Schoolgirls targeted in Bahrain raids

[Turborama]

Source: Al Jazeera English

In the first of five exclusive reports, Al Jazeera unearths evidence that sheds light on kingdom's brutal crackdown.
Last Modified: May 11 2011 10:06

Secret filming conducted by Al Jazeera has revealed shocking evidence of the brutal crackdown against anti-democracy protesters in the Gulf state of Bahrain.

An undercover investigation conducted by Al Jazeera's correspondent, Charles Stratford, has unearthed evidence that Bahraini police carried out periodic raids on girls' schools since the unrest began.

=snip=

In an interview "Heba", a 16-year-old schoolgirl, alleges she, along with three of her school friends, were taken away by the police from their school and subjected to severe beatings while in custody for three consecutive days. "He hit me on the head, I started bleeding. I fell down, he told them (guards) to keep me in the rest-room," she said during the secretly filmed interview.

According to the mainly Shia opposition Al Wefaq party, police have raided up to 15 mainly girls schools, detaining, beating and threatening to rape girls as young as 12.

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/05/20115118146679800.html

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The video can be watched at the link above.

Go here for more of AJE's Bahrain coverage: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/bahrain/

[rfranklin]

1. Isn't Bahrain one of our "allies?"

Good to see that we're spreading democracy.

[madrchsod]

2. the 5th fleet is based there

our mercenary navy has to protect the precious juice for the oil companies.

[Javaman]

3. Oh we spread more than that...

the Saudi's have been supporting the royal house in Bahrain with F-16's. F-16's we sold the Saudi's.

See, it's like this. If we help the protesters in Bahrain, the Saudi's will be very angry with us and either raise the price of their oil or cut it off in some manner.

Because, there have been protests in Saudi land as well, but unless you read or listen to Al Jazera, you would never know.

It's okay for those nations outside the immediate sphere of Saudi influence to protest, but forget about it if it happens in their own back yard let alone their own nation.

Some protests are more equal than others.

So why again was NATO helping the Libyan rebels? Oil fields in the eastern part of the country need to be protected for Europe. Who currently is holding the eastern part of Libya? The rebels. If the shoe was on the other foot, NATO would be bombing the rebels and claiming Qaddafi was the rightful ruler.

It's all a game.

[Jefferson23]

4. Bahrain topples its own people by Pepe Escobar

May 11, 2011

March 14, 2011, will go down in history as the infamous day when the House of Saud launched - with full United States backing - a vicious counter-revolution designed to smash the Gulf chapter of the great 2011 Arab revolt. (See Exposed: The US/Saudi Libya deal Asia Times Online, April 2, 2011).

This is the day Saudi troops - with a token few from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - invaded Bahrain, theoretically at the request of the ruling Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty, to "help" in the crackdown on nationwide pro-democracy protests.

The word in Riyadh is that Saudi King Abdullah anyway is not running the (nasty) House of Saud show these days. That's essentially a Prince Nayef operation now. The sinister Nayef, 77, Abdullah's half-brother, is Saudi Arabia's second deputy prime minister - apart from having being minister of interior for no less than 36 years. The first deputy prime minister - and anointed successor to the throne - is Crown Prince Sultan, an octogenarian who has been defense minister for 48 years.

If Sultan were to die and Abdullah immediately follow him - a clear possibility - Nayef the inquisitor-in-chief, with a stellar curriculum vitae of throwing any dissenters to rot in jail, censoring the press and regarding the rights of women and the Shi'ite minority as non-existent, would be the next Saudi king. That only goes to show that the House of Saud counter-revolution has not even started.

Break their skulls, no one is watching

Meanwhile, in Bahrain, state news agency BNA has announced, "The state of national safety is lifted across the kingdom of Bahrain from June 1, 2011." That's a decree by King Hamad al-Khalifa, who proves to be, in spite of himself, an admirer of English author George Orwell, as he characterizes a state of emergency as "a state of national safety".

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ME11Ak01.html

[hootinholler]

5. "crackdown against anti-democracy protesters"

Is that a typo? I thought they wanted democracy?

-Hoot

[Turborama]

7. It must have been, they've corrected it now...

"Secret filming conducted by Al Jazeera has revealed shocking evidence of the brutal crackdown against pro-democracy protesters in the Gulf state of Bahrain."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/05/20115118146679800.html

[pinboy3niner]

6. Bahrain: Oil co. sacks nearly 300 workers for taking part in pro-democracy protest

A Bahraini oil company has sacked almost 300 employees for taking part in pro-democracy protest, the kingdom's energy minister has revealed, AP reports.

Abdulhussain bin Ali Mirza, who also serves as the chief executive of the state-owned Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), said that 293 employees have been dismissed since the king declared martial law on March 15 to quell weeks of demonstrations.


Fifty employees were also suspended pending investigations by authorities, and 11 board members of the workers union were referred to the general prosecutor, Mirza told parliament yesterday.

There is no word of sackings on Bapco's website. It's most recent news release concerns its sponsorship of a scholarship scheme to British universities.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/may/11/syria-libya-middle-east-unrest-live#block-10

:hi: