Bahrain dictatorship’s British spyware, update

This video from the USA is called Finspy Hijacks Activists’ Computers – Are You Being Monitored?

From daily The Guardian in Britain:

UK company’s spyware ‘used against Bahrain activist’, court papers claim

Human rights groups hope email evidence can force review of export controls on surveillance equipment

Jamie Doward

Sunday 12 May 2013

Spy technology from a UK-based company was used to target a British citizen who became a leading light in Bahrain’s Arab spring, according to documents filed in the high court.

The witness statement of Dr Ala’a Shehabi is seen by human rights groups as crucial in their attempt to force the government to examine the export of surveillance equipment.

They want to secure a judicial review of the government’s alleged failure to provide them with information on what action it is taking to establish whether the sale of the technology to repressive regimes is in breach of export-licence controls.

Shehabi, who studed at Imperial College London, and has both Bahraini and British citizenship, is one of the founding members of Bahrain Watch, set up following the country’s security crackdown in February 2011. Her father is the leader of the Bahrain Freedom Movement. Following the crackdown her husband was arrested and jailed having, she claims, been beaten. He was freed last year. Shehabi herself was arrested in April 2012, during the Formula One Grand Prix in Bahrain. She was later released.

According to her witness statement, a few weeks after her arrest Shehabi received a series of emails, the first purportedly from Kahil Marzou who was the deputy head of Bahrain’s main opposition party, including one containing a virus. Other emails that claimed to be from an Al Jazeera journalist were also infected. Research found that the emails contained a product called FinSpy, distributed by a British company, Gamma International.

The witness statement claims that when a person’s computer is infected with FinSpy, “it allows access to emails, social media messaging, and Skype calls, as well as copying the files saved on the hard disk. These products also enable whoever is doing the targeting to commandeer and remotely operate microphones and cameras on computers and mobile phones.”

Shehabi, who has been forced to relocate to Britain, states: “I have real concerns about the Bahrainian regime having effective unfettered access to my computer, reading my emails and monitoring my calls. Not only is this a gross invasion of my privacy, I am concerned that it could put in danger from the Bahraini authorities myself, my family members and other activists.”

Last November, the campaign group Privacy International provided a dossier of evidence against Gamma International to HM Revenue and Customs, urging it to investigate whether there had been any breach of the export control regime.

According to Privacy International, Gamma’s technology has been deployed by secret police in 25 countries, many with a history of human rights abuses. The campaign group warns: “This is part of a growing global trend, where human rights defenders, political dissidents and other vulnerable groups around the world are being targeted by increasingly sophisticated state surveillance.”

Gamma’s managing director in Germany, Martin J Muench, did not respond to requests for comment. …

Shehabi’s witness statement provides vivid testimony of the effects she claims the secret surveillance of her computer system has had on her mental health. “I found it very disturbing that an attempt was being made to spy on me through this medium,” she explains. “It upset me a lot, scared me and made me feel quite paranoid. I am very concerned that it appears that a product of a British company is being exported in breach of export controls to be used to attempt to spy on pro-democracy activists such as myself.”

Eric King, head of research at Privacy International, said the government needed to come clean on whether it was permitting surveillance technology to be exported.

“It is critical we understand what if anything it is doing to hold Gamma to account,” King said.

See also here.

Thousands in Bahrain protest against torture: here. And here.

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Bahrain dictatorship attacks May Day march

This video from Australia is called Bahraini democracy activist addresses Sydney May Day.

From AFP news agency:

Bahrain police break up May Day demo

Most of those sacked during the 2011 protests had been reinstated, but 450 are still unemployed

16:03 May 2, 2013

Dubai: Police in Bahrain fired tear gas on Wednesday to disperse demonstrators demanding the reinstatement of workers sacked from their jobs during pro-democracy protests two years ago, witnesses said.

Dozens of people came out onto the streets in villages around Manama on the occasion of May Day shouting: “We want those people sacked to be reinstated.”

The Wednesday protests were organised by the radical February 14 Revolution Youth Commission through social networking sites.

Union sources said most of the people sacked during the Arab Spring-inspired movement that broke out in February 2011 had been reinstated, but 450 of them are still unemployed.

Bahrain: Amnesty renews call to free jailed teachers’ union chief: here.

UN Torture Expert Denied Visit to Bahrain: What Are They Hiding? Here.

Bahrain’s government seems determined to sabotage its own image. It complains that it’s misunderstood and unfairly criticized, but then continues to make decisions that baffle or enrage its international allies. Foreign criticism of Bahrain’s poor human rights record is increasing: here.

