JFP 5/12: Turkey Warns Israel Not To Hit Flotilla

Just Foreign Policy News
May 12, 2011

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I) Actions and Featured Articles

‘Budrus’ Shows ‘White Intifada’ Can Beat the Israeli Occupation
The documentary "Budrus," which shows how a Palestinian village in the West Bank defeated the Israeli occupation through nonviolent resistance, is now available on DVD. The widespread availability of this movie in the United States could not come at a more propitious time, because conditions are ripe for a "White Intifada" in the West Bank that would end the occupation through mass nonviolent resistance. Support for such a campaign in the U.S. would be crucial. It’s time to prepare the audience.
http://www.truth-out.org/budrus-shows-white-intifada-can-beat-israeli-occupation/1305217766

*Action: Urge your Rep. to co-sponsor the McGovern-Jones bill
Reps. McGovern and Jones have introduced a bill – HR 1735, the "Afghanistan Exit and Accountability Act" – requiring the President to: present Congress with a plan for the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan; report quarterly on the implementation of the plan for military withdrawal and the costs of continuing the war; report on the savings to taxpayers of ending the war in 6 months vs. continuing it for 5 years.
https://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/hr1735

U.S. Boat to Gaza: To Gaza With Love Letters Campaign
The U.S. Boat to Gaza, set to sail in June, will collect letters from people in the U.S. for the people of Gaza.
http://ustogaza.org/take-action/to-gaza-with-love/

Andy Worthington: Abandoned in Guantanamo: WikiLeaks Reveals the Yemenis Cleared for Release for Up to Seven Years
Yemenis – 89 in total – make up over half of the 172 prisoners still held.
http://www.truthout.org/abandoned-guantanamo-wikileaks-reveals-yemenis-cleared-release-seven-years/1305053514

Glen Ford: Libyan "Humanitarian" War Creates Humanitarian Crisis
Europe and America’s military intervention in Libya’s civil strife – supposedly for humanitarian reasons – has created its own humanitarian crisis, especially for Black African migrant workers trapped in that country.
http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/libyan-%E2%80%9Chumanitarian%E2%80%9D-war-creates-humanitarian-crisis

Help Support Our Advocacy for Peace and Diplomacy
The opponents of peace and diplomacy work every day. Help us be an effective counterweight.
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II) Summary:
U.S./Top News
1) Turkey has warned Israel not to attack the Mavi Marmar again, the New York Times reports. Organizers announced this week that a flotilla of 15 ships carrying humanitarian aid and activists from 100 countries will sail for Gaza next month, in a second attempt to break the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory.

2) An aide said former President Manuel Zelaya is expected to return to Honduras within a month, AP reports. Conditions are right for Zelaya to return after the Honduran Supreme Court dropped charges against him, said Rasel Tomé. Juan Barahona of the National Popular Resistance Front said Zelaya intended to return to Honduras before a meeting of the O.A.S. General Assembly in El Salvador on June 5. Zelaya’s return could pave the way for Honduras to be reincorporated into the OAS.

3) Nearly three dozen House Democrats are calling on Republicans to withdraw a section of the 2012 defense authorization bill that they say would effectively declare a state of permanent war against unnamed Taliban and al Qaeda operatives, The Hill reports. A letter from House Judiciary Committee Chair Conyers and 32 other Democrats argues that affirming continued war against terrorist forces gives too much authority to the president without debate in Congress.

4) The House Armed Services Committee approved a spending measure that clears the Pentagon and Energy Department to spend nearly $700 billion next fiscal year, the Hill reports. The panel approved a baseline Pentagon spending level of $553 billion, matching the Obama administration’s request. It also authorized the Energy Department to spend $18 billion on nuclear weapons projects and cleared the military to spend $118 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The $690 billion defense authorization measure is expected to hit the House floor the week of May 23. Panel Republicans pushed through language asserting that the U.S. is at war with the Taliban.

