Bahraini human rights violated again

This video says about itself:

SISMEC Presents: Mariwan Hama and Human Rights in Bahrain

Mar 28, 2013

“Reporting on Repressive Regimes in Gulf Countries”

Mariwan Hama shares his experience investigating human rights abuses in the Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, touching on the nation’s security complex, geopolitical context, changing ethnic configuration, and current political events. Hama spent five days earlier in the year visiting Bahrain for HRW, documenting the ongoing struggle for democracy in a repressive regime successfully tempering their Arab Spring.

From the Bahrain Freedom Movement:

Urgent Appeal: Bahrain – Prominent Human Rights Defender Nabeel Rajab Reportedly Missing

17/05/2013 – 4:57 p

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) and the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) express grave concern over the news of the removal of Nabeel Rajab from his cell to an unknown location.

Nabeel Rajab called his wife on 14 May 2013, telling her that he had witnessed the torture of young political prisoners at the hands of prison guards at Jaw prison. He raised his voice telling them to stop, and when they realized that he had witnessed what was happening, they quickly left. Nabeel Rajab asked his wife to request that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visit him in prison so he can give them his testimony of what he had witnessed. Rajab’s wife received a phone call that evening informing her that Nabeel was reportedly removed from his cell that night by prison guards and was not returned.

Bahrain must release five Twitter users jailed for allegedly insulting the King: here.

Also from the Bahrain Freedom Movement:

Bahrain: Alkhalifa revenge after dictator’s Ascot humiliation

17/05/2013 – 12:00 p

erious escalation of state-terrorism has been reported in the last few days following the debacle of Bahrain’s dictator at the Ascot race course in London on Saturday 11th May. Many people have been arrested; most of them subjected to severe torture on the spots where they were detained.

Harsh prison sentences have been passed against scores of Bahrainis. At least five people have been imprisoned for anti-regime tweets. Use of chemical gases has also been intensified, and many casualties reported in various parts of the country.

This escalation came in the wake of one of the most serious peaceful incidents in recent months. A young former prisoner Bahrainni youth, Sayyed Ahmad Al Wada’ei, managed to reach the grand stand at Ascot race course and raise slogans against the dictator, next to the Queen [of England]. He was carrying a Bahraini flag and a banner calling Hamad a dictator and murder. He was filmed as he rushed towards Bahrain’s dictator, Hamad bin Isa Alkhalifa who was watching the race alongside the Queen.

Police and body guards rushed towards the youth and arrested him. He was later released and asked to report to them again at a later date. Mr Al Wada’ei is a victim of the Alkhalifa hereditary dictatorship. In 2011 he was arrested, injured and tortured when Alkhalifa police and troops attacked the Pearl Roundabout killing people. His appearance at the “Shouting in the Dark” documentary showed him bleeding heavily after being struck by the Alkahlifa police and soldiers.

After the Ascot fracas, Bahrain’s dictator announced that he had naturalized 240 British citizens out of 9000 UK nationals residing in the country. This decision is seen as a bribe meant to solicit support to defeat the people’s revolution. He also said that the British should have remained in the Gulf and should not have withdrawn their forces in 1971. Who asked you to leave? He said.

The day before he had opened the newly-renamed Mons Hall at Sandhurst Military Academy. He had paid 3 million pounds for its refurbishment and re-named in his name. A great controversy has erupted within the British military circles surrounding this change. Media and political analysts have argued against it saying that a historic piece of military heritage honouring those who had sacrificed themselves in the First World War must not be dishonoured in this way. A dictator like Hamad whose people have continued their calls for his removal is not worthy of having his name attached to Mons Hall.

