Categories : News

Saudi Arabia: Security Forces Seal Off Eastern Town

(Beirut) – Saudi security forces have surrounded and sealed off the predominantly Shia town of Awamiya in July 2017 as they confronted an armed group hiding in a historic neighborhood slated for demolition, Human Rights Watch said today.

العوامية: “كُثبان الوهابية” تجتاح السور

بعد 90 يوماً من الحصار، اجتاحت القوات السعودية حيّ المسوّرة التاريخي في العوامية لتسوّيه في الأرض. التشفي والانتقام كانا حاضرين في الهجوم الهمجي الذي ذهب ضحيته أكثر من 30 مواطناً “يقدَّر عمر بناء المسوّرة بأكثر من ثلاثة قرون، أما بيوتها فيراوح عددها من 160 إلى 180 بيتاً، جميعها مبنية بالطين والحجارة، وتتميز بتلاصقها الشديد، وبتصميماتها المراعية لظروف المناخ والبيئة، وبطراز معمارها العربي الأصيل، الذي يتمثّل في مجموعة العقود والنقوش والزخارف والأقواس الإسلامية التي تزين أفنيتها وجدرانها الداخلية.

Saudi Arabia: 14 Shia at Risk of Imminent Execution

Fourteen members of the Saudi Shia community are at imminent risk of execution after Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court in mid-July 2017 upheld their death sentences from an unfair trial for protest-related crimes, Human Rights Watch said today. Courts convicted the 14 based on confessions they had repudiated in court, saying that they were coerced.

See denunciations of local Shia by governor of Eastern Province.

Video Exposes Saudi Special Forces’ Sectarian Doctrine

August 8, 2017 By IGA staff Washington – A video of Saudi Special Forces have exposed the western trained and equipped forces’ sectarian doctrine. The video taken today by a Saudi solider inside the besieged Shia city of Awamya showed him hurling secretin insults at Shia inhabitants and their faith inside a bombed out historical Shia mosque.

UK and the Gulf:

Security, political and moral impasse

To mark the Independence Day

Bahrain Opposition Bloc in UK Cordially invites you to a

Seminar and Press briefing

Time: 11.00 Monday 14th August 2017

Place: Diskus Room, UNITE, the Union, 128 Theobalds Road, London WC1X 8TN

Speakers

Andy Murray (Unite)

Ben Petlar (Reprieve)

Jawad Fairooz (Salaam & Former Bahraini MP)

Isla Woodcock (Civil rights activist)

Megha Ramesh (BIRD)

Dr Saeed Shehabi (BFM)

In mid August 1971 British forces were withdrawn from the Gulf region after decades of unchallenged control. Several Sheikhdoms, including Bahrain, gained their “independence”. The British legacy in those new entities has been marred by dictatorship, bleak record of human rights and abandonment of basic values and principles of modern statehood.

The Bahraini people still live the terrifying nightmare of that brutal legacy. Isn’t it time for UK to change its policy in the Gulf, embrace democracy and human rights and end the destructive policy of appeasements of dictators?

Topics

Andrew Murray will discuss the UK’s relationship with Bahrain ​and the Gulf​ and its impacts on human rights​ and political challenges​

Ben Pitler will address the controversial role the UK’s assistance to Bahrain has played in these events​, including public order training​ and the country’s first executions in six years in January

Jawad Fairooz will speak about his direct experiences as a former MP and member of the opposition, and the current political crisis facing Bahrain.

Isla Woodcock will discuss her experiences protesting at the Royal Windsor Horse Show and discuss the controversial royal relationship that event exposed.

Megha Ramesh will discuss the reprisals against women in Bahrain and the unprecedented risks they face from authorities willing to employ torture and sexual violence to suppress women voices.

Saeed Shehabi will present a historical overview of Bahrain’s politics and the UK’s involvement and provide an insight into the roots of the current political and human rights crisis in Bahrain.

For more information please contact Ali Al Fayez on 07965666644

Dozens of Afghans killed in remote Sar-e Pul province

Armed men have attacked a village in the northern Afghan province of Sar-e Pul, killing as many as 40 people, including women and children, officials have said. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday condemned the killings that he dubbed a “war crime”.

See also Shia Rights Watch.
Al-Jazeera Update.

Inside the Saudi town that’s been under siege for three months by its own government

When Donald Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia on his first trip abroad as US President in May, officials in Riyadh made a spectacular effort to promote the idea of unity in the Muslim world, inviting more than 100 leaders of Muslim nations to attend the Arab Islamic American Summit with the new President.

See also Shia Rights Watch.

Opinion | An Ally Is Set to Execute Critics. Will Mr. Trump Be Silent?

Mujtaba al-Sweikat was a bright 17-year-old student on his way to visit Western Michigan University when he was arrested at King Fahd Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2012. Since then, Mr. Sweikat has been in Saudi custody, subjected to torture, including beatings so severe his shoulder was broken, in order to extract confessions that sealed his fate: condemned to death, likely by beheading.

See also The Independent.
See also The Washington Post.

Shia mosque in Herat province hit by deadly explosion

At least 20 people have been killed in an explosion at a minority Shia mosque in the Afghan province of Herat, according to a hospital official. Dr Mohammed Rafique Shehrzad told Associated Press news agency that 20 bodies were brought to the main hospital in Herat city, the capital of the western province, on Tuesday night, soon after the blast.

See also BBC News.
See also Reuters.
Islamic State claims attack. See The Express Tribune; BBC News.

Playing both sides against the middle: Saudi engages with Iraqi Shiites

Saudi Arabia, with the Islamic State on the ropes in Iraq, is forging ties to Iraqi Shiite leaders and offering to help fund reconstruction of Mosul and other predominantly Sunni Muslim cities that were devastated in the military campaign against the jihadist group.