See also Bahrain Analysis: The PR Game, the BBC, and Alkhawaja's Hunger Strike
Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "War Crimes" in Idlib, Deaths in Cairo
Tuesday's Bahrain Live Coverage: The Regime Plays for Time
1430 GMT: Police repeatedly fire tear gas into Diraz on Tuesday night to disperse protesting youth:
The surprise news that resonated throughout Tuesday was the five-minute visit of BBC reporter Frank Gardner to detained human rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja on Day 83 of his hunger strike. The photograph of the meeting and Gardner's article testified to a thin but alert Alkhawaja, who maintained that he had been force-fed during the previous week but that he would continue his fast.
Opposition activists were pleased to see that Alkhawaja --- cut off from his family, his lawyer, and the Danish Ambassador for six days until the ban was lifted on Sunday, briefly missing from his room in the military hospital, and feared near death --- was sitting up and coherent. (The BBC went even farther in its article, reporting that Alkhawaja said he had been walking for three days.) But at the same time, some of those activists noted the regime's game in allowing the interview.
Detained activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, on Day 83 of his hunger strike, with BBC correspondent Frank Gardner (see 1241 GMT)
See also Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Idlib Explosions Raise the Stakes
Monday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Enter the Observers
1710 GMT: Blurred but still notable footage of protesters scattering in Bani Jamra after a charge by police firing tear gas:
Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 10:05 | Scott Lucas in EA Middle East and Turkey, Journalism and Media, Middle East and Iran 
Hamza KashgariMedia monitoring, as practiced by governments in Libya, Bahrain, Egypt, Syria and Iran (to name a few), is not so much enforced by datacenters, wiretaps and informants but by searches of TV stations by police, days in a holding cell and the warrant officer's truncheon. The technology, of course, plays an increasingly vital role, not least because it makes it so much easier to prepare a mound of "evidence" to the prosecution's satisfaction. As Sultan Al Qassemi notes, governments and their supporters are becoming more social media savvy too.
A protest in Aleppo on Sunday night
See also Bahrain 1st-Hand: Smuggled Footage of Crackdown & Interview with Ala'a Shehabi
Iraq Snapshot: The Divisions Among the Shia Factions
Bahrain Snap Analysis: The Regime's Propaganda Struggles
Bahrain 1st-Hand: The AlKhawaja Story - Wife/Mother Speaks Out
Turkey Live Coverage (30 April): Questions on the Syrian Front
Sunday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Two-Step of Protest and Detention
2100 GMT: Iraq. In a further escalation of political tension, fugitive Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi and some of his bodyguards have been charged with a series of murders, including the killing of six judges.
Hashemi, a Sunni politician, fled Baghdad in December when the Shia-led Government issued an arrest warrant for him, accusing him of running death squads. He is now in Turkey and is not expected to attend the trial when it begins on Thursday.
2034 GMT: UAE. Amnesty International has called on the United Arab Emirates to immediately and unconditionally release nine political activists who have been detained in the last month.
The nine men belong to the Reform and Social Guidance Association (al-Islah), a non-profit organization that advocates --- through peaceful debate --- greater adherence to Islamic precepts.
In a separate feature posted earlier today, we wrote about the Bahraini regime's public-relations efforts and assessed, "Far from taking the initiative, however, the regime has appeared to be on the defensive over events."
Here's a vivid example of developments on the ground overtaking spin. Amidst the regime effort to highlight a Grand Prix free from discord and controversy last week, Britain's Channel 4 sent a crew into the country. By the end of the weekend, reporter Jonathan Miller and his cameramen had seen protests, the police response of tear gas and arrests, and the effects on residents. They had followed the story of slain activist Salas Abbas Habib. They had been briefly detained, along with Bahraini activists Ali Al A'ali and Ala'a Shehabi, before they were deported late Sunday night.
The follow-up interview with Shehabi:
Bahrain's Minister of Justice on BBC's HardTalk
In a series of messages last night via Twitter, hunger striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja's wife Khadija Almousawi documented the pain of her husband while putting out his continued hope: "Despite all that happened to Hadi, he is as strong as a mountain, very thin but content and with his large smile. Again he said to us today he has never been happier."
Almousawi continued, referring to her detained daughter, activist Zainab Alkhawaja, as well as her husband: "No matter what they do, they cannot break my Hadi or my Zainab and this gives me strength to continue being hopeful."
The regime response? Saqer Al Khalifa, a leading figure in the social media campaign and former media attaché at the Bahraini Embassy in Washington, took the spectre of threat to a new level: Alkhawaja was comparable to the Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the planner of the attacks of 11 September 2001.
With Zainab Alkhawaja in jail awaiting prosecution and her father Abdulhadi, now 81 days into a hunger strike, cut off from contact with his relatives from Monday until today, this has been a particularly difficult week for the family.
The Bahraini regime has been keen to reassure the world that Abdulhadi is in good health, but their decision to deny access to his family, lawyer and even the Danish Ambassador led to much speculation and concern over his condition. Authorities postponed the review of Abdulhadi's case, now scheduled to take place on 30 April. When the family was finally allowed to see him, they found that Abdulhadi was being drugged and force-fed with an energy drink, categorically against his wishes.
Today, Abdulhadi's wife Khadija al-Musawi wrote after she saw him and also spoke with her daughter Zainab:
#Bahrain Today it was a happy/sad day. Happy cus i saw my daughter Zainab and my dear husband Hadi.
— Khadija Almousawi (@tublani2010) April 29, 2012
#Bahrain and sad cus i had to listen to Zainab telling me how she was beaten and almost suffocated by the police and then she is accused.
— Khadija Almousawi (@tublani2010) April 29, 2012
#Bahrain Sad cus I had to listen to dear Hadi telling me how he was drugged, restrained, force fed and kept incommunicado for five days.
— Khadija Almousawi (@tublani2010) April 29, 2012
Bahraini police charge a protest march in Manama on Saturday
See also Iraq Analysis: Kurdistan's Contest with Prime Minister al-Maliki Heats Up
Egypt Feature: Cairo Cuts Gas Supplies to Israel --- Will the Power Play Backfire?
Saturday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Two-Step of Protest and Detention
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.
Friday's protest rally in Bahrain
See also Palestine Feature: Communications Minister Resigns Over Blocking of Websites
Jordan Feature: Troubled "Reform" as Prime Minister Resigns
Friday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Just Another Protest Friday?
Friday's Syria Wired: The Latest from Social Media and EA's Readers
2235 GMT: We're taking a Saturday night break --- back at 0600 GMT on Sunday with the latest news from North Africa and the Middle East.
1718 GMT: Iraq. A Bahraini activist is reporting that human rights defender Said Yousif and former MP Sayed Hadi Al Mosawi, detained earlier today during a march in Manama (see 1525 and 1607 GMT), have been released.
1700 GMT: Iraq. Wladimir van Wilgenburg passes on reports of closed-door meetings today in Erbil in Kurdistan between Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani, Iraqiyya Party leader Iyad Allawi, and leading Shia politician Moqtada al-Sadr to discuss political tension over the national government.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, embroiled in a number of disputes with other prominent politicians, was not present.
Van Wilgenburg evaluates that the session indicates that Talabani's opinion might not be that different from that of Barzani, despite earlier reports of points of disagreement. In contrast, Sadr met with al-Maliki in Iran before heading to Kurdistan, and a Sadrist spokesperson said they would not discuss withdrawing confidence from the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, Iraqiyya list member Salih al-Mutlaq, despite his opposition to al-Maliki, criticized Barzani's call for a referendum in September for Kurdish independence.
