Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Deadline for a Cease-Fire

Analysts on Al Jazeera English's Inside Story discuss whether a peace plan can succeed in Syria

See also Bahrain Document: Activists Appeal to BBC and Sky Not to Broadcast Grand Prix
Turkey Live Coverage (12 April): Erdogan "If the UN Does Not Follow on Syria, What Will It Follow Through?"
Wednesday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Deadline? What Deadline?
Turkey Live Coverage (11 April): Erdogan Taking the Lead on Syria?

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2005 GMT: A significant update from Bahraini photojournalist Mazen Mahdi:

opposition groups call-off Friday 3pm rally and call on supporters to take part in funeral of citizen journalist Ahmed Ismail #Bahrain

— Mazen Mahdi (@MazenMahdi) April 12, 2012

The family of Ahmad Ismail Hassan, the citizen journalist killed two weeks ago as he filmed protests on Salmabad --- allegedly by a regime operative firing from a Land Cruiser --- had refused to accept the body from the hospital because "shooting" was not put as cause of death on the certificate.

Now that the family has taken Ismail Hassan for burial, the march promises to be one of the largest in recent months on the island.

1945 GMT: The Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria have issued a clarification about today's claimed death toll of 37:

The Local Coordination Committees would like to note that the martyrs of Deir Baalba's Massacre [in a section of Homs] that was discovered today have actually fallen on the 8th of April, 2012; and it was until today that their bodies were discovered.

This happened because of the heavy presence of the army and the lack of communications in the city during the last week. Therefore, the number of martyrs who were killed today...is 22 martyrs, distributed as follows: 9 martyrs in Homs, 6 in Idlib, 5 in Damascus Suburbs and 2 martyrs in Aleppo.

An evening demonstration in Hama:

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Deadline Passes as 160 Die

2020 GMT: Back from a development break to find that today's deathtoll in Syria has reached 101, according to the LCCS. The Deir Balbaa district of Homs suffered the hardest hit, but the deaths were distributed as follows:

56 in Homs, 22 martyrs in Hama, 12 martyrs in Idlib, 6 martyrs in Daraa, 3 martyrs in Aleppo, 1 martyr in Harasta in Damascus Suburbs and 1 martyr in Deir Ezzor.

At this late hour, the LCCS also reports that the Assad military is raiding Qa'alat al Madiq, in Hama province.

So, on the day that withdrawal was supposed to start, there has been an escalation in Homs and Hama, a continuation of the campaigns against Idlib and Daraa provinces, and though Aleppo suffered far fewer action than previous days, it too is reporting casualties at the hands of the regime.

A friend of EA's quips that every time Kofi Annan speaks, Assad seems to kill a few dozen people, so for the sake of all of Syria we should hope that Annan gives up his mission of peace.

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Deadlines of Diplomacy and Death

2049 GMT: According to the latest tally by Syrian activist network LCCS, 160 have been killed today nationwide, including:

"...at least 40 women and children, and 8 Free Syrian Army members. 52 in Homs, 45 in Aleppo, 36 in Hama, 16 in Idlib, 6 in Damascus Suburbs, 2 in Kilis Refugee Camp in Turkey, 1 in Deir Ezzor,1 in Hassakeh and 1 in Saidaa Daraa.

However, since this tally new reports of death have continued to come in to the LCCS. The latest report is that regime forces killed 5 police officers when they refused to fire on civilians in a small town between Damascus and the Golan Heights (map).

The deaths reported today show that the regime appears to be making concerted efforts to crackdown against protests near its borders with Turkey and Lebanon in advance of tomorrow's UN ceasefire deadline.

2040 GMT: The Danish ambassador to Bahrain has been denied access to Abdulhadi AlKhawaja, a Danish citizen and political prisoner who is enduring his 61st day of hunger strike.

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Bahrain Opinion: An Appeal for Abdulhadi Alkhawaja

UPDATE 1445 GMT: An open letter to King Hamad of Bahrain is currently collecting signatures. It will be delivered to the Bahrain Embassy in London by close of business Tuesday. The letter can be read and signed via an entry in the Comment is Free section of The Guardian.