5) A new report has warned that systemic failures in US military intelligence are leading to Afghan civilian casualties during US raids, The Independent reports. The study focuses on an air strike called in last September by US Special Forces which local villagers, the Afghan government and Western researchers believe killed 10 civilians, including the agent of a parliamentary candidate.

The crucial failure, according to author Kate Clark, was the military’s inability to cross-reference its signals intelligence with human intelligence – which, in this case, could have been gleaned by watching election coverage on television.

Instead, Special Forces believed their Taliban target was using the alias "Zabet Amanullah". Ms Clark said: "Yet Zabet Amanullah was not an alias; it was the name of an actual person. When the two men’s identities were mixed up, it was Zabet Amanullah who appeared in the crosshairs of the US military."

Clark said it was "implausible" a man living openly in Kabul, where he studied English and computing and had a stake in a pharmacy, had a double life as a battlefield commander. At the time the US believed their man was running operations in northern Afghanistan, passport stamps put Amanullah in India, where he was receiving medical treatment.

6) Last week, Senator Mark Kirk introduced S.879, the first of a coming "slew" of new Iran sanctions bills that will be assembled into a "massive" Iran sanctions package at the end of the month, NIAC reports. While Kirk described his legislation as "the human rights component" of that broader package, the final legislation will likely focus primarily on the Iranian nuclear issue and include a host of new unilateral sanctions designed to isolate Iran economically. The package of new sanctions is being prepared in time for the AIPAC conference that begins on May 22 and will dispatch thousands of AIPAC members to lobby for new Iran sanctions on the Hill. While Kirk’s bill is presented as the "human rights component" of the broader sanctions effort, it includes provisions clearly aimed at advancing longstanding ideological battles regarding Iran policy that have little to do with improving human rights in Iran-specifically, chipping away at the President’s authority to conduct Iran policy and building roadblocks to prevent future opportunities to resolve the many disputes with Iran through diplomacy.

Afghanistan
7) A report by the British charity Oxfam and three other rights groups cited evidence of human rights abuses committed by Afghan forces, including killings and child sex abuse, Inter Press Service reports. The report said there were no effective systems for citizens to lodge a complaint against the police and the army or to receive compensation. The report said rights groups had documented abuses including "night raids carried out without adequate precautions to protect civilians, the recruitment and sexual abuse of children, mistreatment during detention, and the killing and abuse of civilians by local police".

Bahrain
8) The head of Bahrain’s military said Saudi-led forces sent to Bahrain to help crush anti-government protests will remain even after emergency rule is lifted next month, AP reports. Bahrain’s crackdown on opposition continued Thursday when a special security court sentenced a protester to 15 years in prison. The Bahrain military commander threatened even harsher crackdowns if demonstrators return to the streets in the U.S. ally.

Yemen
9) Doctors said Security forces fired on antigovernment protesters in three cities in Yemen on Wednesday, killing at least 12 people and wounding more than 100, the New York Times reports. Witnesses in Sana said snipers shot at the protesters from nearby buildings, while security forces fired at the demonstrators from the street. More than 130 protesters have been killed during Yemen’s uprising.

Honduras
10) Officials said gunmen shot and killed a journalist outside his home in northern Honduras, AP reports. Santos Galvez, a member of Honduras’ College of Journalists, called the slaying of television reporter Francisco Medina work-related and said he had received death threats. In his reporting, Medina was critical of the Honduran national police and of private security firms contracted by ranchers in the area. Medina became the 11th journalist to be killed in the past 18 months in Honduras.

El Salvador
11) Journalists at Radio Victoria in El Salvador received new death threats from an "extermination group" that has targeted the broadcaster since 2006, the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas reports. The community station is known for its opposition to several mining projects in the region. In 2009, two environmentalists attached to the station were killed.

