Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Bahrain
Newsline: Bahrain jails six for plotting attack on Saudi Embassy
Six Bahrainis have been jailed for 15 years each for being part of an Iran-backed terrorist cell planning attacks in Bahrain. They were also convicted of seeking to overthrow the government, suspend the Constitution and encroach on individual freedoms and rights by High Criminal Court. It is believed they planned attacks on targets in Bahrain, including King Fahad Causeway, the Saudi Embassy and the Interior Ministry. Three of them are still at large and were sentenced in absentia, including alleged masterminds. The convicted men, who confessed to the charges during initial questioning, caused chaos in court after the judge read out the verdict, shouting political slogans and police were forced to escort them out of the courtroom. Defence lawyers earlier requested judges to throw out the case, arguing it was unconstitutional as the country’s law is unclear with regard to terror cases. Four of the defendants are said to have been arrested in Qatar before being handed over to Bahrain’s security services, while the fifth was later arrested in Bahrain. They were reportedly on their way to Iran to receive training in explosives and firearms. A senior policeman earlier stated phone records were available showing the men had communicated with the head of the Iran-backed terror cell based in the UK.
http://www.tradearabia.com/news/LAW_218114.html
Newsline: 2 held in protest vigil at Bahrain embassy in London
British police arrested two activists who had occupied the rooftop of Bahrain’s Embassy in a protest against the Gulf kingdom’s Sunni rulers. The two men draped over the building a banner bearing pictures of hunger striking human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and senior Shiite opposition leader Hassan Mushaima, both of whom were sentenced to life in prison in Bahrain for their role in last year’s revolt by the country’s Shiite majority that has long demanded more political freedoms and opportunities equal to those of the ruling Sunni minority. The BBC and Britain’s The Independent newspaper both identified one of the protesters as Mushaima’s son, Ali. The BBC said the other man is 30-year-old Moosa Satrawi. British police would not identify the demonstrators or say whether they are from Bahrain. “Our demand is for my father and al-Khawaja to be freed,” The Independent quoted the younger Mushaima as saying in a telephone interview. “The rulers of Bahrain are dictators.” The two men, who had scaled the building Monday and threatened to jump off its roof, were taken into custody after they surrendered and were not immediately charged, said London’s Metropolitan Police. Earlier, Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry urged Britain to protect its embassy and take legal action against the protesters. Bahrain is in the grips of a 14-month Shiite uprising against its Sunni rulers. The unrest could complicate efforts by Formula One to hold the Bahrain Grand Prix in four days.
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/uk-2-held-in-1419528.html
Newsline: Bahrain urges Britain to protect kingdom’s embassy
Bahrain’s foreign ministry has urged Britain to protect its embassy in London as a rooftop protest against the Gulf kingdom’s Sunni rulers stretched into its second day. Scotland Yard said that the two activists who climbed to the top of the Bahraini embassy remained on the building Tuesday, a chilly, rainy day in the British capital. Bahrain’s foreign ministry called on Britain to provide the “necessary protection for the embassy premises and its diplomats,” urging it to take legal action against the two protesters.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/04/17/bahrain-urges-britain-to-protect-kingdom-embassy573398/
Newsline: Bahraini Embassy roof protester threatened to jump
A protester who has climbed on to the roof of the Bahraini Embassy in central London threatened to jump. Moosa Satrawi is highlighting the imprisonment and treatment of prominent human rights activist, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and Hasan Mushaima, the leader of a banned political party in Bahrain. Mr Mushaima’s son, Ali Mushaima, was also on the roof. The Metropolitan police said officers were at the embassy in Belgrave Square, which has been closed. The embassy said the situation was handled by the police.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17734116
Newsline: Two Bahrainis on hunger strike stage sit-in outside US Embassy in London
Ali Mushaima and Musa Abd Ali have been sitting outside the American mission since Tuesday, nearly a week after they began their hunger strike to urge the Manama regime to release political prisoners. The two men also protested against Washington’s complicity in the brutal Manama crackdown on protests as well as US support for the Saudi invasion of their country. They also expressed solidarity with top Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja who has refused to eat for more than two months to protest against the life in prison sentence given to him by Manama last year. According to reports coming from London, since UK police prevented the two from bringing equipment such as a tent, chairs and sleeping bags to spend the night in the area, Abd Ali fainted and moved to hospital on Friday after spending two nights in harsh temperatures. Ali Mushaima, who is son of jailed Bahraini opposition leader Hassan Mushaima, is still outside the US Embassy holding a banner announcing his open-ended hunger strike. Ali will also face 15 years in prison if he returns to Bahrain.