Repression in Bahrain has, meanwhile, continued unabated. Collective punishment has intensified as the people continued their struggle to achieve a democratic transition. Scores of people have been arrested and tortured. At least five Bahrainis have been sentenced to jail terms of one year each after being indicted for tweeting anti-regime slogans. Lawyer Mahdi Al Basri (25) was arrested on 11th March following a police raid on his home in Karrana. Four other men, Mahmood Abudl Majeed Abdulla Al Jamri (34), Hassan Abd Ali Issa (33), Mohsen Abd Ali Issa (26) and Ammar Makki Mohammad Al Aali (36) were arrested at dawn on 12th March. Yesterday Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action saying they may be “prisoners of conscience”. All five were sentenced under Article 214 of Alkhalifa penal code which criminalises “offending the emir of the country”. Last month more than 300 people were arrested as the Alkhalifa crackdown continued following the appointment of the crown prince to the post of deputy prime minister.

Yesterday the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that Bahrain urgently needs to reform its economy to stop its debt burden becoming unsustainable. “Overall fiscal deficits are projected to widen and public debt is estimated to continue on a rising path that could become unsustainable, reaching 61 percent of GDP as early as 2018”, it said in the report.

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English criminals’ horsemeat sold as Dutch ‘beef’

This video is called IKEA detected horsemeat in European meatballs.

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

“Selten horse meat from England”

Wednesday, May 15, 2013, 18:41

A criminal gang from England and Ireland delivered thousands of horses, mostly from Ireland, to meat processor Willy Selten in Oss. These were then mixed with beef, EenVandaag reports. The news show says so, basing itself on information from “British insiders”.

The meat was then sold as a hundred percent beef in the stores. Initially it was thought that horses came from Polish and Romanian slaughterhouses.

The kingpin in the scandal, according to these sources, is one of the most notorious English slaughterhouses: Red Lion in Cheshire, which is now closed. Hence, trucks transported the carcasses of horses, which were often unsuitable for consumption, to Oss. The route is said to have been recorded with GPS transmitters, mounted on trucks. It is not clear who did this.

The British and Irish authorities knew earlier than previously known about the criminal activities of the slaughterhouse, says the news show. Last year someone was arrested and convicted because he had ordered slaughter of horses which should not have been butchered, at Red Lion.

The animals had been administered the drug phenylbutazone, a substance which is dangerous to people. It can cause bone marrow cancer. Phenylbutazone residues, according to EenVandaag, have been found in several European countries in Willy Selten’s meat.

Research in the Netherlands has shown that more than a thousand restaurants, shops and butchers have sold meat from the meat processor in Oss. The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, because of this, recalled 50 million kilogram of Selten’s meat.

Eventually, 1.5 million kilogram was actually traced. MEP Esther de Lange of the CDA party concludes from this that the rest, 48.5 million, was consumed.

Related articles

• Dutch horse meat scandal update (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Horsemeat scandal’s prime suspect revealed: Is this the tycoon who butchered the meat trade? (mirror.co.uk)
• New horsemeat scandal in the Netherlands (bigpondnews.com)
• You: UK abattoir linked to Dutch distributor investigated over horsemeat scandal (guardian.co.uk)
• Dutch recall 50,000 tonnes of meat (bbc.co.uk)
• Horsemeat Scare: 50,000 Tons Of ‘Beef’ Recall (news.sky.com)
• Taco Bell, Burger King & Other Brands Using Horse Meat in Products (occupycorporatism.com)
• Dutch horsemeat sold as beef for two years (thelocal.de)
• Dutch horse meat scandal update (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)

Dutch horse meat scandal update

This is a Dutch TV video on horse meat and rotting meat scandals at the Willy Selten meat processing plant in the Netherlands.

From DutchNews.nl:

900 restaurants supplied with potentially horse-contaminated beef

Tuesday 14 May 2013

More than 1,000 restaurants, shops and butchers in the Netherlands sold beef potentially mixed with horse from the Selten meat wholesaler company, Nos television reports on Tuesday.

Quoting food safety inspectors figures, the broadcaster says over 900 restaurants were supplied meat that may have been contaminated.

In April, the food safety body NVWA recalled 50 million kilos of meat traded by Selten because its origins were unclear. The meat was sold all over Europe between January 2011 and February 15 this year.