U.S. Seeks Action from Bahrain on Firings of Trade Unionists: here.

From The News in Pakistan:

Controversial sheikh romps to AFC presidency

Friday, May 03, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR: Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa fought back against allegations of human rights abuses on Thursday as he became Asian football’s new leader with a landslide election win.

The royal, who has also denied vote-buying claims, won 33 of the 46 votes to become president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), replacing disgraced ex-leader Mohamed bin Hammam.

Dictatorship and Double Standards: Bahrain Is More Repressive Than Russia, But Reading the Washington Post You’d Never Know That: here.

The decision by Bahrain’s ruling family to ban the Special Rapporteur on Torture from visiting Bahrain has shocked the human rights world to the core. Almost all human rights bodies have condemned the decision and concluded that the Alkhalifa rulers have blood on their hands which they want to hide from the rest of the world: here.

The cancellation of an international medical ethics conference that had been scheduled for April 10-12 in Bahrain is another sign that the country’s rulers continue a systematic pattern of politicizing medical affairs: here.

Bahrain court sentences protesters to 15 years: here.

Britain, undermining press freedom in Bahrain: here.

Britain: UP TO 10,000 workers trade unionists, students and youth were on the London May Day march from Clerkenwell Green to Trafalgar Square on Wednesday: here.

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Kuwait dictatorship’s crackdown on free speech

This video is called BBC Report About Kuwait Stateless (Bedoon).

By Jean Shaoul:

Kuwait cracks down on political dissent

20 April 2013

A Kuwaiti court sentenced the main opposition leader and former legislator Mussallam al-Barrak to five years in prison this week for insulting Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the 83-year-old ruler of Kuwait.

The severity of the sentence, an attempt to silence political dissent, testifies to the extreme fragility of the political situation in [the] oil-rich Gulf state and the determination of its ruling family to hang on to power and wealth at all costs.

Al-Barrak was detained in October for “undermining the status of the Emir” after addressing a mass rally of thousands of protesters outside parliament in Kuwait City, angry at the emir’s plan to change the election law. He said, “We will not allow you, your highness, to take Kuwait into the abyss of autocracy.”

“We no longer fear your prisons and your riot batons,” he added.

The police broke up the demonstration with batons, tear gas and pellet guns. They arrested three former legislators, including al-Barrak, and brought them to court, blindfolded and with their heads shaven. The emir moved swiftly to ban gatherings of 20 or more people without prior permission.

Al-Barrak’s lawyer, Abdullah al-Ahmad, said that he will appeal the decision that “violated the legal procedures and for failing to provide the defence team with sufficient guarantees.”

Since October, more than 35 other people have been charged with insulting the emir, with at least six people, including three former opposition legislators, convicted on the same charge. Although in February, five opposition activists were acquitted of insulting the emir on Twitter, one of them, Rashid al-Enzi, was sentenced to two years in jail in January in a different case.

Last week, Kuwait was reported to be considering a media law that could issue fines of up to £1 million for insulting the ruling family on the Internet and social media.

The government put its special forces on alert and increased police patrols, fearing a protest march after the court ruling.

A recent meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) pledged to support its members against mass revolutionary movements that toppled Tunisia’s Ben Ali and Egypt’s Mubarak, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates pushing Kuwait to crackdown on its Islamist and liberal opponents.

There is rising opposition to the Al-Sabah family’s corrupt and dictatorial rule. The sheikdom has little popular support and is dependent on US backing. Sandwiched between more powerful neighbours, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq, Kuwait is one of Washington’s allies in the oil- and gas-rich region. It is home to several major US military bases and acted as the launching pad for the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Kuwait, along with the other Gulf monarchies, provides the crucial Sunni axis against Shi’ite Iran and its allies: Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iraq’s powerful Shi’ite parties, which the US views as a regional threat. At the same time, the sheikhdom sent troops to Bahrain in 2011 along with the rest of the GCC to crush all protests before they could spread to other Gulf States.

Ostensibly more liberal than the rest of the Gulf states in that it allows political parties, does not enforce a strict Islamic dress code for women, and has a National Assembly, this parliament is entirely cosmetic and subordinate to the Al-Sabah family. The emir appoints the prime minister, a member of his family, and members of the cabinet, who are largely made up of the Al-Sabah family. He has the power to dissolve parliament, which he has done almost every year since taking the throne in 2006, whenever it has sought to challenge his ministers and their corruption.

