Censorship in Qatar

This video says about itself:

A documentary made for school about the Internet censorship that Qatar has.

From Reuters:

Qatari draft media law criticized by rights group

DOHA | Tue Oct 30, 2012 12:19pm EDT

Qatar‘s draft media law came under fire on Tuesday from Human Rights Watch, which singled out “loosely worded provisions” penalizing criticism of the Gulf emirate and its neighbors.

The New York-based organization urged Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani not to approve the law as drafted, calling it “a commitment to censorship”.

Qatari officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Freedom of expression is tightly controlled in the tiny autocratic Gulf state, with self-censorship prevalent among national newspapers and other media outlets.

A close U.S. ally that hosts a large U.S. military base, Qatar has escaped the unrest that has engulfed other parts of the region. It lacks any organized political opposition.

Qatar finances and hosts the pan-Arab satellite TV network al-Jazeera, which has closely covered Arab revolts elsewhere.

Although the draft calls for abolishing criminal penalties for media law violations, it contains some sweeping provisions.

Article 53 prohibits publishing or broadcasting information that would “throw relations between the state and the Arab and friendly states into confusion” or “abuse the regime or offend the ruling family or cause serious harm to the national or higher interests of the state”.

Violators would face fines of up to 1 million Qatari riyals ($275,000).

The draft approved by the emir’s advisory Shura Council in June would be the first change to Qatar’s media law since 2008, when the government set up the Doha Centre for Media Freedom.

“Qatar’s commitment to freedom of expression is only as good as its laws, which in this case do not meet the international standards it professes to support,” Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

“Instead of supporting press freedom, this draft media law is a commitment to censorship.”

The imprisonment of Qatari poet Muhammad Ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami, who faces charges of “inciting the overthrow of the ruling regime,” provides further evidence of Qatar’s double standard on freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said.

The charge Ajami faces carries the death penalty. In his poetry, Ajami has praised the revolutions that have swept the Arab world and has criticized the emir of Qatar. His next court hearing is scheduled for November 29.

Qatar’s penal code provides sentences of five years in prison for criticizing the country’s ruler. Both the penal code and the proposed media law violate international freedom of speech standards, Human Rights Watch said.

“If Qatar is serious about providing regional leadership on media freedom it should remove the problematic provisions from its draft media law and drop all charges against Muhammad Ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami that solely relate to his exercise of free speech,” Stork said.

(Reporting by Regan Doherty; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Related articles

• Qatari sheikh must not approve media law, says human rights group (guardian.co.uk)
• Qatar poet faces secret trial for ‘insult’ (gulfnews.com)
• Qatar Should Revise Media Law to Allow Criticism, HRW Says – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• Qatar: Revise Draft Media Law to Allow Criticism of Rulers (hrw.org)
• Call on Qatar not to approve media law (gulfnews.com)
• Calls for release of Qatari poet (bbc.co.uk)
• Qatar’s Petro Dollars Spent to Recruit, Train Terrorists in Lebanon to Join War on Syria (dogmaandgeopolitics.wordpress.com)
• Credit Suisse Said to Start Venture With Qatar (bloomberg.com)

War in Syria, and Lebanon?

Two deadly bombings in Beirut point to the growing threat that the Syrian conflict will spread to Lebanon and throughout the region: here.

This video is called Islamists in Syria Get Arms from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

By Niall Green:

Turkey’s foreign minister demands war in the name of “human rights”

22 October 2012

The Turkish government has again called on the United States and the European powers to take direct military action against Syria.

Speaking to Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu claimed that such an intervention was required to “stop the bloodshed” and resolve the refugee crisis in Syria.

“We [Turkey] are doing all we can to help these people, using all diplomatic capacity to stop this bloodshed,” Davutoglu told Guardian columnist and Assistant Editor Simon Tisdall. “But there should be a much more concerted effort by the international community. The best way we can see now is direct humanitarian intervention.”

