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Sandhurst's sheikhs: Why do so many Gulf royals receive military training in the UK? Generations of foreign royals - particularly from the Middle East - have learned to be military leaders at the UK's Sandhurst officer training academy. But is that still a good idea, asks Matthew Teller. Since 1812, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, on the Surrey/Berkshire border, has been where the British Army trains its officers. It has a gruelling 44-week course testing the physical and intellectual skills of officer cadets and imbuing them with the values of the British Army. Alongside would-be British officers, Sandhurst has a tradition of drawing cadets from overseas. Many of the elite families of the Middle East have sent their sons and daughters. Perhaps the most notable was King Hussein of Jordan. Four reigning Arab monarchs are graduates of Sandhurst and its affiliated colleges - King Abdullah of Jordan, King Hamad of Bahrain, Sheikh Tamim, Emir of Qatar, and Sultan Qaboos of Oman. Past monarchs include Sheikh Saad, Emir of Kuwait, and Sheikh Hamad, Emir of Qatar. Sandhurst alumni: King Hamad of Bahrain, King Abdullah of Jordan and Sultan Qaboos of Oman Continues here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28896860

Salaam, Jordan, Egypt, UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, Saudi Arabia (apparently) and now Morocco: https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2020/12/10/israel-morocco-agree-to-normalise-relations-in-us-brokered-deal#click=https://t.co/banbRgkQLn Who's next in the chain of normalization and how can this change the political situation in the Middle-East in favor of Israel?

Tortured rohingya boy (Warning contains Graphical violence) ‏توییت ‎@nslwin را بررسی کنید: https://twitter.com/nslwin/status/943155498295144449?s=09

[WARNING: Graphic violence. Viewer discretion is advised.] Tortured rohingya boy (Warning contains Graphical violence) ‏توییت ‎@nslwin را بررسی کنید: Ahed Tamimi https://youtu.be/8YM41wofiXw bahrain protest Yemen genocide Nigeria shia muslims

jrh alhussain is media network which covers ahl albait ceremonies in Bahrain. | YouTube Channel Link | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIsmLCJ-eGZLTwhbsgyIkPA Please help us spread ahl albait latmeyat a cross the world by watching, commenting and subscribing to our channel. May God bless you all.

In memory of the death of fatima almasooma, sister of imam ali redha 1439. Mulla jaffar durazi. *شبكة جُرْحَ الحُسَيٓنْ* الرادود: جعفر الدرازي مأتم الرسول الاعظم (ص) - سهلة الجنوبية ذكـرى: شهـادة السيدة فاطمة المعصومة (ع) سنــة: ١٤٣٩هـــ الفقــرة الثانية https://youtu.be/IkL6Ysepb04 تصـويــر: جــرح الحسيـــن التسجيـل والهندســة: جــرح الحسيـــن مونـتــــاج: جــرح الحسيـــن أرسـل كلمــة *اشتــراگ WhatsApp: 36990301 #

In memory of 29-safar-1439 Mulla : mahdi sahwa location : muharaq - bahrain Montage : jrh alhussain https://youtu.be/nIvgMRqsRiQ

Short latmya video in memory of al sayeda Ruqya bnt alhussain death that describe zeryat alarbaeen this has been recorded and done in Bahrain - Sanad if any one would like to listen to this live recorded latmya in high quality just post in the comments. follow us on Instagram where we post new latmyat and short videos in memory of ahl albait Maajooreen

