After the calls this week for the executions of Green Movement leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Mohammad Khatami, hardliners in the regime have apparently added another big name to the death wish list: Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, president of the Islamic Republic between 1989 and 1997. Radio Zamaneh reports:Two days after the February 14 protests, supporters of Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, shown on national TV chanting slogans in Qom calling for the death of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani. The moderate cleric is the chairman of Iran's two major governing bodies, the Assembly of Experts and the Expediency Council.
The attacks against Hashemi Rafsanjani have come despite firm condemnation of the February 14 protests by the Assembly of Experts. The Assembly of Experts has accused the protests of falsely using the recent Arab uprisings to further "seditious" objectives.
The Assembly of Experts is the body that selects the Supreme Leader and (nominally, at least) supervises his activities. The Expediency Council advises the Supreme Leader and, in Iran's complex governing apparatus, adjudicates conflicts between the Majles (parliament) and the Guardian Council, the body charged with vetting the Majles's legislation for conformity with the Iranian Constitution and Islamic law.
Meanwhile Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi's Kalame website is calling for new protests for Sunday, February 20 to protest the death of two opposition supporters and to show support for Iran's Green Movement leadership.
Bahrain: Five people are believed to have been killed and scores injured after Bahraini security forces raided peaceful protests in Pearl roundabout in the early hours of Thursday morning. Pictures have emerged showing brutal injuries sustained by protesters and, in one case, a young child. Riot police also targeted doctors and medics, while ambulances were prevented from reaching Pearl roundabout to collect the wounded.Gulf Arab foreign ministers are meeting in Bahrain tonight to discuss the unrest in the country, according to reports. Bahrain TV, the state channel, has been broadcasting pictures of weapons supposedly seized from protesters at the roundabout in an apparent attempt to blame protesters for the bloodshed.
• Libya: Several hundred supporters of the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, have gathered in the capital to oppose online calls for an anti-government "day of rage". There are reports that 14 people have been killed in the country across several cities, while Human Rights Watch said 14 writers, activists and protesters who had been calling for protests have been detained. Protests have been reported in Beghazi, Zentana and al Bayda, where an opposition group says four people have been killed.
Gaddafi's regime is reportedly sending out text messages to Libyans in an attempt to quell protests, in a similar move to that seen in Egypt. "Libyan regime sending SMS to citizens threatening them with live bullets if they continue to demonstrate," @libyanfsl tweeted this morning. There will be a demonstration against Gaddafi, expected to be countered by supporters of the Libyan leader, outside the Libyan embassy in London at 3pm.
• Yemen: Security forces have clashed with anti-government protesters in Yemen for a seventh consecutive day. In Sana'a Associated Press reported that 6,000 protesters marched towards the centre of the city, being forced to fight off attacks "by police and government supporters swinging batons and daggers". A dozen protesters and an unknown number of policemen have been injured, while security officials said police arrested about 50 protesters. Clashes have been reported in several other towns, including the port city of Aden.
Bahrain's security forces — army, riot police and secret service — are the backbone of the Al Khalifa regime, now facing unprecedented unrest after overnight shootings. But large numbers of their personnel are recruited from other countries, including Jordan, Pakistan and Yemen.
Tanks and troops from neighbouring Saudi Arabia were also reported to have deployed in support of Bahraini forces.
Precise numbers are a closely-guarded secret, but in recent years the Manama government has made a concerted effort to recruit non-native Sunni Muslims as part of an attempt to swing the demographic balance against the Shia majority — 60-70% of the population of 1 million.
Bahrainis often complain that the riot police and special forces do not speak the local Arabic dialect, or in the case of Baluchis from Pakistan, do not speak Arabic at all, and are reviled as mercenaries. Officers are typically Bahrainis, Syrians or Jordanians. Iraqi Baathists who served in Saddam Hussein's security forces were recruited after the US-led invasion in 2003. Only the police employs Bahraini Shias.
The secret police — the Bahrain national security agency (known in Arabic as the "Mukhabarat") — has undergone a process of "Bahrainisation" in recent years after being dominated by British long after independence in 1971. Ian Henderson, who retired as its director in 1998, is still remembered as the "Butcher of Bahrain" because of his alleged use of torture. A Jordanian official is currently described as the organisation's "master torturer."
"Now they recruit young Bahraini Sunnis to open Twitter accounts to give the government point of view in the social media battle," a local journalist said.
The large-scale naturalisation of foreign Sunnis has been described by analysts as a "clear political strategy to alter the country's demographic balance in order to counter the Shia voting power."
Several thousand Yemeni protesters defied appeals for calm from the military and the country's most influential Islamic cleric and marched through the capital on Thursday, pressing on with their campaign to oust the US-allied president.
The protesters fought off attacks by police and government supporters swinging batons and daggers. Municipal vehicles ferried sticks and stones to the pro-government side, witnesses said ...
Thursday's protests began with small gatherings of students marching toward downtown Sana'a. Many other people joined them as clashes broke out with police and government supporters. The number of protesters reached about 6,000.
"People want to topple the president, people want to topple the regime," they chanted.
Witnesses said police fired shots into the air to disperse the protesters. A dozen protesters and an unknown number of policemen were injured. Security officials said police arrested about 50 protesters. Clashes were reported Thursday in several other towns, including the port city of Aden. Seeking to hold on to the momentum, activists have called for a "day of rage" Friday.
Yemen's official news agency, Saba, reported that President Saleh chaired a meeting of the army's top officers Wednesday night to discuss the turmoil. The Defence Council later called for calm. Another appeal to end the protests came from Yemen's most prominent religious figure, Sheik Abdul-Majid al-Zindani, who is close to Saleh. The United States considers him an al-Qaida-linked terrorist. "Change by street protest is rejected. It leads to chaos," al-Zindani said.
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