Bahrain: Free Nabeel Rajab!

Bahrain’s court of appeal should overturn a lower court conviction for illegal assembly against the human rights activist Nabeel Rajab and cancel his three-year prison term, according to a recent Human Rights Watch press release. Because the authorities have presented no evidence that he advocated or participated in violence, his conviction is a violation of his right to freedom of peaceful assembly, Human Rights Watch said. The court was scheduled to hear Rajab’s appeal on October 16, 2012, but the appellate court postponed the hearing and denied a petition filed by Rajab’s lawyer challenging the legality of the laws prohibiting demonstrations. A new hearing has been scheduled for December 11, 2012.

A criminal court sentenced Rajab on August 16 to three years in prison for organizing and participating in three demonstrations between January and March 2012. Rajab is president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and a member of the advisory committee of the Human Rights Watch Middle East and North Africa Division.“The criminal court verdict cites no evidence – not even an allegation– that Nabeel Rajab participated in or advocated violent protests,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “He has the basic right to peaceful assembly and shouldn’t be sent to prison for that.”

The Public Prosecution Office charged Rajab under article 178 of the Penal Code, which prohibits unauthorized gatherings of five or more people in a public place with the “purpose of committing crimes” or “undermining public security, even if intended to achieve legitimate purpose.”

A public prosecution official told Bahraini media that that Rajab had incited violence. The government also posted videos of some protests on YouTube, claiming, “You will find…defendant Nabeel Rajab violating the law.” Those videos appear to confirm that the protests were peaceful and do not capture any incitement to violence by Rajab or otherwise support the allegation made by the public prosecutor.

No such evidence is cited in the court’s verdicts in the three cases. In the case numbered 07291204947, police testified that after they dispersed an “illegal demonstration” on January 12, some people threw stones and Molotov cocktails at “special forces” and blocked the road with metal containers. One officer testified that he saw Rajab leading a march of 10 to 15 people “chanting for the release of political detainees.” But the verdict cites no evidence suggesting that Rajab was involved in the violence that police alleged occurred or that he incited such acts.

In the case numbered 07201203460, according to the verdict, about 15 people including Rajab had organized in a march on an unspecified date in February and that the protesters, except Rajab and three others, dispersed when police ordered them to. Police then arrested Rajab and allegedly found messages on his mobile phone calling “for participation in unlicensed marches, including the march at which he was arrested.” The verdict contains no conclusion that any crime or public security disturbance had occurred and does not cite any evidence for reaching such a conclusion.

The verdict in the case numbered 07201205263 stated that Rajab had called for and participated in an unauthorized gathering of about 50 people on March 31. The court said the protesters did not respond to orders to disperse, but the verdict does not mention any public disturbance, violent activity, or incitement to violence by Rajab or anyone else.

Authorities have previously prosecuted Rajab on politically motivated charges. He was detained from May 5 to May 28 for Twitter remarks criticizing the Interior Ministry for failing to investigate attacks by what Rajab said were pro-government armed gangs against Shia residents. On June 28 a criminal court fined him 300 Bahraini Dinars (US$790) in that case. A court of appeal will review the verdict on November 27.

Authorities again detained Rajab on June 6 for another Twitter remark calling for the prime minister to step down. On July 9 a criminal court convicted and sentenced him to three months in prison. A court of appeal overturned that verdict on August 23, but Rajab remained in prison following the August 16 convictions.

Bahraini authorities have given permits for some opposition rallies over the past year, but a great number of applications for permits have been denied, Human Rights Watch said.

“It is hard to avoid concluding that Nabeel Rajab’s convictions and three-year sentence for illegal assembly represent politically motivated punishment for his insistence on exercising rights that are protected both by international treaties to which Bahrain is a party and Bahrain’s constitution,” Stork said. “The appeals court should vacate the convictions and free him immediately.”

