Khouri Assesses Elections Across the Arab World
November 22nd, 2010 by Evan
Writing in the Daily Star, Rami Khouri analyzes the recent outcomes of the Bahraini and Jordanian elections and the prospective outcome of the upcoming Egyptian parliamentary election. According to Khouri, these elections reveal three important lessons: “Ruling power elites and their foreign supporters remain hesitant to allow the full force of Arab public opinion to assert itself; they provide useful means of gauging public sentiments on important issues of the day; and, they provide a limited arena in which people learn to contest power peacefully, make deals with other groups, and appeal for the votes of their fellow citizens.”
Posted in Bahrain, Egypt, Elections, Jordan | Comment »
Bahrain: New Amnesty Report on Torture Allegations
November 18th, 2010 by Evan
Amnesty International released a new report this week on the treatment of detained Shi’ite activists in Bahrain. Following their initial trial on October 28, the activists report that they were beaten, deprived of sleep and forced to remain standing for long periods in retribution for complaining about previous torture during their hearing. Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme called on Bahraini authorities to “conduct a prompt and independent investigation into both these allegations of torture,” adding that official must now “take steps to protect the 23 defendants from possible further retaliation, following their new allegations.”
Posted in Bahrain, Human Rights, Judiciary | Comment »
Human Development Report Finds Inequality Persists in Arab World
November 5th, 2010 by Anna
The United Nations released its 2010 Human Development Report yesterday, titled “The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development.” This year’s report, which includes new indices to adjust for inequality, women’s disadvantage, and multidimensional poverty, found that of the countries measured, Oman’s Human Development Index (HDI) score improved the most over the last 40 years. Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco also improved considerably. Overall, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain ranked the highest in the region; Egypt came in 101 out of 169, and Sudan ranked close to the bottom.
Inequality remained a significant issue, and Jeni Klugman, the report’s lead author, observed that “the most significant losses for Arab countries in the Inequality-adjusted HDI can be traced to the unequal distribution of income.” Yemen and Qatar ranked very low on gender equality, but the report also notes that women’s representation in Arab parliaments has risen in recent years. On civil and political liberties, the authors report that there is considerable room for improvement across the region.
Posted in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Oman, Sudan, Tunisia, UAE, United Nations | Comment »
Bahrain: Sunnis Retain Power in Parliament
November 1st, 2010 by Anna
After a second round of voting on Saturday, government-allied Sunni and independent parties maintained control of Bahrain’s lower house of parliament. The secular opposition group Waad lost both of the seats it contested in the second round, after its Shiite ally Wefaq won 18 seats in the first round of voting last week. Sunni Islamist parties Al Asalah and Al Menbar won an additional four seats in the final round. In a statement yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton congratulated Bahrain on the overall success of the elections, applauding the 67% voter turnout and the relatively peaceful procedures. She added: “The United States is committed to supporting this important democratic development in the region” and stressed the importance of “a free and open media, an independent civil society, and a scrupulous respect for the rule of law.” She also expressed concern at the clampdown on freedom of expression and association prior to the elections.
Posted in Bahrain, Elections | Comment »
Bahrain: Terrorism Trial of Shiite Activists Begins
October 29th, 2010 by Evan
On Thursday, the trial of 25 Shiite activists accused of plotting against the Sunni Al-Khalifa regime began in Manama. The defendants all pleaded not guilty and complained that they were abused while in pre-trial detention, a charge prosecutors denied. According to Agence France-Presse, human rights activist Abduljalil al-Singace told the court “We were subjected to physical and mental torture (and) were placed in solitary confinement.” If convicted the accused face life imprisonment.
Posted in Bahrain, Human Rights, Judiciary | Comment »
Are Elections in Bahrain, Jordan, and Egypt Meaningless?
October 27th, 2010 by Jason
Writing at Foreign Policy’s Middle East Channel, Shadi Hamid puts the recent election in Bahrain and the upcoming elections in Jordan and Egypt into context: “Saturday’s elections in Bahrain instead reflected a new and troubling trend in the Arab world: the free but unfair — and rather meaningless — election.” While opposition groups were able to adapt and take advantage of the “Arab spring” of 2005, the regions authoritarians were not far behind in creating a “democratic facade” to present to the international community. Hamid says that “[s]ome might consider this a workable compromise: Arabs get to vote and let out some steam. Friendly Arab regimes get to maintain their grip on power.” This arrangement is not viable in the long term, Hamid contends, because young people are becoming restless with the political theater. “If free but meaningless elections become the new norm, the Arab opposition may be forced to adopt a more impatient and confrontational approach, one that emphasizes civil disobedience, mass protest, and other ‘de-legitimization’ techniques.”
