Ski-masked soldiers in Humvees and police have blocked off roads leading into Shiite areas, scaring many people into staying home, employers said. Opposition leaders have been arrested and held without charge, and others are rounded up nightly, human rights groups said.
Read any of the twitter feeds of the pro-democracy activists and you read each day of new abuses – or read the appeals from all the major global human rights organizations.
These abuses include arrests like this:The United Nations warned on Thursday of “shocking and illegal” abuses in Bahrain where the US-backed Sunni Muslim rulers are waging a bloody crackdown on Shi’ite-led protesters.
Abdeljalil Alsingace, a blogger and head of the human rights office of the Haq Movement for Liberty and Democracy, a pro-democracy and civil liberties group, was picked up on 16 March, reports the Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International, which is urging people to send letters to demand his release.
A family member of Alsingace told the IFEX Clearing House that Alsingace was basically kidnapped: he was dragged away in the night without proper clothes, his glasses, or a means to walk since he needs crutches or a wheelchair. His daughters woke up with several guns pointed at their heads, and feared he would be shot dead in front of them.
And today, AngryArabiya who we’ve been following, went to a police station to try to locate her uncle who was arrested two days ago by security forces. Her experience was chilling:
@angryarabiya
my uncle has 4 kids, his youngest, Ruqaya is arnd 6 & hasn’t stopped crying since his arrest. Who points a gun @ a 6 yr old child?! #bahrainmy uncles wife: “after they arrested my husband they pointed guns @ me in my children n started beating me.” #bahrain #feb14
my uncles wife: “They punched & kicked me, n pulled me from one room 2 another with gun pointed @ me, looking 4 my nephew.” #bahrain #feb14
we have no news of where my uncle could be, they took him, beat up his wife, messed up his house, and slashed all the tires in his car
keep wonderin where my uncle is now, is he hurt? is he hungry or thirsty? is he blindfolded & handcuffed? will they let him sleep 2night?
When she went and asked police about his whereabouts. . . [continued after the jump]
policeman turned to the other police & said very loudly “Theres a lot of rape going arnd these days” they started laughing #bahrain
Police then told me, military has ur uncle. why dont u go check with them and started laughing. #bahrain #feb14
I was in the police station for more than an hr, most of the time they’re looking for all my info on their computers. #bahrain #feb14
Just going to a police station is an act of heroism in Bahrain these days but her response was that of many in Bahrain who continue to work for civil rights:
This has been a horrible day, 2 say the least. will protest 2morrow with my bros. Everyday they convince us more why they must be overthrown
Today there are new peaceful demonstrations planned will see new demonstration in defiance of the government’s emergency orders. No one is sure what the reaction will be but the danger is clearly high.
While the Bahraini activists continue to practice nonviolent resistance to the regime, the Obama administration still refuses to back this civil rights movement – and instead plays along with the monarchy’s false claims of Iranin involvement.
As Kristin Smith Diwan of American University in a very helpful The Council of Foreign Relations good background piece on Bahrain notes:
What has happened, though, is that to relieve the pressure of the democratic uprising, both the Bahraini ruling family and now Saudi Arabia are spreading fears about Iran.
The Iranian scare talk – which ignores the fact that the protesters were not aligned with Iran – as noted even by Sec. Gates — is also picked up by our own government, looking for excuses for its refusal to even call for an end to the Saudi intervention.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday warned Iran to stop meddling in Bahrain and other Arab states in the Gulf by trying to advance its agenda in neighbouring countries.
“The US has an abiding commitment to Gulf security… and a top priority is working together with our partners on our shared concerns about Iranian behaviour in the region,” she said.
“We share the view that Iran’s activities in the Gulf, including its efforts to advance its agenda in the neighbouring countries undermines peace and stability,” she said.
While Obama and Clinton continue to side with the repressive monarchy, the people of Bahrain refuse to back down:
Describing the crowd of mourners at the funeral of Bahia al-Aradi, “the first woman killed after [the king’s] crackdown against the opposition a week earlier.”The mourners at al-Aradi’s funeral vowed not to give up their political battle. Women wept and men beat their chests as they accompanied the body toward the American Mission Hospital for burial.
“The government has humiliated us enough,” said Najeeba al-Zaki, a mother of four. “It is time for this to end. We will not stop pressing for our demands.”
You can stand with Najeeba and her sisters and brothers in Bahrain by signing Amnesty International’s petition which calls for an independent investigation of the “the killings and attacks on protesters and the assaults on health and medical workers,” protection for peaceful protests and the release of political prisoners. The petition can be signed here.
And you can call the White House (202-456-1111) and make it very clear that we expect President Obama to support the civil rights movement of the Bahraini people.
Videos: The second video shows western journalists attempting to question the Bahraini Foreign Minister Al Khalifa and the third is from the funeral of the first female martyr, Bahia al- Aradi.



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The United States has a long and sordid history of propping up tyrants at the expense of their people.
We’re not exactly alone in that category.
But hey, since lives are on the line maybe Obama can get us involved in another
warkinetic military action.Oh, quit whining. These are OUR tyrants and they have oil. Go pick on Libya or Iran.
You can’t expect us to do anything about it, we’re already busy in Libya. One tyrant at a time and DON’T ask when we’ll get around to the Saudi’s.
Besides, it’s a highly classified aspect of our war on terror, you have no business even bringing it up and endangering American security.
Boxturtle (And don’t ask about the end game in Libya, either. That’s REALLY classified)
Women with kids are willing to risk their lives to protest I don’t think the government can survive…at least not without killing lots more people.:(
Where did I make that claim? Imperial powers always prop up despots.
I would welcome America getting involved in Bahrain to stop the killing.
Funny you should mention Iran. I think most of us are old enough to remember Sahshansha Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi….
What are other countries saying about this the Turks at least want this to end but will any country do something?
Really? In all seriousness, why?
A war to stop actual killing beats a war over non existent ties to Al Quieda and lies about WMD.
Uh, let me flesh that out a bit. Would you advocate military action against Bahrain?
So if Bush had used the reasoning that Hussein was slaughtering his own people, which he was, you would have supported the Iraqi invasion?
There is actual killing going on in Syria right now, as brutal a crackdown as it is anywhere in the world, are we going to invade Syria or unleash a never-ending air campaign against the Syrian military and government?
At least it would be consistent. Why is it okay to get involved in Libya, (which wasn’t a US ally) but not in Bahrain (which is a US ally)? The fact is the US could pressure the Bahrain government to ease up on the protesters but Oilbama won’t even do that. The same goes for Yemen.
I’m not for any more wars. No matter how they are rationalized. In Bahrain and Yemen, we prop up those governments so we have a moral obligation to put pressure on them to ease up. As far as Libya, Syria and others, the people are going to go through what revolts throughout history have gone through. It’s offensive to me that we always have money to slaughter foreign people but we can’t even educate our kids or have more than one air traffic controller in the tower of a major airport at a time.
I hear ya, and I’m asking the same questions you are; why the double-standard. Or better yet why does there seem to be no standard whatsoever, this is seat of the pants foreign policy.
There you go again, picking on ANOTHER of our dictators. Why do you hate America?
Boxturtle (Normally, I drink tea in the morning. But this red koolaid is pretty good)
The Arab world is revolting if we want to maintain influence we need to be on the right side of history plus its the right thing to do. Or we can watch Bahrain revolt and if they win without us they will turn to Iran. If Saudi Arabia keeps mistreating its people and not providing jobs so young people can’t afford to marry as Saudi Princes scoop up tons of wives well its hard not to see them keeping power much longer either.
The Shia will leave Saudi Arabia and form a new country and the rest of the country will fall to Ossama.
Either the Arab world learns that Rulers need to provide food and jobs for their people or they will fall. Betting against the human sex drive is a loser bet. No jobs people can’t get married. Given the success of the Saudi Religious Police no marriage, no sex since the sexes can’t mingle let alone even date.
The double standard is oil and who does the killing. If our friends decide to kill they get a free pass. Our friends need to learn we have standards for our friendship.
It would depend on HOW we got involved. We’ve got enough wars already and our current “leadership” is managing them very poorly.
We could freeze our dictators assets or try to pressure the Saudis into allowing a change like in Yemen.
Boxturtle (I fear the plan is to blame Iran. Neocons still lust over boots in tehran)
“I think we have to be very careful to treat every country differently,” Joint Chief of Staff Michael Mullen recently told ABC News. “Bahrain is in a much different situation than Libya. We haven’t had a relationship with Libya for a long, long time. The Bahrainis and that country has been a critical ally for decades. So we’re working very hard to support a peaceful resolution there, as tragic as it has been, and we certainly decry the violence which has occurred in Bahrain.”
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16741
Bahrain is different because they’re our friends – oooooooookkkkkaaaaaayyyy
There are reports in non-Western media that the Pentagon is encouraging the crackdown on the protesters in Bahrain.
http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/170769.html
We can stop this by threatening to move our fleet and leaving the Arabs to the mercies of Iran. Then its up to the Arab states to make a choice. I admit they still might decide to kill but if they do Iran and the Turks would have reason to invade.
The problem is defining the phrase “it’s the right thing to do”.
If the right thing to do is maintain influence in the Arab world and save lives (as Obama stated) then we need get a heck of a lot more hardware over to the middle east. Why, because not only Syria but Iran too regularly kills and persecutes its own citizens; I smell boots on the ground and some really big kinetic military actions in our future.
We could seize their assets for ordering the killing of civilians the Saudis are as guilty as Bahrain for that.
Well we’re helping Libyan rebels who seem to be engaging in viciousness just as awful as that of Quadaffi, I’m not sure we know what we’re doing.
Sieze Assets Iran has money invested. But your right America wants wars.
“We also know the nature of Iraq’s dictator. On his orders, opponents have been decapitated and their heads displayed outside their homes. Women have been systematically raped as a method of intimidation. Political prisoners are made to watch their own children being tortured. The dictator is a student of Stalin, using murder as a tool of terror and control within his own cabinet, within his own army, even within his own family. We will not leave the future of peace and the security of America in the hands of this cruel and dangerous man.”
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/10/print/20021002-7.html
To paraphrase your statement @2, Oilbama is not exactly alone in that category.
How many civilian casualties have there been in Libya since the NFZ? How many in Bahrain, Yemen, Syria? Qs I left over at Juan Cole.
To take the sunny view, at least the U.S. has managed to suck in other countries to its incoherent warmaking. /s
“The Arab world is revolting if we want to maintain influence we need to be on the right side of history plus its the right thing to do”
So going into places like Iraq and Afghanistan and establishing military bases and billion dollar embassies is a good thing for power projection.
Yes, if we have a moral obligation to wage war, then it doesn’t morally make sense to wage it in half-measures.
Sure! Misery loves company and the MIC knows no borders.
It has a tendency to cause a spike in replacement orders to Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumann, etc.
Meanwhile, O is pouting in his office bc a few peeps have had the temerity to ask him about “smaller, time-limited” U.S. military operations. We have no right to ask the emperor.
And the double value of adding war porn on TV so Japan’s nuke meltdown is off the front page. Can’t have implications for O’s campaign contributors, dontcha know.
I’m sure the emporer feels cheated that he doesn’t have as vast an army of head nodding sycophants as his predecessor did. Even the Orange Satan is taking a dimmer view of him lately.
Speaking of nuke meltdowns, Scarecrow has a fresh post upstairs.
Yeah, Obama through the media claims it is time-limited, but hasn’t bothered to tell Congress or the rest of us when we will have fully withdrawn from this.
Or to ignore one nation over another because of this or that.
If we remove our fleet in any method that looks long term, every country in the area will go nuclear as quickly as possible. You think if the Saudi’s showed up with their checkbook that North Korea wouldn’t sell them everything they needed? You think we’d intercept a NK ship going to our biggest oil supplier?
I don’t like the thought of the Saudi’s with the bomb.
Boxturtle (They’re just too paranoid)
W is/was a frat boy & O seems to be a loner to me, anyhow. I guess there are advantages to having a close coterie who want to have a beer with you. (Count me out of that group.)
Mr. Washington makes a valid point.
The Failure to Stand up to Evil Leads to Insanity, Poverty, and the Loss of All Our Rights.
Siun. Signed the petition. I thought his majesty’s tearing down the Pearl sculpture spoke volumes. I would love to know some of the history behind that symbol as I believe the Pearl has a great future as a symbol of hopes for freedom and democracy. I think that there are alternatives to military action in Bahrain.
Pretty soon the spin will be, the Japanese disaster didn’t happen.
Move along children. Nothing to see here.
Yeah. Any minute now I expect for people to come along and blame HAARP and other outlandish “theories” for what happened in Nihon…
Have any links or sources on that? I’m just trying to follow events there and haven’t seen that yet.(about rebel atrocities) Thanks
The stench of hypocricy from the Zero administration gets stronger by the day.
If and when the Bahrainis free themselves from the U.S.-backed regime, you can bet for sure the U.S. Fifth Fleet will be expelled.
I have a slightly different take on the spin. A la Chernobyl: It wasn’t as bad as everyone feared it would be, and we do it better so it can’t happen here.
Newtie flail fail. He keeps trying to rectify criticizing Obama for not taking on Libya and then for taking on Libya and only succeeds in digging a deeper hole. Yesterday on Van Sustern he told the too credulous wingnut:
But two weeks ago he told the intrepid Greta:
I hate that Oilbama has involved us, make no mistake but it has provided for some quality entertainment that isn’t war porn.
Nothing really handy, but it’s out there, I don’t collect links on Libya. The only thing I could point you to right now is LiveLeak; there is a vid of captured Libyan soldiers being forced to eat chunks of a dead dog. Does that rate as an atrocity, I’ll leave that up to you.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. You make an entirely (in my opinion) believable claim but don’t offer any proof. You’re fairly new here so you need to learn right away that making statements like that without citation is the best way I can think of to get you dismissed out of hand. Just an FYI.
Ros-Lehtinen was for the Libya war before she was against it; Josh Rogin; 3/24/11
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/03/24/ros_lehtinen_was_for_the_libya_war_before_she_was_against_it
No it is quite contrived. The Clintons took over $20 million from the Saudis in “foundations donations” and “speaking fees” after the Clintons left office. When the Clintons were in the WH our imported oil from the Saudis grew significantly. So is it no surprise that when the Saudis have sent troops into Bahrain to repress the Shia uprising, that the Clintons remain deadly silent? What we have had from democrats in the form of Clintons is no energy policy except dependence on foreign fossil fuels which of course has been to their personal private benefit in the form of payments from the Saudis.
not familiar with LiveLeak, thanks. I’ll pass on judging eating dogs as different cultures have different norms in diets.
Whatever, take it as what you will. If you want to believe the Libyan rebels aren’t as nasty as Quadaffi’s forces then so be it. If you are truly concerned about it, forge your own way into the net and look for the evidence.
I’ll get you started, this is the dog-eating vid I mentioned. I can guarantee you if Manning were forced to do this, people here at FDL would be going ballistic. If it isn’t enough for you, dig deeper.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=288_1300897750
With the personal attack and deliberate “misunderstanding” of what was a friendly tip, you discredit yourself even further. Good day to you.
I’ll add one more, this took me exactly 30 seconds to find:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-libya-prisoners-20110324,0,5238438.story
That was a personal attack? Whoa, your skin must be thin thin thin.
But I must ask you, would it also be a personal attack for you to say that I deliberately misunderstood you? Why would you believe it was deliberate?
Because I very clearly said:
But you responded with:
Did you just miss the part in which I said I thought your claim was “entirely believable”? I cannot believe that. You come off as much brighter than that so I have to believe that your comment was clearly intended to impugn my integrity. And yes, I call that a personal attack.
So in other words it was a non-deliberate misunderstanding on my part, or both our parts, yes?
No. Again you’re either pretending to be obtuse or you actually are. I believe the former and therefore find this conversation pointless. Again, good day to you.
Obama has finally solved the problem of leaks in DC.
The End Game in Libya is so secret no one knows it, thus no leaks, and no issues of measurable progress.
That’s a win-win situation.
Ah, I see how it works now. Did I not just say that it was a misunderstanding on my part, I meant no offense and am freely admitting that.
You accuse me of deliberate misunderstanding and impugning your integrity.
But when you impugn my integrity with that accusation, it’s perfectly justified, why, because you believe it to be so.
Good to know.
Oh, and the comments about being obtuse = personal attack. Or something.
There’s more to it than that. According to mainstream Indian and Pakistani media, US diplomat/CIA contractor Raymond Davis was orchestrating terrorist attacks on civilians in Pakistan. The Saudis paid $2.34 million to release Davis, shut down investigations and trials, and put a lid on the controversy. Now Obama has averted his gaze as the Saudis slaughter Bahraini Shiites. Blood money, indeed.
Oh. Dear.
How can they possibly imagine that that’s enough to explain letting the Bahrain leadership kill, imprison, and terrorize their own people while we *airquotes* intervene in Libya. *cough*
Also we have this naval base and…. yeah. With what I understand is quite an impressive medical facility. I’m sure peaceful protesters can get treatment there if their local hospital is shut down, absolutely sure.
Saw your link about eating dogs, a bit disgusting but not a serious war crime,imo. But the related video on same page showed Libyan soldiers who were tied up and executed by Gadafi’s thugs for refusing to fire on civilians. Now that I’d call a war crime.