Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Prosecution Creep?

Human rights activist Razan Zaitouneh sends a video message from hiding in Damascus, "We face one of the most brutal regimes in the region and in the world"

See also Bahrain Feature : How The Regime Is Restoring Peace, The American Way
Syria Opinion: Why There Should --- And Will --- Be a No-Fly Zone
Friday's Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) Liveblog: A United Front

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1900 GMT: A mass protest tonight in the Karam al-Shami section of Homs in Syria:

1855 GMT: Bahraini activist Zainab Alkhawaja criticises the regime's appointment of John Yates, former Assistant Commission of London's police (see 1325 GMT), to "reform" the kingdom's law enforcement:

1851 GMT: France 24 summarises today's developments in the protests outside the Constitutional Assembly in Tunisia:

Thousands of Islamist supporters descended on central Tunis Saturday to confront liberal demonstrators rallying against extremism as lawmakers draft a new constitution for Tunisia.

Separated by barriers and police, they shouted insults at each other outside the Bardo Palace where the constitution is being compiled after a vote that saw the moderate Islamist Ennahda party win most seats on the drafting body.

The Islamists waved Ennahda flags but also the black banners of the hardline Salafist Hiz Tahrir, which has not been legalised in the north African country.

Ennahda spokesman Noureddine Bhiri, whose party denied being behind the Islamist rally, went to try to calm the situation as police reinforcements and armoured vehicles were brought in to block the entrance to the palace.

Hundreds of students, teachers, unemployed miners and other protesters began gathering Thursday at the Bardo Palace with various demands.

1834 GMT: An EA correspondent reports first-hand from Bahrain on a candle-lit march of 300-500 people in Sanabis tonight, chanting, "Down with [King] Hamad", "People want the fall of the regime", and "We shall never forget our martyrs".

The marchers, trying to avoid clashes during the religious days of Ashura, stayed on the inner roads of the village.

1734 GMT: Meanwhile, Al Jazeera posts this video, an army tank burning in Baba Amr, Homs, an indication that the Free Syrian Army may have launched another attack, or perhaps defecting soldiers destroyed it as they left it (which we've seen before):

1731 GMT: The LCCS has raised today's civilian death toll to 17, "including a child, 9 martyrs in Homs, 4 martyrs in Idlib, two martyrs in both Daraa and Damascus Suburbs "Douma and Domair."

The toll does not appear to include seven regime troops and five defecting fighters slain in Idlib this morning.

1724 GMT: Several important updates from activists on Twitter. The first few come from Edward Dark.

First, this video, reportedly showing civilians fleeing a home in the Baba Amr district of Homs after it was hit by a shell that started a fire:

The town of Tall Kalakh is reportedly being shelled by Syria security forces:

Another activist reports that Saraqeb, in Idlib, is surrounded by security forces, and tanks are shelling the city.

1623 GMT: If we had a "must watch" protest video of the day, so far this is the leading candidate. An EA correspondent describes it:

Big crowd in a funeral of a killed protester in Bosra, Daraa province, Syria. The crowd chants: "There is no God but Allah & the martyr is beloved by God", "[we prefer] death over humiliation" and "we bow before no one but Allah".

1610 GMT: Activists filmed this footage yesterday, reportedly showing Syrian tanks attacking a home in the town of Dumayr, east of Douma, Damascus. What's interesting - this is the first we're hearing (to our recollection) of a major action against Dumayr, and yet the LCCS is reporting that it is once again under attack today:

1605 GMT: Readers who may have missed my article, or may want to engage in what is sure to be a spirited debate, can view my latest Huffington Post article, "Why There Will Bee a No Fly Zone in Syria."

1539 GMT: James Miller takes the liveblog for a bit.

Al Jazeera is reporting that 22 people were killed today by Syrian security forces, Ahram online puts that number at 23, and the LCCS reports that 13 died, "among them one child. Eight people were martyred in Homs, two in Daraa, one in each of Idlib,Douma and Dumair."

And then there are the reports from Syrian State TV, SANA. SANA has proven, predictably perhaps, to be very unreliable, as many of their claims have been specifically disproved, some by EA Worldview. In general, their narrative goes against the body of evidence that EA has been collecting since March. However, while we find that SANA's nouns are often the primary problem (protesters are rioters, civilians killed by soldiers are killed by terrorists, soldiers killed by soldiers are killed by terrorists, ect.) they provide some potentially interesting news on a part of the opposition that isn't broadcasting its every move over Facebook and Youtube - the Free Syrian Army:

The state news agency SANA gave a detailed account of operations by Syrian security forces, including clashes with "terrorists", arrests, the explosion of roadside bombs and the defusing of explosive devices.

