While there's been some bloody and serious crackdowns everywhere in the ME, like Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, etc. I like to highlight on Bahrain's latest news which includes now doing away with Human Rights activists and journalists.
Editor Silenced, With the Help of Unreliable Sources
FOR years, Mansour al-Jamri led what was, by all accounts, a charmed life.
Having returned to Bahrain a decade ago at the personal invitation of King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, he enjoyed a certain degree of immunity from government pressures, even when the prosperous, independent newspaper he started, Al Wasat, made things uncomfortable for a minister or two.
In the last two months of rising tensions and violence, his was a voice of moderation, urging both the Sunni royal family and leaders of the predominantly Shiite protest movement to sit down and compromise. He wrote columns criticizing government repression and corruption, and others condemning moves by protesters to march on the royal palace and barricade the country’s main highway — acts that eventually provoked a sweeping crackdown over the last three weeks.
But suddenly, Mr. Jamri found himself out of a job, forced to quit last weekend to keep Al Wasat open. He now spends his days clearing out his office and preparing to face prosecutors on Monday. They have accused him of publishing false stories to incite Shiites to rise up against the government.
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Leading Bahrain activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja arrested
Security forces in Bahrain have arrested and beaten one of the country's leading human rights activists, his daughter says.
The activist, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, was seized in the middle of the night and taken away with his two sons-in-law.
It is the latest in a series of violent night-time arrests of opposition activists, say human rights workers.
The Bahraini government accuses them of inciting unrest and trying to divide the Sunni and Shia Muslim communities.
Mr al-Khawaja's daughter says in the very early hours of Saturday morning up to 20 armed and masked policemen broke down the door of their apartment and began attacking her father.
Maryam al-Khawaja says he offered no resistance but that the men beat him unconscious and dragged him downstairs, leaving a trail of blood.
She said the family have no idea where he has been taken, what he is accused of, or how long he will be held.
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Bahrain: Free Prominent Opposition Activist US, EU Should End Silence on Brutal Treatment of Opposition
(Manama) - Bahrain authorities should immediately release prominent opposition and rights activist Abdul Hadi al-Khawaja, or bring him before an independent judge and charge him with a recognizable offense, Human Rights Watch said today.
Human Rights Watch also called on authorities to allow an independent medical doctor immediate and unconditional access to al-Kahawaja, 50, whom witnesses say was badly beaten by riot police when they raided his daughter's home in the predawn hours of April 9, 2011. Al-Khawaja, an opposition and rights activist, has worked for national and international human rights organizations, including the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and Dublin-based Front Line.
"The brutal beating of rights activist Abdul Hadi al-Khawaja by police during a warrantless predawn raid adds cruelty on top of illegality," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "He should be released immediately."