Posted in Bahrain, Civil Society, Egypt, Elections, Freedom, Jordan, Reform, US foreign policy | Comment »
Bahrain: Shiite Opposition Gains
October 25th, 2010 by Evan
On Saturday Al-Wefaq, Bahrain’s leading Shiite opposition party,
won 18 seats in the lower house of parliament following a hotly contested election season. The opposition could win an absolute majority when the nine remaining seats are decided in the October 30th runoff election. According to government officials, 67% of those eligible to vote did so and despite worries that the election would be a catalyst for unrest, no violence was reported. The opposition
reports that Shiite voters were turned away at multiple polling places, and the heavy security presence at the voting stations indicate that the government’s crackdown is not over yet. Next week, the 23 Shiite activists arrested in the run-up to the election will go on trial in Manama.
Posted in Bahrain, Elections, Freedom | Comment »
Bahrain: Disappointment over Failed Reforms
October 21st, 2010 by Evan
In the Financial Times, Andrew England writes that there is a great deal of concern, both in Bahrain and abroad, that political reforms enacted by the ruling Al-Khalifa family have failed: “‘What we are seeing in Bahrain these days is a return to full-blown authoritarianism,’ says Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. ‘The government has taken over associations and shut down media it doesn’t like to silence the loudest critics and intimidate the rest.’” Bahraini officials have also manipulated districting across country to ensure Sunni candidates will win a clear majority in the parliamentary election this Saturday, Reuters reports. In the Shai neighborhood of Aly, for example, 1,000 residents were forced to register in the nearby Riffa district where no Shai candidates are on the ballot.
Posted in Bahrain, Elections, Reform | Comment »
Bahrain: Unrest Not a “Sectarian Clash”
October 20th, 2010 by Jason
Kristian Coates-Ulrichsen and Christopher M. Davidson write at openDemocracy that Bahrain has taken a “tactical shift […] combined with some of the pathologies associated with an authoritarian regime […] In these circumstances, any illusion of Bahraini democracy is rapidly being dispelled.” Describing a pattern of repression and inequality, the authors state that “what is happening in Bahrain can no longer be plausibly presented as what the Al-Khalifa […] seek to make you believe it is: a sectarian clash. In fact, neither a great Sunni-Shi’a conflict nor an Iranian conspiracy is responsible for Bahrain’s unrest. Its core is rather a genuine popular movement against the injustices and abuses perpetrated by an outdated regime.” The authors see in Bahrain a possible script for other nations in the gulf that face resource, population, and civil society challenges in the near term. “A regime that is unable to keep distributing wealth and maintain its population in a depoliticised condition, and sees repression as its only recourse, represents a model that the other sheikh-dominated regimes will have to face in the coming post-oil decades.”
Posted in Bahrain, Civil Society, Elections, Freedom, Human Rights | Comment »
New “World Press Freedom Index” Shows Decline in Middle East Media Freedom
October 20th, 2010 by Anna
Reporters Without Borders released its annual World Press Freedom Index today. In the Middle East and North Africa, press freedom saw mild improvements in some places, but deterioration overall. Morocco dropped 8 places in the global ranking, which the report’s authors attribute to “the arbitrary closing down of a newspaper, the financial ruin of another newspaper, orchestrated by the authorities, etc.” Tunisia’s score also worsened “because of its policy of systematic repression enforced by government leaders in Tunis against any person who expresses an idea contrary to that of the regime,” as well as a new amendment to the penal code that essentially criminalizes contact with foreign organizations that could damage national economic interests. In Syria and Yemen, press freedom continues to suffer as arbitrary arrests and torture are “still routine,” and crackdowns in Iran have kept that country at the near-bottom of the index. The rankings went down for Bahrain and Kuwait due to an uptick in charges against bloggers, including prominent Kuwaiti blogger Mohammed Abdel Qader Al-Jassem. The Palestinian Territories rose 11 places because “the violations committed in the year just ended are simply ‘less serious’ than in 2009,” and Algeria also saw mild improvements in media freedom. In Iraq, a higher score reflects the fact that journalists now work in safer conditions than in the past.
