Bahrain Teachers Association wins trade union award

Thursday, 19 February 2015 14:24

The 2015 Arthur Svensson Prize has been awarded to the Bahrain Teachers Association (BTA) by leader Mahdi Abu Dheeb and deputy Jalila al-Salman. The international prize for trade union rights was established by Industri Energi (Norway) in 2010.

101. And when you (Muslims) travel in the land, there is no sin on you if you shorten your Salat (prayer) if you fear that the disbelievers may attack you, verily, the disbelievers are ever unto you open enemies.

102. When you (O Messenger Muhammad ) are among them, and lead them in As-Salat (the prayer), let one party of them stand up [in Salat (prayer)] with you taking their arms with them; when they finish their prostrations, let them take their positions in the rear and let the other party come up which has not yet prayed, and let them pray with you taking all the precautions and bearing arms. Those who disbelieve wish, if you were negligent of your arms and your baggage, to attack you in a single rush, but there is no sin on you if you put away your arms because of the inconvenience of rain or because you are ill, but take every precaution for yourselves. Verily, Allah has prepared a humiliating torment for the disbelievers.

103. When you have finished As-Salat (the prayer - congregational), remember Allah standing, sitting down, and lying down on your sides, but when you are free from danger, perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as- Salat). Verily, the prayer is enjoined on the believers at fixed hours.4. Surah An-Nisa' (The Women)

The awarding body praised their encouragement of strike actions among teachers despite the personal risks they faced, including imprisonment and torture.

Mahdi Abu Dheeb was sentenced to five years in prison in 2011. His health condition is reportedly worsening steadily and he does not receive essential and critical medical aid.

Jalila al-Salman was released after nearly six months in prison, but still suffers from a job ban and restrictions on her rights to speech.

The Svensson prize is awarded to a person or organisation that has worked predominately to promote trade union rights and/or strengthen trade union organisations. It is awarded annually, based on proposals from trade unions around the world.

In previous years, the award has been granted to Mr Wellington Chibebe, Secretary General of Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Mr Shaer Sae'd, Secretary General of Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) and C.CAWDU (Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union).

A Swedish freelance journalist, who went missing close to an ISIS-controlled area in Syria, was freed on Saturday after being held for a week by Syrian government forces.

Joakim Medin, 30, told Swedish daily newspaper Expressen on Sunday he was arrested earlier this week by the Syrian regime at a roadblock in al-Qamishli, a Syrian town on the Turkish border.

He said he was held in an isolation cell with no light for a week but was not exposed to physical violence.

''I feel OK. I'm exhausted both in my mind and body, but it's OK,'' Medin told Expressen.

Medin said he was not sure when he would return home to Sweden and that he had not bought a ticket back yet.

Geneva-based Friends of Humanity announced on Wednesday that 166 children have died since the start of the regime's siege of Al-Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp south of Damascus, Anadolu has reported. The Bashar Al-Assad regime has imposed a strict siege on the refugee camp, which houses thousands of Syrians as well as Palestinians, since July 2013.

In a new report, the NGO described the situation in the refugee camp as "tragic" because of the spread of disease and starvation, and a chronic shortage of medical equipment and medicines.

Since the start of the Syrian crisis in 2011, said FoH, 2,651 Palestinian refugees have been killed, most of them by the regime. "Some died of hunger, some were killed by rocket attacks, some by snipers and some under torture," the report claimed. "Some 818 Palestinians were killed inside Syria's jails, including 293 from Al-Yarmouk Refugee Camp."

It also said that the Syrian regime carried out "inhumane" measures against the refugee camp, such as cutting water and electricity supplies since April 2013. The refugees are obliged to get their water from specific points secured by relief agencies.

For months, regime forces have been blocking food and children's milk from going into Al-Yarmouk, putting the refugees under pressure in order to flush out the opposition groups controlling the camp.

Al-Yarmouk was the largest refugee camp in Syria and used to be home to around 500,000 Palestinians, in addition to large numbers of Syrians. Many have fled to Lebanon and other places because of the siege and attacks by regime forces.

Ireland has donated €0.5 million to the Gaza Strip following Foreign Minister Charles Flanagan's trip to the enclave ended yesterday.

Flanagan arrived in the Gaza Strip through the northern Erez border crossing for a brief visit yesterday.

"Today, I saw closely the size of the destruction made to the Palestinian families during the clashes which took place last year," he told reporters.

He said his country's donation would be paid to UNRWA in order for it to provide for the urgent needs of families in Gaza.

"Flanagan, accompanied by a delegation of 14 officials, arrived in Gaza through the Erez crossing between Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip," Maher Abu Sabha, head of the Palestinian border authority, told the Anadolu Agency.

"He met with ministers from the Palestinian unity government and UN officials [in Gaza]," Abu Sabha said.

The visit by Ireland's top diplomat comes a day after Middle East Quartet head Tony Blair visited the Gaza Strip as part of a regional tour that also included Egypt and Israel.

Israeli authorities have opened the gates of a dam near the Gaza Strip, which led to the flooding of several homes in the enclave, according to the strip's Civil Defense Directorate (CDD).

"The [Israeli] army opened the floodgates of a canal leading to central Gaza, which led to the removal of sand mounds along the border with Israel," Gaza's CDD said in a statement.

"Opening the levees to the canal has led to the flooding of several Palestinian homes, and we had to quickly evacuate the afflicted citizens," it added.

Medical sources told Anadolu Agency that no casualties have been reported as a result of the flooding.

According to the CDD, Israeli authorities usually open the floodgates to their dams in the direction of the Gaza Strip - without prior notice - in order to discharge the enormous quantities of water that had accumulated due to the heavy rains in the region.

The Gaza Strip is struggling to deal with a severe snowstorm that has been sweeping across several Middle Eastern countries since Tuesday.

The Israeli blockade of Gaza, in place since 2006, has led to shortages in fuel and rainwater drainage equipment, which further exacerbated the situation of the 1.9 million Palestinians in the strip.