tagged w/ Shiite-Sunni Conflict
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A Bahraini military court has sentenced four Shia protesters to death over the killing of two policemen during anti-government protests last month.
Three other men were sentenced to life in prison in the first verdicts related to a pro-democracy uprising, which was crushed with military help from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.
The seven were tried behind closed doors on charges of premeditated murder of government employees. Their lawyers denied the charges.
Hundreds of thousands of Bahrain's Shia-led opposition have called for greater rights and freedoms in the Sunni monarchy. Authorities have detained hundreds since martial law was declared last month to quell dissent.
Government officials have said that four policemen were killed during the unrest in February and March, at least three of whom were run over by cars around 16 March.
Hundreds of protesters, opposition leaders and human rights activists have been detained since emergency rule was declared on 15 March. Earlier this month, the authorities banned media from covering legal proceedings in the country's military courts.
Among those detained are also dozens of Shia professionals, such as doctors and lawyers, including a lawyer who was due to defend some of the seven opposition supporters in the military court.
The lawyer, Mohammed al-Tajer, is one of Bahrain's most prominent human rights lawyers. He has represented hundreds of clients against the state, including Shia activists accused of plotting against the Sunni monarchy that has ruled Bahrain for more than 200 years.
At least 30 people have died since 15 February, when anti-government protests erupted in Bahrain. Four opposition supporters have also died in police custody.
Bahrain is the home of the US navy's 5th Fleet.
Bahrain last issued a death sentence in 2007, and before that had condemned only one person to die over the preceding three decades. That verdict came in the mid-1990s, during the greatest unrest Bahrain had seen before this year's protests.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/28/bahrain-death-penalty-shia-protestersA Bahraini military court has sentenced four Shia protesters to death over the killing... more
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Iran's Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar told state television that the attackers had links to neighbouring Pakistan and that an investigation was underway.
"A group of terrorists who were trained in Pakistan carried out the bombings...we have informed Pakistani officials as well," he said.
Jundollah meanwhile said the attack was in retaliation for the execution of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi.
"This operation was in revenge for the execution of the leader of the movement Abdolmalek and other martyrs of Jundollah who were savagely hanged," the group said on its website.
It carried the names and photographs of two young men identified as the suicide bombers and said they targeted the "regime's mercenaries and Revolutionary Guards."
U.S. President Barack Obama, who has sought to engage diplomatically with Iran while pushing through tougher sanctions on Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme, condemned what he said was a "disgraceful and cowardly act."
"The murder of innocent civilians in their place of worship during Ashura is a despicable offence, and those who carried it out must be held accountable," he said in a statement.Iran's Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar told state television that the... more
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Satellite images taken at night show heavily Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Baghdad began emptying before a U.S. troop surge in 2007, graphic evidence of ethnic cleansing that preceded a drop in violence, according to a report published on Friday.
The images support the view of international refugee organizations and Iraq experts that a major population shift was a key factor in the decline in sectarian violence, particularly in the Iraqi capital, the epicenter of the bloodletting in which hundreds of thousands were killed.
Minority Sunni Arabs were driven out of many neighborhoods by Shi'ite militants enraged by the bombing of the Samarra mosque in February 2006. The bombing, blamed on the Sunni militant group al Qaeda, sparked a wave of sectarian violence.
"By the launch of the surge, many of the targets of conflict had either been killed or fled the country, and they turned off the lights when they left," geography professor John Agnew of the University of California Los Angeles, who led the study, said in a statement.
"Essentially, our interpretation is that violence has declined in Baghdad because of intercommunal violence that reached a climax as the surge was beginning," said Agnew, who studies ethnic conflict.
Some 2 million Iraqis are displaced within Iraq, while 2 million more have sought refuge in neighboring Syria and Jordan. Previously religiously mixed neighborhoods of Baghdad became homogenized Sunni or Shi'ite Muslim enclaves.
The study, published in the journal Environment and Planning A, provides more evidence of ethnic conflict in Iraq, which peaked just before U.S. President George W. Bush ordered the deployment of about 30,000 extra U.S. troops.
The extent to which the troop build-up helped halt Iraq's slide into sectarian civil war has been debated, particularly in the United States, with supporters of the surge saying it was the main contributing factor, and others arguing it was simply one of a number of factors.
"Our findings suggest that the surge has had no observable effect, except insofar as it has helped to provide a seal of approval for a process of ethno-sectarian neighborhood homogenization that is now largely achieved," Agnew's team wrote in their report.
Agnew's team used publicly available infrared night imagery from a weather satellite operated by the U.S. Air Force.
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And yet McCain said the surge was working and Obama praised the surge as a success beyond our wildest dreams? Either they are lying, or McCain and Obama have just proven how inept they both are in getting to the truth with "winning" the only thing on their minds. Unspeakable crimes have been committed in our names, and yet all we get from candidates is saying what they think certain target groups want to hear instead of the truth.Satellite images taken at night show heavily Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Baghdad began... more
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The documentary finally available online. A must watch.
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"A vicious civil war is now being fought within Iraq's Sunni Arab community between al-Qa'ida in Iraq and al-Sahwa while other groups continue to attack American forces. In Baghdad on a single day the head of al-Sahwa in the southern district of Dora was killed in his car by gunmen and seven others died by bombs and bullets in al-Adhamiya district.
