Despite brutal crackdown and intimidation by Bahraini forces, peaceful protests took off the streets backed with huge protests across the world.
Bahraini forces have deployed tanks and armored vehicles in Diraz, shortly after attacking a peaceful protest march in the western village of Karzakan.
Witnesses said regime forces fired live bullets and tear gas at anti-government protesters and that army helicopters have been flying over protesters in Karzakan on Friday.
Thousands of protesters have gathered in Manama before a revered cleric to denounce death sentences given to protesters following the Friday Prayers. In his sermon, the cleric Sheikh Issa Qassim alluded to the growing rift in the country.
“If you wish to be assailed with problems, to lose all comfort … then allow the spirit of antagonism to take hold and spread in your country,” he said. “This is a fire which may seem manageable at first, but is ultimately beyond control … and its consequences are always grave.”
Crowds across the world have also taken to the streets.
In Egypt, dozens of people gathered outside a government office in Cairo to denounce the Al Saud ruling family and their military intervention in Bahrain.
Hundreds of people, including university students, gathered outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in New Delhi. They expressed solidarity with the uprising, criticized the brutal invasion by Saudi troops, and demanded that the Saudi troops stop assaulting the Bahrainis.
Protests were also held in the Indian cities of Amroha, Nogawan, Lucknow, and Mumbai.
In Britain, dozens of activists gathered in front of Buckingham Palace in support of the revolution in Bahrain.
The German government also criticized Bahrain’s imposition of the death penalty on the several protesters and urged Bahrain’s rulers to rescind the “draconian punishment.” “This draconian punishment impedes the process of rapprochement and reconciliation in Bahrain,” German Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke said on Friday.
The European Union and the United States have failed to address the appalling repression of the peaceful pro-democracy movement in Bahrain and have been mum about the Saudi intervention.
In Iran, thousands of women took to the streets in Tehran following the Friday Prayers to show support for Bahraini women enduring the violence and crimes committed against them by security forces.
Bahraini forces have engaged in abusing and torturing dozens of women. Some women have also fallen victim to violence from the government forces who have been storming civilian houses and girls’ schools.
Iranian protesters issued a six-point communiqué on Friday, to condemn the destruction of mosques by the Bahraini regime and desecration of the Holy Qur’an by Saudi and Bahraini forces among other violations.
The demonstrators highlighted the use of US and Israeli-made weapons by Saudi and Bahraini mercenaries against Bahraini protesters as yet more proof of the West’s clandestine involvement in the repression of Bahrainis, and criticized Western powers for their hypocritical claims of support for human rights.
They also slammed Western media for their sluggish coverage of the developments in Bahrain and their purposeful underestimation of the humanitarian crisis in the Gulf state.
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CANAUK Director Spring: US Pressured Bahrain to Accept Saudi Invasion
Director of Christians against Nato aggression (CANAUK) William Spring said that US Defense Minister Robert Gates had pressured the Bahraini ruling family to go along with the Saudi invasion, for the public movement in Bahrain was regarded in the first period as part of the Arab Spring.
In an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Spring indicated that the protest has been “interpreted as threat, an attack on vital US strategic interests, as Bahrain is headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet”, pointing out that before the US intervention and the Saudi invasion “the protesters were divided, and not all of them wanted to get rid of The Bahrain Monarchy, what some wanted was a constitutional arrangement.”
Regarding the situation in Libya, Spring said it was “evident that the western powers have sought to take over and control the insurrectionary movements in Libya for their own purposes… but NATO has now got the worst of all worlds: belligerents in the war against Gadaffi, they aren’t willing to do what it takes (mass invasion of the country by ground troops) to overthrow him decisively – so the regime is kept in power, a civil war maintained and protracted.”
On the Syrian level, the peace activist told IRNA that “this is part of the regional conflict and it is hard to avoid the conclusion that Israel, if not exactly originating the protests, is influencing them in some way… as it desperately wants to end President Bashar Al Assad’s regime”.
Spring pointed out that the Syrian situation differs from that of Egypt, as “the Coptic Christians in Egypt welcomed the revolution against former president Hosni Mubarak, but in Syria the Church has spoken out in favor of Assad … who is willing to enter into dialogue, but not with parties aiming to disrupt the state in the interests of Israel, or of parties seeking only violent solutions”.
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HOKOK to Complain about Crimes in Bahrain at The Hague
The International Coalition against Impunity (HOKOK) organization will be at The Hague, Holland, accompanied by a number of European lawyers and Bahraini civilians.
ICAI (HOKOK) will submit a new complaint to the ICC concerning the crimes against humanity that are happening in Bahrain against civilians. The complaint will be presented with attached documents about the daily Bahraini government crimes and government violations from the beginning of the peaceful protests that started on February 14 2011. It also includes the destruction of mosques, burning of the Holy Quran, as well as arresting and detaining the people of Bahrain. It is also concerned with defending victims that have been prosecuted with a death penalty sentence.
ICAI (HOKOK) organization members will hold a press conference on May 06, 2010, at 12:00 noon, till 1:00 PM afternoon, in Movenpick Hotel Den Haag-Voorburg / Stationsplein 82275 AZ Voorburg, The Netherlands Tel +31 70 377 37 37/
The organization will put before the media and the public the documents about the violent incidents that are still occurring in Bahrain by the government and its partners. Following, a protest will be held for this matter starting at 2:00 PM till 4:00 PM from the Movenpick Hotel to the ICC COURT in The Hague, and it will portray to the public various images of victims that have been murdered in Bahrain.
Haider Mohamed Al-Noaimi, a blogger and journalist who works for various media including the opposition newspaper Al-Wasat, was arrested by about 30 men who came to his home on the evening of 24 April and confiscated his computer and cameras before taking him away. They reportedly hit him during the raid. His Facebook profile, where he posted his articles, has been blocked since 3 April. Another Al-Wasat journalist, Nada Al-Wadi, was detained and questioned for around 10 hours on 20 April.
Ahmed Yousif Al-Dairy, a netizen who has been detained with his two sons since 1 April, has apparently not been getting the treatment he needs for his diabetes. His lawyers have not been able to see him and the authorities continue to say nothing about the case. Like Zakariya Rashid Hassan, who died in detention on 9 April after being tortured, he was one of the moderators of the forum Aldair (http://www.aldair.net/forum). His family fears he may have suffered the same fate.
Surah: 9, Ayat: 48-51
لَقَدِ ابْتَغَوُاْ الْفِتْنَةَ مِن قَبْلُ وَقَلَّبُواْ لَكَ الأُمُورَ حَتَّى جَاء الْحَقُّ وَظَهَرَ أَمْرُ اللّهِ وَهُمْ كَارِهُونَ
9:48 (Y. Ali) Indeed they had plotted sedition before, and upset matters for thee, until,- the Truth arrived, and the Decree of Allah became manifest much to their disgust.
وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَقُولُ ائْذَن لِّي وَلاَ تَفْتِنِّي أَلاَ فِي الْفِتْنَةِ سَقَطُواْ وَإِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ لَمُحِيطَةٌ بِالْكَافِرِينَ
9:49 (Y. Ali) Among them is (many) a man who says: "Grant me exemption and draw me not into trial." Have they not fallen into trial already? and indeed Hell surrounds the Unbelievers (on all sides).
إِن تُصِبْكَ حَسَنَةٌ تَسُؤْهُمْ وَإِن تُصِبْكَ مُصِيبَةٌ يَقُولُواْ قَدْ أَخَذْنَا أَمْرَنَا مِن قَبْلُ وَيَتَوَلَّواْ وَّهُمْ فَرِحُونَ
9:50 (Y. Ali) If good befalls thee, it grieves them; but if a misfortune befalls thee, they say, "We took indeed our precautions beforehand," and they turn away rejoicing.
قُل لَّن يُصِيبَنَا إِلاَّ مَا كَتَبَ اللّهُ لَنَا هُوَ مَوْلاَنَا وَعَلَى اللّهِ فَلْيَتَوَكَّلِ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ
9:51 (Y. Ali) Say: "Nothing will happen to us except what Allah has decreed for us: He is our protector": and on Allah let the Believers put their trust.
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