Reprint: Bahrain: Overturn Rights’ Activists Conviction| Human Rights Watch

Related: Woman Hits “Like” on Facebook, Gets Arrested in India -By Shivam Vij | CS Monitor

Nabeel Rajab Arrested After Tweeting About Assange | Russia Today (Video)

Free Bahraini Activists Nabeel Rajab & Zainab Alkhawaja Urge End to U.S.-Backed Crackdown -By Amy Goodman | Democracy Now! (Video)

Take Action For Rajab Nabeel (Amnesty Int’l Campaign)

 

No Mothers Day

Happy Mother’s Day! Every Mother Counts invites mothers to disappear on Mother’s Day to help raise awareness about the hundreds of thousands of women who die each year from complications during pregnancy or childbirth. Share this video to be part of the solution.

 

Tortured Boy Becomes Face of Syrian Uprising –By Dominic Waghorn | Sky News

Hamza al Khatib disappeared during demonstrations on April 29 in the south of the country. His mutilated body was returned to his family a month later. In a gruesome video posted on the internet, apparent medical examiners point to gunshot wounds on his corpse.

They claim to have found bruises on his arms and legs, say his neck has been broken and he has been tortured. They also claim his genitals were mutilated.

The body is partly decomposed.

It is impossible to verify the claims, although the puncture holes in his chest and arms look like gunshot wounds. The Syrian government claims Hamza was killed in a shoot-out between armed gangs and guards, but says that there is no evidence of torture.

In a sense the truth about his death is less important than the impact of the video (Warning: Graphic content).

Hamza has been compared to Mohamed Bouazizi, the vegetable seller whose self-immolation sparked the Tunisian revolution.

His story is also reminiscent of Khaled Said‘s, the Egyptian whose death in police custody began the Facebook campaign that started the revolution there.

Hamza al Khatib, 13, who was tortured and murdered by the government has become the face of the Syrian uprising (Photo: AP).

Syria’s uprising has lasted 12 weeks without a focus or symbol.

Despite unleashing the full force of its military on protestors the regime has been unable to quell the unrest. Large protests are continuing, but neither side has yet gained sufficient momentum to overcome the other.

Reprint: Tortured Boy Becomes Face of Syrian Uprising –By Dominic Waghorn | Sky News

Related: We are all Hamza Alkhateeb (facebook page)

 

How a Young Girl’s Murder Led to a Coca-Cola Boycott –By Liv Buli | Newsweek

Farouk Abdulhaq is wanted for the rape and murder of Martine Vik Magnussen (Illustration by Gluekit).

The night of her murder began with a celebration.

On an early spring evening in 2008, Martine Vik Magnussen, a 23-year-old Norwegian beauty, curled her long, blond hair and accented her blue-green eyes with eye shadow, before heading to the smart London club Maddox with friends to celebrate upcoming holidays and high scores on her latest Regents College exams.

At the club in London’s Mayfair district was her friend Farouk Abdulhaq, the jet-setting son of a Yemeni billionaire, who, friends recalled later, had been feeling pressure from his father to clean up his party-boy image and, on this night, didn’t appear his usual lighthearted self.

Despite Abdulhaq’s peculiar mood, Magnussen left with him when the club closed, police believe. When she didn’t return to her apartment the next day, her friends became concerned. In a Norwegian documentary, they recounted how, reaching out to Abdulhaq over Facebook to see if he knew of her whereabouts, they noticed that he had changed his status around 4 that morning. “Farouk,” it said, “is home alone.” Soon after, Abdulhaq’s profile disappeared, they told the TV crew.

Police say they found Magnussen’s body in the basement of Abdulhaq’s apartment building two days later, partly covered with garbage. One of her earrings had been ripped from her ear, and her face was badly bruised. There was a blood trail from her body up the stairwell to Abdulhaq’s second-floor apartment, which showed signs of a struggle. A neighbor reported hearing strange noises in the middle of the night, and, by 2009, British authorities placed Abdulhaq on Scotland Yard’s Most Wanted list in connection with the rape and murder of Magnussen. They also issued an international warrant for his arrest. But, by then, Abdulhaq had left the country. Investigators found that he had left for Cairo just hours after the murder, flying onward from Egypt to Yemen on his father’s private jet.

Farouk’s father, Shaher Abdulhaq, is one of Yemen’s most powerful businessmen. At the time of the murder, his business empire included a range of luxury hotels and ownership of Yemen’s primary cellular network. He was also the main Mercedes importer and counted a large ownership stake in Coca-Cola bottling and distribution in the Middle East.

Since Yemen holds no extradition agreement with Great Britain, Magnussen’s father, Odd Petter Magnussen, tried diplomatic channels but with little luck. Meetings with the Norwegian foreign ministry and high-level British politicians brought promises but no results. Meanwhile, the Yemeni government offered to try Abdulhaq in country. The nation’s brutal and corrupt legal system, based on Sharia, punishes rape and murder with death; the convict is usually shot in the back of the head while laying face down on the ground, and Magnussen’s father felt that neither that nor the unsolicited offer he got from strangers who suggested they’d fly to Yemen and kill Abdulhaq themselves would offer real justice for his daughter. What he wanted was for Abdulhaq to stand trial in Britain. “It is the only way to honor my daughter’s memory,” he told NEWSWEEK. “It can’t be possible to take a life in one place, get on a bus, and not have to suffer the consequences.”

Excerpt, read: How a Young Girl’s Murder Led to a Coca-Cola Boycott –By Liv Buli | Newsweek

 

White House Host ‘Stop Bullying’ Conference –By Sunlen Miller| ABC News

Yesterday President Obama revealed he was not immune from being bullied as a child,  kicked off a day-long White House conference to prevent bullying at the White House today, declaring that the one goal of the day is to “dispel the myth that bullying is just a harmless rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up.”

“It’s not,” Obama said from the East Room, “it’s not something we have to accept.”

The president said too often people just respond to bulling by saying “kids will be kids” but that is overlooking the real damage that bullying can do to kids. The White House conference today is an attempt to open up a conversation about how to avoid that damage and stop the bullying by gathered students, parents, teachers and members of the community.

The First Couple both approached the issue from a personal standpoint – noting that the issue is of great concern to them not only as the president and first lady but as “a mom and dad.”

Excerpt, read: Obama Convenes Bullying Conference, “It’s Not Something We Have to Accept” –By Sunlen Miller | ABC News

• StopBullying.gov
• Stop Bullying (facebook)
• The Trevor Project
• BULLYing
  

 

National Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Today is the sixth annual National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, a nationwide initiative coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health (OWH) to make more people aware of the increasing impact that this deadly epidemic is having on women and girls in the United States. This is the time when we ask individuals and organizations across the country to bring attention to this epidemic and to take action to prevent the spread of this disease.

Since the beginning of the epidemic, women have been impacted by HIV and AIDS. Over the last two decades, the proportion of estimated AIDS cases diagnosed among women has more than tripled, from 7 percent in 1985 to 25 percent in 2009. Women of color are especially impacted—HIV diagnosis rates for Black women is nearly 20 times the rate for white women. HIV infection is one of the leading causes of death among Black and Latina women age 25-44 years.

Most important, an estimated one in five people living with HIV infection do not know they are infected. An HIV screening should be as routine as a blood pressure screening.   To find HIV testing and other services near you go to AIDS.gov.

Tomorrow, on March 11, people from around the United States will gather at the White House to discuss how to educate women and girls about prevention, about the importance of getting tested, and about how to lead a healthy life despite being infected. They will examine effective strategies not only for prevention, but for showing women and girls how to get the care they need and how they can take action. I hope you’ll come back to www.AIDS.gov for videos from the event and stay tuned to www.Twitter.com/AIDSgov for updates. You can also watch the event live at WhiteHouse.gov/live.

