politics | bahrain crackdown:

WARNING: Death and rape and brutality:

Women struggle for unity in Bahrain

Women in Bahrain have launched new initiatives to tackle sectarian tensions that emerged as fallout from widespread unrest that has swept the country since February.

The tiny island with oil incomes representing around 70 per cent of government revenues was known for years for its peaceful coexistence between its majority Shia and minority Sunni populations.

The majority of those who participated in demonstrations before the declaration of the three-month state of emergency in March were Shia. Sunnis were mainly involved in pro-government rallies.

The result: long-time friends have turned enemies. Each sect has issued a list of shops that should be boycotted because Bahrainis of the opposite sect own them. Those lists are circulated through leaflets, email and e-forums.

'Women for Bahrain' is an initiative that is working to unite Bahrainis once again. "Through the group we are trying to tell people that religion is for god, and the country is for all of us, and how sectarianism could lead to serious complications," says Fawziya Al Khaja an activist and media committee member.MORE

The Bahraini and Saudi governments are going out of their way to make that work very hard to do:

BAHRAIN McCarthyism in Manama?

WASHINGTON, Apr 27, 2011 (IPS) - As the savage crackdown on the majority Shiite opposition movement drags on in Bahrain, King Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa's military regime – backed by the hefty armed forces of Sunni- dominated Saudi Arabia – has moved from launching outright assaults on peaceful protestors on the streets of Manama in broad daylight into the murky waters of what experts are calling state terror, featuring all the old tactics of petrifying a population into submission.

On top of facing over 1,500 troops from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)'s most formidable army, the Bahraini people appear to be increasingly encountering the far more sinister face of a monarchy desperate to retain power in the oil-rich Gulf state as regimes topple around it. Midnight knocks on doors, unmarked vehicles whisking activists away in the dead of night and relentless suppression of the media are fast pushing Bahrain into an abyss of impunity, critics here say.
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Arab Spring Stalls as U.S. Defers to Saudi 'Counter-revolution'

While some observers here have blamed Saudi Arabia and its neighbouring Sunni-led sheikhdoms as a major source of the icy winds that are blasting through the Gulf, the growing contradictions between the U.S. and Western "values" and their interests are adding to the unseasonable weather.

Thus, while Washington has privately expressed strong doubts about the wisdom of the increasingly brutal and indiscriminate crackdown against the majority Shia population in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, its failure to clearly and publicly denounce the Saudi-backed repression is only the most blatant example of this trend.

Far less noticed - let alone condemned - are actions such as Thursday's dissolution by the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of the board of directors of the Jurist Association, one of the country's most prominent civil society organisations, which earlier this month had the temerity to sign a petition seeking political reform.

Human Rights Watch said the move was part of a "broader crackdown on peaceful dissent" by the government, whose de facto defence minister, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, will meet with President Barack Obama here next week, the White House announced Friday.

Indeed, despite his growing – if reluctant – military investment in "regime change" in Libya, Obama's avowed efforts to put Washington "on the right side of history" in the Arab world appear increasingly lame and hypocritical. MORE

Bahrain denies mass sackings over protests

The head of Bahrain's civil service has denied that any employees were sacked after the largely Shia pro-democracy protests that the Gulf Arab kingdom crushed last month with military reinforcements from some of its neighbours.

Bahraini opposition groups and rights organisations say hundreds of public employees were dismissed on the grounds that they took part in protests. The government argues it had taken steps only against those who committed crimes during the protests.

"Up to now, no one has been dismissed for disciplinary reasons," state media quoted Ahmad bin Zayed al-Zayed, the head of the civil service, as saying.MORE

Bahrain: Below the radar: The Arab uprising that has failed to capture the international media's attention.

Along with other Arab nations in the region, Bahrain has been facing a period of momentous political upheaval. However, in terms of global news coverage, the story there has received comparatively less media exposure than events in Libya and Syria have in recent weeks and months. One reason is that the Bahraini authorities have learnt from the events in Tunisia and Egypt, reacting quickly to quash any dissent in local media and shutting out many international news organisations.

As the ruling Al-Khalifa family continues its campaign of repression and intimidation against local journalists, global news outlets continue to struggle to cover an uprising on an island that plays an important strategic role in the region. In our News Divide this week, we take a closer look at the draconian media environment imposed by the Bahraini authorities and the challenges and perils of covering an uprising that has literally divided the region along intra-religious lines.

Bahrain cracks down on protesting footballers

Bahrain arrests righst lawyers and doctors

April 13 Fourth confirmed opposition figure dies in police custody

Why Bahrain is trying civilians in front of a military court (Doesn't that sound familiar)

Bahraini protester woman ends hunger strike

Zainab al-Khawaja states plight of her arrested family is better illuminated if she speaks publicly to support protest movement.

The Bahraini human rights activist witnessed her father, husband and brother-in-law being beaten and imprisoned by soldiers earlier this month has decided to end her hunger strike.

The 27-year-old mother of one infant told, that she has stopped her 10-day hunger strike after becoming convinced that “being silent in a grave and not able to speak is not for the benefit of my family.”

Her decision follows pressure from human rights organisations who tried to persuade her to use her voice in support of the protest movement, arguing that the Bahraini government would rather she were dead than alive.MORE

Bahraini poet Ayat al-Germezi raped to death, Shia mosques under attack by extremist Wahabi Saudi Arabian forces and the Bahraini police

Ayat al-Ghermezi, 20, had recited her poems, in which she slammed the ruling regime and Bahraini Prime Minister Khalifah Ibn Salman al-Khalifah, during protests in Pearl Square in the capital city, Manama, Fardanews reported.

According to Press TV, shortly afterwards, Ghermezi received an influx of insulting and intimidating letters and emails, but when she referred to the police to report the threats, she was insulted and mocked by officers, her family says.

In late March, security forces raided Ghermezi's home twice, threatening her family to reveal Ayat's whereabouts, otherwise they would “destroy the house over your heads, by the order of high-ranking officials.”

After the security forces coerced Gehrmezi's family into disclosing her hideout, the family heard no word from her, Ayat's mother said.
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In another development, reports say that the extremist Saudi Wahhabi forces backed by Bahraini police have severely stormed 253 Shia mosques so far, which 29 of them are completely destroyed and more than 210 others ruined.

Saudi and Bahraini forces have burned and damaged holy objects, such as burning more than 50 holy books of Quran and more than 500 prayer books and damaged more than 18 Husayniyah (religious places). MORE

Bahrain crackdown on health workers

Health workers have played an important role in the string of democratic protests that have swept across the Middle East and North Africa this year. In Tunis, in Tahrir Square, in Misrata, and elsewhere, health workers have risked their lives to provide medical care to revolutionaries and security forces alike — even in the face of great personal risk. Nowhere else is this danger as acute as in Bahrain where a recent report by Medecins Sans Frontieres has documented the brutal crackdowns on health workers in the country.MORE