Eaten

Most of the meat delivered to the hospitality industry has probably been ‘served and eaten’, a spokesman told the broadcaster.

In total, 132 meat processing firms were supplied beef by Selten. Four of them have been fined for failing to cooperate with the investigation and one has had a written warning.

Ministers will report back on the recall at the end of this month.

The NVWA refuses to publish the names of the businesses to which Selten sold the meat.

Related articles

• New horsemeat scandal in the Netherlands (bigpondnews.com)
• Dutch horse meat scandal update (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Horsemeat scandal’s prime suspect revealed: Is this the tycoon who butchered the meat trade? (mirror.co.uk)
• 50,000 tonnes of beef may contain horse: Netherlands (dailystar.com.lb)
• You: UK abattoir linked to Dutch distributor investigated over horsemeat scandal (guardian.co.uk)
• Netherlands says 50,000 tonnes of beef may contain horse (thenewstribe.com)
• Dutch recall 50,000 tons of meat across Europe (newsobserver.com)
• Dutch recall 50,000 tonnes of meat (bbc.co.uk)

Grevy’s zebra baby born

Translated from Dutch news agency ANP:

Zebra born in Artis

08/05/13, 12:13

Amsterdam‘s Artis Zoo has a new Grevy’s zebra. The young zebra was born on Saturday on the savannah in the metropolitan zoo.

The newborn foal is a filly. Zebras have a gestation period of about 13 months. The young during the first days will only recognize her mother by her scent and sound. Later she will also recognize her mother’s stripe pattern.

It is the third Grevy’s zebra foal born this year in Artis. This zebra species from Kenya and Ethiopia is threatened with extinction; therefore there is a European breeding program to prevent extinction.

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Horse meat scandal update

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Horse meat fraud man fined £42,000

NETHERLANDS: An appeals court upheld the conviction today of a man who sold horse meat labelled as Halal beef to French traders.

Jan Fasen was convicted in 2012 for buying horse meat from Brazil and Mexico and claiming it was beef slaughtered according to Muslim dietary law.

He had been handed nine months in prison, reduced on appeal to a six-month suspended sentence and €50,000 (£42,000) fine.

More about this is here. And here. And here. And here.

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• Horse Meat Found in 5% of Beef in Europe (newser.com)
• Drug found in Polish horse meat (independent.ie)
• Dutch man who sold horse meat labeled as Halal beef given €50,000 fine (theglobeandmail.com)
• Greeks second to French in inadvertently consuming horse meat, report shows (ekathimerini.com)
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Konik foal born, video

This video is about the birth of a konik horse foal, in the Millingerwaard nature reserve in the Netherlands.

Harvey van Diek filmed this.

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Dubai prince in horse doping scandal

From the New York Times in the USA:

April 23, 2013, 9:14 am

Horse Doping Scandal Rocks Dubai’s Rulers

By HARVEY MORRIS

Ali Haider/European Pressphoto Agency Sheikh Mohammed, center, during the Dubai World Cup on March 30.

LONDON — The horseracing world has been shaken to its fetlocks by revelations of a doping scandal at the top prize-winning Godolphin stable, owned by Dubai’s ruling Maktoum family.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai’s ruler, was described as “absolutely appalled” by the announcement on Monday that 11 Godolphin thoroughbreds trained at Newmarket, the home of British horseracing, had tested positive for banned steroids.

In what one racing commentator described as “one of the biggest doping scandals of modern times,” Mahmoud Al Zarooni, one of Godolphin’s top trainers, admitted responsibility for administering the drugs in what he said was a “catastrophic error.”

Simon Crisford, Godolphin racing manager, said, “This is a dark day for Godolphin. We are all shocked by what has happened.”

According to Cornelius Lysaght, the BBC’s racing correspondent, Sheikh Mohammed’s legendary hands-on approach has been responsible for turning Godolphin into one of the few top players in racing, and the Maktoum family has helped transform Dubai into a world center for sport and leisure.

