News – Bahrain Freedom Movement

Bahrain to host celebrity tourney

– 13/03/2012

MANAMA, Bahrain — Despite daily anti-government protests, Bahrain is set to host a celebrity golf tournament next month featuring European Tour veterans Thomas Bjorn and Paul Casey as well as NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana.

– 13/03/2012

Hundreds of anti-government protesters walk from local streets towards the main highway in the village of Diraz west of Manama, March 13, 2012.

– 13/03/2012

Today is World Day Against Cyber Censorship, and international watchdog, Reporters without Borders (RWB), has released a new report, updating its ‘Enemies of the Internet’ list.
Bahrain added to web censorship blacklist

– 13/03/2012

Belarus also a new entry on annual “enemies of the internet” list, while Libya praised for ending “era of censorship”. Reporters Without Borders has updated its 2012 “Enemies of the Internet ” list to include Bahrain and Belarus. The updated list, which was released on Monday to mark what the organisation called “World Day Against Cyber-Censorship”, still includes countries like China, North Korea and Saudi Arabia from the previous year.
Saudi-backed Bahraini forces injure protesters in villages

– 12/03/2012

Several Bahraini anti-government demonstrators have been injured in clashes with Saudi-backed regime forces in a number of villages across Bahrain, Press TV reports.
Bahrain opposition says police gunshot killed protester

– 12/03/2012

DUBAI: A Bahraini youth died over the weekend of a police gunshot wound sustained at the start of the month, the Gulf state’s main Shiite opposition group Al-Wefaq said. Condemning state “repression of demonstrations calling for political reforms,” it said Saida Fadhel Mirza al-Obeidi, 22, was hit in the head on March 1 in Diraz, a village east of Manama.
Protests, Investigator Pressure Bahrain

– 11/03/2012

DOHA, Qatar—The head of an official inquiry into Bahrain’s unrest last year called for the investigation of any senior officials involved in the deaths or torture of protesters, as thousands of demonstrators returned to the streets in one of the nation’s largest marches in months.

Graeme Lamb: British general’s company paid to support Bahrain dictatorship

– 11/03/2012

The following story appears in the print edition of today’s Telegraph: BRITAIN’S former military commander in Iraq has extravagantly praised a dictatorial Arab regime after it paid his company £1.5million to “support [its] stance before the international community”.
Bahrain says to start talks, drop charges for some medics

– 10/03/2012

(Reuters) – An adviser to Bahrain’s King Hamad said the Gulf Arab state would hold a “comprehensive dialogue” soon to end a year-long political crisis and the government said it was dropping charges against most medics in a controversial trial.
Bahrain protesters join anti-government march in Manama

– 09/03/2012

Video posted online showed protesters with Bahraini flags in a line stretching back hundreds of metres. The security forces fired tear gas at a small group of protesters, but the rally was mostly peaceful.

– 08/03/2012

Human rights defender and previous Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Coordinator for Front Line Defenders, Mr. Abdulhadi Alkhawaja has entered his 27th day on open hunger strike to make his voice heard.

– 08/03/2012

Beirut – Bahrain has routinely convicted hundreds of opposition activists and others of politically motivated charges in unfair trials, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report. The government should void the convictions in trials before Bahrain’s military and civilian courts that fell far short of international fair trial standards, Human Rights Watch said.
The Hunger Strikers of Palestine & Bahrain

– 08/03/2012

Shortly after Khader Adnan’s heroic hunger strike, there were others to take up the same struggle as him. Of those is a Palestinian lady, Hana Shalabi. She was part of the Israeli-Hamas prisoner swap that occurred last year, only to be kidnapped again by Israeli Occupation Forces on 16th February this year from the West Bank. Like other Palestinian detainees, she is held in solitary confinement and has not been told of the charge she has been arrested for. Like Khader Adnan, she is now on hunger strike, in protest to her re-arrest and the conditions she is held under.
Protesters stage anti-regime rallies all over Bahrain

– 08/03/2012

Bahraini protesters have taken to the streets all over the country to call for the ouster of Al Khalifa regime, Press TV reports. Prominent Bahraini human rights activist, Nabeel Rajab, led a massive anti-regime demonstration in Meqsha near the capital city of Manama on Wednesday night.
Saudi Arabia’s Shiite problem

– 08/03/2012

At least seven young Shiite Muslims have been shot dead and several dozen wounded by security forces in Eastern Saudi Arabia in recent months. While details of the shootings remain unclear, and the ministry of interior claims those shot were attacking the security forces, mass protests have followed the funerals of the deceased. These events are only the latest developments in the decades-long struggle of the Saudi Shiites, which has taken on a new urgency in the context of 2011’s regional uprisings — but have been largely ignored by mainstream media.
Bahraini infant killed by tear gas fired by regime forces

– Press TV – 06/03/2012

Another Bahraini infant has died from asphyxia after inhaling poisonous tear gas fired by Saudi-backed regime forces in the capital, Manama. Bahraini activists say the 45-day old infant died on Monday after regime forces fired tear gas at anti-government protesters in a residential area, Al-Alam news channel reported.
Bahraini Activist Asma Darwish

– 06/03/2012

On the 22nd of May, 2011 a Bahraini photographer, Mohammad Darwish, was arrested by the authorities. The authorities refused to give any information to his family and on the 4th of June, his sister, Asma Darwish, went on hunger strike. Asma was no stranger to human rights issues in Bahrain. Her husband Hussain Jawad was a member of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and Amnesty International and had himself been arrested three times. She herself was well known to the media and became a regular contact for the media through twitter under the name of @eagertobefree .
Tunisia conference supports Bahrain revolution

– 05/03/2012

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – A group of Tunisian bloggers hosted the “Bahraini Revolution from Tunisian Eyes” conference, also known as “Friends of Bahrain,” which was held today, March 3rd at the Hotel Majestic in downtown Tunis, in order to show support for the ongoing Bahraini Revolution.
Saudi flexes Gulf grip with Bahrain ‘union’ plans

– AFP – 05/03/2012

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — During a sermon last week at Bahrain’s Grand Mosque, the pro-government prayer leader offered sweeping praise for one of the Arab Spring’s counter-revolutions: Gulf rulers bonding together against dissent with powerful Saudi Arabia as their main guardian.

– By Associated Press, Published: March 3 By Associated Press, Published: March 3 – 03/03/2012

( Hasan Jamali / Associated Press ) – Riot police clash with anti-government protesters throwing Molotov cocktails Friday, March 2, 2012, in Bani Jamra, Bahrain, west of the capital of Manama. clashes erupted in several villages on word that a young protester severely injured Thursday was brain dead.