Colombia
12) Colombia’s foreign minister said Colombia’s recently-restored relations with Venezuela and Ecuador will not be affected by the fallout from a new report about the two neighbors’ alleged links to the FARC, according to Colombia Reports. Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin has spoken to her Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro and agreed to "turn the page" on the past, while she expressed her hope that the report does "not bring noise" that will "damage the path" between the nations. Vice President Angelino Garzon said "President Santos’ position is [to] strengthen relations between Colombia and Venezuela, Ecuador and all countries."

Contents:
U.S./Top News
1) A Year After Israeli Raid, 2nd Flotilla to Set Sail for Gaza
Susanne Güsten, New York Times, May 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/world/middleeast/12iht-M12-TURK-FLEET.html

Riding the ripples of the Golden Horn, the Mavi Marmara tugs at its moorings in the shipyard where it is being readied to head back into troubled waters.

A flotilla of 15 ships carrying humanitarian aid and activists from 100 countries will sail for Gaza next month, in a second attempt to break the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory, organizers announced this week.

Almost a year ago, Israeli naval commandos stormed a previous flotilla sailing to Gaza, killing nine pro-Palestinian activists on the Mavi Marmara, one of six ships in the fleet. The plan to send a new flotilla to Gaza raises the specter of a fresh confrontation between Turkey and Israel.

"Freedom Flotilla II will leave during the third week of June, with ships departing from various European ports," a coalition of 22 nongovernmental organizations said after a meeting in Paris on Monday.

The Mavi Marmara, which was released by Israel in July, was towed back to Turkey and arrived in Istanbul to a hero’s welcome in December, after which it was taken in for repairs.

Now tied up under the Istanbul skyline for some last preparations, the ship should be seaworthy again by the end of the month, its owners said.

"The Mavi Marmara has become a symbol for the Gaza cause in the whole world," Gulden Sonmez of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, the Turkish nongovernmental organization that owns the ship, said in an interview this week. "So we are planning to set forth again with the same ship."

At dawn on May 31 last year, Ms. Sonmez stood on the observation deck of the Mavi Marmara, shouting orders as Israeli helicopters hovered overhead and commandos boarded the ship. Her colleague Cevdet Kiliclar, who managed the relief foundation’s Web site, was shot and killed while taking photographs "just three or four steps away from me," she recounted.

Now Ms. Sonmez, who is on the board of the foundation, plans to embark on the Mavi Marmara once again and will be one of 150 activists making the trip.

Within 48 hours of application forms being posted on the foundation’s Web site last week, some 2,000 people had volunteered to partake in the journey, she said.

Although Israel has warned that it will continue to enforce its Gaza blockade, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation does not expect another raid on its ship, Ms. Sonmez said. "I don’t think Israel will make the same mistake again," she said. "I think Israel knows that it has isolated itself."
[…] The Turkish government, while at pains to distance itself from the flotilla, has made it clear that it will not intervene to bar the convoy from sailing.

Israeli allegations that Turkey is behind the flotilla do not reflect the truth, the senior Turkish official said. But in a free society, he added, nongovernmental organizations can do as they like, within legal limits.

"We believe that such initiatives as this convoy will cease only when Israel’s unlawful blockade on the Gaza Strip is lifted, as the situation in Gaza disturbs the conscience of all humanity," the official said. "It doesn’t seem possible for Israel to reach lasting security as long as the unlawful blockade remains in place."

Turkey has warned Israel not to attack the ship again, the official said. "Last year, we had notified Israel a multitude of times that it should avoid by all means resorting to force, and act responsibly," he said. "We are reiterating these warnings once again today."

2) Ousted Leader Is Set to Return to Honduras
Associated Press, May 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/world/americas/12honduras.html

Tegucigalpa, Honduras – Former President Manuel Zelaya is expected to return to Honduras within a month, ending an exile that began nearly two years ago when he was ousted in a coup, an aide and a key supporter said Wednesday.

Conditions are right for Mr. Zelaya to return from the Dominican Republic after the Honduran Supreme Court dropped corruption charges against him, said Rasel Tomé, a senior aide of the former president.

