Bahrain: News round up

Start with the amazing Patrick Cockburn from the British Independent Poet who became symbol of Bahrain resistance is jailed

The Author interviewed Ayat's brother Yousif over the phone who informed him that Ayat is not receiving as much torture as she used to and authorities are treating her a little better than before. This however doesnt mean that she is not getting tortured or humiliated anymore. Her lawyer was not allowed to present his argument or speak in her defence in court yesterday, he however submitted a formal appeal against the one year sentence. The Author then goes to mention the huge turn up for Alwifaq organised event "Everyone's Homeland" and the challenging speech by Sheikh Ali Salman. The revelotuion, simply, can not be crushed by fear. [End]

The Guardian had an article as well about Ayat Bahrain student jailed for year over protest poems

From the Associated Press the paper explored how poetry is a powerful tool in the Arab world, Ayat cries to the King to step down have been rewarded with torture and imprisonment. The 30% minority Sunni rulers supported by their closest allies Saudi (who helped crushed the protesters in March) have tightened the grip on Shia and showing no signs in backing off claiming that Shitte majority are backed by Iran. Yet Shitte showed no signs of backing off either as over 10,000 people gathered in Saar answering Alwifaq calls. [End]

Both article had comment about the US interest in Bahrain and the importance of dialogue in stabilising the the country that host the US 5th Fleet

The Washington Post had this article Tribunal sends Bahrain protester to prison

The same article from the Associated Press shows how Ayat became a celebrity in Bahrain for her revlutionary poem she recited back in March. She was sentenced to one year in jail for "anti-state charges, including inciting hatred, the official Bahrain News Agency reported". [End]

I personally read, listen (over and over) to her poems, i failed to feel the hatred, it was rather funny at some stage. If you want a real hate preaching then look at this guy Abu Hamza al-Masri. 

So many newspaper around the world wrote about Ayat, most of them had the story from the Associated Press (AP) only Cockburn was origional.