This statement turns reality on its head, as Davutoglu and the Guardian editors well know. It is Turkey and its NATO allies, together with the Gulf monarchies of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, all operating under the aegis of the United States government,that are the principal sponsors of the 18-month old Syrian conflict.

Led by Washington, these powers have supplied hundreds of millions of dollars in money, arms and other materiel to the “rebel” militias fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Much of this military aid has gone directly to Sunni extremist groups, including those with links to Al Qaeda.

As the New York Times reported last week, top US intelligence officials in Washington have acknowledged that “most of the arms shipped at the behest of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to supply Syrian rebel groups fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad are going to hard-line Islamic jihadists.”

These US-backed Islamist groups have turned the conflict in Syria into a sectarian civil war, in which Sunni-based “rebel” forces target members of the Alawite, Shiite, Druze and Christian minorities, as well as other civilians who have refused to join or support their “jihad.” Pro-regime forces have responded in kind, with reports of reprisal attacks in villages and neighborhoods used as bases by the opposition fighters.

Western policy on Syria is failing on a monumental scale: here.

Fierce fighting erupted between Western-backed insurgents and Kurds in Syria amid growing threats of a Turkish intervention: here.

Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir David Richards told the BBC that British troops could be deployed to Syria in the event of a “major humanitarian crisis”: here.

Related articles

• Iran and Turkey’s meeting reveals new approach to Syria (guardian.co.uk)
• Lebanon Bombing: Impetus for US-NATO Planned Sectarian War (weeklyintercept.blogspot.com)
• Syrian gov’t blames Turkey, Gulf States for ongoing bloodshed – Xinhua (news.xinhuanet.com)
• US to Focus Exclusively on Arming Al Qaeda in Syria (blacklistednews.com)

Bahraini king’s sexual harassment of Lebanese singer

This music video is called Haifa Wahbi Live at Tolerance.

From the Malaysia Chronicle:

Friday, 12 October 2012 07:36

Bahraini King falls for singer’s charm

The eight-hour performance of the Lebanese singer in the Bahraini king’s palace ended with a scandal.

A few days ago the Lebanese famous pop princes Haifa Wahbi has received an invitation for performance in several Gulf countries including Qatar and Bahrain. Eyebrows were raised across the Gulf countries this week after rumors surfaced that Prime Minister Sheikh Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani bought Haifa a luxurious $1 million beach villa.

There were many speculations around this generosity of the Qatari prime minister.

It was reported that the 8-hour performance of Haifa Wahbi for the Bahraini King has ended with some troubles. The stunning beauty of this young singer was so irresistible that it pushed the King to touch her body during the performance that night. The young Lebanese singer has pushed the king feeling offended and being abused. It was only a matter of few moments when his bodyguards rushed in giving her some slaps for her reaction.

The King is said has given Haifa a gold map of Bahrain worth $2 million and an invitation for a two week holiday on his royal yacht as a hush money. However, her lawyer promised to sue this action of the Bahraini King Hamad and his bodyguards.

The Qatari PM is said to have taken a break from his political duties to write out a cheque for the star after hearing that she intends to sue the Bahraini King.

The question remains is this huge amount of money is just an Arab generosity or a Hush Money?

A few years ago, the puppet Bahraini parliament had asked for a ban of Haifa Wehbe (as her name is also spelled in the Latin alphabet) performing, as they considered her clothes were “immodest”.

Bahrain and Britain sign defense treaty to increase military co-operation: here.

Bahraini Government Urged to Immediately Release Nabeel Rajab: here.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the king of Bahrain to order the release of nine medics and overturn the verdicts given to them due to the “unfair” trial proceeding of the doctors: here.

“Bahrain: a paradise for torturers, hell for human rights defenders” is how Said Yousif Al Mahadfh the head of monitoring and follow-up at the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) described his country: here.

Bahraini police tear-gas peaceful demonstrators: here.

Bahrain Opinion: “How The Police Recruit Radicals” (The Economist): here.