The Bahraini regime has stripped the country’s top Shia cleric Ayatollah Issa Qassem of his citizenship. Sheikh Qassem has been a supporter of reforms in Bahrain. The Persian Gulf Arab country has been under fire for stepping up its crackdown against opposition leaders. Bahrain's Interior Ministry announced in an statement on Monday the country's top Shiite cleric was stripped of his citizenship. meanwhile, In a rare statement issued on Monday, General Soleimani warned the Manama regime that in case of any insult or disrespect for Sheikh Qassim, "the toppling of the regime will only be a small part of the repercussions that will also include armed resistance". The General blasted the Manama regime for its "unacceptable and inhuman oppression, discrimination, injustice and humiliation" against the Muslim Bahraini nation, and said people on the tiny Persian Gulf island have so far tolerated the Al-Khalifa regime's apartheid and heavy pressures and continued their uprising peacefully despite the fact that a number of their political and religious leaders have been arrested, their women and children have been imprisoned and tortured, some others have been stripped of their citizenship and undergone intensifying pressures with their rights trampled upon. He said people's rise for their demands in a peaceful way has, unfortunately, emboldened the Al-Khalifa regime to intensify its crimes and crackdown on the Bahraini nation, "specially as a result of the meaningful silence shown by the UN, the US and the Western states," everyday. "The illegal detention of Sheikh Ali Salman (the head of the main opposition group, Alwefaq) and other political and religious leaders of Bahrain in light of the silence of the international circles has emboldened the Al-Khalifa to threaten the sanctuary of the remarkable cleric and religious leader of Bahrain's Shiites, Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassim, and inspired the people of the region and Bahrain with worrying thoughts," General Soleimani said in his statement. "The Al-Khalifa seems to be misusing the peaceful movement of the people and is miscalculating the extent of public fury," he said, and added, "They certainly know that trespassing the sanctuary of Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassim is a redline whose crossing will set fire to Bahrain and the entire region and leave people with no other option, but armed resistance." "The Al-Khalifa will pay the price of such an action whose endpoint will be nothing but annihilation of this tyrannical regime," the Iranian Quds Force Commander warned. General Soleimani also warned supporters of the Manama regime that any insult to Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassim and continued overpressure on the Bahraini people heralds "a bloody Intifada (uprising) with consequences whose responsibility will fall on those who legitimize the arrogance of the Bahraini rulers". http://presstv.ir/ + http://en.farsnews.com/

(BISMILLAH) (Salam) I hope you are all in the best of health and Imaan. The following is an article by The Verge, outlining how the Bahraini government purchases professional spyware that can rival the NSA's capabilities from a British-German firm and used it to monitor and interfere with the life of an activist who had sought asylum in London: http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/21/7861645/finfisher-spyware-let-bahrain-government-hack-political-activist As a side note, while we have heard many complaints about the West not reporting enough about Bahrain, this is a good example of that not always being the case. The Verge is, in fact, not even a news or political site; it is simply a tech/lifestyle site and, yet, they have published this most illuminating story.

Time for liberation of Eastern Saudi and time for liberating the occupied Yemeni provinces... the dogs of hell cannot and should not get away with this... Saudi Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr 'sentenced to death' A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a prominent Shia cleric to death, his brother has said on Twitter. Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr went on trial in Riyadh last year after being accused by prosecutors of "sowing discord" and "undermining national unity". The cleric was a vocal supporter of the mass anti-government protests that erupted in Eastern Province in 2011. His arrest two years ago, during which he was shot and wounded by police, triggered days of deadly unrest. Oil-rich Eastern Province is home to a Shia majority that has long complained of marginalisation at the hands of the Sunni royal family. Protests began there in February 2011 after the start of the pro-democracy uprising in neighbouring Bahrain, which has a Shia majority and a Sunni royal family. The Saudi authorities deny discriminating against Shia and blame Iran for stirring up discontent. 'Crucifixion' Sheikh Nimr's brother said he had been sentenced to death by Riyadh's Specialised Criminal Court, which tries terrorism cases, on Wednesday morning. When the cleric, who holds the rank of ayatollah, went on trial in March 2013 prosecutors called for his execution by "crucifixion", a punishment which in Saudi Arabia involves beheading followed by public display of the decapitated body. Human rights groups expressed concern at the time that he would not receive a fair trial. They also said he had still not been given access to adequate medical care for the gunshot wounds he received during his arrest in July 2012, something denied by the authorities. Police shot Sheikh Nimr in the leg four times in disputed circumstances as they detained him after a car chase in Eastern Province's Qatif district. Officials said he rammed a security forces vehicle, leading to a gun battle. However, his family disputed the allegation that he resisted arrest and insisted that he did not own a weapon. The cleric was held for eight months before being charged and reportedly spent the first four in an isolation cell at a prison hospital in Riyadh. Activists and relatives say Sheikh Nimr, who has a wide following among Shia in Eastern Province and other states, supported only peaceful protests and eschewed all violent opposition to the government. In 2011, he told the BBC that he supported "the roar of the word against authorities rather than weapons... the weapon of the word is stronger than bullets, because authorities will profit from a battle of weapons". His arrest prompted days of protests in which three people were killed. BBC