http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&Id=308403
Newsline: GCC members to close embassies in Damascus
All the six member countries of the Gulf Council Cooperation (GCC) will shut down their embassies in Syria, GCC chief said on Friday. The GCC countries are taking the step because the Syrian government “chose the military means and rejected all initiatives for resolving the crisis in the country,” said Abdul Latif al-Zayani, secretary general of the GCC. The GCC groups Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. In February, the GCC members decided to withdraw their ambassadors in Syria and demand that Syrian ambassadors in the Gulf countries leave.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/16/c_131470792.htm
Newsline: Bahrain shuts embassy in Syria, withdraws diplomats
Bahrain has decided to shut down its embassy in Damascus and to withdraw all diplomats and staff because of worsening security conditions there, the foreign ministry said on Thursday in a statement quoted by state news agency BNA. The foreign ministry also called upon Bahraini nationals in Syria to be cautious and to leave the country immediately, BNA reported. The move came one day after Saudi Arabia and Italy closed their missions.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/36865/World/Region/Bahrain-shuts-embassy-in-Syria,-withdraws-diplomat.aspx
Newsline: US shifts embassy staff to avoid Bahrain clashes
The U.S. State Department says it is moving American Embassy employees to safer locations in Bahrain after ongoing political unrest elevated security worries in the strategic Gulf kingdom. The statement issued late Monday says frequent clashes along a main highway in Manama have forced people to remain indoors and have disrupted travel. It says embassy staff and their families are being shifted to other neighborhoods to avoid the violence, which often includes tear gas and stun grenades from security forces.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/us-shifts-embassy-staff-to-avoid-bahrain-clashes/2012/01/24/gIQAZecZMQ_story.html
Newsline: Blast near British embassy in Bahrain
A small explosion took place in a bus parked near the British embassy in the Bahraini capital today, without causing casualties, the interior ministry said in the Gulf state swept by unrest earlier this year. “A blast from the front part of a bus parked near the British embassy in Ras Rumman,” the diplomatic district ofManama, the ministry tweeted. Five other cars parked in the area were also damaged but there were no casualties, a ministry spokesman said. “Security services are present in the area to take the needed legal measures,” he said, adding security was boosted around embassies. In London, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said British authorities were in contact with the interior ministry in Bahrain. “We are aware of a small blast in a vehicle near the British embassy,” she told AFP. “Police and fire service attended the scene. There were no casualties or damage to the embassy. She declined to speculate on the cause of the blast. “We are liaising with the ministry of interior,” she said.
Newsline: Kuwait, Saudi recalls Syria ambassador, criticizes violence
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad pressed on with a tank onslaught against a city, but was plunged deeper into international isolation by Arab neighbours who denounced his violent crackdown and recalled their envoys from Damascus. Assad’s five-month campaign against opponents has emerged as one of the bloodiest episodes of the wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world this year. Violence has worsened sharply in the past week after Assad ordered tank assaults on two cities. Other Arab leaders had been cautious about criticizing one of their peers, but Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah broke the silence with a rare intervention overnight, demanding an end to the bloodshed and recalling the Saudi ambassador from Damascus. Hours later Kuwait and Bahrain recalled their envoys too. Syrian tanks and troops poured into the eastern Sunni city of Deir al-Zor in the latest stage of a campaign to crush centres of protest against 41 years of repressive rule by the Assad family and domination by his Alawite minority community. Later on Monday Assad fired defence minister Ali Habib and replaced him with chief of staff General Daoud Rajha. The state news agency said Habib was ill. Habib had been added to an EU sanctions list last week for his role in crushing protests. The sudden withdrawal of ambassadors of Gulf Arab states leaves Assad with few diplomatic friends. Western states have imposed sanctions on top Syrian officials and countries with close ties to Damascus such as Russia and Turkey had warned Assad he was running out of time. Nevertheless, countries have not proposed military action like that ranged againstLibya’s leader Moammar Gadhafi. The Saudi criticism was the sharpest the oil giant has directed against any fellow Arab state since pro-democracy uprisings began to sweep across the region in January, toppling autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt, kindling civil war inLibyaand rattling entrenched elites throughout the region. “What is happening inSyriais not acceptable forSaudi Arabia,” Abdullah said in a written statement read out on Al Arabiya satellite television. “Syria should think wisely before it’s too late and issue and enact reforms that are not merely promises but actual reforms,” said the Saudi king, an absolute ruler whose country has no elected parliament. “Either it chooses wisdom on its own or it will be pulled down into the depths of turmoil and loss.”