"He has the will and desire to return to his homeland," Mr. Tomé said in an interview.

Mr. Zelaya’s return could pave the way for Honduras to be reincorporated into the Organization of American States, which suspended the country after the coup in June 2009.

The United States and many other countries in the hemisphere have long since restored diplomatic ties with Honduras, but some nations, including Venezuela and Brazil, have declined to do so.
[…] Juan Barahona, a leader of the pro-Zelaya National Popular Resistance Front, said that Mr. Zelaya intended to return to Honduras before a meeting of the O.A.S. General Assembly in El Salvador on June 5.

"The day and hour that he will return has not been determined, but we will announce it publicly so that a massive number of people can welcome him at the airport," Mr. Barahona said.

3) House Dems protest GOP’s plans for permanent war against terror
Pete Kasperowicz, The Hill, 05/11/11 07:45 AM ET
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/160419-democrats-protest-gops-plans-for-permanent-war-against-taliban-al-qaeda

Nearly three dozen House Democrats are calling on Republicans to withdraw a section of the 2012 defense authorization bill that they say would effectively declare a state of permanent war against unnamed Taliban and al Qaeda operatives.

A Tuesday letter from House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and 32 other Democrats argues that affirming continued war against terrorist forces goes too far, giving too much authority to the president without debate in Congress.

Their letter cites language in the authorization bill that incorporates the Detainee Security Act, which affirms continued armed conflict against terrorists overseas.
"By declaring a global war against nameless individuals, organizations and nations ‘associated’ with the Taliban and al Qaeda, as well as those playing a supporting role in their efforts, the Detainee Security Act would appear to grant the president near unfettered authority to initiate military action around the world without further congressional approval," Democrats wrote. "Such authority must not be ceded to the president without careful deliberation from Congress."
[…]

4) House panel authorizes nearly $700 billion in Defense spending
John T. Bennett, The Hill, 05/12/11 07:21 AM ET
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/160745-house-committee-authorizes-nearly-700b-in-defense-spending

The House Armed Services Committee early Thursday approved a spending measure that clears the Pentagon and Energy Department to spend nearly $700 billion next fiscal year.

The panel approved a baseline Pentagon spending level of $553 billion, matching the Obama administration’s request. It also authorized the Energy Department to spend $18 billion on nuclear weapons projects and cleared the military to spend $118 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The $690 billion defense authorization measure is expected to hit the House floor the week of May 23, according to aides.
[…] Panel Republicans pushed through language reiterating that the U.S. is at war with al Qaeda and the Taliban, with Democrats charging they are looking to use it as a tool in the policy debate over detainees.
[…]

5) Intelligence failures ‘led to deaths of Afghan civilians’
Julius Cavendish, The Independent, Thursday, 12 May 2011
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/intelligence-failures-led-to-deaths-of-afghan-civilians-2282688.html

Kabul – Amid growing calls for US Special Operations Forces to take the lead in Afghanistan after the successful strike against Osama bin Laden, a new report has warned that systemic failures in gathering military intelligence are leading to civilian casualties during raids.

The study focuses on an air strike called in last September by US Special Forces which local villagers, the Afghan government and Western researchers believe killed 10 civilians, including the agent of a parliamentary candidate. But Nato says it hit a Taliban commander in the attack.

"Afghans, including senior government officials, have been incredulous that anyone might have thought Zabet Amanullah [the parliamentary candidate’s agent] and the others were anything but civilians, while [Nato] and the US Special Forces unit that conducted the operation [are] adamant they hit the correct target," the report, called The Takhar Attack, says.

The crucial failure, according to author Kate Clark, was the military’s inability to cross-reference its signals intelligence with human intelligence – which, in this case, could have been gleaned by nothing more complicated than watching election coverage on national television or talking to locals.