(bismillah) (salam) Today in Pakistan's leading newspaper,Daily Jang Lahore edition, there was a one column news on activities of ISIS in Bahrain. so i searched on this topic and it was true.ISIS has started its activities and it seems like Bahrainian security and intelligence officials are fully aware of it. Al-alam news agency posted this on 26 july Thursday, June 26, 2014 11:20 AM Ex-intelligence official forming the ISIL of Bahrain :Report- See more at: http://en.alalam.ir/news/1605922#sthash.647vjqqb.dpuf Adel Jassim Flaifel, former colonel in the State Security and Intelligence Service of BahrainA former Bahraini intelligence official is reportedly conducting activities to set up a Bahraini branch for the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Levant to act against the pro-democracy opposition in the tiny Persian Gulf country.According to a report by the Manama Post, Colonel Adel Jassim Flaifel, a former colonel in the State Security and Intelligence Service of Bahrain, is forming the branch with participation of extremist Salafi figures. The ISIL is a former affiliate of al-Qaeda terrorist group, which has been one of the main forces in the Syrian war aimed at overthrowing the government and has recently started an extremist-marked assault in north of Iraq. The paper says American intelligence services have already reported of the underway activities for formation of the group by Flaifel. The report also says the Bahraini regime of Al Khalifa has been warned by US authorities over consequences of its brutal crackdown of the pro-democracy movement, that could get worse by formation of radical groups in the country. Flaifel is accused of committing acts of physical and psychological torture on Bahraini citizens from 1980s. He has also been reportedly involved in acts of violence against pro-democracy activists in the country. On 5 December, Flaifel tweeted death threats against three activists involved in the 2011-2012 Bahraini uprising: Mohammed Al-Maskati, Nabeel Rajab, and Yousef Al-Mahafdha. The incident led the International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organisation Against Torture to issue a joint statement calling for a letter-writing campaign on the men's behalfsince mid-February 2011, thousands of protesters have held numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling on the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power. Foreign forces from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were called in immediately at the beginning of the protests to help Manama quash the anti-regime protests. Scores of Bahrainis have been killed and hundreds of others injured and arrested in the ongoing crackdown on peaceful demonstrations - See more at: http://en.alalam.ir/news/1605922#sthash.647vjqqb.dpuf

The Clouds of Death - Documentary

News and everything else on the Peaceful Movement in Bahrain and the oppression of the people of Bahrain. Please post here everything concerning the oppression of Bahraini people and their Peaceful Movement for human rights. Activist says Bahrain sentences 50 for suspected links to militant group Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/activist-bahrain-sentences-50-for-suspected-links-to-militant-group/2013/09/29/b8afa0f2-28f6-11e3-b141-298f46539716_story.html

WARNING: may be somewhat disturbing http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=11e_1361693084 Not sure if protesters, but more likely to be just common thugs trying to rob this vehicle. It's a bit disturbing, and I hope it isn't in violation of the rules to post it here

Today February 14th, 2012 is the one year Anniversary of the revolution in Bahrain. On Feb 14th 2011, tens of thousands of Bahrainis, both sunnis and shias protested against the government and called for political reforms, social justice and an end to government discrimination against them. One year on, and Bahrainis are still struggling and demonstrating day and night, facing the ruthless regime of Al Khalifa with bravery and determination. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011%E2%80%932012_Bahraini_uprising

