Bahrain's elected municipals say unelected and illegitimate government dismissed them

The vice president of al-Wefaq's municipal bloc and member of secretariat, Majeed Milad, speaking at a press conference on  20 Nov 2012 said that  "the infringements on religious freedoms will not bring us to abandon our demands for political freedoms".

Πηγή: ABNA
Jan 22 2013

The dismissed municipals held a press conference at al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, they said their unfair dismissals reflect the authorities' contempt of the people of Bahrain and they believe that the dismissals are politically-motivated and used to punish dissents within the government's series of suppression on freedom of expression. They stated that they could resort to judiciary outside Bahrain as the judiciary in Bahrain has not provided remedy.

Majeed Milad, the vice president of the Capital municipal council and member of al-Wefaq's secretariat said in the press conference, "What's strange is that the dismissals were linked to the members' lead of a protest march to the Pearl square and their communication with the UN's Secretary-General, and were taken under governmental orders, this means that the regime considers this a crime, so does the Bahraini law criminalize communication with the United Nation's Secretary-General?"

Milad said the dismissals are sectarian and do not only target the municipal members but the residents in their constituencies. He mentioned that after the dismissals and until now, the constituencies of the dismissed members have been subjected to collective punishment as projects and services in these constituencies have been stopped during the past two years. This proves that the residents are also targeted in this punishment, he added.

Milad pointed out that "Each and every citizen -being a municipal member or not- has a right to political activity and therefore you cannot simply say that these members have practiced a political role that interferes in their municipal work, you cannot part municipal members from their right to political activity".

"We may resort to international judiciary because the judiciary in Bahrain has not remedied us", he said.

Abdul-Redha Zuhair, one of the five dismissed members, said the dismissals had not come in natural circumstances but rather under an unelected government that claims to be democratic.

"The five dismissed municipal members are elected by the people and they were dismissed by an unelected government", Zuhair said, " the government looks indifferently to the fact that the Bassiouni report has recommended that all charges relating to freedom of expression be dropped

"What happened proves that the government is not on a path of resolution at all and that it also looks indifferently to the international covenants Bahrain is part of", he added.

Zuhair said the judiciary which has rejected the appeals today is controlled by the executive authority as appeals made to consider that any dismissal legally requires the agreement of two thirds of the municipal members have not been looked into. This legal requirement was not fulfilled, the dismissals were instigated by the Municipals minister.

"This will not have impact on voters' confidence in these members and the people still consider them their legitimate representatives, and the municipal members are persistent to the legitimate rights of the people", Zuhair affirmed.

Adel al-Sitri, a member of the central constituency municipal council, said commenting on local press questions that the dismissed members have presented initiatives to resolve the issue but they have all failed due to the municipal minister's hardening toward the issue. He stressed that they will not present any apologies.

Hussain al-Oraibi, also a member of the central constituency municipal council, mentioned that he received a big number calls from residents in his constituency who denounced the Cassation court's oppressive ruling.

Government and Drug Cartels Both Threaten Freedom of Expression in Mexico

Πηγή: EFF
Nov 29 2011

Freedom of expression continues to come under attack in Mexico. This week, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced that his government is exploring "all options to proceed legally against those who have denounced the government in international forums and in the courts." This announcement came in response to a complaint filed by Mexican activists and signed by over 23,000 Mexicans, in International Criminal Court last week, demanding that the court investigate alleged human rights violations by the army and the police as part of the state's war against the drug cartels. Reports indicate that the Calderon government is considering legal action not just against Netzei Sandaval, the human rights attorney who filed the complaint with the ICC in the Hague, but also against the 23,000 individuals who signed their names to the petition online. This is deeply troubling, as it could result in a profoundly chilling effect on political speech in Mexico.

In the meantime, Twitter users continue to face government harassment. Mareo Flores (@mareoflores) was detained by police earlier this month, based on a series of joking tweets he made shortly before Mexico's interior minister, Francisco Blake Mora, and seven other officials were killed in a helicopter crash. According to his father, Mareo was arrested two days after the crash when he was taken away by men in five unmarked black cars. He was released a few hours later after prosecutors interviewed him. Law enforcement officials have faced criticism stemming from the arrest, especially because the official investigation indicated that the crash was an accident rather than an assassination.

If the Mexican government seems overly sensitive about what its citizens are saying online, they pale in comparison to the Zeta drug cartel, which continues its campaign of terror against social media users in Nuevo Laredo. Earlier this month, the decapitated body of a man was found dumped one mile from the Texas border. A message written on a blanket found beneath the body read:

Hi, I am 'Rascatripas' and this happened to me because I didn't understand that I shouldn't post things to social networks.

"Rascaptripas" or "Fiddler" was the nickname of a moderator on social networking and news site Nuevo Laredo en Vivo. An editor for the website was confirmed murdered two months ago. Her decapitated body was dumped in the same location, along with a similar warning. Despite initial reports to the contrary, the identity of the newest murder victim remains unconfirmed. Nuevo Laredo En Vivo has announced on Twitter they have no connection to the man:

Negative, he was not our partner, he is confirmed to have been a scapegoat to scare others. The person executed is not a collaborator with our site, but this was without a doubt an attempt to silence the voices of Nuevo Laredo.

While the facts of this case are still unclear, there are a number of alarming possibilities. Nuevo Laredo en Vivo may be denying their connection to the murdered man in order protect themselves, in which case the Zetas may have used online surveillance to discover the identity behind Rascaptripas. If that is the case, social media users writing about drug violence in Mexico should be especially vigilant about maintaining their anonymity. Websites that host forums and chat rooms in which people discuss drug violence should review their security,enable HTTPS support, and encourage people to take stronger privacy precautions such as using Tor to connect to their site. Users must begin using pseudonyms and be very careful about reveal too much about themselves. If drug cartels have chosen to turn their considerable resources towards Internet surveillance, this murder could be the start of a very dangerous trend.

Another possibility is that the Zeta cartel has not made inroads into Internet surveillance at all--they actually don't have to. They could have murdered the wrong man, or they may not have made any effort at all to find the right man. The message that drug cartels are willing to mutilate and kill at random in order to silence criticism on social networks is just as much of a deterrent as the murder of real bloggers and moderators. Terror is the point. The Zetas don't have to be accurate, they just need to be brutal. Worse still, if the killings are random, then there are no concrete technical steps that social media users can take to protect themselves.

But social media users in Mexico will not be silenced. Shortly after the murder, a poster to Nuevo Laredo en Vivo wrote:

Let's continue denouncing them, now that we've seen that it burns them, hurts them...We have to continue. We can't give in.

For those that are still posting, taking steps to protect their security and anonymity are more important than ever. EFF will continue to provide the tools and knowledge to help Mexican citizens protect their privacy and anonymity in this confusing and potentially risky environment.