Posted in Bahrain, Freedom, Gulf, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Middle Eastern Media, Palestine, Syria, Technology, Tunisia | Comment »
The Economist Reviews Parliamentary Elections Across the Region
October 14th, 2010 by Evan
In a new piece, The Economist surveys the political environment in Egypt and Jordan ahead of their upcoming parliamentary elections. “No big surprises are expected, largely because the rulers of each have found ways to keep loyalists in charge and critics at bay. None of their parliaments has much say, in any case. Even so, the contests provide a rare platform for organised dissent and, just as important, for testing the regimes’ skill at boxing in challengers, particularly Islamists, without provoking too strong a backlash from their supporters,” the authors write. In a separate article on the Bahraini parliamentary elections, The Economist responds to the Bahraini government’s argument that Wefaq party is acting at the behest of Iran: “Indeed, blaming foreigners is standard practice whenever a ripple of disharmony laps the island monarchy’s shore […] Wefaq does not, in any event, demand the immediate advent of full democracy. Nor, despite assertions by government figures, does it want a theocracy à la Iran”.
Posted in Bahrain, Egypt, Elections, Jordan | Comment »
Bahrain: Shia Activists Charged with Terrorism
October 14th, 2010 by Evan
Al Jazeera
reports that Bahraini officials have officially charged the 23 Shiite activists arrested in August with terrorism and conspiring against the government. According to
Abdurrahman al-Sayyad, a representative of the public prosecutor, the men are accused of “forming and financing an illegal organization aimed at stopping the state from carrying out its functions.” If convicted, the defendant could face life sentences, al-Sayyad
added. The trial will begin on October 28, one week after Bahrain’s contested parliamentary election.
Posted in Bahrain, Elections, Human Rights, Judiciary | Comment »
Bahrain: Government Crackdown Mutes Campaign
October 12th, 2010 by Evan
Recent government crackdowns on Shiite leaders have effectively muted Bahrain’s ongoing parliamentary campaign, reports Agence France Presse. Whereas the 2006 election was “animated” and active, this year far fewer opposition candidates are running and those that are have kept low profiles. According to a new report from NPR’s Peter Kenyon, many in Bahrain are worried that the government’s actions are not part of the cycle of protest and mild oppression Shiites have lived with for years. “’The government would arrest some of them, and they would later be pardoned. But Bahrainis say this time it feels different,” writes Kenyon, adding “the ferocity of this crackdown that began in mid-August has the feel of something more final.”
Last week, the Bahraini government also increased pressure on Human Rights Watch (HRW), which has actively documented the reports of abuse and malfeasance ahead of the election. Minister of Social Development Fatima Al Balooshi criticized HRW for politicizing human rights issues and censured the organization for meeting with opposition groups without government approval.
Posted in Bahrain, Elections, Human Rights | Comment »
Bahrain: Election Monitoring Efforts Announced
October 8th, 2010 by Evan
Bahraini officials recently announced the details of domestic electoral monitoring efforts for the October 23 parliamentary election. Justice Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ali Al Khalifa said that 300 citizens, four NGOs and the Bahrain Human Rights National Commission will monitor the vote. In an interview in The National, Al Khalifa dismissed the calls for international monitors, saying “It’s a matter of educating our people. We are a national institution and we are organising for the national election.” Opposition leaders responded to the announcement by saying that while the government goes to great lengths to create the illusion of legitimacy, the electoral process in Bahrain remains deeply flawed. Districts have been drawn to give the ruling Sunni minority an advantage, the country’s convoluted polling system gives the regime the ability to influence elections, and the government recently took control of the Bahrain Human Rights Society, one of the key NGOs tasked with monitoring the election.
Posted in Bahrain, Elections, Freedom, NGOs | Comment »
Bahrain: Repression May Radicalize Shi’ites
September 28th, 2010 by Evan
Frederik Richter, writing for Reuters, reports that the recent crackdown in Bahrain may push Shi’ites away from moderate parties: “Analysts say the crackdown is making it harder for Wefaq, the largest Shi’ite bloc in parliament, to maintain its position of advocating dialogue with the government. They say Wefaq supporters could increasingly turn to more radical groups such as Haq, that dispute the legitimacy of reforms and whose leaders have been targeted during the crackdown, seen as the biggest in ten years.” According to Richter, the success Wefaq has had working with the government has been countermanded by the recent oppression and prospects for future cooperation are dim.
Posted in Bahrain, Freedom, Human Rights, Islam and Democracy | Comment »
Bahrain: Backing a “Brave Experiment” in Democracy
September 27th, 2010 by Evan
Writing at the Telegraph’s blog, Con Coughlin defends the Bahraini government’s recent crackdown on what he describes as “Shia hardliners.” According to Coughlin, Bahrain should be congratulated for its attempts to pursue reform: “For years the ruling Sunni Al-Khalifa family have been working hard to reach an accommodation with its Shia Muslim population, who form the majority of the kingdom’s population.” Coughlin adds that “the kingdom has become a key regional ally, and it is in the West’s interests that next month’s elections are a resounding success.”
