Bahrain Live Coverage: Is the Regime Fostering Sectarian Conflict?

See also Bahrain Special: How Regime Supporters Used a New York Times Reporter (Again) To Denounce the Opposition
Bahrain/Egypt Video & Transcript: Nabeel Rajab and Alaa Abd-El Fattah with Julian Assange
Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "Last Chance to Avoid Civil War"?
Tuesday's Bahrain Live Coverage: Countering the Regime's Allegations Against Nabeel Rajab

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0851 GMT: Wafi Al-Majed, husband of detained activist Zainab Alkhawaja, updates on her case after a brief court hearing this morning:

Zainab case postponed to 15 May. And they want the ppl of #bahrain to be silent! In your dreams. Its either our way, or the highway. Choose!

— Wafi Al-Majed (@fetusbahrain) May 9, 2012

0529 GMT: Amnesty International has declared Nabeel Rajab, the director of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, a "prisoner of conscience". It called for his immediate release after his arrest last Saturday at Bahrain's international airport.

Prosecutors have claimed that Rajab fomented violence through social media. His lawyer said about eight insulting tweets were mentioned in a court hearing on Sunday, which gave Rajab a seven-day detention order.

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Bahrain Special: How Regime Supporters Used a New York Times Reporter (Again) To Denounce the Opposition

Drove past the Pearl Roundabout this morning...total nightmare! Filthy squalid tent camps. It's about time the government got them removed!

— Abigail Navarre (@CasaCoco) March 5, 2011

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Almost three weeks ago, in a feature and a follow-up, we revealed how three supporters of the Bahraini regime, amidst tension and clashes around the Bahrain Grand Prix, introduced themselves as the "silent majority" to three Formula 1 journalists. The men, with a great deal of success, promoted the monarchy, especially Crown Prince Salman, as the symbol of moderation and reform while characterising protesters as a violent, misguided, Iran-led minority.

Two days before that, we considered how Souad Mekhennet of The New York Times --- allowed, unlike other journalists such as her colleague like Nicholas Kristof, into the country --- proclaimed, "Bahrain Holds Grand Prix, Keeping Protesters at Bay". Indeed, she went farther, portraying the opposition as fragmented, with one faction denouncing another for the use of violence.

But could this propaganda success be extended by merging the two strands? Could Mekhennet, representing America's best-known newspaper, be introduced to people who would reinforce her denunciation of the opposition?

From Tuesday's New York Times, "Losing Faith With Protesters in Bahrain", written by Souad Mekhennet....

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Bahrain/Egypt Video & Transcript: Nabeel Rajab and Alaa Abd-El Fattah with Julian Assange

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Alaa Abd-El Fattah is a prominent Egyptian activist and blogger. Imprisoned in 2006 for 45 days by the Mubarak regime, he was also detained for more than two months by Egypt's military rulers at the end of 2011.

Nabeel Rajab is the head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. He has been detained on several occasions by the regime and is currently in prison after his arrest last Saturday.

Just before Rajab's detention, the two men were interviewed by Julian Assange for almost three hours --- Assange's organisation WikiLeaks has posted a full transcript.

Bahrain Live Coverage: Countering the Regime's Allegations Against Nabeel Rajab

Nabeel Rajab, now detained, addressing a rally in March

See also Bahrain Interview: 4 Activists Analyse "The Story That Should Be Covered"
Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Knowns Beyond the Unknowns of the Elections
Bahrain Live Coverage: Detaining Activists --- The "Twitter Excuse"

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1815 GMT: Eighteen members of the European Parliament have called on the European Union to hold the Bahrain government accountable over current and historic human rights violations, with targeted sanctions to follow if a strict deadline for reform is not met.

In a letter to Catherine Ashton, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, the MEPs noted Saturday's arrest of Nabeel Rajab as "only the latest escalation of the increasingly repressive policy by the Bahraini government against the opposition movement"

The letter, initiated by Dutch MEP Marietje Schaake, continues:

It is high time the EU speaks out against the ongoing repression of the opposition and violation of human rights. In its resolution of 15 March 2012 on human rights violations in Bahrain the Parliament called for "the immediate and unconditional release of all peaceful demonstrators, political activists, human rights defenders, doctors and paramedics, bloggers and journalists" and urged you to "hold the Bahraini Government to its promises to respect human rights, implement the necessary reforms, start independent investigations into human rights violations and ensure that those responsible are held to account."

We urge you to reiterate this call and hold the Bahraini Government to its promises, and to set a clear deadline to be met in order to prevent serious consequences. We call on you to prepare a set of targeted restrictive measures, including; a formal ban on the export of all military equipment (in particular tear gas), to ensure that no military equipment is sold or exported from within the EU to Bahrain; visa bans and asset freezes for those individuals responsible for the violent repression of peaceful protestors. It is essential for the EU's credibility in the region to show that the EU has a consistent policy towards governments violating their citizens' human rights.