When in February 2012, new elections resulted in a 70 percent majority for a loose opposition coalition of various Islamist groups, tribal candidates and secular nationalists who threatened to call the interior minister to account for alleged corruption, the Kuwaiti ruler suspended it, apparently at Saudi Arabia’s behest.

He then leant on the constitutional court to dissolve the parliament, which it did in June last year, declaring that the elections had been invalid.

This prompted mass demonstrations calling for parliament’s reinstatement, a constitutional monarchy, a prime minister appointed by parliament, and democracy. While similar calls in the United Arab Emirates resulted in the jailing of several activists for five months in 2011, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah promised fresh elections in December but changed the voting system in order to ensure a more pliable parliament.

The opposition parties and youth activists were infuriated, leading to mass demonstrations last October and November, the largest ever seen in Kuwait, where the ruling family became the focus.

The opposition boycotted the elections. With many Kuwaitis distrustful of both the government and the Islamist groups—some of whom backed the brutal suppression of the Bahraini demonstrations in 2011—just 40 percent of those eligible cast their vote in December last year, down from 60 percent the previous February.

The electorate is a small one. Only 1 million of Kuwait’s 3.3 million residents are citizens. A considerable number of its Arab residents are bidoons, without papers or stateless, despite having lived there for generations, denied access to decent jobs and state benefits. Most are migrant workers from the Arab world and South Asia.

Despite its large oil revenues, Kuwait’s economy has been badly affected by the global financial crisis. According to the International Monetary Fund, growth is expected be just 1.8 percent in 2013, down from 6.6 percent in 2012. At least 20,000 Kuwaiti citizens are unemployed and the number is increasing every year, with young graduates particularly badly affected.

The Al-Sabah family, like its counterparts in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, is trying to weaken support for the opposition by blaming Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood for fomenting strife through its sister party in Kuwait and seeking to overthrow the regime.

Washington, keenly aware of the rotten foundations upon which its allies sit, has along with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called on Kuwait to respect freedom of expression. It fears that by cracking down on all dissent, the venal mafia that rules the tiny oil state will fuel the opposition it seeks to quell.

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Yemen dictatorship supporters dismissed

This video says about itself:

Yemen Opposition Calls for Massive Campaign to Oust Dictator

Sep 7, 2011

Walid Al-Saqaf: Opposition has united with students to intensify campaign to overthrow President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Protesters pack up camps after victory

Friday 19 April 2013

by Our Foreign Desk

Traffic returned to city centres across Yemen for the first time in more than two years today as activists decided to call time on their protest camps.

Tens of thousands of Yemenis took to the streets on the day Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak resigned in February 2011, calling for their own President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.

Mr Saleh agreed to give up his 33-year grip on power in November 2011 following daily protest marches and rallies across numerous cities in Yemen.

His vice-president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was elected unopposed the following February.

Protesters stayed in their their camps, dubbed Freedom and Change Squares, calling on Mr Hadi to push for full-scale reforms and purge the state of Mr Saleh’s relatives and supporters.

They held a “Friday of Victory” rally last week following a shake-up of the military that removed Saleh loyalists from key positions.

The Organisational Committee of the Popular Youth Revolution and Youth Groups announced the dismantling of the camps on Thursday.

Committee member Habib al-Ariqi said the groups would commit themselves to “revolutionary oversight” of the National Dialogue – a six-month series of talks involving most sections of Yemeni society aimed at redrawing Yemen’s political map. But he warned that the option to return to the squares was “open.”

Nobel peace prize-winning “mother of the revolution” Tawakol Karman said protests were starting a new phase.

“We declare that we toppled the rule of the family forever and we have a new revolution to cleanse the state from corruption,” she said.

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Bahrain dictatorship censors British journalists

This video says about itself:

March 25, 2013

Maryam al-Khawaja the acting president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights gives Tunisia Live an update on both her father Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and her sister Zainab that started hunger strikes on Sunday 03/17/2013. She also talks about the human rights campaigner Nabeel Rajab, jailed for three years and the current situation in Bahrain.

Even the London Times, owned by Rupert Murdoch, a crony of the Bahraini absolute monarchy, today is unable to bring regime-friendly news from the Gulf kingdom.

The paper writes:

ITV news crew thrown out of Bahrain for reporting on protests

The British TV crew was expelled by the Bahrain dictatorship for reporting news about pro-democracy protests. Police gave them the choice between going to prison or being expelled.

