BAHRAIN: Protesters shot as government seeks to smother protests [Video]

Internet videos show peaceful protesters in Bahrain coming under fire as reports surface that the government used live ammunition  Friday to repel anti-government demonstrators attempting to retake a main square from which they had been violently ousted Thursday.

At least five people have died in the recent unrest, with dozens more injured. The opposition has so far rejected talks with the government, ruled by the Khalifa royal family, until "tanks are off the streets."

Although the protest movement in Bahrain is fueled by economic and political concerns, the breakdown of power runs along sectarian lines. The country's Shia majority complains of discrimination and abuse at the hands of the Sunni-dominated government.

The United States Navy's Fifth Fleet is also stationed in Bahrain, which is considered a close ally.

President Obama reiterated his call for restraint Friday, saying he was "deeply concerned" about reports of violence in Bahrain, Libya and Yemen.

--Meris Lutz in Beirut

Top Video: Protesters in Bahrain come under fire; several are injured or killed. Credit: YouTube. Screenshot: several protesters appear injured or dead in the video. Credit: Meris Lutz. Bottom Video: Protesters are fired on while trying to retake a main square that had been the center of antigovernment demonstrations. Credit: YouTube

 

LIBYA, YEMEN, BAHRAIN: Protests continue to erupt across region [Updated]

Reports of clashes Tuesday night between protesters and police in eastern Libya were the latest spasm of unrest sweeping the Middle East and North Africa as leaders attempt to avoid the revolutionary fervor that brought down governments in Tunisia and Egypt.  

The Libyan city of Benghazi was reportedly the site of clashes between protesters and police after the arrest of Fathi Terbil, spokesman and lawyer for the families of those killed in the so-called Abu Salim massacre. More than 1,000 prisoners are thought to have died in that incident in Libya's Abu Salim prison in 1996.

The above footage was posted on YouTube by a user calling himself or herself "enoughgaddafi." It claims to show Tuesday's protest, although that could not be verified. Conflicting reports also emerged as to whether Terbil had been released.

BAHRAIN: Another killed as funeral for fallen protester devolves into clashes [Updated]

 
A second protester was killed Tuesday when a funeral procession for a protester killed Monday erupted into new clashes with Bahraini police, according to local media.

Fadhel Matrook was one of several thousand supporters who joined the funeral procession for Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima, who was shot and killed Monday amid widespread protests against government abuse. Human rights activists said police moved in on the procession as crowds of mourners were exiting the hospital.

Nabeel Rajab, from the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, and other activists told CNN that Matrook was shot by either pellet guns or birdshot.

A graphic image posted online appeared to show the back of an unidentified protester punctured by many tiny holes similar to wounds inflicted by bird-shot, but the photograph could not be authenticated. Other footage and pictures posted online showed evidence of a violent suppression of the protests in Bahrain, now in their second day.

MIDDLE EAST: Rappers and musicians inspired by uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia

Sometimes, art imitates life, but other times it struggles just to keep up. So perhaps it is fitting that one of the most popular new songs dedicated to the uprising in Egypt is named after a hashtag on Twitter, news junkies' virtual lifeline to the popular protests sweeping the country.

The song "#Jan25," produced by Sami Matar and featuring North American and Arab hip-hop artists Freeway, the Narcicyst, Omar Offendum, Amir Sulaiman and Ayah, has so far racked up more than 60,000 views on YouTube and injected new life into the discussion about the role of popular music in political activism.

"Something felt really special about what was happening in Egypt, and I wanted to take part by showing solidarity," the Los Angeles-based Syrian American rapper Omar Chakaki, a.k.a. Omar Offendum, told Babylon & Beyond.

His experience of the protests, like many around the world, was filtered through footage broadcast on Al Jazeera and posted online, which in turn shaped the lyrics:

I heard them say the revolution won't be televised
 Al Jazeera proved them wrong,
Twitter has them paralyzed
80 million strong
And ain't no longer gonna be terrorized
Organized, mobilized, vocalized...

EGYPT: Government unblocks Al Jazeera

Egypt's state-owned NileSat satellite company has announced that it will unblock Al Jazeera and Al Jazeera Live, the Doha-based news network announced Wednesday, 10 days after authorities stopped transmission over the channel's coverage of anti-government protests.

The decision comes after Egypt's ambassador to the United Nations, Maged Abdelaziz, told the U.N. Security Council that the government had no effective means of controlling the flow of information.

"Even though when we had some disputes with Al Jazeera, and then they were able to broadcast, they managed to maneuver us and go to get from some other sources," Abdelaziz said, according to the Al Jazeera English live blog.

"The world is a small village, and everybody knows what is happening all over the place," he added.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

Screenshot: Al Jazeera and Al Jazeera Live were blocked from NileSat. Credit: Aljazeera.net

MIDDLE EAST: Ignoring Egyptians, Iran continues to hail 'Islamic awakening'

Both the Egyptian foreign ministry and the opposition Muslim Brotherhood have said the popular protest movement sweeping the country has nothing to do with Iran, or Islam.

But that hasn't stopped Iranian officials from continuing to try and cast the uprising as an "Islamic awakening" in the tradition of their own 1979 Islamic Revolution.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for the foreign ministry praised the "justice-seeking" protest movement sweeping Egypt and warned against the meddling of foreign powers in Egypt's affairs.

"Anyone who tries to interfere in the internal affairs of this country and cause a diversion on the path of the popular movement will have to deal with the Egyptian nation," Ramin Mehmanparast told a news conference, according to state television.