Tunisian workers, women fight for justice

By Jean Shaoul:

Strikes and protests sweep Tunisia

17 August 2012

On Tuesday, several thousand workers demonstrated in Sidi Bouzid. The city in the impoverished interior of Tunisia is where the vegetable vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set fire to himself on December 17, 2010, sparking the uprising against the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The protest was directly opposed to the interim government led by the Islamist Ennahda (Renaissance) party, an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood that came to power following elections last October.

The Tunisian General Union of Labour (UGTT), the main trade union federation, had called for a general strike. It said that more than 90 percent of workers had joined the strike. Shops and offices in the city centre were closed for the day.

The demonstrators marched to the courthouse, demanding the release of dozens of political activists detained since July following demonstrations that were brutally put down by police firing tear gas and rubber bullets. Some but not all were later released, including 12 of the activists arrested at a protest last week in Sfax, 160 miles south of the capital.

The strikers and their supporters shouted slogans, including, “The people want the fall of the regime!” and “Justice, woe to you, Ennahda has power over you!”

Some protesters smashed the window of a car belonging to an Al Jazeera TV crew because of the Qatari satellite news channel’s championing of Ennahda and Islamism. Qatar heavily funds Ennahda.

The demonstrators also called for an end to the totally inadequate access to water and electricity that is making everyday life an intolerable burden.

Earlier, on Monday evening, National Women’s Day, tens of thousands of Tunisians, mainly women, took to the streets of the capital Tunis and other cities to demand that women’s equality and rights be protected under the constitution being drafted by the Islamist government.

The demonstrations were by far the largest since the government violently broke up a march last April. Protesters fear that the constitution will downgrade the status of women. They carried banners saying, “Rise up women for your rights to be enshrined in the constitution” and “Ghannouchi [Ennahda’s leader Rachid Ghannouchi] clear off, Tunisian women are strong”.

They demanded that the government remove the proposed Article 27, which defines women as “complementary to men”, from the new national charter, in favour of the existing 1956 law that grants women full equality with men.

The 1956 Code of Personal Status outlawed polygamy, established civil law, and gave women the right to vote, open bank accounts and set up businesses without their husbands’ consent. It was later expanded to include, among other things, the right to work and abortion.

According to a translation by France 24, Article 27 in the new charter affirms that “The state guarantees to protect women’s rights, as they stand, under the principle of man’s complement within the family and man’s partner in developing the country”.

This has been widely interpreted as the first step on the part of the Islamists to roll back women’s position in Tunisia in line with Sharia law.

Demonstrators called for the government to address the economic deprivation in the interior regions and to end unemployment.

The Tunisian Association of Democratic Women, the Tunisian Human Rights League, the Republican Party, the Social and Democratic Path, and the Call for Tunisia party organised another rally at the Congress Palace in Tunis, calling for “effective and unconditional equality in rights and duties between men and women” and warning against “a new regression and possible backsliding in women’s gains”.

Protests to mark National Women’s Day on Avenue Bourguiba in the capital were earlier banned by the government, ostensibly over traffic concerns. Avenue Bourguiba was the focal point of the mass protests that led to the ouster of Ben Ali, the longtime ally of US and French imperialism, in January 2011, sparking mass movements all over the Middle East and North Africa.

Demonstrators also took to the streets of Monastir and Sfax.

See also here.

Tunisia: UN Working Group On Women Calls On Tunisia to Safeguard Achievements in Equality: here

Pentagon military base in dictatorial Qatar

This video is called QATAR SUCKS – Modern Slavery for Foreign Workers in Qatar.

From News Line daily in Britain:

Friday, 20 July 2012

PENTAGON IS BUILDING MISSILE DEFENCE RADAR STATIONS IN QATAR – in preparation for war with Iran

THE Pentagon is building a missile defence radar station at a covert location in Qatar, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The site will be part of a system intended to defend the interests of the United States and its allies against Iranian rockets, unnamed US officials told the newspaper.

The Journal also reported that Washington was preparing for its biggest-ever minesweeping exercises in the Gulf in September, calling them the ‘first such multilateral drills in the region’.

