15th July 2012

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

Bahrain expels US filmmaker with opposition links
Bahrain has expelled US lmmaker and human rights activist Jen Marlowe, accusing her of shooting a documentary without proper permission. Her expulsion came amid a crackdown on demonstrators protesting the recently imposed ban on rallies. Marlowe, a Seattle-based documentary lmmaker and human rights advocate who has covered a number of hot spots including the conicts in Darfur and Palestine, arrived in Bahrain around a week ago. She ended up getting detained by the authorities, who accused her of falsifying the reason for her trip, AFP reports. The countrys information authority said that on her visa application, she stated that she was visiting the country to help a friend who recently had a baby. However, an investigation revealed the names and addresses provided by her to be false. Ofcials accused her of shooting a documentary lm without a proper work visa. Read More Waving Bahraini ags outside the Bahraini embassy, they chanted: One, two, three, four Al Khalifa (Bahrains royal family) no more, Al Khalifa what do you say, how many did you kill today? Al Khalifa terrorist, and Down, down Al Khalifa, to the loud beat of a drum. The protest was organised by the Bahrain Freedom movement and supported by Stop the War Coalition. Read More hurling re bombs and challenging riot police carrying out arrest raids in the Persian Gulf kingdom, The Associated Press reported. Meanwhile, Bahraini security forces attacked the homes of anti-government protesters in the northern town of Bilad al-Qadim as the crackdown on Saturday. Read More

Bahrain boots out US filmmaker

Authorities in unrest-rocked Bahrain reportedly deported a US lmmaker, according to AFP, after accusing her of falsifying visa documentation. The newswire said that Seattle-based Jen Marlowe ew to the country, whose security forces have been ghting Arab Spring-inspired

uprisings for more than year, a week ago. Upon her arrival, Marlowe is said to have informed authorities she was in the country to visit a friend who had just given birth. Bahrain's Information Affairs Authority however claims that the lmmaker falsied parts of her visa documentation and was actually in the kingdom to shoot a documentary. Read More September when the same doctors initially received sentences of up to 15 years imprisonment in a military court. Among whose conviction was upheld was Dr Ali Al Ekri, consultant orthopaedic surgeon who received 5 years imprisonment and myself I received one year. Both of us were trained in Dublin at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Read More report by the committees on arms export controls (CAEC), along with scores of others involving equipment sold to countries involved in the Arab spring, as well as China and Argentina. The British Foreign Ofce explains that the vehicles were intended to protect western diplomats, and never got to Damascus. The chemicals were exported only after ofcials were 100 per cent certain that they were going to a private company for industrial use, and none other. Read More

Column: I was convicted for treating protesters. Now I face arrest any time.
ON THURSDAY JUNE 14 2012, a Bahraini court of appealupheld convictions for 11 out of 20 doctors who treated protestors at the height of protests in February and March 2012. These sentences did not do much to reduce the shock felt last

London Protesters Express Solidarity with Bahraini Prisoners of Conscience

Around 100 protesters, braved Londons wet weather on Saturday to show their solidarity with around 800 Bahraini prisoners of conscience, among the Nabil Rajab, president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.

Concern over UK arms sales

ON the face of it, and in light of the widespread condemnation of Syrias president, Bashar al-Assad, it might seem odd that the UK is still granting licences for the export of armoured 44 vehicles to Syria. Odder still that the UK government has permitted the sale of certain hazardous chemicals to Syria, too. These licences have been questioned in the latest

Protests hit Bahrain after opposition restrictions

Police have clashed with anti-government protesters in widespread demonstrations against moves by authorities to ban opposition rallies in Bahrain. The clashes on Saturday included demonstrators

Bahrain: Ongoing practice of torture of detainees, by public prosecution

The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) has confirmed, in its report back in November, torture cases committed by Ministry of Interior Officials. The BICI list of recommendations had action points to prevent such incidents. However, months after the reports release, numerous torture cases have been documented by the Bahrain center for Human Rights (BCHR). The absence

of accountability, the presence of a culture of impunity and the disregard of torture allegations by public prosecution are sources of grave concern for the BCHR. In the past month, many severe cases of torture committed by Bahrains security forces have been witnessed and documented by rights activists. Torture is practiced in official MOI detention centers, unofficial centers (e.g. municipal buildings) and upon arrest in the houses being raided and these are only some of the cases: Read More

UK protesters call for end to crackdown in Saudi and Bahrain

This week, a report by parliament showed that the British government has 600 arms exports licences that allow the sale of assault weapons, ammunition, surveillance equipment and more to countries like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Read More

government protesters in Bilad al-Qadim as the crackdown on demonstrations continues. Read More

UK rapped for aiding Bahrain, KSA crimes

Angry protesters stage a demonstration outside the embassies of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in London to condemn the crimes committed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the Bahraini regime against prodemocracy protesters and the British government's complicity in the instances of criminality. Read More

Bahraini forces attack homes of protesters

Bahraini security forces have attacked homes of anti-