, the main opposition party AlWefaq announced a three-day state of mourning, with pleas to the people of Bahrain to abandon all joyful celebrations during Eid in respect to the martyr Hussam AlHaddad", adding that it will be lowering "flags to half-staff". The February 14 Youth Coalition called for further protest under the heading, "Our martyr Hussam ... Revenge will come".

The following account traces twenty-four hours in a country that US Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner recently described as "in a number of ways more stable than it was a year ago".

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The Latest from Iran (19 August): The Regime Looks for a Boost

0800 GMT Supreme Leader Watch. Appearing at the Eid al-Fitr prayer today, Ayatollah Khamenei declaring the ascendancy of Islamic countries, “Issues of the Muslim world are unique. Developments of the Muslim World are strange and shocking and chart the course of Muslim nations in the future.”

The Supreme Leader described the US and Israel as enemies of the Islamic nations and cautioned against any “analytic blunders", as plots against Muslims are getting more and more complicated.

0525 GMT: Sanctions Watch. The US Government has stepped up pressure on its Iraqi counterpart over sanctions on Iran through an article in The New York Times:

Some current and former American and Iraqi officials, along with banking and oil experts, say that Iraqi government officials are turning a blind eye to the large financial flows, smuggling and other trade with Iran. In some cases, they say, government officials, including some close to [Iraqi Prime Minister] Maliki, are directly profiting from the activities.

“Maliki’s government is right in the middle of this,” said one former senior American intelligence official who now does business in Iraq.

In announcing that he was “cutting off” Elaf Islamic Bank [last month], Mr. Obama said it had “facilitated transactions worth millions of dollars on behalf of Iranian banks that are subject to sanctions for their links to Iran’s illicit proliferation activities.”

But the treatment the bank has received in Baghdad since it was named by Mr. Obama suggests that the Iraqi government is not only allowing companies and individuals to circumvent the sanctions but also not enforcing penalties for noncompliance.

Iraqi banking experts said last week that the bank was still allowed to participate in the Iraq Central Bank’s daily auction at which commercial banks can sell Iraqi dinars and buy United States dollars. These auctions are a crucial pathway for Iranian access to the international financial system. Western officials say that Iran seeks to bolster its reserves of dollars to stabilize its exchange rates and pay for imports.

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Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Surge in Protest, A Constant Shelling

Saturday's funeral march for Hussam Alhadad in Bahrain

See also Bahrain Special: The Killing of Hussam AlHaddad and the Unanswered Questions
Bahrain Interview: Activist Said Yousif on His Beating and Detention
Saturday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "This is What Aleppo Has Become"

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2020 GMT: Syria. The most interesting reports from the LCC today involve Lattakia, Syria's premier port city which is often considered the heart of Assad's power and from where the President's family hails. The city is majority Sunni, with a sizable population of Alawites, Christians, and other minorities, and the rural areas are even more diverse.

We have seen protests and violence in the mountains far to the east, but it has been a long time since there has been this much violence in the city itself. According to some activists, there were post-prayer protests today, disrupted by security forces. According to the LCC, the Qunainis district (map), in the centre of the city, was stormed by security forces who sealed off the neighborhood and made many arrests.

The LCC also reports violence in the Maroniate village to the east (map). The village was reportedly shelled, and this video claims to show damage to the local mosque:

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Iran Snap Analysis: The Real Danger of "Ahmadinejad and Israel"

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Friday PrayersIn context, Ahmadinejad's chest-thumping is not a declaration of war; it is not even primarily about Israel. Instead, it is an attempt to bolster, and perhaps even save, his position. It is also part of a wider context for the Islamic Republic --- facing isolation because of the turns in the "Arab Spring" and the crisis in Syria, it is trying to score points with populations in Middle East countries and offer a way back for links with Arab countries, even supposed foes like Saudi Arabia.

It is the nature of politics and media, however, that context gets stripped away. And when that happens day after day, there is the prospect that those in power forget the original purpose of their rhetoric and convert it into reality. That, rather than any immediate cause for a showdown, is the opening for a conflict which moves from words to airstrikes.

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Syria Video Feature: Re-Visiting the Mass Killing in Houla (Al-Ken)

Mahmoud Al-Ken of Al Jazeera English adds another investigative account --- see, for example, "Searching for the Truth of the Mass Killing in Houla" --- of May's attack on civilians in Houla in Homs Province by regime supporters. More than 100 people, many of them children, perished.

Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "This is What Aleppo Has Become"

Saleh ed Dine in Aleppo in Syria on Friday

See also Syria Video Feature: Re-Visiting the Mass Killing in Houla
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Almost 25,000 Dead as the United Nations Departs

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1915 GMT: Syria. Claimed footage of a demonstration today in central Damascus:

1715 GMT: Bahrain. The funeral procession for Hussam Alhamad, killed overnight by police amid clashes in Muharraq:

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The Latest from Iran (18 August): So How Big Was Quds Day?

The Quds Day rally in Isfahan

See also Iran Feature: An Introduction to the Currency Problems
Iran Snap Analysis: The Real Danger of "Ahmadinejad and Israel"
Iran Snapshot: 3 "Iranian Citizens" Arrested for Bombing in Afghanistan That Killed 36
The Latest from Iran (17 August): Ahmadinejad Introduces Tehran Friday Prayer

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1920 GMT: Religion Watch. International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reports that Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, accused of apostasy because of his conversion to Christianity, will face a new trial on 27 August on charges of “banditry and extortion".

An Iranian court has condemned Nadarkhani to death for apostasy but has offered to commute the sentence if he repents. So far he has refused to do so.

1745 GMT: Currency Watch. With the Iranian Rial losing almost half its value since last autumn, The New York Times reports on Iranians crossing the border to get better rates or to trade before the currency slides farther:

Afghan traders have proved more than willing to trade dollars for rials, usable as a currency in many parts of western Afghanistan, at advantageous exchange rates.

Hajji Najeeb Ullah Akhtary, the president of Afghanistan’s Money Exchange Union, an association of traditional money transfer and exchange businesses that are known as hawalas, said he and his members had seen a steady increase in Iranians bringing cash into Afghanistan over the past year. That comes on top of routine transfers made by Afghans living and working in Iran, including more than one million impoverished refugees, and the regular supply of rials that circulates in Afghanistan.

The cash “comes across in trucks,” he said, with transfers arranged by Afghan middlemen who take a 5 to 7 percent commission.

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Iran Feature: An Introduction to the Currency Problems (Harris)

Currency Trading in TehranInflation in Iran’s economy has not been this bad since the end of the Iran-Iraq War or the economic crisis of the early 1990s, which also caused high inflation. The rial’s value began to slide rapidly at the beginning of 2012 after the United States announced new sanctions above and beyond the latest U.N. sanctions. The slide was due partly to the psychology of sanctions.

In that sense, a certain percentage of the public --- and their expectations --- helped cause the more rapid slide. They don’t think the Central Bank can stabilize the rial in the medium term. People who have money are buying gold, dollars, and real estate to protect their wealth. Everybody is making individual decisions that are pushing the rial down because everyone is holding onto foreign currencies.

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Bahrain Letter: Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa

On 3 June, we reproduced an article from the Bahrain Mirror, "Bahrain 1st-Hand: I Was Tortured by Prince", in which a detainee claimed HH Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa was guilty of personally torturing two individuals.

We have received a letter sent on behalf of Sheikh Nasser in response to the article. In the letter Sheikh Nasser assures us that there is no truth whatsoever in the allegations which were made against him and that he unequivocally condemns such abuse.

The letter also states that the Government of Bahrain has accepted the findings of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry into alleged breaches of human rights and is taking steps to implement the recommendations made by the Commission.

Iran Snapshot: 3 "Iranian Citizens" Arrested for Bombing in Afghanistan That Killed 36

Aftermath of the Bomb in ZaranjThe Afghan National Directorate of Security claims that it has arrested three Iranian citizens over a suicide bombing on Tuesday in southwestern Afghanistan, close to the Iranian border.

The blast in Zaranj, the centre of Nimroz province, killed at least 36 people and injured dozens more injured. Three suicide bombers detonated their explosives in central areas of the city, while three others were killed by the police before they could set off their bombs.

The NDS claims that the arrested individuals have confessed to being trained on Iranian soil in military bases. However, an official from the NDS says it does not have full details of whether the Iranian government is complicit in the attack and adds that the attackers also received training in Pakistan.

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