Instead, the Special Forces believed a mobile phone their Taliban target had once called was now in his possession and that he was using the alias "Zabet Amanullah". Ms Clark said: "Yet Zabet Amanullah was not an alias; it was the name of an actual person. When the two men’s identities were mixed up, it was Zabet Amanullah who appeared in the crosshairs of the US military."

Having met Mr Amanullah, who was known as the "ant" because he was so short, in 2008, Ms Clark said it was "implausible" a man living openly in Kabul, where he studied English and computing and had a stake in a pharmacy, had a double life as a battlefield commander. At the time intelligence gatherers believed their man was running operations in northern Afghanistan, passport stamps put Mr Amanullah in India, where he was receiving medical treatment.

When the Special Forces unit continued to insist in the face of mounting evidence that it had bombed the right man, Ms Clark tracked down the Taliban commander they claimed to have hit. "He is alive and well and has been interviewed in Pakistan," she wrote.

The case study points to the worrying lack of scepticism Nato brings to investigations of civilian casualties and its frequent detachment from its immediate surroundings. Previous intelligence chiefs have slammed the organisation’s intelligence-gathering operations and US General David Petraeus has spoken about the lack of "granular understanding of local circumstances".

In March, The Independent revealed that a US-sponsored warlord is accused of raping, torturing and killing villagers who were not part of his interest group. Despite being notified over a year ago by UN officials of the numerous complaints pouring in about Commander Azizullah, Nato has yet to investigate the claims.

In a separate investigation by this newspaper, the former commander of a secret CIA-backed strike force said his men might have killed civilians based on faulty tips. "If the jungle catches fire, even the green trees burn," Atal Afghanzai, of the Kandahar Strike Force, said. "It may have been that we killed civilians but that was not our fault. It was the source who got it wrong." In 2009, he was convicted of murder.

Ms Clark worries that after the successful raid on Bin Laden, US Special Forces and the CIA will have far more licence to carry out targeted killings.
[…]

6) Analysis: Human Rights Component of New Iran Sanctions Effort is Far Too Limited
Iran Human Rights and Democracy Promotion Act (S. 879/H.R. 1714) introduced in Senate by Kirk (R-IL), Gillibrand (D-NY), and Cornyn (R-TX); and in the House by Reps. Dold (R-IL) and Deutch (D-FL)
Jamal Abdi, NIAC, Monday, May 9, 2011
http://www.niacouncil.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7331&security=1&news_iv_ctrl=-1

Last week, Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL), introduced S.879, the first of a coming "slew" of new Iran sanctions bills that will be assembled into a "massive" Iran sanctions package at the end of the month. While Kirk described his legislation as "the human rights component" of that broader package, the final legislation will likely focus primarily on the Iranian nuclear issue and include a host of new unilateral sanctions designed to isolate Iran economically.

The package of new sanctions is being prepared in time for the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference in Washington that begins on May 22 and will dispatch thousands of AIPAC members to lobby for new Iran sanctions on the Hill. Kirk will lead a breakout session on Iran at the conference, as will Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA), cosponsor of the other major sanctions legislation introduced thus far, H.R. 1655.

As a standalone measure, the Kirk bill includes several good proposals, including new targeted sanctions, but is limited almost exclusively to punitive measures. Kirk unfortunately ignores non-sanctions measures called for by Iranian human rights and democracy activists. We have seen how Washington’s almost exclusive focus on sanctions have created a number of unintended consequences for Iran’s human rights and democracy movement-such as preventing Iranian democrats from accessing critical communication hardware and software. Unfortunately, this bill does nothing to eliminate those unintended consequences and instead merely perpetuates the sanctions-only approach.

Additionally, while the bill is presented as the "human rights component" of the broader sanctions effort, it includes several provisions clearly aimed at advancing longstanding ideological battles regarding Iran policy that have little to do with improving human rights in Iran-specifically, chipping away at the President’s authority to conduct Iran policy and building roadblocks to prevent future opportunities to resolve the many disputes with Iran through diplomacy.

