The martyrdom of 30-year-old protester Majid Ahmed Mohammed brings to 38 the number of those martyred since February, when Bahrain‘s Shia — inspired by uprisings elsewhere in the Middle East — started a campaign to end the Sunni minority’s hold on power. Four people have martyred in custody.

Riot police in Bahrain fired tear gas and stun grenades Thursday to disperse thousands of opposition supporters gathered near the square that was the epicenter of the nation’s Shiite-led demonstrations earlier this year, an activist said.

The violence is a setback to efforts by the tiny island’s discriminate rulers trying to open reconciliation talks with the opposition in the Persian Gulf kingdom.

Human Rights Activist Nabeel Rajab said the protesters at Manama’s Pearl Square chanted: “Down, down Hamad” — a reference to the Bahraini monarch. They also demanded that all demonstrators, opposition leaders and activists, detained during the deadly crackdown on the Shiite-led campaign for political freedom and greater rights, be released.

No injuries were immediately reported during Thursday’s demonstration.

The violence came a day after Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa announced the creation of an independent commission that will investigate allegations that protesters’ rights were violated during the anti-government demonstrations that erupted in February.

The announcement was an apparent effort by the Sunni monarch to draw opposition groups into the government-sponsored talks, set to begin on Saturday.

Washington has encouraged dialogue in the island nation, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, and had urged the monarchy to meet some of the opposition’s demands.

But the king’s appeal for dialogue got a cool reception from opposition groups. The leaders of the biggest Shiite party, Al Wefaq, have not yet decided whether they will join the talks.

Reports by Bahrain’s rights groups that another protester died on Thursday as a result of injuries he sustained during the unrest could further erode Wefaq’s appetite for reconciliation talks with the monarchy.

In another move to draw the reluctant Al Wefaq into the talks, authorities on Thursday halted bringing anti-government protesters to trial at a special tribunal with military prosecutors and transferred the cases to civilian courts, a lawyer said. The practice has been criticized as unfair by rights activists and the Persian Gulf kingdom’s Western allies.

The special tribunal was set up in March, when Bahrain’s discriminate Sunni rulers imposed martial law to help quash protests by Shiites demanding political freedoms and greater rights. The trials of dozens of opposition figures, human rights activists and Shiite professionals continued even after the emergency laws were lifted earlier this month.

A lawyer for a doctor who is among 47 health professionals on trial after they treated injured protesters said the proceedings have been moved to civilian courts. The medical staff are charged with participating in an effort to topple Bahrain’s monarchy.

A hearing in the case of 20 doctors set for Thursday was canceled, the lawyer said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of jeopardizing clients in custody.

In his speech Wednesday, the king said Bahrain is committed to reform and respecting human rights. But he accused the protesters of pushing the country into a “state of chaos” with the street marches and sit-ins during the turmoil.

The king said the government will not interfere in the commission’s probe into what he called the “unfortunate events” of February and March. The commission is to report its findings by Oct. 30.

The Shiite People condemned the announcement and demanded of the investigation of the killing, torture, detention, inhuman treatment of the Saudi-backed Bahraini forces on Shiiite Muslims of Bahrain from February to June 30th as the government wants to probe only February and March incidents.

www.abna.ir

PARIS, France: McClatchy Newspapers reported that Bahraini government demolished or seriously damaged 43 Shiite Muslim mosques or religious structures during its crackdown on anti-government demonstrations, according to an official tally compiled by the state-supported endowment that oversees Shiite sacred buildings.

Twenty-eight mosques were completely leveled, of which 10 had been historic structures, according to the list posted on Awaqf endowment last week. Another seven were seriously damaged, of which two were historic, according to the list.

The endowment, which the government helps fund and which reports directly to Bahrain‘s minister of justice and Islamic affairs, also said that two Shiite cemeteries had been vandalized and that eight “ma’atems” (husseiniyahs) had been damaged. One of those was historic, the endowment said.

All of the religious structures had been properly registered with the government, according to the list.

That assertion contradicts Bahraini government claims that any religious buildings destroyed in the crackdown had been built illegally in recent years.