Hundreds of similar events will also take place across the country. To learn more about National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and to see how organizations are joining OWH in taking action, visit WomensHealth.gov. Also, to learn about the White House National HIV/AIDS Strategy and Implementation Plan, visit the ONAP website.

 

Reprint: National Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day: What You Can Do, Take Action  –By Regina Benjamin | Surgeon General, Office of National AIDS Policy

 

China Blocks Access to Linkedin –By Neal Ungerleider| Fast Company

Users in China are reporting that access to LinkedIn has been blocked throughout the country. By all indications, it seems that the popular career networking site has run afoul of the country’s infamous Great Firewall.

According to LinkedIn’s Hani Durzy, the company is aware of a blockage in China and is “currently in the process of investigating the situation further.”

The shutdown follows days of calls for a “Jasmine Revolution” in China, on the model of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. Access to Twitter and Facebook has been blocked throughout China for some time; Chinese internet users seeking to use Twitter have been forced to access the site through difficult-to-use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).

However, Chinese dissidents have another way of accessing Twitter… LinkedIn. Use of LinkedIn, which is fully integrated with Twitter, was by far the easiest way to access Twitter in China. Messages can be easily read and posted through Twitter via LinkedIn.

One Chinese Twitter user who accesses both Twitter and LinkedIn through a proxy posted photos to Twitpic that seem to confirm a Chinese LinkedIn outage.

Adding credence to the LinkedIn-shutdown-to-block-Twitter strategy is the news that the Chinese government has started censoring the name of U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman from search results on the wildly popular homegrown Twitter/Tumblr clones Sina Weibo/QQ Weibo. Weibo means “microblog” in Chinese.

Huntsman faces widespread charges in China of support for the Jasmine Revolution after a citizen journalist spotted him watching a pro-democracy protest from within a crowd this past Sunday. Like any good American abroad, Huntsman was standing outside a McDonald’s.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Chinese dissidents have been disseminating calls to protest and organizing events via LinkedIn. Reuters notes that the LinkedIn outage could hurt the firm’s chances at an IPO:

“If the disruption for LinkedIn is permanent in China, it could hurt the company’s prospects at an IPO as a ban would exclude the company from the world’s largest Internet market–about 450 million users and growing.”

“It certainly would be a negative in terms of the company’s future growth and profitability,” said Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at the University of Florida.

“This is something where investors would take it into account and be willing to pay a little lower price per share.” Luckily for LinkedIn, China’s Internet censors are notoriously fickle: Sites blip on and off the Great Firewall frequently, with no prior warning. Related: Fast Company’s Anya Kamenetz recently interviewed LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman. Read more about the social networking site as part of our Most Innovative Companies of 2011 project.

Reprint: China Blocks Access to Linkedin –By Neal Ungerleider | Fast Company

 

Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution: People Power & Social Media Networks

New and social media was one of the driving forces that kept the protests alive, giving Tunisians an effective way to coordinate/ Photo: Al Jazeera

Contrary to civil unrests in Tunisia during the last few years, the dramatic death of 26 year old university graduate Mohamed Bouazizi sparked off angry protests in many parts of the country and have attracted international media attention thanks to social media networks. The dramatic events have escalated into more riots in Bizerte, Jandouba, Gasserine, Baja, Sfax, Nabeul, Hammamet, and even in the capital Tunis, among other towns and cities.

This emergency situation has compelled the government to say that they will swiftly kick-start development projects, namely in the southern deprived areas of the country.

President Ben Ali initially pledged 5 billion Tunisian dinars for the development of Sidi Bouzid and other towns. He then promised the creation of 300,000 new jobs for the next two years. In another major step, he sacked key ministers from the cabinet in an attempt to calm down his critics and buy time to bring the country back to order.

Faced with even more growing unrest (and in a latest move) the president promised to open up freedom of expression in the media, to free up political life, to bring to justice corrupt politicians and above all free the media and remove all restrictions on the internet.

Yet all these measure came in the eleventh hour. The mounting pressure, which turned into a revolution, has forced the president to flee the country.