It said special forces caught dozens of wanted men in the area of Tel Kalakh who had been smuggling weapons, drugs and armed men from Lebanon into Syria.

Special forces also captured 14 gunmen who, SANA said, had been killing and kidnapping civilians and soldiers.

In Deraa, "special forces clashed with armed terrorist groups trying to attack security centers in rural parts of the province. One of the gunmen was killed in the exchange of fire," SANA reported.

"Special forces also clashed with armed terrorists in Idlib after they tried to attack a public roads building and several security detachments. Special forces were able to kill one of the gunmen and wound a number of others. One member of the security forces was injured."

Army engineers in Hama disabled two improvised explosive devices planted in the city, the agency reported.

The SANA correspondent said a source told the agency two other IEDs had exploded, one when a security patrol was passing near a sports stadium, injuring two. The second IED explosion caused no injuries.

In Lattakia, an IED exploded in front of an electrical workshop, starting a fire in which two people died, the agency reported.

1420 GMT: Seven more people --- four regime and opposition fighters and three civilians --- have been killed in Taiz in Yemen today, according to medical sources.

At least 30 people have been slain since Thursday.

1415 GMT: In addition to the 15 people --- seven regime troops, five defecting fighters, and three civilians --- killed in Idlib Province this morning, three others have reportedly been slain in Daraa Province and Homs.

1405 GMT: The Bahrain Government has decided to build a small park on the land of one of the Shi'a mosques that it demolished earlier this year. Protesters held a prayer service today on the site in Nuwaidrat.

Clashes in Muharraq, after a religious procession, between security forces and protesters last night:

1325 GMT: Photographer Matthew Cassel offers a first-hand account paralleling our feature on the American police chief, John Timoney, appointed by the Bahraini regime to head up its "reform" of law enforcement:

In 2003, as a photography student in Chicago, I travelled to Miami to cover protests by trade unionists and other activists at a meeting of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. I had just returned from witnessing the repressive tactics of the Israeli army against Palestinians – invasions, curfew, violent crackdown on unarmed protests – but never expected to see them deployed at home in a US city.

I was shocked when I reached Miami and found it similar to a West Bank town under occupation. The city was largely empty save for police vehicles speeding in every direction and helicopters hovering above. Once the protests began, it was impossible to move more than a few feet in any direction without confronting the police and their brutality. The thousands of police dressed in full riot gear and armed with teargas, rubber bullets, batons, electric tasers – all of which were used against protesters and journalists – were everywhere around Miami.

The "model", as Miami public officials called it at the time, was the brainchild of police chief John Timoney. After leading the head-bashing of protesters as Philadelphia's police commissioner during the Republican party's national convention in 2000, Timoney was hired by Miami and given more than $8m to introduce a level of police brutality unlike any we had ever seen in the US.

In the weeks following the protests, journalist Jeremy Scahill wrote:

"No one should call what Timoney runs in Miami a police force. It's a paramilitary group. Thousands of soldiers, dressed in khaki uniforms with full black body armour and gas masks, marching in unison through the streets, banging batons against their shields, chanting, 'back … back … back'. There were armoured personnel carriers and helicopters."

Journalists who were not embedded with the police were deliberately targeted. I myself was hit with teargas and rubber bullets and chased by police who tried to detain me and confiscate my photography equipment. The suffocating display of a violent police force became known as the Miami model, elements of which were frequently used in following years against other large-scale demonstrations in the US.

Now the Miami model is coming to Bahrain.

The regime has also hired John Yates, the former Assistant Commissioner of London's police, who resigned in May in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal engulfing Rupert Murdoch's News of the World

1225 GMT: Thousands of Tunisians are in the third day of a sit-in demonstration in front of the Constituent Assembly. Tunisia Live, which is providing rolling coverage, describes the start on Thursday:

The majority of Occupy Bardo demonstrators are students from different universities and UGET (students union) representatives.

They are protesting against the violence and attempt at imposing religious beliefs at Manouba University.

Some of the banners held by demonstrators read “Islam is hope and not darkness,” “Burka or University, make your choice,” and “extremism= terrorism.” Professors are also participating in the demonstration, they are demanding respect for University teaching staff.

Demonstrators protesting over phosphate mining industry issues are now a minority of the demonstrators. They remain in front of their tents holding signs that read “Mdhilla and Om Laarays are burning,” “equality in employment,” and “no to favoritism.”

The third group of protesters organized consists of representatives from the National Democratic Movement and the independent list of Dostourna (Our Constitution). They are demonstrating against the dominance of [the Islamist party] Ennahda in the Constituent Assembly and they are demanding a referendum on each article of the new constitution, to be approved with a 2/3 majority of the people. Their signs read “yesterday we voted, today we’re watching” and “we demand live broadcasts of Constituent Assembly sessions.”