“These are not mosques. These are illegal buildings,” Bahrain’s minister of justice and Islamic affairs, Sheikh Khalid bin Ali bin Abdulla al Khalifa, told McClatchy in a May 2 interview. “You cannot build a place of worship on land taken by force or illegally.”

There was no official explanation for why the endowment had posted the list. One Bahraini familiar with the issue said it may have been in response to a request for details of the destruction from Bahrain’s monarch, King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa, after President Barack Obama criticized Bahraini actions in a speech earlier this month.

Among the structures listed as damaged was the Sasa’a bin Sawhan Mosque in the city of Askar, a mosque dating back to shortly after the death of the Prophet Mohammad (s).

The Awaqf list did not specify the damage at the Sasa’a bin Sawhan mosque, but a Bahrain resident, at McClatchy’s request, visited the mosque and reported that the windows were broken, posters of Bahrain’s royal family now plaster the front entrance, and the air conditioning system had been vandalized.

McClatchy first reported on the systematic destruction of Shiite mosques on May 8. The destroyed mosques included the 400-year-old Amir Mohammed Barbaghi mosque in Aali and all 10 mosques in the village of Nwaidrat, including the historic Mo’men mosque. The Awaqf list confirmed the McClatchy report.

One Bahraini’s story

Fatima Khawaji who is a Bahraini Citizen, shares her heart braking story with the world. After returning from one of the recent protests against the monarchy kingdom of Bahrain, dozens of men who were heavily armed and she noticed were Saudi forces joined by Bahraini forces, forcefully entered her house and took her husband, Mr. Khawaji away crudely. Fatima was scared and didn’t know what could 50 soldiers want with her husband. Mr. Khawaji had commited no wrong act, but only had participated in a peaceful protest. As usual they were all masked, only their eyes were visible. They pointed guns towards the family members and asked them to show them were Mr. Khawaji was. They told them “If you don’t say where your men are, we will shoot you”. One of the younger sons, who couldn’t tolerate his mother and sisters’ death, told them that dad is upstairs. After taking the father, five of the soldiers who’s faces and identity were unknown, went back to the house and sexually assaulted Fatima. She was feeling so terrified and scared for her honor. They called her obscene and dirty words. She could not describe what they did to her, but she only mentioned that one of the soldiers put his genitals on her face. Finally they left the house by beating her up and leaving marks in her body. Until now she does not know anything about her husband, and she fears to not see him again. These are the questions that Fatima Khawaji leaves the readers of this story with: What would you do if you were in my place? Who would you trust after the army of the country you live in do not honor the basic rights of any citizen or even human being?

Brother of the martyr prevents journalists and photographers from taking pictures of the martyr in washing place of the cemetery. Even martyr’s wife was prevented from having farewell with her husband. It is seems that the martyr’s family had received threats from the Ministry of Interior in the case of the publication of any image.

Two photographers were taking picture on the body of the martyr in washing place of the cemetery, but the brother of the martyr strongly asked him to erase the pictures.

After the eviction of the pure body of the martyr of the mosque to perform burial prayer for him, a group of angry young Bahraini who heard the martyr was tortured in jail opened the shroud and saw the body of the martyr in order to see the effects of torture that led to his martyrdom.

In the fifty-ninth day of Bahrain uprising, another Bahraini citizen martyred in prison due to severe injuries.

A Shi’ite businessman and a member of Bahrain opposition group Wefaq “Karim Al-Fakharawi”, 49, martyred in police custody on Tuesday, due to severe torture of Al Khalifa forces, the group said, and the daughter of an arrested activist said she was on a hunger strike.

Mattar Mattar a member of Wefaq, said Kareem Fakhrawi had martyred in police custody, a week after he failed to return home from a police station where he had tried to complain about his house being demolished by police.

Fakhrawi’s was the fourth known death in police custody in recent days. Bahrain’s government denies there is torture in Bahrain and says all such allegations will be investigated.

He was member of the Wifaq Islamic Society, member of the Al-Wasat newspaper, member of Wefaq Council and And social activist.

Salmanyah Hospital officials said the three martyred men, with ages 23, 62 and unknown,  had been shot at close range with buck shot, a projectile containing hundreds of ball bearings. Hospital officials said more than 100 people had been injured. No official confirmation of the dead or wounded was immediately available.

