Rejected by Bahrain

Photo: Anti-government protesters' reflections are seen on a car that was hit by bullets during an operation by Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) military forces to remove protesters from Pearl Square in Bahrain, March 17, 2011. (REUTERS/James Lawler Duggan)

Bahrain awoke to a violent crackdown by police on demonstrators camped out at the country's iconic Lulu (Pearl) roundabout on Wednesday. That afternoon, I boarded a flight from Doha, Qatar to Bahrain, to see for myself what was unfolding in the island nation I once called home.

Hours later, I found myself on a flight back to Doha, without having been allowed to set foot out of Bahrain's airport in Muharraq.

The flight itself was quite uneventful. The plane - an Airbus A321, with a listed 177 passenger capacity - carried less than 30 people. A short line to immigration meant I was at the desk in minutes. Immigration officer asks, "Where are you coming from? Qatar? OK, 5 Bahraini Dinars."

Thumbing through my passport, he suddenly stops and looks me in the eye. "Wait, where are you from? Who do you work for? ... Please have a seat - over there." I can't be sure if it was the Iraq visa, the India visa, or the numerous Qatar & Saudi visas in my American passport he found suspicious. Or perhaps it was my telling him in Arabic that "my origin" is half Indian, half Hispanic.

So my wait began. There were quite a number of other people on the benches too. Anyone who'd arrived with the intention of driving across the King Fahad causeway into Saudi Arabia was being told they'd have to fly. There is a curfew in effect on Bahrain's main highway from 4pm-4am, and last I heard, the bridge to Saudi was closed indefinitely. This of course, due to the month-long protests against the government by opposition groups calling for democratic reforms, a constitutional monarchy and basic human rights.

After about an hour of waiting, and checking in a couple times to see if there was any problems, one of the immigration officers asked, "You used to work for Al Jazeera, right?"

Yes, but I left in November. Now, I actually lecture at Northwestern University in Qatar, and report freelance. "Please, wait."

At one point, I was joined on the immigration benches by journalists from Radio France, UK's Channel 4, and a Japanese photographer. A Ministry of Information officer eventually arrived to check their credentials, and after an hour or so, let them through.

"And what channel are you with?" he asked me. I'm not with a channel, I freelance and teach at a university... "Oh, OK, please wait."

Checking back in at three hours, I asked immigration what the story was. "Please accept our apology," the officer says. "It is too dangerous for you to go to Manama, there is a curfew there, so we cannot allow you for now". Look guys, I really don't work for Al Jazeera (they're banned from working in Bahrain). When will I be able to go? "It will be fine in two or three days, please come back then".

Disappointing for sure, but others had more on the line in Bahrain than I. It was about 5 hours in total until I was actually handed back my passport, alongside a boarding pass for a flight back to Qatar. How they add it up - who gets in, who doesn't - I have no idea. Apparently journalists from the BBC, CNN & the US-funded Arabic-language network Al Hurrah were also turned back.

The Doha return flight - aboard a huge Boeing 777-300, with 335 passenger capacity - was packed. The Russian fellow next to me told me he'd been dogged by the protests, having first stayed at a hotel near Lulu Roundabout when things first got started on February 14, then near the Financial Harbour when that was the scene of demonstrations, then finally at a hotel in the current curfew zone.

Throughout the trip, I didn't have access to the Internet, so kept in touch - and tweeted - via SMS. Upon arriving in Doha, I found I'd missed a complete outpouring of support on Twitter and elsewhere. So to all those who tweeted at me, retweeted me, emailed, Facebooked and more, thanks!

You can read this story as told through Twitter, here.

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Mister44

2nd on the bird shot. I am sure this is going to give conspiracy nuts a Cheney/Haliburton connection to the protests in Bahrain.
- turn_self_off
  
  More like CIA/cold war if #1 is correct.
Tatsuma

The USA is not going to lift a finger to stop the Saudi’s in Bahrain. The US Government does not want to deal with $10 a gallon at the pumps. This is sad, but true.
Anonymous

I would vote that it is from rubber bullets (rubber shot) or from lead coated in rubber. the spacing is close enough that if it was bird shot there would be a lot more of them. Some shot loads have 200 pellets in there. Less pellets= larger pellets and larger pellets= actual holes in the metal.
Manyang

@Destronok
Fortunately the internet has a memory beyond the past few days. I’m sure you accidentally missed the following link which might have explained why there was an angry mob at a hospital that day.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/02/bahrain-video-protest-khalifa-violence-shoot.html
pauldavis

right, that was really my point. i have no idea who the external actors would be, if indeed there are any. probably not the US, but i really don’t know.
turn_self_off

At first pass i read the image description as “Gulf Corporation Council military forces”…
Anonymous

There is no way that is bird shot. At the range that it would take for it to spread that far, it would be almost falling out of the air. You guys seem to be right about the shotgun, though.
sworm

From what I understand Bahrain is pretty much a proxy war between the government backed by the Sauds and Iran.
Anonymous

That picture does NOT show bullet strikes. It shows a hit from small-size shot from a shotgun. It was bird shot, not even buck shot.
Destronok

“A Ministry of Information officer eventually arrived to check their credentials, and after an hour or so, let them through.”

Omar, it seems as though one of the main reasons you didn’t get through was you were a freelance journalist. The delay in denying your visa was probably due to them making sure you weren’t arriving in Bahrain with a non-journalistic intent. Suffice to say, the security situation in Bahrain is real. The region is on high-alert for anything Iran might do in order to destabilize the situation in Bahrain. Hizbollah has an active relationship with hard-liners in Bahrain and is likely to have contributed in training the highly-organized effort to bring down the government that occurred in the form of political stalling, occupation of public space, and barricading essential highways in the country.

Many news organizations neglect to mention the anti-government protestors turned violent before the GCC forces entered Bahrain. Indian expatriates were murdered in the streets [WARNING: GRAPHIC], the main hospital was occupied (which is really dumb, for real, because it means individuals that need critical care are denied it. This resulted in at least two deaths which might not have happened had the hospital remained a hospital.), ambulances were used to capture indian expatriates for reasons that are unapparent (and inexcusable whatever the reasons), and only half an hour ago Bahrain Television aired a video showing the corpse of a policeman (a Bahraini) being kicked by a crowd of 5-10 individuals. References to it are already on Twitter.

If Bahrain needs anything from the international community, it’s support in realizing that there are violent groups in Bahrain that need to be stopped (US intelligence agencies are probably well aware of this, and recent Wikileaks cables help shed light on the matter). This kind of destructive behavior would not be tolerated in any civil society (watch for the improvised explosive device at 2:37).
pauldavis

the potential bahrain establishment troll above notwithstanding, the turmoil in arab north africa has left me wondering just how outsiders can and should come to a conclusion about the origins and motivations of an uprising.

suppose, for example, that the tea party was able to get, say, 500,000 people to march in an aggressive but non-violent manner on washington DC. suppose they repeated this for several days in a row. suppose smaller, similar outbursts occured in other large cities throughout the US. if the tea party is not a credible source of such action for you, substitute a different organization.

when these protesters claim to act on behalf of the american people, how can we tell if their claim is true?

in the depth of my heart, i wish for liberty and freedom and meaning for everyone around the world and particularly for those in countries that have recently overthrown dictators of one form or another. my heart is sick with the idea of what gaddhaffi may do if he can reassert full control over libya, and the possibility that the hope and heroism of people there will be extinguished.

and yet … i still don’t know how we can really establish the legitimacy of particular liberation movements even if the need for liberation is clear to all. and this worries me, at home in the future USA as much as elsewhere in the present world.
- Destronok
  
  Thanks for taking the time to check out all the hyperlinks before calling me a troll. The word is thrown around a lot these days, and often without understanding what it means to Troll.
  
  Allow me to explain.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    What makes you think that he was referring to you?
    - Destronok
      
      Good question, perhaps it’s because my comment was the only one that was directly addressing the situation in Bahrain-
      
      I see… Thanks for clearing that up. =#)
      
      Sorry about that pauldavis. I saw your comment appear right below mine and assumed you were replying.
      - pauldavis
        
        my first sentence was. the wording of your response was very more “on message” that almost anything one ever sees in the comment stream here at boingboing, which is by itself somewhat suspicious. i used the word “potential” because it seemed entirely possible that you were in fact just a regular concerned, well informed individual, and it still does. and for the record, my use of the word was more a reference to this sort of thing:
        
        http://www.seattlesrestaurants.info/photo/Seattle-WA/Bridge-Troll-Seattle-WA
        
        none of the rest of what i wrote had anything to do with your post in any direct sense, and indeed i am quite aware that bahrain is not in north africa. the same concerns apply there though, too: the difficulty for outsiders in understanding the legitimacy of a liberation movement.
- Destronok
  
  …also note that Bahrain is not in N.Africa.
Destronok

BTW, the salary of a Bahraini MP a little under $10,000…a month.
(without the perks)

One thing they have managed to do successfully (the legislation to ban attractive mannequins was shot down) is enact a progressive increase in their salaries over the years.
rebdav

Looks like birdshot to me, did a bit of scientific testing on junked cars in high school :)

The old birdshot to the legs was part of US military crowd control doctrine at list through the 80′s.
Mitch_M

That’s funny. Keeping you out of the country for being a potential journalist becomes an embarrassing story itself.