When asked specifically about the Egyptian foreign ministry's statements, Mehmanparast questioned the authority of the ministry to speak for the people.

"A great movement is taking place in Egypt, and the first step of this movement was to question the trust and authorities of a person who controlled the government," he said. "Therefore, if someone is not to be trusted from the Egyptian people's point of view, their remarks will definitely have no authority for us."

Many in the Iranian opposition, however, have accused members of the government of being hypocritical in their support of protests in Egypt and Tunisia after brutally cracking down on Iranians who went to the streets following the 2009 disputed presidential elections.

TUNISIA: First independent news channel latest milestone in uprising

The first "post-revolution" satellite channel based in Tunisia was launched Saturday just weeks after a popular uprising forced former President Zine el Abidine ben Ali to flee the country, the London-based pan-Arab daily Al Quds Al Arabi reported.

The new, privately owned station, "Sawt an-Naas" or "Voice of the People," represents a new victory for the protest movement. Many of its journalists are former Tunisian exiles who have only recently been allowed to return to their country, according to the station's cofounder, Mourad Sellami, who also pledged to maintain editorial independence and high professional standards.

"Our channel does not follow a specific political line," Sellami told Al Quds Al Arabi. "We are a channel that aspires to have an independent editorial line and remain open to any Tunisian opinion without any exclusion."

For now, the channel has begun transmitting the Tunisian national anthem as it gets its programming in line, but Sellami said he hopes to begin broadcasting soon. Fostering a local independent press will be vital to ensuring meaningful reform, with the coming elections still hanging in the balance and conflicting reports about the source of ongoing unrest.

The newspaper noted that prior to Ben Ali's departure and the sacking of large parts of his government, all television and radio stations based in Tunisia were either state-owned or private but toed the party line, most notably Nessma TV and Hannibal, which were owned by a relative of Ben Ali's wife.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

IRAN: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Egyptian uprising is an Islamic 'awakening'

Iran's spiritual and political leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the popular uprisings against Western-backed autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt represent an "irreversible defeat" for the United States.

Speaking amid heightened security during the Friday sermon at Tehran University, Khamenei went on to draw comparisons between Iran's Islamic Revolution and the recent Arab protest movements, characterizing the protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and around the region as an "Islamic awakening."

He also accused the United States of propping up corrupt leaders in the region in order to protect its own interests and those of its ally Israel.

"This is a war between two willpowers: the willpower of the people and the willpower of their enemies," he said. "The Israelis and the U.S. are more concerned about what would happen to their interests in post-Mubarak regime."

IRAN: Opposition leaders slam 'rubber-stamp' death sentences

Iranian opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi slammed what they described as the rising number of "rubber-stamp" death penalties in Iran during a meeting with Grand Ayatollah Assadollah Bayat Zanjani on Monday, according to the reformist news website Tagheer.

The two former presidential candidates blamed the government for using the threat of death by hanging to intimidate people and spread fear in the society.

“Regardless of the legality of the accusations, every human being is entitled to his rights during any judicial procedure,” they reportedly said in a statement. “Will the execution of nearly 300 people in the past year alone achieve anything other than intimidating the nation and further isolating Iran on the international stage?"

According to a tally by Agence France-Presse, Iranian authorities have already executed 67 people in 2011 at a rate of about two hangings a day. The agency reported 179 executions in 2010. The Netherlands recently froze diplomatic relations with Iran after authorities executed Zahra Bahrami, a dual Dutch-Iranian citizen.

TURKEY: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan joins call for Egypt's Mubarak to make big changes

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sided with the Egyptian protesters against their president in a televised speech on Tuesday in which he rebuked Hosni Mubarak and urged him to take a bold step before more blood is spilled.

"I am saying this clearly: You must be the first to take a step for Egypt's peace, security and stability," Erdogan said, addressing the Egyptian president during his speech before the Turkish parliament.

He spoke as hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square, demanding that Mubarak leave the government and even the country.

"In our world today, freedoms can no longer be postponed or ignored," Erdogan said. "We hope that these incidents come to an end as soon as possible, without leading to great suffering, and that the people's legitimate and sensible demands are met."

TUNISIA: Rights group calls for investigation of protest deaths

An advocacy group is calling for a full investigation of alleged human rights violations that took place during the Tunisian protest movement that toppled President Zine el Abidine ben Ali.

New York-based Human Rights Watch, which has at least one researcher on the ground in Tunisia, issued a statement recently calling for the transitional government to look into the deaths of at least 78 protesters at the hands of security forces during the recent period of unrest that eventually ousted Ben Ali.

While the world's attention is riveted on events in Cairo and Tunisians are focusing on forming a new government, those killed should not be forgotten, the organization said. 

"Things are moving fast in Tunisia, but finding out who opened fire on demonstrators and why can't wait," Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East and North Africa director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

EGYPT: Even Dr. Zhivago is piling on against Mubarak regime

One of the Arab world's classic heartthrobs has lent his support to the popular protest movement sweeping Egypt.

Omar Sharif, the Egyptian icon best known to Americans for his roles in "Lawrence of Arabia," "Doctor Zhivago" and "Funny Girl," reportedly told France Inter radio Monday that President Hosni Mubarak should step down.

"Given that the entire Egyptian people don't want him and he's been in power for 30 years, that's enough," Sharif said, according to Reuters.

Protests in Egypt entered their seventh day Monday as the government intensified its media crackdown. At least 100 people have been killed in clashes with security forces since the protests began.