The Role of New Media

In light of the dramatic development of events, on a considerable scale, it has become evident that new media have been playing a key role this time around in keeping the momentum going, and bringing the voices of the disengaged Tunisian youth to the attention of world media, and hence to international public opinion.

Mobile phones, blogs, YouTube, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds have become instrumental in mediating the live coverage of protests and speeches, as well as police brutality in dispersing demonstrations.

The internet in this case has assumed the role of a very effective uncensored news agency from which every broadcaster and news corporation have been able to freely source newsfeeds, raw from the scene.

Such developments have proven very significant in changing the rules of the game, of journalism production and dissemination of information in a country where the government historically keeps tight control on the media and where almost no platform is available for opinions critical of the political elite.

Decades of State Media Control

Article 1 of the Press Code in Tunisia provides for “freedom of the press, publishing, printing, distributing and sale of books and publications”. The Tunisian constitution asserts that the “liberties of opinion, expression, the press, publication, assembly, and association are guaranteed and exercised within the conditions defined by the law”.

Yet as early as 1956, with the birth of the first republic under the leadership of President Habib Bourguiba, the ruling government gained control over the press - and later over broadcasting. As a result almost all the media outlets remained propaganda tools in the hands of Bourguiba’s government and ruling party.

Under Ben Ali (who came to power through a coup in 1987) the media and government relationship got even worse. For a short period of time a few independent newspapers appeared, but their existence was short lived.

Television and radio have remained state controlled and primarily serving the ruling government. The Tunisian Radio and Television Establishment (ERTT) is state-run and operates Tunis 7 (satellite channel), and Canal 21 (terrestrial channel). However, the audiovisual landscape witnessed the launch of the first private TV channel (Hannibal TV) headed by Larbi Nasra on February 13, 2005. The channel broadcasts via satellite and terrestrially, and is aimed at expanding the audience’s choice by producing a variety of programs.

Increase of State-Owned Radio Channels

Three ‘independent’ radio stations have also been licensed which include: Radio Mosaique FM, Jawhara FM (caters mainly for youth programs), and Zitouna FM - owned by Mohamed Sakhr Almatri - launched on September 13, 2007 and was dedicated to the recitation of the Quran, the Prophet Mohammad’s life and broadcasting tarawih prayers during Ramadan.

A fundamental role the state TV does is to promote the image of the president as a competent, successful and progressive leader. Almost half of the main evening news program on TV7 or Channel 21 report on the everyday meetings, initiatives and engagements the president takes part in.

The emergence of a couple of ‘independent’ radio and television stations during the last few years has not improved the situation as the scope of freedom of expression remains controlled by the same regimental unwritten rules: No room for opposing opinions; it is a taboo to criticize the president, cabinet ministers, or government corruption; et al.

Civil society organizations, lawyers, academics, and trade unions do not have a platform to express their critical views on state media or ‘independent’ media.

The press has also had a stormy experience with tight censorship measures placed on them during the last few decades. Major newspapers in the country have developed self-censorship rules in order to survive, and they mainly report uncritically on the government policies.

Other international newspapers (Le Monde, Liberation, Le Figaro, Al-Quds Alarabi to name a few) that attempt to expose government corruption, human rights abuses and the country’s democratic deficit get censored.

According to Reporters without Borders, “journalists and human rights activists have been the target of constant bureaucratic harassment, police violence and surveillance by the intelligence services.” The government has direct control on the servers, and “the regime has become almost obsessive about control of news and information”.

Excerpt, read article: Tunisia: A Media Revolution? – By Dr. Noureddine Miladi |AlJazeera

 

Related:  U.N. Chief Calls Urges Efforts to Quell Tunisia Unrest –By Adam Schreck| Washington Post

The Key Players in Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution – By Dan Murphy | Christian Science Monitor

The Scent of Rage –By Anne Applebaum | Washington Post

Tunisia’s Crisis in Picture | MarketWatch Gallery