It is no secret that across the world shias are being massacred. This past weekend many shias have been killed in TARGET KILLINGS throughout Pakistan, and not just in Quetta. This past friday Peshawari Shia's held a protest over the TARGET KILLINGS of several professionals yet the pakistani media didn't even bother to cover it. The same pattern is being shown through out the world, Iraq too had seen numerous attacks this past weekend. That being said I'm advocating for shia's in volatile countries, bereft of law and order to move and migrate to more developed countries. There are many ways to do this. For starters there are many countries that are experiencing labor shortages for both skilled and unskilled workers. Many of these countries will allow for easy migration. What I would like to recommend is for students and professionals to migrate. The trend currently in Pakistan is to target Shia professionals and students. That being said college bound students should opt to study abroad, being that you can get a high level degree as well as easily get a student visa. For doctors, accountants, and other professionals, they too should opt to work abroad. The opportunities are endless and there are plenty of countries that need skilled labor. One of India's greatest exports are skilled labor. The persecuted global shia community should follow the Indian model of sending talented and educated youth abroad. Like I said the opportunities, experiences, and tranquility that you can find would certainly be worth it. I am an American that has lived briefly in Pakistan. I frequently visit and the overall consensus of my family is that it is no place to live. Every other day there are murders or a strike. Kids can't go to school, businessman can't conduct business, and there's always a chance you might not come home. That being said I would like to advocate for the global shia community to leave areas where they are persecuted and opt for a better life abroad. Please spread the word and share your thoughts. Sincerely, Hus

Egyptian President Morsi leaves presidential palace as protests turn violent CAIRO – Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi left the presidential palace Tuesday as violence erupted between police and at least 100,000 protesters gathered in Cairo. In a brief outburst, police fired tear gas to stop protesters approaching the palace in the capital's Heliopolis district. Morsi was in the palace conducting business as usual while the protesters gathered outside. But he left for home through a back door when the crowds "grew bigger," according to a presidential official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Fox News

Shaykh Muhammad Al Arifi writes in his Tweet: ''Some of the brothers have asked us about waging war inside Israel - we say to them, Jihad is not allowed in countries where there is peace - such as Saudi Arabia, Israel and Qatar... " This monafiq cleric was the one who few years ago insulted Shia scholars, including Ayt. Sistani because the Houthis in North Yemen gave Saudi soldiers a good lesson after they invaded their regions. After he called all Shias as majoosi and Sahaba insulters, he then went on to say that Shias never did Jihad in their history and always conspired with moguls and Tatars and etc.. against the Muslim world. He also actively called on all Sunnis and Sunni countries to help terrorists in Syria against Rafidhis (Alawites) and invited ppl to join the Jihad in Syria and Iraq. Now, he forbids Jihad in Israel, Qatar and Saudi. May you burn in hell Al-Arifi, inshallah!

Iran vows to hit US bases if Israel strikes US bases in Qatar, Afghanistan and Bahrain will be targets if Israel attacks Iran, senior military official says Iran will target US bases in the Gulf should a war break out with Israel, a senior Iranian military official has said. General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, a commander with Iran’s revolutionary guards, said on Sunday that US military bases in Qatar, Bahrain and Afghanistan are legitimate targets, because Israel would not attack the Islamic Republic without US involvement. "The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the US bases in the region as part of American soil and will definitely target them if a war breaks out," he was quoted as saying. A spokesman for the US Department of Defence told Al Jazeera: "Inflammatory rhetoric of this sort is unhelpful." "The United States stands ready to defend itself against any threat in the Middle East or elsewhere," Jim Gregory, a Department of Defence spokesman, told Al Jazeera by email. The US Navy's Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, while Qatar and Afghanistan host large military bases and thousands of troops. 'Pre-emptive attack' "We see the United States and the Zionist regime [of Israel] alongside one another and we can by no means imagine that the Zionist regime would initiate a war [against Iran] without the US support." Should Israel and Iran engage militarily, "nothing is predictable... and it will turn into World War III," Hajizadeh said, adding that some countries might enter the war in favor of or against Iran, likely in reference to the oil-rich Gulf states. Hajizadeh’s statement, made during an interview with Iran's state sponsored Al-Alam television, is the latest salvo in a long-running war of words over Iran’s nuclear programme. Iran says its nuclear programme is intended solely for peaceful purposes, while the West and Israel believe Tehran wants to develop weapons. "Iran will not start any war but it could launch a pre-emptive attack if it was sure that the enemies are putting the final touches to attack it," Al-Alam TV said, paraphrasing the military commander. Aljazeera ----------------------------------- If Iran attacks these countries in times of war, it will receive the absolute support and backing of the entire Shia community worldwide!

