Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Two-Step of Protest and Detention

Bahraini police charge a protest march in Manama on Saturday

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Saturday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Two-Step of Protest and Detention

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1912 GMT: Egypt. In a sign of more tension between political factions, including the Muslim Brotherhood, and the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the Egyptian Parliament suspended the sessions of its lower house on Sunday for a week to protest SCAF's refusal to dissolve the Cabinet.

The legislature’s speaker, Saad el-Katatni of the Muslim Brotherhood, announced the decision on Sunday after lawmakers spoke in a televised session against the Government of Prime Minister Kamal El Ganzouri.

A "senior Government source" said the dismissal of the Cabinet was unnecessary as it will only last until 30 June. The source said El Ganzouri met on Saturday with Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of SCAF, to discuss the crisis. although The source said Tantawi did not mention any dismissal or reshuffle to Ganzouri.

1836 GMT: Bahrain. Lawyers for a 13-year-old boy say he has been detained for assaulting a police officer, "inciting violence", and taking part in a protest in Hamad Town, south of the capital Manama.

A judge ordered that Sayed Yasin Abduljalil be held until Thursday. He was arrested last Friday and according to his lawyers, "beaten and tortured".

Earlier today (see 0630 GMT), Human Rights Watch released a report, based on a five-day visit to the country, that Bahrain’s police were beating and torturing detainees.

1822 GMT: Bahrain. A telling exchange with Saqer Al Khalifa, prominent regime loyalist on social media and former media attache at Bahrain Embassy in the US, as he compares detained human rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja --- on Day 81 of a hunger strike --- to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the planner of the attacks of 11 September 2001. He begins by replying to a message from CNN reporter Amber Lyon, who was concerned that Alkhawaja had not been seen by his family or lawyer for several days:

“@AmberLyon: #WherethefuckisAlkhawaja? #Bahrain” where's KSM?

— Saqer S Al Khalifa (@SaqerAlKhalifa) April 29, 2012

@SaqerAlKhalifa Did you just compare #Alkhawaja to 9-11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? | #Bahrain #Feb14 @AmberLyon

— Scott Lucas (@ScottLucas_EA) April 29, 2012

@ScottLucas_EA @amberlyon yes I did! Some diff envies but much more similarities.

— Saqer S Al Khalifa (@SaqerAlKhalifa) April 29, 2012

1817 GMT: Bahrain. Miguel Carapeto, the assistant to a Portuguese member of the European Parliament, Ana Gomes, reports that she has been entry into the kingdom:

#Bahrain blocks influential #EU Parliament member Ana Gomes entrance to country. She is awaiting deportation. @eu_eeas @euobs

— Miguel Carapeto (@miguelsch_) April 29, 2012

1659 GMT: Bahrain. The tear gas in Bilad Qadeem today:

Bahrain. The tear gas in Bilad Qadeem today:

1619 GMT: Bahrain. Frankie Dolan has posted a Storify collection of people's recollections of the life and activism of detained human rights defender Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, now on Day 81 of his hunger strike and being drugged and force-fed in a military hospital. Contributors included Alkhawaja's brother.

1549 GMT: Bahrain. A significant update from Maryam Alkhawaja about her father, detained human rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, on Day 81 of his hunger strike:

Abdulhadi Alkhawaja finally had a familyvisit today. He had been drugged, tied to the bed, forcibly fed with a nasoenteric tube #bahrain

— Maryam Alkhawaja (@MARYAMALKHAWAJA) April 29, 2012

The family had not been allowed to see or speak with Alkhawaja since Monday, raising fears that he had died. A regime-linked newspaper inadvertently indicated earlier this week that the activist was being force-fed.

Maryam Alkhawaja also posts this news of her sister and fellow activist Zainab Alkhawaja, detained since 21 April:

Zainab Alkhawaja @angryarabiya told her family that she was beaten and kicked during her arrest by the female riot police #bahrain #FEB14

— Maryam Alkhawaja (@MARYAMALKHAWAJA) April 29, 2012

1545 GMT: Israel. Questions: why are the new media directors of the State Department and the White House, Alec Ross and Macon Phillips, in Israel and what was said in their meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?

1358 GMT: Bahrain. Police erase protest graffiti painted on the road:

1353 GMT: Egypt. Supporters of Hazem Abu Ismail, the Salafist candidate banned from May's Presidential election (see 0630 GMT), have claimed they have been injured by plainsclothes enforcers during their sit-in outside the Ministry of Defense.

