Bahrain: Protests on Election Eve

For weeks, many Bahraini Twitter users used the hashtag #LuluReturn to demand going back to Pearl Square, where their massive February protests took place. The Bahraini regime shocked the world in March by demolishing the pearl monument in the square, which is actually a roundabout, as if to erase the rebellious memory attached to it. This resulted a counter-reaction that sees many Bahrainis more attached to the monument as a symbol of their struggle against a regime that discriminates against its Shia majority.

On the eve of the election, conducted to fill 18 seats vacated by the opposition Al Wefaq Society when they resigned in protest against the killing of protesters, Bahrainis from different areas decided to walk to the square this Saturday only to be faced with riot police using rubber bullets and tear gas against them. Netizens have reported some arrests and several protesters getting beaten, including some women. The village of Sanabis, which is close to the square, was the center of clashes between protesters and riot police.

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America

One paper made me take the yellow bus away from home,

And one paper puts me away from getting a yellow smile in my new home…

My small foot will never be able to step on both lands;

For sand and snow never come together.

Why did I leave home?

I look for a new mother in all faces,

Substitute love with scribbles,

And beg my friends to speak Arabic with me;

Hoping that I would get high on the drug of nostalgia.

No one knows rice like my mom does

No one has a beard like my dad's.

Music is dry and solitude is a nature, not a choice.

Saudi Arabia: Human Rights Activist on Trial

This Saturday, Saudi human rights activist Waleed Abu Alkhair (@abualkhair) faced the national court in Jeddah for “insulting judiciary”. Saudi tweeps discussed the case of Abu Alkhair using the hashtags #abualkhair and #wAbuAlkhair to show support and criticize the way authorities function against activists, or on the other hand, to describe Abu Alkhair as a “foreign agent” who's betraying the Saudi kingdom with his connections. It was revealed, later on, that the Saudi activist wasn't only facing the charge of insulting judiciary, but also for demanding constitutional monarchy and other charges that the judge has refused to give a copy of to Abu Alkhair.

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Bidun Protesters on Trials

This February, after the Arab spring hit our streets, the Stateless (Bidun) youth of Kuwait went in protests in their areas (Taimaa, Sulaibiya, and Ahmidy) where the government has worked for years into isolating them. The Bidun are 100,000 in number equaling by that 10% of Kuwaiti population. I do not want to explain once again who are the Bidun and what they are going through, as you can check this label "Bidun" in my blog to know more in details.

My father has always described democracy in Kuwait being "as weak as a chocolate bar" referring to how this alleged "democracy" is an exclusive right for certain people/classes in Kuwait. We saw a Shiaa tweep getting arrested and banned from family visits by state security police months ago because he bashed the Saudi and Bahraini regimes, we saw Egyptians getting deported for protesting in front of their embassy in support of Al-Baradi last year, and in support of their revolution this year. We have also witnessed police brutality against hundreds of Kuwaiti youth protesting in February and March for their rights of documentation, health, education, and citizenship. 

Around 100 Bidun youth were investigated by the state security police for over a week (Investigation is not limited to questions and answers, as you can imagine of an Arab regime). Kuwaiti Human Rights association has met with those who were investigated, later released, and documented how they were tortured and harrased. When contacting one of the association's members, she told me that those agreed to speak asked to keep their cases confidental in fear of facing SS again. 

On the coming 18th of December, 48 Kuwaiti Bidun men will be facing court for protesting. In Kuwait, "the country of chocolate-democracy", those who are not Kuwaitis are not allowed to protest for whatever reason. Citizens are asked to get a permission for protesting, and might not face trouble if they do not, depending on the nature of their protest. Those 48 men where bailed out paying 6$ each except for one man who payed 3000$ because he confessed to have been the mastermind of those protests, sending text messages to others to join the protests. 

Last June, Human Rights Watch, for the first time, organized a conference in Kuwait on the case of Bidun, gathering authorities and Bidun activists to reach a proposed solution. Kuwait, for sure, gave promises and started to give some birth and marriage certificates, only to back again and fire some Bidun from their jobs, confiscate some passports, and stop issuing Identification cards. The situation is swinging and speculations cannot be "logically" made. 