Ultimately, because the plan for this bill is for it to be rolled into a package of new "crippling" sanctions, it represents a stalking horse for efforts to punish Iran on the nuclear issue at the expense of the indigenous human rights and democracy movement. By disguising new indiscriminate sanctions behind a thin veil of human rights, supporters of nuclear sanctions may hope to inoculate "crippling" measures against charges that they undermine Iran’s democracy movement. But this package will increase suffering among ordinary Iranians, exacerbate the unintended consequences of broad sanctions, heighten U.S.-Iran tensions, and help cement the U.S. and Iran on a path towards confrontation. Hence, in the end, this bill will likely set back Iran’s human rights and democracy movement.

The Kirk bill would create an ambassador-level position that would focus on international efforts to improve human rights in Iran <Section 7>. This could potentially be a very positive step that would dovetail with the successful international effort to establish a UN human rights monitor on Iran. Establishing such a position in the U.S. government could help elevate human rights in our Iran policy to ensure human rights receives the priority it deserves instead of being sacrificed for the nuclear issue.

Unfortunately, under Kirk’s bill, this new office would be yet another vehicle charged with helping advance isolation policies that have proven unsuccessful and that are detrimental to Iran’s human rights and democracy movement.

The bill directs the ambassador to "encourage foreign governments to downgrade or sever diplomatic relations with the Government of Iran" and to convince foreign governments "to enact economic sanctions" against Iran. While these may be longstanding goals of Iran hawks in Washington, Iranian human rights and democracy activists have warned that efforts to isolate the country have only made their job more difficult. Numerous historical precedents demonstrate the relationship between isolation and the deterioration of human rights and civil society-including in Cuba, North Korea, Libya, and Zimbabwe.

Green movement leader Mehdi Karroubi, who now is under house arrest along with Mir Hossein Mousavi, has warned that isolating Iran has the effect of "strengthening the illegitimate government" at the expense of the human rights and democracy movement. "Look at Cuba and North Korea," he said in an interview last August. "Have sanctions brought democracy to their people? They have just made them more isolated and given them the opportunity to crack down on their opposition without bothering themselves about the international attention."
[…]
Afghanistan
7) Afghan Forces ‘Not Ready’ for Handover
IPS/Al Jazeera, May 10
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55573

Doha – Almost a decade of neglect has raised serious concerns about the readiness of Afghan security forces to take over from foreign forces by the end of 2014, a new report claims.

The report, released on May 10 by the British charity Oxfam and three other rights groups, also cited evidence of human rights abuses committed by Afghan forces, including killings and child sex abuse.

Under a plan agreed last year, NATO-led forces will begin a gradual handover of security responsibility to Afghan forces from July. Seven areas have been identified to begin stage one of that process.

But Oxfam said that until 2009 there had been a "striking lack of attention" to developing the quality of Afghanistan’s security forces.

The report said there were no effective systems for citizens to lodge a complaint against the police and the army or to receive compensation.

Foreign troops also needed to do more to prevent growing rights abuses by Afghan forces, Oxfam noted.

It said the Afghan national police and troops were responsible for at least 10 percent of the 2,777 civilian deaths in Afghanistan in 2010, though the Taliban were to blame for most of the killings.

"There is a serious risk that unless adequate accountability mechanisms are put in place, violations of human rights and humanitarian law will escalate – and Afghan civilians will pay the price," the report said.

The report said rights groups had documented abuses including "night raids carried out without adequate precautions to protect civilians, the recruitment and sexual abuse of children, mistreatment during detention, and the killing and abuse of civilians by local police".