Other reports have described the attackers as local people angry at the protest, but the enforcers have been used by the Egyptian authorities in the past.

The Associated Press claims from "security sources" that one person died, but the Health Ministry denied any deaths while saying 91 people were injured.

The people who attacked the sit-in tossed Molotov cocktails at the protesters, who threw rocks in return. Witnesses who attempted to rescue those injured reported the use of buckshot.

The clashes continued for more than five hours at Abbasseya Square and the surrounding streets.

1313 GMT: Syria. Back from a weekend break to find this video of today's demonstration in Jisr al Shoghour in Idlib Province:

A funeral procession in the Dumair section of Damascus:

0959 GMT: Syria. The Syrian Foreign Ministry has lashed out at Turkey, declaring that Prime Ministe, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu "are still announcing provocative statements that aim at complicating the situation in Syria, systematically straining...bilateral relations".

The Ministry, claiming the Turkish leaders were acting against the peace plan of United Nations envoy Kofi Annan, declared, "Syria didn't threaten at any time the Turkish borders because we consider them as borders of friendship and good-neighbourliness."

The Ministry called on Erdogan to help in the return of Syrians who have fled across the border, as "we don't want anyone to feign crying over the destiny of any Syrian because their country's doors are open to them with all the necessary guarantees. We are ready to cooperate with the Turkish Red Cross to achieve this goal."

0950 GMT: Bahrain. A Bahraini cartoonist depicts detained human rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, on Day 81 of his hunger striker, with Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela:

0720 GMT: Bahrain. Following a five-day visit by its staff, Human Rights Watch reports that Bahrain’s police are beating and torturing detainees, including minors, despite the regime's supposed commitments to end abuses.

From 15 to 19 April, HRW staff interviewed 14 young males, including seven children, who said police had arrested and beaten them severely for participating in public protests. Five of the incidents occurred in April.

HRW said "treatment inside police stations and formal detention facilities appears to have significantly improved" since November's report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry" but this did not mitigate the regular beatings.

Victims said that because they did not trust the police or the public prosecutor, they had not filed complaints. Officials in turn said investigations of incidents were hindered because there were no complaints. They said some police officers had been suspended for their conduct, but acknowledged that they have not publicly announced who was suspended or why.

0630 GMT: Egypt. The Salafist movement, the second-largest force in Parliament, endorsed Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, for Presidential late Saturday night.

The move changed the dynamics of the Presidential campaign and Egyptian politics. The Salafist Nour Party is seen as "ultra-conservative" in its approach to Islam and politics whil Aboul Fotouh is considered more "liberal" in his interpretation.

The decision after the Salafist candidate Hazem Abu Ismail was disqualified from the contest on the grounds that his mother has taken American citizenship.

0625 GMT: Syria. Global Voices Online highlights the case of journalist Ali Mahmoud Othman, the head of the media office of Baba Amr in Homs, who was arrested last month after the area was shelled and taken over by regime forces.

On Wednesday, Syrian State TV announced an "exclusive interview" would be aired last night, with Othman "confessing" to his crimes.

In the preview from the Addounia network, Othman emerged from his cell to talk to interviewer Rafiq Lutif:

0605 GMT: Bahrain and Syria. We are seeing a pattern emerge in Bahrain after 14 1/2 months of protest and tension, with no meaningful steps towards reform. While marches in villages are often met with tear gas, marches which include prominent activists and political figures are met initially with a police line.

A few minutes of heated discussion follows, and then the security forces move, dispersing the protesters and sweeping up some of them, including the high-profile demonstrators. These "names" are held for a few hours of uncertainty before being released. The police do not want to risk the boomerange effect of another long-term detainee gathering attention and sympathy, but they do want to cause inconvenience and carry out a bit of intimidation before the cycle starts again.

There are exceptions, however. Zainab Alkhawaja is spending her 9th day in jail after another symbolic protest in the middle of a highway --- a decision on her case is supposed to be by the prosecution within the next 48 hours. And her father Abdulhadi, a founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, is on Day 81 of a hunger strike as he serves a life sentence for his dissent.

There is no such rhythm of protest, short-term detention, and release in Syria. International media's attention was limited on Saturday --- for example, noting a regime newspaper's claim that United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon was encouraging the violence of insurgents --- but the military carried out raids and arrests in areas such as the Damascus suburb of Douma. The Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria claimed that at least 25 people died at the hands of security forces.