Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Just Another Protest Friday?

Opening of "A Taste of Freedom" ice cream shop in Binnish in Syria

See also Syria Snap Analysis: Is the US Preparing for Intervention?
Syria Wired: The Latest from Social Media and EA's Readers
Thursday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Is Hunger Striker Alkhawaja Still Alive?
Turkey Live Coverage (26 April): From the Kurdish Language to Iranian Banks

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1631 GMT: This morning, we noted an apparent slip by the regime-linked Gulf Daily News about Day 79 of the hunger strike of detained activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja --- in its haste to establish that he was well and "in high spirits", it tipped off that the authorities might now be force-feeding Alkhawaja.

Mike Diboll, a blogger who worked at the University of Bahrain, takes up the story:

[Alicia de Haldevang of the Gulf Daily News] takes a strong interest in his nutrition, mentioning by name “Ensure”, the nutritional drink that Abdulhadi is supposed to be “taking”:

At the beginning of her piece, she says that he is “drinking” the supplement, but in paragraph five he is “taking” it. “Taking” it in what sense? Perhaps this image of the force feeding kit used against Guantanamo Bay hunger strikers can help answer the question of exactly how Abdulhadi is “taking” Ensure. Below is a photograph of a force feeding kit used at Guantanamo Bay:

And another twist --- Alicia de Haldevang, the Gulf Daily News reporter, was taken to task by Alkhawaja's wife over the story until she said, "I believe you should have access to your husband+he shld be released. Pls don't think that I follow GDN policy in my personal beliefs." Now she appears to be none too happy with the regime for putting her in this position:

Until this govt actually responds properly to questions+provides officials to answer them, we have to use reliable "unnamed sources".

— Alicia de Haldevang (@aliciadehal) April 27, 2012

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The Real Net Effect and Libya: The Information Campaign against the Qaddafi Regime (Pollock)

Watch live streaming video from libya17feb at livestream.com

The last broadcast of Mohammed Nabbous on Libya Alhurra TV on 19 March 2011 --- he was killed later that day, recording a firefight in Benghazi

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The war against Qaddafi was fought with global brains, NATO brawn, and Libyan blood. But it took brains and blood to get the brawn. On February 18, three days into the protests that would swell into the successful revolt against the regime, Libya went offline. Internet and cell-phone access was cut or unreliable for the duration, and people used whatever limited connections they could. In Benghazi, Mohammed "Mo" Nabbous realized he had the knowledge and the equipment, from an ISP business he had owned, to lash together a satellite Internet uplink. With supporters shielding his body from potential snipers, Nabbous set up dishes, and nine live webcams, for his online TV channel Libya Alhurra ("Libya the Free"), running 24/7 on Livestream.

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Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Grand Prix Protests

Wednesday's night mass protest in the Damascus suburb of Irbeen

See also Yemen Feature: CIA Seeks Authority to Expand Drone Programme
Morocco Analysis: Why Did the Moroccan Uprising Not Rise?
Syria Feature: Activists to Insurgents "We Want Our Revolution Back"
Bahrain Video Special: Activists Declare "No Formula 1 in A Bloody Kingdom"
Syria Wired: The Latest from Social Media and EA's Readers
Wednesday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Appealing to Damascus

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2130 GMT: As reported earlier, many journalists have been denied entry into Bahrain to cover the F1. Earlier this evening, a team from Sky News, intending to cover the humanitarian and political situation in Bahrain, were likewise denied entry. EA understands that the team is now back in Dubai and remain intent on gaining entry into Bahrain to see for themselves the situation on the ground.

The Sky News team was headed by Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay who has been tweeting about the experience and his frustration with the Bahrain authorities:

Sky news denied access to report from f1 in bahrain #Bahrain

— Stuart Ramsay (@ramsaysky) April 19, 2012

Govt refuses to explain why I can't come in

— Stuart Ramsay (@ramsaysky) April 19, 2012

We are excluded without redress but have asked to represent all sides

— Stuart Ramsay (@ramsaysky) April 19, 2012

#Bahrain govt welcomes f1 but not independent journalists who actually understand the complexity of this issue

— Stuart Ramsay (@ramsaysky) April 19, 2012

I asked to report on the country not the F1 and they know that come on your excellencies grow up

— Stuart Ramsay (@ramsaysky) April 19, 2012

1959 GMT: Multiple journalists, from news Agencies such as AFP and AP, have been denied entry into Bahrain to cover the F1 race:

Associated Press said two of its Dubai-based journalists were prevented from covering the Grant Prix because they could not receive entry visas, despite being accredited by the FIA.

Meanwhile, cameramen already in Bahrain were required to keep fluorescent orange stickers on their cameras so that they would be easily recognisable to ensure they do not cover any off-track events, such as ongoing protests.

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Will the Regime Challenge the Protests?

Mass demonstration last night in Freedom Square in Deir Ez Zor, Syria

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1919 GMT: According to the Local Coordinating Committees of Syria, they have been able to confirm the deaths of 13 so far today:

3 martyrs were documented in Hama as a result of sporadic gunfire at the protesters, 2 martyrs in each of Daraa and Aleppo as a result of sporadic gunfire at protesters. Also, 2 martyrs were documented in Idlib and one of corpses was un-identified. 2 martyrs in Homs in a random shelling at some neighborhoods. 1 martyr in Daraya, Damascus suburbs, in a sporadic gunfire by security forces at the protesters and 1 martyr in Hasaka, a defected recruit who was executed.