A similar radar has existed on Mount Keren in the Negev Desert since 2008 and another is installed in Turkey as part of NATO’s missile defence shield.

In addition, officials told the Journal that US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, wants to deploy the first Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile system in the area in the coming months, possibly in the United Arab Emirates.

Tensions with Iran are rife in the Gulf region.

An Indian fisherman was killed and three others wounded on Monday when a US navy ship opened fire on their vessel near the United Arab Emirates port of Jebel Ali in the southern Gulf.

Qatar dictatorship helps Egyptian military junta

The absolute monarchy in Qatar, like its colleagues in Saudi Arabia, and warmongers in NATO countries, claims to want to bring human rights and democracy to Syria, by war.

However, the Qatari dictatorship does not want democracy in its own country.

Or in Egypt.

From Doha News:

Qatar detains Egyptians after weekend football match

By Shabina Khatri

A dozen Egyptian football fans were temporarily detained and subjected to “cruel and degrading” treatment on Saturday in Doha, an Arab human rights group has said.

The Egyptians were held for more than 10 hours following a friendly football match between Congo and Egypt at Gharafa Stadium, reportedly for holding up “offensive” signs while sitting in the stands, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information stated.

According to ANHRI:

“The 12 Egyptian citizens held banners that condemned the killing of the martyrs of the Port Said massacre, which took place a few weeks ago in the stadium of the Egyptian city of Port Said.

The banners did not read anything unlawful, but only read the fans’ views on the rule of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) and expressed their solidarity with the martyrs of the Ultras (football fans), who died during the bloody events of Port Said stadium in an incident that the SCAF bears political responsibility for.

However, the Qatari security forces detained the Egyptian fans for allegedly holding offensive banners in the stands.”

Egypt: 17-year-old girl killed for missing curfew: here.

Africa: European Bank for Development Encourages Nation [Egypt] to Pursue Its Pre-Revolution Privatization Schemes: here.

Egypt: Fears of Rising Malnutrition Amid Increasing Poverty: here.

Syrians should fear eastern, not western, intervention – especially autocratic ‘friends’ like Saudi Arabia: here.

Syria has made a curious transition from US ally to violator of human rights. In the war on terror America was happy to send suspects to Syria. Now the US cries torture: here.

The Gulf States have now declared arming the Syrian opposition their policy after months of doing so covertly: here.

162 Nepalese workers had died in Qatar in the first ten months of 2011, 13 of which were suicides: here.

Qatar dictator advocates Syrian democracy by war

From daily The Morning Star in Britain;

Qatar’s ruler says foreign troops should be deployed

Sunday 15 January 2012

Qatar‘s ruler declared on US television today that foreign troops should be sent into Syria to “stop the killing” in the country.

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani’s comments to the 60 Minutes programme on the CBS network are the first statements by an Arab leader calling for the deployment of international forces inside Syria.

Asked whether he was in favour of Arab states intervening in Syria, Sheikh Hamad said that “for such a situation to stop the killing some troops should go to stop the killing.”

U.S. extends runways at Qatar air base to accommodate B-2 bomber: here.

Qatar dictatorship pro-Libyan democracy?

26 April 2011.

This video is called Democracy Explained by the Dictator of Qatar …. Can’t get any funnier , a must see.

From daily The Guardian in Britain:

30 March 2011 18.26 BST

Libyan rebels are preparing to launch a television channel, broadcasting from Qatar.

The channel, named simply Libya and calling itself “the new channel for all Free Libyans” had been scheduled to start transmissions this evening, according to local media reports, though it is unclear whether that deadline will be met.

It has started by now.

There was frenzied activity this evening at the Doha compound here the channel is based. Qatari police prevented journalists approaching the offices where technical staff appeared to be working.

A spokesman for Libya‘s Interim National Council, the hastily formed western-backed rebel leadership body, said that the timing was ideal.