Today, however, the protest appears to have shifted into a contest between those supporting Ennadha and those criticising it.

1205 GMT: The Muslim Brotherhood, whose Freedom and Justice Party won the most votes in the first round of Parliamentary elections in Egypt, has expressed gratitude to voters: “In a previous statement we issued a thank you note to the Egyptian people for the civilised way they lined up for hours to cast their votes and choose their parliamentary representatives. Today, we have to thank you again for your trust, and let you know we feel how heavy our responsibility is. God willing, we will be up to it and be able to serve our people and country.”

While the elections commission has not announced the share of vote by party, the FJP is estimated to have received almost 40% of the vote. Ultra-conservative Salafist parties are second with about 20%.

The Associated Press offers a profile comparing and contrasting the FJP and the Salafist Nour Party.

1155 GMT: A member of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Major General Mahmoud Nasr, has said that Egypt refused offers of financial aid because of political conditions: "Although the most serious problem facing the Egyptian economy in the short term is a consistent decline in foreign reserves, we still do not want to receive aid from the Gulf and other foreign countries."

Nasr said Egypt's total foreign reserves, currently at $22 billion, are expected to decline to $15 billion by the end of January, with the growth rate reaching only 2% by the close of the fiscal year. He added, "The military has pumped $1 billion of revenues from its own projects into the Central Bank of Egypt."

1145 GMT: Activist Zainab Alkhawaja writes of a visit to her father, Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, serving a life sentence in prison: "[He] asked us for a copy of the [Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry] report. The prison guards refused to take it, saying it's not allowed."

0955 GMT: A protest march in Taiz in Yemen, a day after several people in the city were killed by shelling by regime forces:

0655 GMT: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says there have been serious clashes in Idlib this morning, with seven regime troops, five defecting fighters, and three civilians killed.

0615 GMT: An interesting claim from Syrian lawyer and activist Akram Asaf: "We are in contact with the Syrian army. They help us by giving us information."

Asaf, now in Turkey, said.sympathetic generals give warnings of operations by the security police and targeted arrests. The lawyer said the tip-offs allowed him to operate for months by moving from one safe house to another, but a final warning that he was on a death list forced him to leave the country.

0600 GMT: Putting out the celebratory slogan, "the highest turnout in Egypt's history since pharaonic times", officials said last night that participation in the first round of Parliamentary elections was 62%.

More than eight million registered voters cast ballots.

Now attention will turn to results. Abdel Moez Ibrahim, the head of Egypt's Elections High Comission, gave some results for individual contests, most of which will go to a run-off vote on Monday. However, he stopped at any summary about political parties, "I have no more energy, I've run out of gas," he said and told reporters to look through the encyclopedic report on the results, which he said would soon be available.

Meanwhile, thousands of protesters rallied in Tahrir Square in Cairo, honouring those who have died since January and calling on the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to step down.

Demonstrators marched on Tahrir with 21 symbolic coffins with the names of the dead, chanting, “The people demand the removal of the regime”, “We either die like them or we secure their rights”, and “Egypt is a country not a barracks.” A large banner led the procession, “How much of the Egyptian blood is enough for the SCAF to go?”

0545 GMT: We have written at length about "protest creep" in Syria, with demonstrations nearing the centre of the Assad regime. Yesterday James Miller provocatively considered "no-fly-zone creep", with the possibility of foreign support for the insurgency. Now we have "prosecution creep":

The UN Human Rights Council has passed a resolution condemning Syria for "gross violations that may amount to crimes against humanity".

It also established the new post of a special human rights investigator on Syria.

Of the 47 members in the Geneva-based Council, 37 countries voted on Friday for a resolution "strongly condemning the continued widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities".

Six countries abstained, while four countries - Russia, Cuba, Ecuador and China - voted against the resolution.

The text called for the "main bodies" of the UN to consider a UN report, published on Monday, which found that crimes of humanity had been committed and "take appropriate action".

"We've set the stage in a very substantive way for strong action by the UN if other entities choose to take the opportunity," US ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe told Reuters news agency.

"The evidence we have seen leaves no doubt about the complicity of Syrian authorities and provides a very strong
basis for accountability to go forward in other institutions where that is their mandate."

Asked whether this meant the International Criminal Court, she replied: "Absolutely, including the ICC if the Security Council chooses to refer this matter."

Is the UN action limited to rhetoric? Or could the drive to hold President Assad and his authorities responsible for civilian deaths --- more than 4000 since March, according to the UN --- intersect with the push for foreign support of the effort to remove the regime?

Snipers in the Damascus suburb of Barzeh on Friday:

An anti-regime protest in Sanamein in Daraa Province in the south last night: