3rd October 2013

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

Four Bahrainis jailed for bomb attack in village
Four Bahrainis were sentenced to life in jail on Thursday for planting a bomb targeting police and civilians in March, the state news agency reported, as sectarian and political tensions continue to trouble the tiny Gulf state. The BNA news agency did not name the convicted men or state their motive, but a similar bomb attack in the same northern village in August that wounded ve security ofcers was blamed on a "terrorist group". Pro-democracy protests erupted in 2011, led by majority Shi'ite Muslims demanding an end to the Sunni monarchy's political domination of the state which hosts the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. Read More

Bahrain sentences four accused of bombing to life in prison

A Bahrain court jailed four people for life on Thursday after convicting them of detonating a bomb targeting police that wounded an Asian man, a judicial source said. The ruling is the fourth tough sentence to be handed down in the Sunniruled Gulf kingdom in less than a week.

It brings to 95 the number of Shias jailed in ve days in relation to violent incidents, despite criticism from rights watchdog Amnesty International. The four men two of whom were tried in absentia were charged with "attempting to murder a man (the Asian worker) and policemen by placing a roadside bomb between large rocks in the village of Dair," the source said. Read More

Bahrain jails 4 Shiites for life over bombing

A Bahrain court jailed four Shiites for life on Thursday after convicting them of detonating a bomb targeting police that wounded an Asian man, a judicial source said.

The ruling is the fourth tough sentence to be handed down in the Sunniruled Gulf kingdom in less than a week. It brings to 95 the number of Shiites jailed in ve days in relation to violent incidents, despite criticism from rights watchdog Amnesty International. Read More the political struggle for freedom and equality. Doctors, journalists, human rights defenders, teachers, athletes, and protesters have been targeted in Bahrain with sanctions, surveillance, interrogations, arrests. Some have been tortured. Some have been killed. The horrors committed since the February 14 revolution (and years before) are too many to mention and the case of Safy is only one among many. Read More

Lawyer: Bahrain court jails 4 for life in bombing

A defense lawyer in Bahrain says a judge has sentenced four people to life in prison for a bombing that authorities said targeted police in the restive Gulf nation. Thursday's sentences for the March blast are the most severe in a series of recent court action against suspects

charged with attacks and alleged plots to topple the Sunni monarchy in the strategic kingdom, which is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. Bahrain's Shiite majority has led a more than two year uprising seeking greater political rights. The verdicts are likely to stir more clashes. The lawyer, Mohammad alTager, says the four suspects were convicted of the roadside bombing that wounded a worker when it missed its alleged target. Read More

My Friend is Getting Tortured for Blogging

Since his arrest in late July, it has been hard for me and other bloggers to bring attention to the case of Mohammed Hassan (aka Safy) a Bahraini blogger detained by authorities for his online activities. In a country like Bahrain, the brutal regime has been successful in normalizing and silencing its crimes against those involved in

Update on Bahraini Defender Naji Fattels Trial

This week, a Bahraini court ruled in the case of the February 14 Coalition in which 50 individuals were tried under the Kingdons terrorism law. Among those sentenced was human rights defender Naji Fateel, who was given 15 years in prison.

When he rst appeared before the newlyestablished Fourth Criminal Court a court led by the son of Bahrains head of parliament and that includes a member of the Kingdoms royal family Fateel took off his shirt to reveal evidence of torture on his back. It was a poignant moment in a trial that lacked basic due process during which claims of torture were summarily ignored. Read More