What is the difference between the Saudi Government & Zionists? What is the difference between the Qatari Government & Zionists? What is the difference between the Bahrain Government & Zionists? What is the difference between Turkey's Government & Zionists? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING

Houthis' Leader: S. Arabia Ready for Aggression against Yemen TEHRAN (FNA)- Leader of Yemen's Houthi Movement Seyed Abdelmalik al-Houthi in a statement condemned the Saudi monarchy for its interference in Yemen's internal affairs, and said Riyadh has prepared itself to wage an aggression of Northern Yemen. In a statement a copy of which was sent to FNA, Al-Houthi warned that Saudi Arabia has a plot to open a new front into Yemen's Northern borders in a bid to attack the country's Shiite population through its hirelings and mercenaries. Al-Houthi underlined that the Saudi plot is aimed at an aggression of the "al-Hojjah" province, distancing the Yemeni people from their revolution and stirring sectarian strife in the country. "We emphasize that these aggressive measures aim to set fire on the Hojjah province and distance the Yemeni nation from their revolution, specially because of their opposition to foreign and regional intervention in Yemen, including the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) initiative," said the statement, adding, "Another goal pursued by this measure (the plot for aggression) is nurturing sectarian conflicts in Yemen." He said that Saudi Arabia's attempts to spark a civil war in Yemen through using the political and economic conditions of the country is an immoral and irreligious act that contradicts the interests of both the Saudi and Yemeni nations. Al-Houthi blamed Saudi Arabia for all calamities and backwardness of Yemen, saying, "We remind the Yemen nation that the Saudi regime's financial backup for civil wars and its moves for sparking sectarian strife in recent decades are the main reason for all calamities of this nation and these measures have deterred Yemen from progress and prosperity the same way that it (Saudi Arabia) is confronting the Yemeni nation's revolution in a bid to prevent them from achieving freedom and justice," the statement said. His remarks came after earlier reports from Yemen said that Saudi Arabia has been funding and training Somali refugees to fight the Shiite Houthi movement and spark sectarian strife in Yemen in a bid to immune the kingdom to the spread of Yemen's revolution. Informed sources said in April that nearly 1,300 Somalis have arrived in Saudi Arabia through the country's border with Yemen and are being trained and provided with logistical aid and weapons to return to Yemen to stop the spread of Islamic awakening to Saudi Arabia. "These people can easily infiltrate Yemen's coasts via sea routes by the possibilities that the US (Saudi Arabia's staunch ally) provides for them in a bid to fuel sectarian and ethnic strife in the region as sought by the US intelligence apparatus," the sources underscored. "Saudi Arabia is also welcoming them and is training them in its special military training centers to use them against the Shiite Houthis in Northern Yemen," the sources said. Meantime, sources said that Saudi Arabia has recently evacuated five Yemeni villages and destroyed homes near the borders and will construct a wall in the joint border areas. The Al-Houthi movement has opposed Saudi Arabia's interfering measures in Yemen. The movement said that uprisings in the region have increased Riyadh's concerns about the future of the Saudi regime. Since Saudi Arabia shares long joint borders with Yemen, it has interfered in the country's internal affairs and still continues meddling. The revolution of the Yemeni people has worried Saudi Arabia because Riyadh is worried that the flames of the revolution may spread to Saudi Arabia too. FarsNews

It does not matter. in the alley of Medina or in the streets of Manama in Bahrain. the slap by government officials is always painful.