"Combating abusive conduct on the part of the ANSF [Afghan National Security Forces] and the climate of impunity in which abuse takes place … is a moral, political and legal imperative for both the international community and the Afghan government," it added.
[…]

Bahrain
8) Bahrain military chief says Gulf troops to stay on
Associated Press, Thursday, May 12, 11:43 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/bahrain-military-chief-says-gulf-reinforcements-to-remain-after-emergency-rule-lifted/2011/05/12/AFpL3owG_story.html

Manama, Bahrain – Saudi-led forces sent to Bahrain to help crush anti-government protests will remain even after emergency rule is lifted next month, the head of the kingdom’s military said in a move that is likely to deepen regional tensions with Iran.

And Bahrain’s crackdown on opposition continued Thursday when a special security court sentenced a protester to 15 years in prison. Twenty-one others had their cases continued by the court, which has ordered executions in some previous cases.
[…] The Bahrain military commander, Sheik Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, also threatened even harsher crackdowns if demonstrators return to the streets in the strategic U.S. ally, which is home to the Navy’s 5th Fleet. "I say to those who did not get the message, ‘If you return we will come back, stronger this time,’" Sheik Ahmed was quoted as saying late Wednesday by the official Bahrain News Agency.

He further claimed that protesters were "given pills which affected their minds and made them do unusual things" – a new allegation that echoed assertions by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi that his opponents included young people on hallucinogenic pills placed "in their coffee with milk, like Nescafe."

Meanwhile, in a special security court set up under martial law-style rule imposed in March, the expected resumption of a trial against 21 opposition leaders and human rights activists was adjourned until May 16. The activists are accused of plotting against the state and having links to foreign factions – an apparent reference to Hezbollah. Fourteen of the suspects are in custody and the rest are being tried in absentia.

Among the 21 charged are a Swedish citizen and a person with a Swedish residency permit, Swedish foreign ministry spokesman Teo Zetterman said. The Swedish citizen also has Bahraini citizenship, Zetterman said, though the dual citizenship is not recognized by Bahrain, making it hard for the Swedish embassy in Abu Dhabi to assist.

Separately, the state news agency said Thursday that authorities had released 24 detained doctors and nurses pending trial on charges that include seeking to topple the state. Earlier this week, Bahrain’s justice minister said that a total of 23 doctors and 24 nurses would face trial.

Also Thursday, the security court convicted another opposition supporter on charges of attempted murder of a police officer and participation in a protest aimed at disrupting public order, a report by the state-run Bahrain News Agency said Thursday. It added that the protester, Hamad Yousef Kazim, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Kazim’s court-appointed lawyer can appeal the sentence, the report said.

Bahrain’s king said the emergency rule will be lifted June 1. But the military chief’s statements suggest a heavy security presence will remain along with the Saudi-led troops.
[…]

Yemen
9) Forces Fire on Protesters in 3 Cities Across Yemen
Laura Kasinof, New York Times, May 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/world/middleeast/12yemen.html

Security forces fired on antigovernment protesters in three cities in Yemen on Wednesday, killing at least 12 people and wounding more than 100, doctors said.

The Yemeni government said it held the political opposition "fully responsible" for any violence, which appeared to make it even less likely that the sides could reach agreement on a final accord for a peaceful transfer of presidential power.

At least 10 people were killed in Sana, the capital, and more than 100 were wounded, said Abdul Wahab al-Anesi, a doctor at a field hospital in the city. "I expect the number of killed to rise," he said. "We are not accepting anyone else at the field hospital. We are full. We have a shortage of supplies."

In addition, a protester was killed in Taiz in the southwestern mountains, said a doctor there, Abdul Rahim al-Samie, and about 45 people were wounded. He said that for the first time he saw patients with injuries caused by large-caliber weapons.

One protester was killed in Hodeidah, a port city on the western coast, a local doctor said.

In Sana, thousands of protesters tried to march down several side streets toward the prime minister’s office on Wednesday afternoon. The government contended that the demonstrators planned to break into government offices, and it responded aggressively.