Shia Right Watch Press — “The police started hitting everyone from every side,” said a medical professional who declined to be named. “People had only one way to run, which was towards this hospital. There was one girl, she was a paramedic, carrying a baby and they hit her; I saw that.”

Riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets stormed a public square occupied by antigovernment protests early Thursday in Bahrain, driving out demonstrators and killing at least two people, witnesses and hospital officials said, in a drastic turn in the protests swelling across the Arabian Peninsula and the broader Middle East.

Security forces in Manama, the capital of the tiny island kingdom, sealed off every entrance to Pearl Square, then entered the camp from four directions at about 3 a.m., firing tear gas indiscriminately, trampling tents and ripping banners, witnesses said. After police regained control of the square, they continued to chase protesters through side streets.

At Salmanyah Hospital, hundreds of angry protesters gathered at the emergency wing, forming a cordon through which the injured were wheeled on trolleys and chanting “death to the al-Khalifa,” in reference to the royal family, but the protesters also chanted “peaceful, peaceful” in English, in an apparent sign that they would not respond violently.

Friends and relatives of the injured filed in and out of Salmanyah Hospital’s critical room, many wailing or slumping against the hospital walls. Others showed photos on camera phones they said were taken in the square, with some photos showing tanks, suggesting the military had joined the crackdown. Many other wounded were being taken to Ibn Al-Nafees Hospital, a private hospital a few miles away.

Witnesses said police in Pearl Square first attempted to shoot tear gas at the protest from a turnpike overlooking the west of the square, but wind blew the gas back at them. More forces then attacked from the eastern side, first bombarding the encampment with tear gas, then storming it from all sides, the witnesses said.

“They fired at our medical tent, they hurt our people,” said another medical professional at Salmanyah Hospital, who declined to be named. “They throw us, shoot us, hit us with guns. I have a lot of injuries in our staff.”

A 50-year-old man who identified himself as Hussein, who had stayed in the roundabout since it was first occupied, said between 5,000 and 10,000 protesters were in the square at the time of the attack—though his estimate couldn’t be verified. “Then hundreds of police came,” Hussein said.

“We thought that if we were there they wouldn’t do this. We were wrong,” he said.

As the sun rose, witnesses said Pearl Square was empty and sealed off with barbed wire, and at Salmanyah Hospital, hundreds were still gathered outside. Many were crying, some lying on medical trolleys that couldn’t be squeezed into the emergency room. Some gathered in prayer, chanting repeatedly, “We won’t give up.” Others expressed their anger at authorities and the ruling family.

“They are gangs; they are not government. It’s time to finish,” Essan al-Mubarak said. “We will take our friends to our final resting place, then either we will stay or they will stay. We are fed up. We can’t take this.”

Clashes between demonstrators and security police earlier this week in Manama resulted in three deaths.

The decision by authorities to sweep out the protesters by force was significant because it was the move Egypt’s regime never succeeded in making to regain control. In Cairo, police and gangs associated with the government attacked protesters, but the military ultimately preserved civil order by guarding the protesters’ ability to occupy Tahrir Square. There have been violent putdowns of protests in Iran and elsewhere in recent days, but no government has forcibly swept out an established base of mass demonstrations.

In Bahrain, security forces had used tear gas and rubber bullets at close range to forcibly subdue protesters from the beginning, but had not attacked Pearl Square since demonstrators took up residence there. On Tuesday, though President Barack Obama declined to comment on Bahrain when asked, the State Department asked for both the opposition and the regime to refrain from violence.

The crackdown also came as a surprise after King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa had made a rare television appearance on Tuesday promising to investigate the deaths of two protesters said to have been killed by security forces in the melees. But as the protests have grown larger, they also have included more calls for the ruling family’s removal, and the shouts of “Death to the al-Khalifa,” have increasingly been heard.

Fears have also grown within Bahrain and among its Persian Gulf neighbors that the Shiite-majority country would be at risk of widespread sectarian violence if the regime became more unstable. That hasn’t marked the uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere, but Bahrain is governed by a Sunni minority and such tensions have simmered and sometimes boiled over violently before the recent unrest.