“This is the first time in recent history that the Arab world is willing to listen to the west,” Mahmoud Shammam, a Washington-based exile, told the Guardian. “This is a good opportunity for the west to reconnect with the East. Up to now, the west has supported every Arab dictator.”

Including the Qatar dictatorship, which they certainly haven’t stopped supporting by now.

Qatar, as well as agreeing to host the channel, has turned over the facilities and technical staff of a local network previously focused on cultural programming, the magazine said. The wealthy Gulf state, which has a population of 1.4 million, has strongly supported the coalition’s military action in Libya, even sending its own warplanes to take part in operations.

Qatar accused of international soccer bribery: here.

With the attack Monday morning on the Bab al-Azizyah complex in Tripoli, the US-NATO war on Libya has entered a criminal new phase that incorporates the policy of assassination: here.

Jean Bricmont: “humanitarian imperialism” in Libya: here.

Our most recent national poll found that only 27% of Americans supported the military intervention in Libya to 40% who were opposed and 33% who had no opinion: here.
The US and European powers are working to exploit unrest and protests in Syria to advance their own interests in the region: here.

U.S. secretly backed Syrian opposition groups, cables released by WikiLeaks show: here.

Britain: Peace campaigners accused William Hague of banging the drums of war again today after the Foreign Secretary threatened Syria with “further measures” over its crackdown on protesters: here.

Qatari rulers tighten grip on Al-Jazeera

This video says about itself:

In the run up to the 2022 World Cup, the ITUC reports on migrant worker misery behind gleaming boom of Gulf – Doha (Qatar) & Dubai (UAE).

Video documentary (long version: 10′- EN).

Reportage: Paul Ames, Cinematography: Eduardo Diaz.

From weekly Socialist Worker in Britain:

Qatar royal family makes moves to control Al Jazeera TV station

Qatari-owned news network Al-Jazeera’s director general has resigned after eight years—only to be replaced by a member of [the] Qatari royal family.

Wadah Khanfar stepped down last week. He is credited with developing the network’s prominence—particularly the coverage of the Arab Spring.

But Al-Jazeera is owned and governed by the Qatari royal family. The network has largely ignored the massacre of protesters in Bahrain and barely reports events in the repressive regime in Qatar.

The country’s royal family is moving ever closer to allies like Saudi Arabia, and ultimately the US.

Robert Fisk: Al Jazeera – 15 years in the headlines: here.

Kuwait: Three Netizens Detained: here.

Gulf rulers are sending the world an unequivocal message – their countries will remain an exception to the Arab awakening. As the winds of change blow through the Middle East and north Africa, Gulf states are behaving as if it’s business as usual, pursuing small, incremental political reforms that would be deemed irrelevant, if not insulting, in other parts of the region: here.

Anti-democratic hypocrisy in Qatar and the USA

From the site of the Council on Foreign Relations in the USA:

Qatar and Bahrain

Posted on Friday, August 26, 2011

My post yesterday about Qatar’s support for the crushing of popular demonstrations in Bahrain has occasioned a fair amount of angry comment (here and on Twitter). My point was that when Qatar supports the call for democracy and free elections in Libya but assists in the smashing of demonstrations in Bahrain it is pursuing a foreign policy detached from principle.

Has this been Qatar’s policy in Bahrain? First, Qatar sent troops to Bahrain as part of the GCC force organized to assist its government in ending the demonstrations.

Second, Al Jazeera

owned by the prince of Qatar

has clearly been pulling its punches about events in Bahrain.

As Dear Kitty readers may guess, this is not my blog post. I have no connection to any United States Establishment organisation like the Council on Foreign Relations. I have just added some extra hyperlinks to the quote, like I often do on my blog.

However, the CFR post quote might almost have been written by me, as it points out the hypocrisy of the Qatari monarchy, which preaches democracy in Libya while practising autocracy at home and bloody anti-democratic foreign invasion in Bahrain. In fact, I had written a blog post about support for anti-Gadaffi rebellion in Libya by the autocrats of Qatar; one about support of that rebellion by the autocrats of the United Arab Emirates; and, more recently, one about “pro Libyan democracy” support by the autocrats of Bahrain.

