Zainab Alkhawaja (Angry Arabiya) said I could post her Tweets as a blogpost
A policeman told me on the phone I cud take clothes for my husband at a specific police station.. I woke up early, packed a small bag with a few clothes, a prayer mat, shampoo and soap. Went to the police station, they won't even open the gate. They won't take anything from us. Telling us this is not a police station...
They called an ofiicer, I said to him "a policeman told me to bring clothes for my husband here. I know he's here, I brought a few things.." I said "I don't want anything, I won't even ask to see him. Just take this small bag for him, and I'll leave"
He looked angry and said "LISTEN! We don't have people here! All we have are shoes. Are u related to one of these shoes!"
I walked away. Knowing my husband is not far. That if I shouted his name, he could probably hear me.
They insult us, and think they make us less human by doing so. It is the humanity of these torturers that is nonexistent, not that of the freedom loving, pro-democracy ppl of Bahrain
As if I don't have enuf to b angry about... women in saudi will be allowed to vote.... In 2015!! As if Saudi isn't already a century late :s
What's worse is that a vote means nothing, neither here nor in Saudi. In a system where ppl have no power, voting means nothing.
I think if I was a Saudi woman my name would be Furious Arabiya.
At this writing her final tweet links the following FP article.
Bahrain's diplomatic charm offensive has run aground due to the government's brutal crackdown on its own citizens. Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who is seen as one of the leading reformers within the ruling family, was due to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington on June 7. But the crown prince's t�-�� was derailed by news reports on June 6 that the trial of 47 doctors and nurses who treated injured protesters would begin in a special security court in the capital of Manama.
But developments unfolding the last week or so and "the vacillating King Hamad, whom one local diplomat described as too easily swayed and lacking strategic vision" got in the way of diplomacy.
With Crown Prince Salman and Khalid in Washington, he was thus vulnerable to the advice of the hard-line head of the royal court and Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid. King Hamad was also blocked by the White House from coming to the United States a few weeks ago for the graduation of one of his children -- a snub that may have also raised his anger at the Obama administration.
[...] Fresh elections are now being promised in September for Bahrain's lower house, an almost completely powerless legislative body. The members of the upper house are appointed by the king and are only marginally more influential. The day before Saudi Arabia sent forces into Bahrain, the crown prince, who was then in charge of the national dialogue, had accepted the principle of "a government that represents the will of the people." This contentious notion probably gave Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, as well as Bahraini hard-liners, heartburn. It is notable that the concept of representative democracy has not been mentioned as part of the revived dialogue. Meanwhile hundreds of protesters remain detained, including people not involved in violence. Small protests in the last few days have been dispersed with tear gas, rubber bullets, and birdshot.
In his May 19 address on the Arab Spring, Obama said Bahrain's government "must create the conditions for dialogue." However, it's going to take more than a polite request to pry Bahrain from the grip of Saudi Arabia and the most intractable members of the island's royal family.
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Bahrain is the smallest country in the Middle East. It is an archipelago the largest island of which is Bahrain. It's located along the coast of Saudi Arabia, just north of Qatar, in a body of water most Americans have been taught to call the Persian Gulf, but which is quietly unlabeled on most Google maps because the Arab world calls it the Arabian Gulf, finding the term Persian offensive.
Bahrain, though tiny, is a thorn in the side of authorities because the main population is Shiite, the powers that be are Sunni and bad blood between these two main divisions of Islam predates modern political history.
One can study reams of articles and books that dance around this fact, but it is the defining reality of life in Bahrain. It is an echo of the same social and political divides that separate blacks from whites in South Africa and North America, Jews from Palestinians in their part of the world, Han Chinese from everybody else in their part of China, Tutsis from Hutus in Rwanda, Muslims from Hindus in Kashmir and so forth around the world. I could write all day about the evils of discrimination, but after everything else is taken away, that is the root of the conflict in Bahrain.
Nick Kristof was in Bahrain for the February demonstrations. He saw the situation first hand and wrote about it at the time. When Zainab referred to Mr. Jawad as Bahrain's Nelson Mandella the reason was abundantly clear.
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