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This is Abdulhadi AlKhawaja. He is a leading Bahrain human rights activist currently serving a life sentence. He has just begun the 61st day of a hunger strike.

By the time you read this, he might be dead.

If Mr AlKhawaja dies, it will be a monumental tragedy for Bahrain, from which the country may not recover. But more than that. If Mr AlKhawaja dies, terms like "international community" and "universal human rights" will be revealed to be little more than self-serving niceties.

There is time --- just --- to avoid this.

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 127 Die on A Syrian Saturday

Claimed footage --- near the end of the clip --- of the Free Syrian Army blowing up a regime tank in a convoy in Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib Province

See also Bahrain 1st-Hand: "She's Filth" --- Zainab Alkhawaja on Her Detention When She Called Out for Her Father
Bahrain Feature: Have "Hardline Sunni Groups" Overtaken the Regime?
Bahrain Feature: The Splintering of the "Regime" and "Opposition" Camps?
Bahrain Feature: A Call from Hunger Striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja to His Family
Saturday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Free Alkhawaja

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2015 GMT: Tonight activist Zainab Alkhawaja has told the story of how she was detained as she stood outside the military hospital where her father, detained hunger striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, is being held. We have posted her account in a separate feature.

1935 GMT: The Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria claim 59 people, including six children, have died in conflict today. Twenty-four deaths were in Idlib Province, including 10 unidentified bodies in Sahl Al-Rouh village. Thirteen were in Hama, including seven members from one family, and twelve in Homs.

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Bahrain Feature: A Call from Hunger Striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja to His Family

This evening Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, imprisoned for life and on Day 59 of a hunger strike, was finally allowed to phone his family. His daughter Zainab sent a series of Twitter messages this evening about the conversation:

URGENT: My father just called, he can hardly speak, and he can hardly breath #Bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) April 7, 2012

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Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Free Alkhawaja

One of Friday's "Free Alkhawaja" rallies in Bahrain --- see also our Bahrain Video and Photo Special

See also Bahrain Feature: A Call from Hunger Striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja to His Family
Bahrain Video and Photo Special: Friday's "Free Alkhawaja Protests"
Lebanon Feature: Is Hezbollah's Syria Policy A Regional and Domestic Mistake?
Turkey Video Feature: Will the "Coup Trial" Heal Political Wounds?
Friday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Kingdom on Edge

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2045 GMT: On Friday night, Bahraini activist Zainab Alkhawaja was seized as she stood outside a military hospital and called out to her father, political prisoner Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, held inside on his hunger strike. She was released this afternoon.

Tonight Zainab returned. According to her mother, she was seized, tied to a wheelchair, and taken to the security room at the hospital.

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Bahrain Video and Photo Special: Friday's "Free Alkhawaja Protests"

A visual round-up of the day's marches and rallies in Bahrain for detained hunger striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, from the thousands who gathered across the island to the security forces' attempts to disperse the protests and prevent demonstrators from reaching Pearl Roundabout, the symbolic centre of the challenge to the regime:

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Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Kingdom on Edge

1937 GMT: These protests in Talbiseh, Homs, write, "Curse your soul, Bashar," in candles:

1923 GMT: A Syrian activist has this report:

BREAKING: Violent clashes ongoing b/w the #FSA & regime army close to the central prison in #Hama #Syria الله ينصركم

— Sumayya Saleh (@Sumayya92) April 6, 2012

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Bahrain Document: Maryam Alkhawaja "My Father is Dying"

Today, April 5th, is my fathers birthday. Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, the man who dedicated himself to fighting for human rights, who trained tens of other activists, is known as the Godfather of human rights in Bahrain. My father, who was beaten unconscious in front of his family, arrested, then severely tortured for months. My father, sentenced to life imprisonment in a military court. My father, on his 57th day of hunger strike as his only way of protesting the daily human rights violations of the Bahraini regime against the people of Bahrain.
 
My father, Abdulhadi Alkhawaja is dying to live. Literally.
 
This is what propels my activism. This is why I will continue to fight.

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