I ask all activists, international organizations, and human rights groups to stand with the Bidun who will be facing trials for their natural right of protesting. This inhuman discrimination needs to be stopped, and human's right of free speech should not be negotiated anymore.

Bahrain: Medical Staff Released After Hunger Strike

Bahrain yesterday released doctors and medical personnel who have been behind bars since March 2011, after increased international condemnation and a series of hunger strikes by supporters inside and outside the country. The medical staff, who treated injured protesters during Bahrain's revolution and spoke to the media about the horrors they witnessed among the dead and injured, found themselves behind bars accused of killing protesters and hiding arms inside hospital wards.

The outcry from the international community for the release of the doctors continued to snowball, as the doctors and medical personnel continued to stand trial in a military court. Over the past 24 hours, Irish doctors went on a hunger strike to show solidarity with their fellow Bahraini imprisoned doctors who have been on hunger strike for over seven days. Professor Damien McCormack was the one to propose the idea and a video has been posted by “Front Line defenders” where he explains their intentions of this fast.

News has also been circulating about Australian doctors and Bahraini medical doctors in Australia staging a hunger strike in front of the American Embassy in Sydney to demand their release. This news was all featured on Twitter under the hashtag #HungerStrike, which was generated to become an open invitation for everyone to go on hunger strike in support of the detained doctors. Last night, the good news came from the Bahraini court which decided to release Bahraini doctors, without dropping the charges against them. They go on trial again on September 26, 2011.

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A 24-hours hunger strike for Bahraini doctors

I am incapable of going in an open hunger strike, so I decided to go into a 24 hours hunger strike in solidarity with detained #Bahrain doctors. 

I salute all those who are hunger striking for the sake of those heroes and their freedom; in Bahrain, Ireland, Australia, or elsewhere.

UPDATE: 
Before finishing 12 hours of my strike, Medics and Doctors were freed in Bahrain though charges are not dropped yet. I salute them and their families and supporters. 

Notes on the Wikileaked Bidun document

I haven't found any previous Wikileaked document on the stateless community in Kuwait (The Bidun) until this recent one (link) which was written by the American Embassy in Kuwait in June 2009. I have noticed that some were not happy with the information leaked and of the way American diplomats depict different issues especially in the Middle East, however, this one document seems to be very well written; covering different angles of this long standing issue. I have previously tweeted the link to this document saying there are few details that I would like to point out:

a) Under the section "Bidoon problems begin" point number 4, the document says Bidun were issued passports under article 17. Clarification needs to be made that Bidun were issued Kuwaiti passports with the nationality section written in it "Kuwaiti", unlike the few passports getting issued in the past years in a different color (grey), with fewer pages, and "undefined" in the nationality section and the first page written on it "article 17 passport."

b) Under the section "Recent developments: Marriage and birth certificates" point number 9, the Bidun do not only have to do a lot of paper work to get marriage certificates, but they also have to stage their marriages as "adultery" so they can get a paper from the police station "forcing the marriage" according to the law that forces adulterers to get married or otherwise face court and get jailed for it. This is a trick that Bidun invented so they can ease the process of getting marriage certificates. 

c) Just like any other papers getting issued for the Bidun, the Kuwaiti authorities never hesitate to blackmail Bidun into signing papers to "confess" that they are of Iraqi/Syrian/Saudi/Jordanian/Iranian roots in order to get their documentations. Signing those papers, of course, automatically drops the Bidun rights for Kuwaiti citizenship, therefore they do not sign, and instead live without their basic marriage/birth/death/divorce certificates, IDs, and driving licenses.

d) When it comes to Birth certificates, Bidun might spend months in court to prove that they are the parents of their kids. They are forced to do DNA tests, get witnesses of family relatives, and go through the slow legal process to document their biological kids.

 

e) Under the section "Bidoon Proponents and Opponents", the US diplomats make a good effort tracing those who oppose or support naturalizing Bidun and in a general image, their efforts went correctly, although there is more to be said in details. The document states that some are afraid of how the Bidun votes in the parliamentary elections might change the shape of the political sphere in Kuwait. In fact, Kuwait has categories of citizenship that allows some Kuwaitis to vote and others not to, and if Bidun are to be naturalized, they are not allowed to be categorized in the first class, according to the constitution, and will have to wait for over 20 years to vote in parliamentary and municipal elections.