The Rise of New Bloody War in the Middle East The advent of democracy and equality of citizens in the Middle East is not only a bad news for the current dictators of the Arab world, Al Qaeda and its Wahhabi affiliates are equally worried. Also in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Wahhabi share one common characteristic with the current Wahhabi rulers of Saudi Arabia, i.e., acute hatred for Shia who they consider infidels. The events of the Arab Spring have heightened long-standing tensions in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. Just three days after large-scale protests started in Bahrain on 2011, protests began in the Eastern Province, which is a 30-minute drive across the causeway from Bahrain. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Saudi interior ministry vowed to crush the protests with an "Iron Fist" and has unleashed a media-smear campaign against protests and the Shiites in general. While protests subsided over the summer, they started again in October and have become larger ever since, leading to an ever more heavy-handed response from the security forces. The Eastern Province is home to virtually all of Saudi Arabia's oil and to a sizeable Shiite majority, or around 30 percent of Saudi Arabia's citizen population. The Wahhabi creed of Salafi Islam that the state sponsors in Saudi Arabia has developed a special hostility toward the Shiites. Saudi Shiite citizens in turn have long complained of discrimination in religious practice, government employment, and business, and overall marginalization. For decades, opposition groups formed by Saudi Shiites, both leftist and Islamists, as well as hundreds of petitions by Shiite notables, have had the same demands: an end to sectarian discrimination in government employment and representation in main state sectors including at the ministerial level; more development in Shiite areas; the strengthening of the Shiite judiciary; and an end to arbitrary arrests of Shiite for religious or political reasons. None of these demands would significantly undermine the position of the royal family, or otherwise threaten the integrity of Saudi Arabia. They would rather cement the current political system and buy the allegiance of two million people living on top of the kingdom's oil. The perception of systematic discrimination has led some Saudi Shiites to embrace revolutionary ideologies over the decades. While pro-Iranian groups still exist amongst Gulf Shiites, they are not the most powerful amongst Saudi Shiites and had largely renounced violence as a political tool since at least the mid-1990s. But Saudi Arabia's repressive response to the protests and the zero-concessions policy are providing fertile breeding ground for future opposition groups. A repetition of post-1979 Shiite politics, when hundreds of young Shiites left Bahrain and Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province to become active in regional revolutionary movements, seems possible. As the protests in Bahrain and particularly in Qatif receive only limited attention on Gulf-owned channels like Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, local Shiites are forced to watch the Iranian-sponsored Arabic-language Al Alam channel, Lebanese Hezbollah's Al Manar, Iraq's Ahlul Bait TV, or increasingly other pro-Assad channels to receive updates on the situation in their areas. The new cold war in the Middle East has turned into a fully-fledged media war, in which media outlets are either with the protests in Bahrain and Qatif and for Assad's regime, or with the protests in Syria and against the allegedly sectarian protests in Bahrain and Qatif. The situation for Saudi Shiites in the Eastern Province is no secret. The U.S. State Department's Annual Report to Congress on International Religious Freedom for the second half of 2010, the period immediately predating the Arab Spring, records arbitrary detentions, mosque closures, and the arrest of Shiite worshippers. U.S. diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks revealed that U.S. diplomats, and particularly the staff at its consulate in Dhahran, have an incredible amount of information on the local Shiite communities and seem almost obsessed with grievances they deem legitimate. But the specific problems of the Saudi Shiites almost never come up at high-level meetings with Saudi officials. This is not only due to the close Saudi and U.S. alliance. Americans sometimes share the suspicion of the Gulf Shiites, which permeates some of its allied regimes. This suspicion is partly to do with Iran, but also has its roots in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers, which killed 19 U.S. servicemen. Nine Shiite prisoners have been incarcerated since 1996 for their alleged membership in Hezbollah al-Hijaz and their involvement in the bombings. They were indicted in the United States in 2001, but as U.S. foreign policy priorities changed after September 11 they became "forgotten," the name they are known by amongst Saudi Shiites. The indictment hints at the involvement of Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran but no evidence has ever been made public. At the time some Americans called for retaliation against Iran as a response to this bombing. But after September 11, fingers began to point toward al Qaeda as involved in the attack, raising questions about the guilt of these prisoners. The Shiite prisoners cannot hope ever to be "rehabilitated" in one of the government's much advertised de-radicalization programs. It seems to be justified to at least ask for a public trial, a move repeatedly endorsed by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. But such a trial does not appear to be on the foreign-policy agenda of the United States. The behavior of the Saudi leadership only allows the conclusion that repression of the Shiites is a fundamental part of Saudi political legitimacy. The state does not want to change the position of the Shiites and Shiite protests are used by the state to frighten the Sunni population of an Iranian takeover of the oilfields with the help of local Shiites. Similar narratives have been propagated in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) media for months, at the cost of further deepening the sectarian divide in the Gulf States. The GCC intervention in Bahrain has severely worsened sectarian relations in the Gulf and beyond to levels not seen since the Iranian Revolution. But this open Saudi sectarianism has already had negative repercussions in Iraq, as well as in Syria, Lebanon, and Kuwait. Bahrain looks set for years of sectarian conflict, community relations have broken down completely, and the state is conducting a campaign of what Shiite activists call "ethnic cleansing." Rather than completely alienating the Shiites, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain should negotiate a social contract with them. Failing to do so will lead to years of instability with uncertain outcomes. And it is far from certain that other Saudis will not be encouraged by the Shiite protests, as a recent statement by liberal Saudis from all over the kingdom denouncing the crackdown in Qatif has shown. The West should press its allies, above all Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, to stop simply shooting and arresting their Shiite citizens and brandishing them as Iranian agents and traitors. The alienation of Shiite youth foments a perfect breeding ground for a new Gulf Shiite opposition movement. Even without external help for the local Shiite protesters, the area looks ripe for a return to the tense sectarian politics of the 1980s. The United States should in its own, and in the Gulf States', interest push for a real reconciliation between the Shiites of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and their governments. Otherwise, sectarianism will come to dominate the Gulf, to the detriment of all.

