Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Where It Is Not Over

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2020 GMT: The lawyer for five political activists accused of insulting the leaders of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has said that his clients spent years serving their nation and that their alleged "crimes" are rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

The five men, arrested in April for urging public protests and disrupting public order, have been on trial since June, with a verdict expected on 17 November.

"The defendants are among the experts who served this country," said attorney Mohammed al-Roken. "There is no legislation that forbids peaceful gatherings. On the contrary, there's an article in the constitution that guarantees the right of citizens to hold public gatherings."

The defendants include economist Nasser bin Ghaith, a lecturer at the Abu Dhabi branch of France's Sorbonne University. He published an article criticising attempts to avoid political reform by buying off citizens with generous government spending programmes.

Another defendant, Ahmed Mansoor, is a communications engineer and poet whose works were published by Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage. He is accused of running a website that provided a platform for the rest of the defendants to express anti-regime views.

1950 GMT: Braving gunfire that injured several people, protesters in Hodeidah in Yemen continue a march:

1730 GMT: In Yemen, one person was killed and six were injured by dawn gunfire in Sana'a, as protesters accused snipers of targeting their camp in Change Square.

Medics and government officials said the toll from Saturday's fighting had risen to 20 dead, including four civilians and five soldiers.

1650 GMT: Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the leader of Libya's National Transitional Council, has told the crowd in Benghazi, "We as a Muslim nation have taken Islamic sharia as the source of legislation, therefore any law that contradicts the principles of Islam is legally nullified."

The tens of thousands in the audience sang the national anthem and waved flags that date from before 1969, when former leader Muammar Gaddafi took power in a coup against the monarchy.

Jalil thanked the Arab League, the UN, and the European Union for supporting the uprising.

1500 GMT: A screenshot of the crowd in Benghazi, Libya's second city, for the official declaration of liberation from the rule of Muammar Qaddafi:

1400 GMT: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees claim Syrian troops have moved into two villages where residents have been on strike, killing two people in Qalaat al-Madeeq in Hama Province.

State TV reported that President Assad named Yasser al-Shoufi, a former police general, as governor of Idlib Province in the northwest and Hussein Makhlouf as the governor of the Damascus countryside.

Assad has replaced nearly half of the country's 14 governors since the uprising began in mid-March.

1300 GMT: Protesters, trying to reach a rally in Seef, clash with police in Aldaih village near the Bahrain Mall:

1205 GMT: An Egyptian court has sentenced Ayman Yusef Mansur to three years in prison with hard labour for insulting Islam in postings on Facebook. The court ruled Mansur had "intentionally insulted the dignity of the Islamic religion and attacked it with insults and ridicule...aimed at the Noble Koran, the true Islamic religion, the Prophet of Islam and his family and Muslims".

Mansur was arrested in August after police tracked him down through his Internet address.

1200 GMT: After the withdrawal of the Syrian military from the Damascus suburb of Saqba, protesters come out to defy the regime and to celebrate developments in Libya:

1030 GMT: In Bahrain, the prosecution has decided to withdraw the "confessions", allegedly obtained under torture, of 20 doctors and nurses who had been given sentences of 5 to 15 years (see 0810 GMT). The charge of "inciting hatred against the regime" was also dropped.

A civilian court is conducting the appeal/retrial of the defendants, some of whom are pictured outside the hearing:

The next hearing has been scheduled for 28 November.

0810 GMT: A Bahrain civilian court is scheduled to hear arguments today over the lengthy prison sentences handed down to 20 doctors and nurses last month.

The medical staff were given terms of 5 to 15 years by a military court for possessing weapons, inciting sectarian anger and hatred of the regime, obstructing the law, destroying public property, jeopardising general security, and "forcefully occupying" the capital Manama's main Salmaniya Medical Complex.

The doctors and nurses have maintained that they were treating injured protesters, including some taken away by security forces, when the hospital was occupied by the military on 16 March.

The Bahraini regime announced a new hearing in a civilian court after international criticism of the detentions, although it is still unclear where this is an appeal against the sentences or a retrial.

0650 GMT: Then there is the "It is Not Over" story which escaped media attention on Saturday. The opposition in Bahrain was able to mobilise the "Arrows of Destiny" demonstration across the country, with protesters blocking roads to show defiance of the regime.

Youths from Arad block the road next to the national airport:

0640 GMT: Today, in Libya's second city Benghazi, the head of the National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, will announce that the country has been "liberated" from the 42-year rule of former leader Muammar Qaddafi. 

Beyond that story, as well as morbid postscripts such as the fate of Qaddafi's body, there are others where the tale is far from over.

In Yemen, at least five opposition soldiers were slain on Saturday, and we open our Syrian coverage with a special video essay by James Miller on Homs, offering a compelling case --- despite limits on communication --- that President Assad's military is levelling Syria's third city.

There is a contrasting report that thousands were able to march in Homs yesterday without disturbance by security forces, but large raids by troops were reported in Jableh, Homs Provinces, and Damascus suburbs such as Zamalka and Saqba, with dozens of arrests.

Activists said at least five people died in clashes on Saturday.

In an interesting ripple, news emerged of a protest in Aleppo, which has largely been quiet during the uprising, as demonstrators held banners, "Shame on Aleppo and its people" and "Boycott the goods from Aleppo".