Homs, and several surrounding towns, were heavily shelled once again today. In this video, a building burns as heavy gunfire fills the background in Qosour:

Ahmed Al Omran provides this video, a wider view of the Khalidiya district of Homs:

Video reportedly shows shelling on Homs today, sounds of intense gunfire youtube.com/watch?v=bo6qOx… #SYRIA

— Ahmed Al Omran (@ahmed) April 13, 2012

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War on Terror Special: How Britain's Rendition Sent "Suspects" to Qaddafi's Libya (Cobain)

Fatima Bouchar's case is different from the countless other renditions that the world has learned about over the past few years, and not just because she was one of the few female victims.

Documents discovered in Tripoli show that the operation was initiated by British intelligence officers, rather than the masked Americans or their superiors in the US. There is also some evidence that the operation may have been linked to a second British-initiated operation, which saw two men detained in Iraq and rendered to Afghanistan. Furthermore, the timing of the operation, and the questions that Bouchar's husband and a second rendition victim say were subsequently put to them under torture, raise disturbing new questions about the secret court system that considers immigration appeals in terrorist cases in the UK – a system that the government has pledged to extend to civil trials in which the government itself is the defendant.

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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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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Scepticism About Reforms

Armoured vehicles move through Sanabis in Bahrain today

See also Bahrain Follow-Up: Humpty Dumpty and the Regime's Friends in the US Congress
Mauritania Feature: The Popular Unrest Grows
Syria Wired: The Latest from Social Media and EA's Readers
Turkey Live Coverage (4 April): A "Casus Belli" for Syria?
Tuesday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 70+ Dead, 70+ Bodies Found as Homs Hospital "Liberated"

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1925 GMT: Former Formula 1 champion Damon Hill has expressed concern over the staging of the Bahrain Grand Prix, ""It would be a bad state of affairs, and bad for Formula One, to be seen to be enforcing martial law in order to hold the race. That is not what this sport should be about."

In February, Hill had appeared to support the staging of the race, "There are sincere efforts to resolve the difficulties. There has been a change. Human rights organisations say there is a process in place to help Bahrain recover its reputation."

However, Hill, who won the title in 1996, said today, "Things are different now. The protests have not abated and may even have become more determined and calculated. It is a worrying state of affairs."

1845 GMT: Over the past two days, we have raised questions about the current trip of four members of the US Congress to Bahrain, a visit used by the regime as a public-relations bonanza. Now one of the four legislators, Democrat Jim Himes, has posted messages on Twitter:

On way back from #Bahrain. Visited sailors, govt officials and opposition. Also toured villages where protestors are met with tear gas.

— Jim Himes (@jahimes) April 4, 2012

On way back from #Bahrain. Visited sailors, govt officials and opposition. Also toured villages where protestors are met with tear gas.

— Jim Himes (@jahimes) April 4, 2012

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Libya Feature: With the "Islamists" in a New Country (Hauslohner)

Abdel Hakim al-HassadiAbdel Hakim al-Hassadi seems unperturbed by the fact that someone blew up his car last night. "I was at evening prayer in the mosque when it happened," he says. An unknown assailant threw a grenade under the car, sending it into flames. "I believe it was a message," he adds. "If they wanted to kill me — they would do it in an open place." Then he offers his guests tea.

In post-Gaddafi Libya, where a weak, fledgling government means little security and a lot of uncertainty, life is still a little dicey. But to al-Hassadi, perhaps the most powerful man in the eastern Libyan city of Darnah, it's all part and parcel of moving forward, past the era of dictatorship and into something freer, and hopefully better. "After decades of destruction, it's impossible to change in a few hours or even a few years," he says. "But now we are free. Even the land has changed — it's growing new grass again."

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Peace Plan Accepted?

A demonstration in front of the Grand Mosque in the Damascus suburb of Douma on Tuesday night

See also Middle East and Iran Videos: 4 Activists on Women's Rights After the "Arab Spring"
Tuesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 65 Dead Amidst Manoeuvres for Talks

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2110 GMT: Kuwaiti authorities arrested a man late on Tuesday for allegedly insulting the Prophet Mohammed on his Twitter account.

The man, whose name was not disclosed, defamed the Islamic faith and slandered the Prophet Mohammed, his companions and his wife, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement issued on state-run news agency KUNA. He is being interrogated ahead of court proceedings.

The ministry saiid that it “regretted the abusing of social networks by some individuals to offend basic Islamic and spiritual values, vowing to show zero tolerance in combating such serious offences”.

In September a Kuwaiti court convicted a man for insulting Gulf rulers and posting inflammatory sectarian comments on social media, but he was released immediately because of time already served while awaiting trial.

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Middle East and Iran Videos: 4 Activists on Women's Rights After the "Arab Spring"

VisionOnTV posts four interviews around last week's "Half a Revolution" event, held by Amnesty International, in London. Those interviewed are Dalia Abdelhammed Ali Ibraheem (Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights), Yara Sallam (Nazra for Feminist Studies), Layla El Wafa (Women for Libya), and Sussan Tahmasebi, a Washington-based Iranian activist.

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