25th February 2013

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

SQAs Bahrain deal angers human rights campaigners
Two Bahrain-based journalists, including a reporter for The Associated Press, were blocked from entering the United Arab Emirates on Monday under apparent new restrictions by Gulf Arab states. Reem Khalifa and her husband, Mansoor al-Jamri, chief editor for Bahrain's independent Al Wasat newspaper, said they were told by authorities at Dubai International Airport that they were on a list to deny entry. No further explanations were immediately given, but it appears part of tighter coordination between Gulf allies to control and monitor journalists, activists and others in the region. Read More hosted by the University of Sharjah.

UAE bars British scholar over his views on Bahrain

The United Arab Emirates says it has barred a British scholar from entering the country because of his views on the uprising against fellow Gulf rulers in Bahrain. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, co-director of the Kuwait program at the London School of Economics, was due to speak Sunday at an Arab Spring conference co-

He was turned back at Dubai's airport on Friday and organizers called off the event, citing restrictions on free speech. The UAE's Foreign Ministry on Monday described Ulrichsen's work as critical of Bahrain's monarchy, which is closely backed by Gulf Arab states. It says "non-constructive" views on Bahrain are unwelcome amid talks seeking to ease the two-year-old unrest. Read More entering the UAE where he was supposed to deliver a paper on Bahrain at a conference organised by the American University of Sharjah and his institute, the London School of Economics and Politics (LSE), the UAE foreign ministry said. "Ulrichsen has consistently propagated views delegitimising the Bahraini monarchy," the ministry was quoted as saying by WAM state news agency. Read More

Emirates bans European researcher from entering country over Bahrain

The Emirati Foreign Ministry said on 22 February that Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a European researcher in Gulf affairs, was denied entry to the UAE to speak at a conference organized by the American University of Sharjah and the London School of Economics and Political Science, over comments she had made about Bahrain.

A foreign ministrystatementpublishe d by the Emirates News Agency WAM said Ulrichsen was scheduled to speak on the current political situation in Bahrain. "The UAE is a strong supporter of efforts by the government of Bahrain and the opposition parties to resolve their situation through peaceful dialogue. Dr Coates Ulrichsen has consistently propagated views de-legitimizing the Bahraini monarchy," the ministry claimed in the statement. Read More

UAE bars Western academician over his negative stand on Bahrain

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates said on Monday that a Western academician was barred from entering the Gulf state following his strong criticism of the monarchy in neighbouring Bahrain. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen was stopped on Friday from

Why London academic was banned from UAE

An academic was denied entry to the UAE because he consistently de-legitimises the Bahraini monarchy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement published by Wam, the state news agency. Dr Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, an academic with the London

School of Economics, was to speak at a planned conference at the American University of Sharjah entitled The New Middle East: Transition in the Arab World. The Ministry said yesterday he had been prevented from entering the country because it was deemed to be unhelpful to allow nonconstructive views on the situation in Bahrain to be expressed in the UAE. Read More

U.K. University Cancels U.A.E. Conference Citing Curbs

A conference in the United Arab Emirates on the Arab Spring organized by British and U.S. universities was canceled amid complaints about restrictions imposed by the authorities.

The event, organized by the London School of Economics and the American University of Sharjah, on The Middle East: Transition in the Arab World, was due to take place yesterday. Academics from around the world were set to present papers and debate the causes of the 2011 uprisings, according to a press release issued by the American University earlier this month. Read More a better deal for the countrys discriminatedagainst Shiite majority. Shiites say that they dont get the good schooling, the good jobs, or political power commensurate with their majority status. The mainstream Shiite political party, al-Wifaq, agreed the previous weak to talks with the Sunni monarchy. Some activists were upset with Wifaqs Sheikh Ali Salman for this move, worried that it gave too much legitimacy to the governments hard line position. Read More should join the talks due to the fact that the Sunni AlKhalifa monarchy which rules Shiite-majority Bahrain "monopolises all powers" in the tiny Gulf state. "Major disagreements emerged Sunday" when the opposition insisted that a representative of the king, and not only of the government, join the talks that began two weeks ago, a participant said on condition of anonymity. Read More

Anti-protest: Bahrain bans import of plastic Guy Fawkes masks

The Kingdom of Bahrains Industry and Commerce Minister, Hassan Fakhro, issued an unusual decree this week: he banned the importation of a plastic face mask. Anyone caught importing the V for Vendetta Guy Fawkes

mask now faces arrest, as anti-government protesters in the country have been using them to stay anonymous. The stylised visage of Guy Fawkes became popular among protesters after the 2005 Hollywood lm depicted thousands marching on Parliament wearing them. Read More

Bahrains Agony Continues 2 Years Later

Bahrain national dialogue talks began again on Sunday as two small parties came back to the table after a token protest against what they called street violence. Last week saw the commemoration by the opposition in Bahrain of the second anniversary of its Arab Spring protests, demanding a move toward constitutional monarchy and

Gwynne Dyer: Bahrain crackdown influenced by Saudi neighbour

FLOGGINGS WILL CONTINUE until morale improves. As a way of dealing with a discontented crew, it was much favoured by 18th-century sea captains, but the Bahrain government has been an apt pupil. Alas, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah al-Khalifa doesnt quite grasp that this sort of policy statement must be clear and concise.

Announcing that the Bahraini authorities would intensify the repression that has prevailed since the crushing of prodemocracy demonstrations two years ago, the sheikh declared last October: It has been decided to stop all gatherings and marches and not to allow any activity before being reassured about security and achieving the required stability in order to preserve national unity. Read More

Bahrain national dialogue in tatters

Bahrain's national dialogue, aimed at resolving the political deadlock in the kingdom, is in trouble due to major disagreements between the government and the Shiite-led opposition, participants said Monday. The opposition insists that representatives of the king

National dialogue session yields no agreement

The fourth session of national talks launched to break a political deadlock in Bahrain has failed to yield new agreements with sides exchanging accusations of holding up progress or eroding robust foundations. Participants said that they were surprised by the insistence of the coalition

of the opposition societies to push for an ofcial representative of King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa being present at the talks. The demand was atly rejected by Shaikh Khalid Bin Ali Al Khalifa, the justice minister, who argued that the participants had agreed at the second session that the government was the ofcial side and that it would be represented by three ministers at the talks. Read More