Daily The Guardian has more about this.

Demonstrators seeking to highlight pro-reform demands skirmish with security forces ahead of Formula One car race: here. And here.

Should it matter that two years later, despite ongoing, grave and widespread human rights violations, the Formula One is returning to Bahrain? Here.

Anonymous Briefly Takes Down Bahrain Grand Prix Website: here.

For the second successive year the Bahrain Grand Prix took place against a backdrop of simmering political unrest as confrontations erupted between police and anti-government protesters in the capital Manama, while hundreds of spectators failed to reach Sakhir in time for the race due to a heightened security presence around the circuit: here.

The Bahrain Grand Prix, which ended yesterday, is fast becoming one of the most contentious sporting events in the world. Pro-democracy and human rights activists utilise the F1 as a platform to draw attention to the plight of many Bahrainis who have suffered severe human rights abuses at the hands of a government who have yet to demonstrate any tangible commitment to reform and accountability: here.

Bahrain activist Nabeel Rajab ‘denied medical treatment’: here.

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Bahrain dictatorship’s police violence

This video is called Bahrain riot police fire tear gas, arrest protesters ahead of F1 race.

See also here.

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Bahrain absolute monarchy’s tear gas Grand Prix

This video says about itself:

Why boycott F1 in Bahrain? Watch what is used against children and people of Bahrain every day. By going to F1 you are giving the government more money to buy these. Don’t be responsible for the death of children and youth, boycott F1.

From daily The Independent in Britain:

F1: Tear gas used to quell Bahrain Grand Prix protests

Government accused of rounding up troublemakers ahead of lucrative Grand Prix

Loveday Morris

Wednesday 17 April 2013

Security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters at a secondary school in Bahrain as calls grew for this weekend’s Formula One race to be called off due to escalating violence.

The skirmishes came after the arrest of a student at the boys’ school, amid accusations that the government is arbitrarily arresting potential troublemakers ahead of the Grand Prix. …

Authorities have doubled efforts in recent weeks to quell unrest that has blighted the country for the past two years, since protesters, largely from the country’s Shia majority, took to the streets complaining of widespread discrimination under the country’s Sunni monarchy.

Bernie Ecclestone, the head of Formula One – the coffers of which are boosted by $40m (£26m) in hosting fees from Bahrain – has so far resisted calls to call off the race. He likened the demonstrators to those protesting Baroness Thatcher’s funeral, saying “people use these things when there is an opportunity”. …

… The hacktivist group Anonymous also issued a threat to wreck Mr Ecclestone’s “little party”, calling on him to “cancel your blood race now”.

… On Monday, police arrested a 17-year-old student, Hassan Humidan, at the school.

Human Rights Watch earlier this week accused the government of arresting scores of young men in a series of dawn raids since the beginning of the month. Amnesty International also condemned the decision by the Bahraini government to amend the penal code to enable it to jail for up to five years anyone found guilty of insulting King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah or other national symbols. “Increasing the punishment for criticism of Bahrain’s King is a further attempt to muzzle activists ahead of the upcoming Grand Prix,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy Middle East and North Africa programme director at Amnesty.

A group of 20 British MPs have joined the opposition in calling for the race to be cancelled. “I think most democratic-minded people would be appalled if you allowed the Bahrain leg of the Formula One championship to go ahead amidst the most atrocious human rights violations,” the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Bahrain wrote in a letter to the F1 boss.

…

“They don’t reflect the street,” said Sayed Ahmed a Bahraini activist now residing in the UK after being injured at protests during the Formula One last year and imprisoned and tortured in 2011. “The street are clear, they don’t want a race on their blood. The security being used is enormous – it’s simply martial law which has not been announced.”

A SCOTTISH MP is leading calls for a boycott of Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix: here.

Tensions are resurfacing in the prelude to Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix amid accusations that government authorities are attempting to round up activists near the Sakhir circuit in an attempt to silence dissent around the race: here.

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Bahrain monarchy jails its critics

This video says about itself:

March 26, 2013

Human Rights First sat down with Maryam Alkhawaja, acting president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, when we honored the center with our Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award.

From Associated Press:

Bahrain backs 5-year jail sentences for insults to king

Monday, April 15, 9:48 AM

MANAMA, Bahrain — Bahrain’s government has backed proposals to impose penalties of up five years in prison for insulting the Gulf state’s king or its national symbols, the media said Monday. It’s the latest move across the region against dissent on the streets and online.

Gulf leaders have sharply escalated efforts to muzzle criticism since the Arab Spring uprisings, which include more than two years of clashes between Sunni-led authorities and majority Shiites seeking a greater political voice.

Bahrain’s Cabinet approved proposals to impose jail terms up to five years and fines of 10,000 dinars ($26,500) for defaming the king or Bahrain’s flag or coat of arms. It’s unclear how widely the new laws could be applied, but anti-government protests often include chants against the king in the strategic island nation, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

Last week, Kuwait announced a new media law that could bring fines of about $1 million for insulting the emir. Dozens of people across the Gulf have been arrested for social media posts considered offensive to rulers.

…

More than 60 people have been killed in Bahrain’s unrest. Some rights groups place the death toll higher.

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Bahrain dictatorship attacks woman

This video says about itself:

Bahrain Police Attack on Woman Stirs Anger

Apr 12, 2013

Outrage over the brutal arrest of a female activist in Bahrain.

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

Probe sought into OFW’s death in PH embassy shelter

By Tina G. Santos

6:11 pm | Saturday, April 13th, 2013

MANILA, Philippines – A migrant workers’ group called on the government Saturday to look into the mysterious death of an overseas Filipino worker temporarily housed in a shelter managed by the Philippine Embassy in Bahrain.

John Leonard Monterona, Migrante Middle East regional coordinator, reported that 31-year-old Kathleen Ann Viray Ilagan from Davao was found dead Wednesday inside the Philippine Embassy shelter.

In a statement, Monterona said he received an electronic mail from a former staff member of the Center for Overseas Workers, a Davao-based nongovernmental organization providing assistance to OFWs and their families, seeking assistance on behalf of the family of Ilagan to look into her death.

Ilagan reportedly left the country sometime in July 2012 to work as pastry chef for a company in Bahrain.

According to her family, her deployment documents show that she was deployed by HRD Employment Consultant and Multi Services Inc., a Manila-based agency, Monterona added.

Quoting Ilagan’s kin, Monterona said the OFW left her job earlier this month and proceeded to the Philippine Embassy to seek repatriation. She was allowed to stay at the Philippine Embassy’s shelter while waiting for her departure.

The Bahrain Grand Prix continues to provoke mixed emotions among various sections of the F1 fraternity: here.

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Bahrain dictatorship’s tear gas Grand Prix

This video says about itself:

Oct 1, 2011

Abdulrazzaq Al-Saiedi, a senior researcher with Physicians for Human Rights in Boston, speaks to Al Jazeera about the conviction of Bahraini medical professionals for “anti-government crimes”.

From AFP news agency:

Friday April 12, 2013

Bahrain police tear-gas Formula One protesters

DUBAI: Bahraini police fired tear-gas and sound bombs to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who gathered outside the capital to protest against this month’s Formula One Grand Prix, witnesses said on Friday.

Thursday night’s demonstration in the village of Khamis, close to Manama, came as a report by Human Rights Watch that police have been rounding up pro-democracy activists in a bid to head off protests, stoked renewed controversy over the Gulf state’s hosting of the April 19-21 event.

“Your race is a crime,” the protesters chanted in reference to motor racing bosses who have insisted on keeping the Bahrain Grand Prix on the Formula One calendar, witnesses said.

“Down with Hamad,” they shouted in reference to the king, who heads a Sunni minority regime in the Shiite majority island state.

“The people want the fall of the regime,” the demonstrators chanted, rallying cry of the Arab Spring revolts that rocked the region in 2011.

…

Bahrain was rocked by month-long pro-democracy protests led by the kingdom’s Shiite majority in early 2011 that were crushed with the help of Saudi-led troops.

Protests have continued in Shiite villages outside the capital. Human rights groups say a total of 80 people have been killed since February 2011.

Last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix went ahead against an ugly backdrop as police responded to protesters … by using tear gas, sound bombs and birdshot.

Former world champion Damon Hill has called on FIA president Jean Todt to take an ethical stance on the controversial event.

“I think Jean’s approach is say nothing because otherwise you are being political,” said Hill, who won the world title in 1996.

“I think that is a mistake because actually he is being political because he’s being used, or the sport is perceived as being used, by its engagement in the economy and the reputation of the country.”

A two-day conference at the University of Bahrain in the capital Manama last week was intended to show the United States and the region that the Bahraini government is making progress toward democratic governance and addressing the grievances of the country’s majority Shiite population. But the discussions were less than convincing because there was no empirical data or other direct evidence to support the participants’ claims: here.

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