Friday's statement by the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Laura Dupuy Lasserre
See also Bahrain Special: Preaching Religious Tolerance, Practicing Religious Discrimination
1306 GMT: Claimed footage of police mobilising and using tear gas in Alma'ameer on Friday night, after a march of youth through the village:
Bahrain Shia pray at the site of a demolished mosque, 24 December 2011
The historic and continued discrimination against Shia citizens in Bahrain is regarded by many as institutionalised sectarianism, an opinion buttressed by the Al-Bandar report. Serious accusations have been leveled at the regime by NGOs, foreign governments, and the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, but little to nothing has been done by the regime to address political, institutional, and structural causes, enabling the views which guided such policy and practice to remain intact.
There is often a notable disconnect between the Bahrain regime's rhetoric and the reality of its actions. Indeed, it is the role of the public relations firms paid millions to market a fantasy version of the island Kingdom to cover up this disconnect. However, this latest attempt for a vision of Bahrain as a modern, reforming state is remarkable in its audacity, and --- given the events at home, rather the presentation abroad --- more than a little chilling in what it perhaps purports to achieve.
See also Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Day 2 of a Presidential Election
Wednesday's Bahrain Live Coverage: A March in Sitra
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
2045 GMT: Syria. According to the Local Coordinating Committees of Syria, 38 people have been killed so far today:
10 martyrs were reported in Idlib, 7 in Hama, 6 in Damascus Suburbs (Beit Jinn, Zabadani, Abadah and Douma), 12 in Homs (Rastan, Qosair and Deir Baalba), 1 in Daraa (Kalzour), 1 in Deir Ezzor, and 1 in Aleppo.
2025 GMT: Syria. Many suspect that the results of the parliamentary election were rigged. The process itself excluded many parties and candidates that would have been legitimate challenges to the status quo. Earlier today I wrote about the convenient symmetry of the results of the parliamentary election and today's leadership vote. Everything about the election smells fishy.
Today, parliament met for the first time and elected their leadership board. To no great surprise, a former the Baath party official won the position of speaker. The rest of the results (English) are published by Syrian state media's SANA here (Arabic).
So, the former Baath party makes up the majority of the parliament, and the leadership. If you're the Syrian opposition, this sounds rigged. But if you're the Twitter Account Hama Echo, then you KNOW it's rigged:
Bahrain, Egypt, Google, Hillary Clinton, Lebanon, Mohammed Mahou, Sufian Allaw, Syria, Yemen 
In April 2011, two months after the start of mass protests and a month after the regime tried to crush them with security forces backed up by outside military forces, Physicians for Human Rights issued a report, "Do No Harm: A Call for Bahrain to End Systematic Attacks on Doctors and Patients".
A year later, two PHR investigators, Holly Atkinson and Richard Sollom returned to the Kingdom to assess the situation. They conducted 102 in-depth interviews, including patients, doctors, and government officials, examined medical records and radiographic images, visited Salmaniya Medical Center twice, and went to an “underground clinic".
Yesterday, PHR released the findings, "Under the Gun: Ongoing Assaults on Bahrain’s Health System", summarising the politics around medical care.
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
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."
Max Fisher of The Atlantic introduces a poignant and provocative way to view the ongoing crisis in Bahrain --- the cartoons of the country's children. Some of the examples featured on the site:
Maryam, age 7. She told activists that the drawing portrayed her and her sister running to help their uncle, shot in the head by security forces. The Pearl Monument, the icon of the protest movement, frowns in the background.
Bahrain, Max Fisher, The Atlantic 
An aerial view of Saturday's rally by the Gathering of National Unity, calling for union with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Co-operation Council nations
See also Syria Live Coverage: Obama Says "Assad Must Go" --- But How?
Saturday's Bahrain Live Coverage: The Many 10,000s Marching
1715 GMT: Clarifying our previous entry, Nabeel Rajab's lawyer Mohamad Al Jishi has been granted bail on the charge of inciting violence via Twitter, but the activist remains in detention on other charges. His next court hearing is on 30 May.
1200 GMT: The lawyer for human rights activist Nabeel Rajab sends the message, modifying earlier reports (see 1040 GMT), that his client will be freed on bail although he will not be able to leave Bahrain:
Nabeel Rajab will be released on bail and travel ban in twitter defamation case and adjourned the hearing to May 23. #twitdef #Bahrain
— Mohamed Al Jishi (@Mohamed_AlJishi) May 20, 2012
See also Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Shelling in the Morning, Protests in the Afternoon
Friday's Bahrain Live Coverage: Day 100 of a Hunger Strike
1500 GMT: The Gathering of National Unity, a largely Sunni organisation which emerged in 2011 in response to the protests challenging the regime, is holding a rally today in front of the Al Fateh Mosque:
Al Wefaq, Bahrain, Yousef Mowali 
