Rights Defenders: Middle East

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Real feminism must acknowledge the discrimination against Arab women in Israel, and real feminism must know to identify with and struggle alongside them, at the national, civil and social levels.

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Zainab-al-Khawaja-arrest Zainab al-Khawaja

Bahraini court fines daughter of opposition activist

Source: Reuters | Mahmoud Habboush

A court in Bahrain on Monday fined Zainab al-Khawaja, the daughter of a prominent opposition activist, for insulting a government employee and her lawyer said she was still detained pending trial in a different case.

Bahrain, a U.S. ally that hosts Washington's Fifth Fleet, has been in turmoil since a democracy protest movement led by its majority Shi'ites erupted last year after revolts in Egypt and Tunisia.

Its Sunni Muslim rulers have rejected opposition calls for an elected government and protests and clashes with police continue weekly.

Khawaja, daughter of jailed uprising leader Abdulhadi al-Khawaja who has been on hunger strike for more than three months, was arrested a month ago for trying to stage a protest in the capital Manama during Bahrain's Formula One Grand Prix.

"She was fined 200 dinars ($530) for insulting a public servant," lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi told Reuters, adding the court will try her for attempting to stage a protest on May 24.

"She could be fined again or sentenced to prison," he said.

The authorities have dubbed the opposition Iranian lackeys because most of them are Shi'ites, as in Iran. They have vowed to get tough on security as talks with the opposition stalled.

The desire to contain Shi'ite dissent in Bahrain and counter Iran's sway drove efforts to unify the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which stumbled at a meeting of their leaders last week.

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Pearl-Roundabout

In February 2011 pro-democracy demonstrators in Bahrain took over Pearl Roundabout in the centre of Manama, the capital city.

Thousands of predominantly Shia Muslim protesters erected a tent city, similar to Egypt's Tahrir Square, and vowed to stay there until their demands for action to tackle economic hardship and employment discrimination, were met.

On 17 February, while demonstrators were spending the night at the Pearl Roundabout, anti-riot police entered the area in an attempt to disperse the protesters.

Four people died and hundreds were injured.

Soon after the police crackdown, Bahrain Defense Force tanks occupied Pearl Roundabout to stop demonstrators from occupying the area. After guarantees from the Crown Prince that demonstrators could return, the army were pulled out and the protests were allowed to continue.

However as the protests continued, martial law was imposed. On March 16, the protesters' camp in the roundabout was evacuated, bulldozed, and set on fire by the Bahraini Defense Force, riot police, and Peninsula Shield Force. Two days later the Pearl Monument was destroyed.

To help maintain 'law and order' a deployment of 1,000 soldiers from Saudi Arabia were brought in to support the government

A crackdown on opposition protestors ensued. Eight opposition leaders were sentanced to life imprisonment for organising the protests and thirteen doctors, were given 15-year terms.

WITNESS BAHRAIN

On the Ground International Solidarity with Bahrain's Revolution

The Obama administration is currently moving forward with a new set of arms sales to Bahrain despite the well-documented, egregious human rights violations perpetrated by the government against pro-democracy protesters over the past year.

Despite congressional opposition to a $53 million dollar arms sale to Bahrain, the Obama Administration is pushing through the sale using a legal loophole that would allow him to avoid notifying Congress and the public by breaking up the sales into small packages of under $1 million each.

Click here to sign this petition and demand the US stop selling arms to Bahrain!