Well, the Council on Foreign Relations quote might almost have been written by me. Not quite. The CFR post talks about Qatar supporting “democracy and free elections in Libya”. While no one can tell where the volatile situation in Libya may lead to in the near or far future, at the moment there is no democracy, but an unelected Transitional National Council in Libya. There is bloody war, civilians are caught between pro- and anti-Gadaffi violence. According to human rights organisations and Western media correspondents, NATO and Qatar-supported fighters are abusing and killing people in Tripoli because of the colour of their skin. So, the Qatari princely hypocrisy goes even deeper than the CFR post says; as in Libya, it preaches democracy while supporting a side violating human rights.

This video, recorded in Tripoli, Libya, says about itself:

Lynching of government soldiers and supporters (real or suspected) by rebels have happened throughout the war and have included racist lynching and beheadings of black Libyans and migrant workers. They are continuing now in Tripoli with NATO Special Forces on the ground just watching.

Human Rights Watch reported in July that rebel forces lynched many black migrant workers as suspected mercenaries and dragged 20 Gaddafi officials from their homes and hung them in Al Baida, a town near Misrata.

More recent reports from western journalists in Tripoli show the same is happening to black men found by rebel forces there, some of whom may have been fighting for Gaddafi, others probably just being migrant workers.

The ICRC reports that Libyan hospitals have been understaffed since the fighting broke out as they were mainly staffed by migrant workers, many of whom have since fled.

http://widget.newsinc.com/single.html?WID=2&VID=23523255&freewheel=90057&sitesection=sehuffingtonpost

This video is called Libya: Bodies Raise Specter Of Mass Killings In Tripoli.

So now, after the parallels between my blog and the CFR blog, the difference. As the CFR blog which I quoted is by Elliott Abrams. Wikipedia writes about him:

Elliott Abrams (born January 24, 1948) is an American lawyer and policy analyst who served in foreign policy positions for two Republican U.S. Presidents, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. He is currently a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.[6]

During the Reagan administration, Abrams gained notoriety for his involvement in controversial foreign policy decisions regarding Nicaragua and El Salvador. During Bush’s first term, he served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director on the National Security Council for Near East and North African Affairs. At the start of Bush’s second term, Abrams was promoted to be his Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy, in charge of promoting Bush’s strategy of advancing democracy abroad. His appointment by Bush was controversial due to his conviction in 1991 on two misdemeanor counts of unlawfully withholding information from Congress during the Iran-Contra Affair investigation.

In Nicaragua and El Salvador, the US Reagan administration supported Rightist death squads.

By the way, the Bahrain dictatorship does not only have the support of Qatar, but also of a far bigger country: Elliott Abrams’ USA.

So, one should not just, like Abrams does, point out the hypocrisy of the government in Qatar, but also the hypocrisy of the establishment in Washington, DC.

British warplanes pounded Sirte today in support of rebels who are battling pro-Gadaffi tribal forces for control of the city: here.

The authorities in Bahrain are stepping up repression of the country’s trade union movement, with further suspensions and sackings of workers due to their actual or suspected participation in trade union and political actions earlier this year: here.

“By our silence we also incur a share in the guilt. This is why we have to support Bahrainis in their quest for freedom,” blogger Lina Ben Mhenni writes on A Tunisian Girl, reminding us of a forgotten and savagely repressed part of the Arab Spring: here.

The new air link between Manama and Rome will strengthen bilateral ties, the Italian ambassador to Bahrain has said: here.

Nokia Siemens maintained surveillance equipment linked to human rights abuses committed by the Bahraini regime: here.

This video is called The Disciplinary committee responsible for dismissal from work in Bahrain.

WikiLeaks: Saudi elite have “refined their methods of control over editors and journalists”: here.

Political players in Egypt from Liberals to Islamists to Leftists support popular rebellions to topple Mubarak-type dictators but differ in their outlook on implications for a new Arab world: here.