Bahrain Exclusive: An Interview with Maryam Alkhawaja

Nabeel Rajab gets arrested, imprisoned for periods [weeks] at a time, and yet nothing from the State Department; nothing from the US administration. The situation right now as it is is that Nabeel is in prison, possibly for a little more than two months; Zainab Alkhawaja, who is also one of the most active activists, is unable to walk without crutches for at least six weeks afer she was directly targeted and shot in the leg at close range, which not only shattered her thigh bone, but removed all skin and tore the muscle. Removing two of the most well-known activists from the streets at this time seems to be too convenient right before Ramadan to be a coincidence.

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Bahrain Document: Court Testimony of Abdulhadi Alkhawaja "I Have Been Subjected to Torture"

I, the Bahraini citizen Abdulhadi Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, have been subjected since April 9th 2011 to arbitrary arrest, incommunicado detention, psychological and physical torture, sexual assault and unfair trial, without having committed any offense for which I deserve legal punishment, in addition to torture and other violations criminalized by international and national laws. Please note that I do not belong to any association or political group, though this is not an offense in itself but rather a natural right of any human being.

These current and previous violations were in fact motivated by the thorny, difficult path which I have chosen, that is to defend human rights, not only as a matter of specialization and career --- given that I am a researcher and trainer in this area --- but also that I have decided that my duty is to stand with the oppressed and the victims of various abuses to which they are exposed.

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Bahrain Propaganda 101: How the Gulf Daily News "Stitched Up" the US Ambassador

How did the US Ambassador allow himself to be manipulated by the Gulf Daily News?

The answer probably lies in last week's regime upset that Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner had expressed Washington's "deep disappointment" at the renewed, if reduced, sentences on 11 medics last week. Some regime figures, including the Minister of Defense, have accused the US of trying to undermine the monarchy, and Posner's statemet led to headlines like "US Double Standards in Human Rights Criteria Are Rejected by the Bahraini Community".

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Mubarak Not Quite "Clinically Dead"; 50+ Very Dead in Syria

1610 GMT: Syria. There are a series of reports of heavy shelling, air strikes, and gunfire in a series of towns in Daraa province, including: Daael, Nawa, Tel Shehab, and Mezayrib. Putting them all our map of the day's events, and a clear pattern is formed, that the cluster of towns just north of Daraa city are seeing a large-scale military campaign today. In Daael alone more than 50 injuries, and at least 3 deaths, are reported. This video reportedly shows an assault helicopter attacking ground targets in the city:

The LCCS provides a possible clue - there is a report of heavy fighting between the Free Syrian Army and regime forces in Nawa. The question is - did the FSA attack the regime, sparking the military campaign, or are they simply responding to an Assad attack?

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Largest Protests Ever?

Homes burn as gunfire rocks the Khalidiyah district of Homs on Friday night.

See also Egypt Live Coverage: Former President Mubarak Learns His Fate
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Another Mass Execution?

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1943 GMT: Lebanon. The toll from today's clashes in Tripoli between supporters and opponents of the Syrian regime has risen to nine dead and 42 wounded, according to residents and a doctor.

1919 GMT: Syria. The Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria has said that 27 people died across the country today, including 11 in Homs Province and eight in Idlib Province.

A reporter for State TV, presenting live, is hit with a shoe by a man who shouts, "The Syrian TV is a liar!".

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Bahrain Live Coverage: Activist Alkhawaja Ends His 110-Day Hunger Strike

Claimed footage of a convoy of security forces scattering a demonstration by women in A'ali on Sunday

See also Monday's Bahrain Live Coverage: Activist Nabeel Rajab Released from Detention

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1525 GMT: Activists are reporting that their colleague Zainab Alkhawaja, detained since 21 April, has been released.

Alkhawaja, the daughter of detained human rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, has been briefly held on several occasions since the start of mass protests in February 2011, but this was her first extended stay behind bars. She was fined last week for alleged assault of a policewoman and was being held for participation in illegal marches.

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Bahrain Live Coverage: Activist Zainab Alkhawaja Gets 1-Month Sentence

See also Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Day 2 of a Presidential Election
Wednesday's Bahrain Live Coverage: A March in Sitra

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1640 GMT: A policewoman charged with torturing journalist Naziha Saeed during last year's crackdown on protests will go on trial next month, prosecutors said today.