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Bahrain Live Coverage: Prominent Activist Nabeel Rajab Arrested

See also Bahrain Video Special: How the Tear-Gassing of A Village Begins
Saturday's Bahrain Live Coverage: The Many 1000s on the Highway

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Nabeel Rajab Leads Protest, 1 April1950 GMT: Finally, a press release from the regime that sets out its approach against detained human rights activist Nabeel Rajab....

Prosecutors, using the Bahrain News Agency, said:

[We] filed a case against the defendant after compiling compelling evidence of his involvement in inciting illegal rallies and marches online on social networking websites....The defendant's cyber-incitement proved detrimental as [it] fuelled rioting, road blocking, arsons, acts of sabotage targeting public and private properties, in addition to the use of Molotov cocktail incendiary bombs. The inquiry has also revealed compelling evidence on the defendant's role in instigating, online, acts targeting policemen whilst on duty, leaving some of them injured.

The statement effectively convicted, "[Rajab] admitted posting the defamatory and humiliating material on his account."

Most telling, however, might be this element of truth about this morning's court hearing, "The defendant stood the trial, in the presence of his lawyer, but he refused to answer the questions about the charges leveled against him, saying that he does not recognize the court."

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Bahrain Video Special: How the Tear-Gassing of A Village Begins

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By now, regular EA readers will be familiar with the stories and images of Bahraini security forces tear-gassing villages in their efforts to enforce order.

The video from Samaheej on Saturday, however, is beyond the "routine". It offers an insight into how the use of the tear gas --- and the escalation into violent clashes --- begins.

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Bahrain Live Coverage: The Many 1000s on the Highway

How many thousands marching on Friday in the call for significant reforms

See also Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "Time to Call It What It Is"
Friday's Bahrain Live Coverage: King Hamad Goes Through The Motions

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2000 GMT: The official websites of the Bahraini Police and Ministry of Interior are both off-line, apparently attacked in retaliation for the arrests of human rights activists Nabeel Rajab and Zainab Alkhawaja.

1910 GMT: Maryam Alkhawaja of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights reports on her detained colleague Nabeel Rajab:

. @nabeelrajab just called his wife informing her he's being kept overnight, will b taken to his hearing tmrw morning #bahrain #feb14

— Maryam Alkhawaja (@MARYAMALKHAWAJA) May 5, 2012

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Bahrain Live Coverage: King Hamad Goes Through The Motions

Clashes in Sitra on Thursday night

See also Bahrain Propaganda 101: New York City Judge "Educates Local Cops"
Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Deaths at the University
Thursday's Bahrain Live Coverage: The Regime Loses A Friend in US Congress

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1600 GMT: Many thousands marching today in a call for significant reforms:

1442 GMT: Today's march, protesting the illusion of Constitutional amendments as "reform", on the Budaiya Highway:

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Bahrain Propaganda 101: New York City Judge "Educates Local Cops" (Yaniv)

A local policeman fires tear gas directly inside a car in Ma'ameer

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A veteran judge recently left the Brooklyn bench for Bahrain to educate local cops about their legal obligations as they crack down on protests in the Middle Eastern state.

Supreme Court Justice John Walsh, who’s been teaching cops and judges for years, spent a week lecturing more than half the police force of the Persian Gulf nation on making arrests, refraining from torture and dealing with demonstrators.

“Cops are the same all over the world,” he said . “I have a technique to kind of reach them. ”

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Bahrain Live Coverage: The Regime Loses A Friend in US Congress

When They Were Friends: US Congressional Delegate Eni Faleomavaega (left) with King Hamad's advisor (second from left)

See also Bahrain Propaganda Special: Introducing the Regime's Best Friends in the US Congress
Bahrain Feature: Polemic and "Analysis" --- Exorcising Ed Husain's Demons
Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Relative "Calm"?
Wednesday's Bahrain Live Coverage: Zainab Alkhawaja Appears in Court

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2030 GMT: King Hamad has ratified constitutional changes that he said herald political reconcilation: "The door of dialogue is open and national accord is the goal of all dialogue. We hope at this important stage that all national forces and groups...will join in development and reform."

The amendments bolster the legislature's powers to question and remove ministers and withdraw confidence in the Cabinet. They came out of a national dialogue the king mandated after last year's uprising.

The leading opposition society Al Wefaq was not satisfied, however. "The amendments have not changed the core of the dispute and have not ended the crisis. They have not met the people's hopes and they have consecrated the constitution of 2002 which gives the authorities the keys of government," said Khalil Marzouq, a senior member. "There is no way these amendments can reflect popular will."

The opposition want changes that would give the elected parliament full powers to legislate and form cabinets.

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