“Yet, apparently right under their noses, perhaps racing’s greatest ever drugs scandal has unfolded,” Mr. Lysaght wrote.

Godolphin was set up in 1992 to take advantage of the climate in Dubai, where the Maktoum horses spend the winter at a state-of-the-art training center in preparation for the most prestigious races around the world.

The ruling family went on to establish the $10 million Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest horse race. This year Godolphin was the leading owner at the event for the sixth straight year.

Dubai is currently involved in a project to boost China’s nascent racing industry. Meydan Group, a government-owned developer that runs the Dubai track, said it plans to host an international meeting there this year.

As a Godolphin trainer since 2010, Mr. Zarooni has added to its string of track victories, including a win at last year’s Dubai event with Monterosso, owned by Sheikh Hamdan, crown prince of the Arabian Gulf emirate.

The British Horseracing Authority announced on Monday it would hold a disciplinary inquiry after traces of two banned anabolic steroids were found in samples taken from 11 horses trained by Mr. Zarooni. They were among 45 animals tested at the Moulton Paddocks stables in Newmarket.

They include the American-bred Certify, a three-year-old filly that has now been pulled from the One Thousand Guineas, next week’s British classic.

The Daily Mail said the ban on the horses that tested positive would be “hugely embarrassing” for Sheikh Mohammed.

Mr. Zarooni, who now faces a training ban, said he deeply regretted what had happened. “Because the horses involved were not racing at the time, I did not realize that what I was doing was in breach of the rules of racing,” he said, according to the Godolphin Web site.

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Bute horse corned ‘beef’ in British Walmart

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Asda recalls corned beef after drug traces found

Wednesday 10 April 2013

Supermarket Asda

owned by Walmart in the USA

recalled all corned beef from its budget range today after traces of veterinary drug bute were found in some batches.

The Food Standards Agency has confirmed that “very low levels” of the painkilling medicine were detected in Asda’s Smart Price corned beef.

Customers who have bought the tins, with any date code, have been urged not to eat its contents but to return it to one of its supermarkets.

Asda withdrew the product on March 8 after it was found to contain more than 1 per cent horse DNA. Bute was detected in some samples.

Shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh said: “This product was withdrawn from sale on March 8 yet has only been formally recalled now, after testing positive for bute, meaning people could have unwittingly been eating meat containing this drug for the last month.

“This exposes the weaknesses in the government’s handling of the horsemeat scandal where products were withdrawn but in some cases not tested either for horsemeat or bute.”

Veterinary drug bute found in Asda corned beef: here. And here. And here.

Related articles

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Dutch horse meat scandal update

From Associated Press:

Horse meat in 50,000 tons of recalled ‘beef’?

10:45a.m. EDT April 10, 2013

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch authorities are recalling some 50,000 tons of meat that was sold as beef across Europe and possibly containing horse meat, because the exact source of the meat cannot be established.

The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority said Wednesday around 370 different companies around Europe and 130 more in the Netherlands are affected by the recall because they bought meat from two Dutch trading companies.

The authority says that because the exact source of the meat cannot be traced, “its safety cannot be guaranteed.”

The statement added that Dutch authorities currently have “no concrete indications that there is a risk to public health.”

Dutch authorities began a large-scale investigation into the country’s meat industry in February following revelations across Europe that horse meat was being sold as beef.

See also here. And here. And here and here and the video here about the Willy Selten corporation in Oss, suspects in this case.

The Dutch consumers organisation says that the government gives the businesses which bought Willy Selten’s meat too much time to investigate: here.

Bute found in 22 horses slaughtered for food at UK abattoirs in last two months: here.

Recent meat scandals make the case for food retailers who care about more than profit: here.

Related articles

• Dutch recall 50,000 tons of meat sold as beef across Europe; say it may contain horse meat (timescolonist.com)
• Large horsemeat recall in Europe (wptv.com)
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Newborn konik horse foal, video

This video, by H. vd Pol in the Netherlands, shows a  newborn konik horse foal.

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