Posted in Bahrain, Civil Society | Comment »
Bahrain: Internet Breaks Government Information Monopoly
September 22nd, 2010 by Evan
In a new article at
Foreign Policy’s Middle East Channel
Fahd Desmukh, a former Bahraini blogger,
describes how the internet gives many Bahrainis access to information censored by their government: “Online forums became the first stop that opposition activists turned to when issuing public statements or announcing protest rallies. It was on these forums that news about the “Bandargate scandal” was first broken in 2006 — an alleged conspiracy in which the government was accused of trying to rig parliamentary elections. The forums also highlighted cases of sectarian discrimination, police brutality, state corruption, and political naturalization.” The regime has attempted to repress the online discussion by blocking sites and detaining prominent bloggers. Regardless, Desmukh reports, the internet continues to be a valuable tool for the opposition.
Posted in Bahrain, Journalism, Technology | Comment »
Bahrain: Shiite Cleric’s Citizenship Revoked, Tensions Build
September 21st, 2010 by Jason
Michael Collin Dunn passes along the news that two Shiite clerics have had their citizenship revoked over the past several days. Yasser al-Habib, a Kuwaiti-born cleric who currently lives in London had his citizen revoked for insulting the Prophet Muhammad’s wife, Aisha. In Bahrain, Ayatollah Sheikh Hussein al-Najati, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, had his passport canceled. Many interpreted this as a move by the Sunni monarchy of Bahrain to contain growing unrest amongst the Shiite majority. Brian Murphy, writing for the Associated Press, says “The move is seen as stern warning…” before next month’s parliamentary elections, adding that the cleric’s exile is the latest in a series of government actions: “More than 250 Shiites have been detained since mid-August and Bahrain has accused 23 political activists and others of plotting to overthrow the government. Last week, Bahrain closed the semi-independent Human Rights Society and replaced the board with people chosen by the leadership.”
King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has, in the past, been seen as a reformer, but as POMED’s Stephen McInerney puts it, “‘The reputation that King Hamad enjoyed of trying to make a more democratic country has slowly reversed in the last four or five years.’”
Posted in Bahrain, Civil Society, Elections, Freedom, Human Rights, Kuwait | Comment »
Bahrain: Few Women Candidates for Parliament
September 15th, 2010 by Anna
Habib Toumi reported in Gulf News yesterday on concerns about low turnout among women candidates for the quadrennial elections for Bahrain’s lower chamber, which are scheduled to take place on October 23. In spite of hopes by women’s rights activists that more women would seek office this year, only six have registered to run since the registration period opened two days ago. The 2002 and 2006 elections witnessed similarly low turnout from women candidates – in 2002, none of the women candidates in parliamentary and municipal elections won; in 2006, one woman won after running unopposed. Bahrain’s largest political organization, Wa’ad, has nominated Muneera Fakhro, who narrowly lost in a 2006 race. The other three main politico-religious societies – Al Wefaq, Al Asala and the Islamic Menbar – declined to endorse any women. Some party leaders expressed concern that they would face “a negative reaction from conservative constituents” if they ran female candidates. Latifa Al Gaood – the only sitting woman in parliament – has publicly encouraged women to get involved in politics.
Posted in Bahrain, Elections, Political Parties, Women | Comment »
Bahrain: Returning to the “Bad Old Days”?
September 13th, 2010 by Jason
Writing in the Guardian, Jon Marks explains why the recent actions of the Bahraini government are receiving so much attention: “In jeopardy is one of the tentative experiments at introducing meaningful political reform in the Gulf monarchies.” King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa and the Sunnit political elites, have accused hundreds of Shia Bahrainis of being part of a “‘network’ of local militants [that] has ‘external links’ with ‘outlaws’ who advocated terror and sabotage.” As Marks points out, these charges are viewed with skepticism outside of Bahrain. The author goes on to explain that recent events are not necessarily indicative of King Hamad’s reign. He says that initially King Hamad was conciliatory towards the Shia majority, allowing the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, the largest Shia group in the country, to enter the parliament.
Recent events, however, seem to have jeopardized this progress: “According to al-Wefaq’s political leader, Sheikh Ali Salman, ‘the way the ongoing security campaign has been handled, and the rights violations that accompanied it, have in one week destroyed 10 years of progress in this country.’” Marks concludes by noting that, “A continued hard line will threaten to institutionalise communal instability rather than building the more consensual politics that King Hamad has promised his diverse population.”
Posted in Bahrain, Civil Society, Elections, Human Rights, Protests | Comment »