The unnamed officer is accused of "us[ing] force against the victim to make her confess to a crime". Saeed, the Bahraini correspondent of France 24 and Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya, was arrested on 22 May 2011.

The statement continued, "[The policewoman] beat her and caused her...harm...[by] slapping her, beating her with a plastic tubing, kicking her in all parts of her body, in addition to insulting her."

The first court hearing is set for 6 June.

Saeed recounted her experience earlier this week:

a policewoman asked me 2 imitate donkey's walk&voice, &she sat on me but I fell on the ground cause she s huge &I'm skinny #Bahrain #torture

— nazihasaeed (@nazihasaeed) May 22, 2012

beatings and insults Continued for hours in which they rotate beating by officer &policewomen between me & the nurses #Bahrain #torture

— nazihasaeed (@nazihasaeed) May 22, 2012

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Bahrain Live Coverage: A March in Sitra

See also Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: An Election in Cairo, Conflict Beyond Damascus
Tuesday's Bahrain Live Coverage: Appearing Before the UN Human Rights Council

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2035 GMT: According to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Bahraini regime has agreed to consider recommendations to release political prisoners, outlaw torture and join the International Criminal Court.

The Council said Bahrain will consider 176 recommendations submitted by other nations. part of a review that all 193 U.N. members are required to undergo every four years.

The regime was heavily criticised earlier this week, even by the US and Britain, for its repression of dissent and abuses since mass protests began in February 2011.

1805 GMT: Activists using the Twitter account of the detained activist Zainab Alkhawaja have posted a lengthy letter, dated 19 May, that she wrote in prison. An extract:

If I get released, every village I pass through will shout the names of countless prisoners of conscience. #Bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) May 23, 2012

All the walls will show me their faces. Around me, I will see their grief-stricken mothers and fathers, their wives, their children #Bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) May 23, 2012

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Bahrain Live Coverage: Appearing Before the UN Human Rights Council

See also Bahrain Report: The Ongoing Assault on the Health System
Yemen, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Suicide Bombing in Sana'a
Monday's Bahrain Live Coverage: The Regime's Strategy of Rolling Detention

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1610 GMT: Some detail on detained hunger striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja's appearance in court today, amidst 13 activists and political figures on an extended "retrial" of their lengthy prison sentences (see 1200 GMT)....

"The continuation of my arrest is a crime," Alkhawaja told the court. "Stop this sham trial."

Alkhawaja continued, "For more than 100 days I have been on hunger strike and am ready to sacrifice my life to demand freedom."

Alkhawaja's wife, Khadija Almousawi said her husband also told the court about the abuse to which he was subjected after detention in April 2011: "There was a moment of silence when he spoke about the psychological torture when they lied to him about arresting [their daughter] Zainab...torturing, raping Zainab and moving her to a jail in Saudi Arabia. This must have been harder than the torture itself."

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Bahrain Live Coverage: The Regime's Strategy of Rolling Detention

See also Bahrain Feature: Seeing the Crisis Through Children's Cartoons
Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Amidst the Assassination Rumors, 60 Die
Sunday's Bahrain Live Coverage: Regime Says, "This Protest Good, This Protest Bad"

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Carlos Latuff cartoon featuring Nabeel Rajab0935 GMT:. Maryam Alkhawaja reports that the detention of her sister and fellow activist Zainab has been extended until Thursday, when her next court hearing is scheduled.

Zainab Alkhawaja was imprisoned on 21 April after she staged a sit-in protest in the middle of a Bahraini highway.

0825 GMT:. The United Nations Human Rights Council is considering Bahrain's record and situation this morning.

The British representative has cited ongoing human rights violations, while the American delegation has called for accountability of all perpetrators of torture. Denmark has sharply criticised the Bahraini Government for lack of action on rights, while emphasising the case of Danish-Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, who has been on hunger strike for 102 days.

The Bahraini envoy, unsurprisingly, has said there are no issues, as the regime has implemented the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry.

We hope to have a summary of proceedings later today.

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