Witnessing Revolution #217

You are in the 217th Witness Revolution diary, bearing witness to pro-democracy movements in North Africa, the Middle East and beyond. We aim here to simply report, from as many reliable worldwide resources as possible, on the successes, challenges or failures of the brave people striving against oppression for representative democracy with civil and human rights. One small bit of assurance that they do not strive in obscurity. Please see the 200th edition where participants shared what this series means to them.

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

(photo caption)Ahmed Farhan, killed on 15 March 2011 by security forces, the man carrying him (Munaim Mansoor) was sentenced later to 3 years imprisonment by military court, for carrying him.
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Since mid-April, the government of Bahrain has urged its citizens to sign pledges of allegiance to the country's "wise leadership," saying the signatures would be inscribed on a golden sword whose existence would then be entered in the Guinness Book of World Records, in the category of... well, "sword bearing the largest number of signatures," according to the official Bahrain News Agency.
Allegiance "events" have been held all over the island kingdom -- in stadiums, schools and, in June, at businesses where citizens lined up dutifully to sign the pledge.
No reports yet on whether the campaign includes prisons, where hundreds of political protestors and dissidents are held.

This lack of action by the Harper government is in spite of the fact that the Canadian Consuls in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are fully aware of the case. The official silence may be due to a bilateral trade deal Canada is in the process of completing with the Bahraini regime, and also Ottawa’s increasing subordinance to Washington’s foreign policy and therefore unwillingness to upset an important US ally in the Persian Gulf.

Naser Al Raas (28), who resides in Ottawa, was caught up in the popular uprising in the oil-rich Gulf kingdom that erupted in mid-February while on a family holiday. He arrived in Bahrain on 6 March to visit his five sisters who live there. But when the former Microsoft IT specialist went to exit the country on 20 March, he was stopped while boarding his flight by ministry of interior officers. Although Al Raas was travelling on a Canadian passport, he was hauled into a room at Bahrain’s international airport and detained for several hours during which time he was hooded, interrogated and physically assaulted. That was just the beginning of his nightmare.

He was then taken by his captors to the infamous Al Qala – the ministry of interior headquarters in the capital, Manama, and incarcerated for four weeks without any criminal charges being made. During his illegal detention, Al Raas was severely tortured.
The Canadian suffers from a rare lung and heart condition – pulmonary embolism. He has previously undergone two open-heart operations at the Ottawa Heart Institute and he requires constant medication. Around the time of arrest, his supply of medication, which he had brought from Canada, ran out. He has been without treatment for nearly four months now.

SYRIA

(ht JustJennifer 7/21) - Drawn By a Syrian girl...

Dreaming of Peace and Freedom!

This's Not Tahrir Square in Egypt, in fact it's Hama downtown Assi square in Syria! ''WE HAVE BROKEN THE FEAR BARRIER AND WE WILL WIN''

(07.19.2011) Homs | Syrian security open fire on a funeral - Syria

LIBYA

A mother explains how she lost three sons during the uprising. May God grant patience to all the mothers of martyrs.

“My kids were in front of the house, and a rocket from Gaddafi came and killed them. Three of them died, two of them had their legs injured, and another his arm cut off. Right in front of my house. And sufficient for us is God, and [He is] the best Disposer of affairs.”