Bahrain hunger-striker al-Khawaja moved to hospital Abdulhadi al-Khawaja's lawyer released this picture of his client in hospital on 3 AprilContinue reading the main story A leading human rights activist in Bahrain has been moved to a hospital clinic and is being fed intravenously after 58 days on hunger strike. Abdulhadi al-Khawaja is protesting against a life sentence for his role in anti-government protests last year. Mr Khawaja was convicted by a special security court of trying to overthrow Bahrain's royal family. Human rights organisations have called for him to be freed. His lawyer says his condition is worsening. Mohammed al-Jishi told Reuters that Mr Khawaja was moved to the clinic after losing 10 kg (22lb). "His condition has worsened... his blood pressure is down, and he is getting an IV (intravenous) drip," he said. His daughter Zainab has also been detained during a protest for her father on Thursday. Meanwhile security forces fired teargas and water cannon at thousands of protesters who rallied in support of Mr Khawaja on Friday. Many were carrying posters of him as they called for his release. Other protests have also been held in recent weeks against the Grand Prix which is due to be held in the country later this month. 'Forced confession' Mr Khawaja was arrested last April following the uprising centred on the Pearl Roundabout in the capital Manama. The gulf island kingdom was wracked by unrest after activists who had peacefully occupied the roundabout were forcibly driven out in confrontations with police and security forces. The human rights group Amnesty International says Mr Khawaja's conviction in June was based on a confession made under duress, and no evidence was presented showing he had used or advocated violence during the mass protests. According to testimony Mr Khawaja gave to the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry - a panel of human rights experts asked to look into the unrest by King Hamad following the international outcry over his handling of the protests - Mr Khawaja suffered prolonged torture while in detention.