Witnesses said that snipers shot at the protesters from nearby buildings, while security forces fired at the demonstrators from the street. The shooting continued intermittently for hours until late into the evening.
[…] More than 130 protesters have been killed during Yemen’s uprising. Mr. Saleh and the political opposition are at a stalemate over the details of a plan brokered by a regional bloc, the Gulf Cooperation Council, for the embattled president to leave office. Meanwhile, the country’s military is divided and the economy is faltering, creating further instability in the already fragile and impoverished state.

Honduras
10) Honduran Journalist Shot, Killed Outside His Home
Associated Press, May 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/05/11/world/americas/AP-LT-Honduras-Journalist-Killed.html

Tegucigalpa, Honduras – Two gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed a journalist outside his home in a city in northern Honduras, officials said Wednesday.

Francisco Medina, a 35-year-old television reporter, was ambushed Tuesday night in the city of Morazan, 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of Honduras’ capital, said Santos Galvez, a member of Honduras’ College of Journalists press group.

Galvez called Medina’s slaying work-related and said he had received death threats.

In his reporting, Medina was critical of the Honduran national police and of private security firms contracted by ranchers in the area, where drug traffickers operate.

Medina became the 11th journalist to be killed in the past 18 months in Honduras. Two of these murders have been solved.

A recent report by an independent advocacy group documented a significant decline in press freedom in Honduras as well as in Mexico. Honduras is a violent country with 50 homicides per 100,000 people. "Every day Honduran journalists are in greater danger of being killed," said Galvez.

A committee of missing persons in Honduras said Medina was followed by two men on a motorcycle after his evening show. They shot him three times in the back and once in his arm as he was about to enter his home.

Relatives of Medina called an ambulance, which took him to a hospital. He later died.

Medina’s brother, Carlos Medina, said police officers refused to escort the journalist in the ambulance.

A Morazan police spokesman told The Associated Press agents were investigating the brother’s claims.

El Salvador
11) Death squads continue to threaten community radio journalists in El Salvador
Monica Medel, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, 2011-05-10
http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/blog/death-squads-continue-threaten-community-radio-journalists-el-salvador

Journalists at Radio Victoria in El Salvador received new death threats from an "extermination group" that has targeted the broadcaster since 2006, Prensa de Frente reports.

The community station, based in the central department of Cabañas, is known for its open opposition to several mining projects in the region and already receives police protection in response to previous incidents. In 2009, two environmentalists attached to the station were killed. In February, the county’s human rights ombudsman called on the authorities to respond to continued threats the station received for its role in the mining conflict.

The newest threats came via a letter on April 30, text messages on May 2, and on their cell phones May 4, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) reports via IFEX.

"Once and for all, we want answers. Because we have no peace," said Radio Victoria journalist Manuel Navarrete, quoted by La Prensa Gráfica. According to the journalist, he and his colleagues will be forced to leave Cabañas to avoid being killed.

Colombia
12) Colombia-Venezuela-Ecuador relations refuse to be rocked by ‘revelations’
Tom Heyden, Colombia Reports, Wednesday, 11 May 2011 11:32
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16176-colombia-venezuela-ecuador-relations-refuse-to-be-rocked-by-revelations.html

Colombia’s recently-restored relations with Venezuela and Ecuador will not be beset by the fallout from a new report about the two neighbors’ alleged links to the FARC, said Colombia’s foreign minister.

The report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a think-tank focusing on political-military conflict and strategic issues, was released Tuesday following an extensive examination of material seized during the raid into Ecuador that killed leader "Raul Reyes" in 2008.

The dossier documents the turbulent but often collaborative relationship between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the FARC, as well as the claim that Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa "personally requested" FARC funding for his 2006 presidential campaign.

Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin has since spoken to her Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro and agreed to "turn the page" on the past, while she expressed her hope that the report does "not bring noise" that will "damage the path" between the nations, Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported Wednesday.

Vice President Angelino Garzon said that the Colombian government will not comment on the report because "we do not need to answer about something we have not written."

He added that "President Santos’ position is strengthen relations between Colombia and Venezuela, Ecuador and all countries."
[…]

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