US spokesmen speak of a "spike" in violence in recent weeks but in reality security in Sunni and Shia parts of Iraq has been deteriorating since January. The official daily death toll of civilians reached a low of 20 killed a day in that month and has since more than doubled to 41 a day in March. The US and the Iraqi government are now facing a war on two fronts.
The American-backed government of Nouri al-Maliki is in the meantime stepping up its campaign against the Mehdi Army militia of the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Iraqi troops sealed off the Basra office of the Sadrists yesterday. "Troops from the Iraqi army prevented us from holding Friday prayers and now they are cordoning off the office," said Harith al-Idhari, the head of the office. "They want to storm it and clear everybody out of it.""A vicious civil war is now being fought within Iraq's Sunni Arab community... more
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Iraq's prime minister raised the stakes in his showdown with followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, saying they would be barred from elections unless their militia disbands.
"A decision was taken... that they no longer have a right to participate in the political process or take part in the upcoming elections unless they end the Mehdi Army," Mr Maliki said. "Solving the problem comes in no other way than dissolving the Mehdi Army," he said.
Sadr spokesman Salah al-Ubaidi rejected the ultimatum: "No one can intervene in the Mehdi Army; only those who established it and the religious leaders," he said.
Iraq's prime minister raised the stakes in his showdown with followers of... more
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Enigmatic Shi'ite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr has again called for a million-man march in Iraq.
On Wednesday, April 9th, the march would mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Baghdad by US-led forces. Al-Sadr seeks to join all Iraq's ethnicities in a show of unity against the coalition of the increasingly unwilling, and as a rejection of signs of federalism, or sectarian division of Iraq.
'It is time you expressed your rejection of the unjust occupiers and raise your voices against them,' a message from Al-Sadr's office in Najaf stated.
Al-Sadr, in a recent interview with Al-Jazeera, rejected the idea of "liberation" because he claimed life was better under former President Saddam Hussein.
The recent cease-fire and call for peaceful demonstrations could be seen as an attempt to deescalate the recent surge of fighting; however, Al-Sadr said he supported "armed resistance" against US-led forces.
Al-Sadr has called for Million Man marches in previous years to mark the beginning of the occupation, as well as to show support for Lebanon during the July 2006 hostilities with Israel.Enigmatic Shi'ite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr has again called for a million-man march... more
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McCain has recently been conflating Iran with Al Qaeda--which is pretty implausible. That throws McCain's credentials on security into question.McCain has recently been conflating Iran with Al Qaeda--which is pretty implausible.... more
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We follow Haidar and his young British Muslim friends as they finish 30 days of fasting from sunrise to sunset. We observe them talking about their experience of fasting over the previous month and about what its like to be an observant young Muslim in British society.We follow Haidar and his young British Muslim friends as they finish 30 days of... more
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DJewel
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4 years ago
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Civilian death tolls and the number of attacks are both falling, but is this really a good sign? Civilian death tolls and the number of attacks are both falling, but is this really a... more
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After a long stalemate on the political front in Iraq, some progress is finally being made. Unfortunately, it's been accompanied by an upswing in violence as more than 50 people died in a series of bombings and shooting across the country on Wednesday. Iraq's Sunni Vice President, Tariq al-Hashemi met with the country's highest ranking Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to review a 25 point plan aimed at ending the sectarian conflict and violence in the country through political reform. Ayatollah Sistani was said to be generally approving of the plan, which includes a "blanket pardon for Iraqis who took up arms against the government and the U.S.-led coalition forces in exchange for laying down their arms and joining the political process."After a long stalemate on the political front in Iraq, some progress is finally being... more
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Tori
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4 years ago
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The Iraqi government has ordered 1 million Shiite pilgrims to leave the southern city of Karbala after fighting between government security forces and militiamen (likely loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr) killed 26.As if that weren't enough, north of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi forces were battling Sunni insurgents who had been blocking the flow of water to the Shiite town of Khalis. 33 insurgents were killed, but there was no word on Iraqi or U.S. forces casualties.And there's more - a suicide bombing at a mosque in Fallujah (a Sunni city west of Baghdad) on Monday night killed 11.The Iraqi government has ordered 1 million Shiite pilgrims to leave the southern city... more
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Tori
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4 years ago
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Shiite pilgrims faced danger of attacks (which have killed 1 so far and wounded others) and snipers (1 victim so far) as they made their way to Karbala for a major religious ceremony. Plus, over the weekend, U.S. troops found an execution room and body dumping ground south of Baghdad. So far this month, 371 dead bodies have been found dumped around the city. That's just Baghdad, just this month.
Take a look at this blog posting that explores the idea of a North and South Iraq. Dividing a country often poses some serious problems. But on other occasions, it can be a very viable solution...Shiite pilgrims faced danger of attacks (which have killed 1 so far and wounded... more
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Tori
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4 years ago
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From the rooftops of Lahore, Pakistan seems peaceful and at rest. But below, in the streets, it's a different story. It's the holy month of Muharram, and sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims is raging. Public officials have warned Shiites to limit their activity today, on Ashura, the tenth day of Muharram and the holiest day of their year-- and the embassy has warned Americans to stay away from proceedings in the old city.
Through a friend, we are given unfettered access and get a chance to witness a spectacle that few Westerners get to see up close.From the rooftops of Lahore, Pakistan seems peaceful and at rest. But below, in the... more
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