I hope news organizations are slick enough to send people with no prior history of journalism to Bahrain to report on what is happening.
rebdav

I have treated these shotgun birdshot wounds in the ER, nasty and prone to infection, not to mention they will take out an eye or kill at close range, just think about a few pellets to the private parts.
Anonymous

“Bullet” means “one charge of powder per projectile.” A shotgun shoots a bunch of pellets per charge of powder. And they’re slow. A minimal “bullet,” e.g. a .22, would probably pierce auto sheet metal.

This just means the original writer doesn’t know diddly about guns. It doesn’t mean deadly force was not used. Shotguns are indeed deadly, within close range.
Anonymous

Birdshot is #9 and #8. that looksmore like a 4# or 5# to me. What we used to use for rabbit and med-sized game. It can kill when enough hits you.
Anonymous

Well mr american passport holder,this shouldn’t be strange for you as your own country The United States of America harrases people with valid visas for no apparent reasons.y is it that they have the right to choose and my country doesn’t especially when it is undergoing such hard times.you and your fellows have never been rejected infact always welcomed with warm smiles.we based on our ethnic backgrounds or religion are easily categorized as terrorists. You didnt have to get out, go to a detention cell be interrogated!!!!!!!!!!!! So my dear instead of complaining say thankyou Bahrain for allowing me to sit and for handing me a boarding pass back and not putting me in an unknown area with no communication possible.
- george57l
  
  Well said. A nice “mirror” analogy and worth pointing out.
  
  Except that your target probably has the same opinion as you of the general behaviour of US immigration in similar circumstances.
  
  And if pauldavis was referring to YOU as the troll and not to Destronok, well, I suspect you and he might both think the other was trolling, what with his implications that the Bahrain protests may have been organised by nefarious political organisations.
  
  @pauldavis – perhaps one difference is that the tea party is a well-known ‘political’ organisation (i.e. “organised”) whereas from what I have read so far (and I’m happy to be proven wrong or insufficiently well-read) the protest and uprising in Bahrain was a tad more spontaneous or disorganised as political organisations (such as the tea party) are not exactly ten a penny in Bahrain. Which substitute “different organisation” did you have in mind as being behind the events in Bahrain? What more “origins and motivations” do you need than an oppressive freedom-denying regime with all the injustice that goes with it?
  - pauldavis
    
    well, being just a little paranoid for a moment, its not exactly unheard for the US to spend significant resources to foment this kind of unrest, even when it has an organic momentum behind it as well. this happened in hungary and czechoslovakia, where the CIA was quite active at (anonymously) encouraging the uprisings there in the 1960s.
    
    i want to stress that i don’t really believe that the CIA has anything to do with tunisia, egypt or even libya. i’m just a little skeptical of our instant readiness to buy into the “regular folks, fighting for freedom” story when (recent) history has several examples that turned out to be more complicated.
    - george57l
      
      Well I could maybe buy them (the US govt) fomenting stuff in a number of places – but Bahrain? With oil and on Saudi’s doorstep?
      
      Iran? Syria? Even some of the N.African states, but Bahrain?
      
      Naah – they have no interest in further upsetting the status quo in Bahrain.
      
      Others might, though. Iran for example.
  - Destronok
    
    I don’t know what you read that lead you to believe the protests were spontaneous. The main reason protests were spontaneous in Egypt was political parties were brutally repressed.
    
    Bahrainis, on the other hand, have had the freedom to create political parties and run for parliament for over a decade. Now if you had a political party with constituents and an organizational structure to disseminate information, how silly would it be to run out into the street and hope that people would follow?
    
    (As a general note, the tendency to lump Egypt and Bahrain into the same basket doesn’t help. The two nations are very different, and one should recognize that.)
    
    It’s very hard create an argument that exclusively blames one group or organization in Bahrain.
    
    The government’s to blame for not giving its people the right of freedom of speech in its fullest sense. They are also to blame for often having only two settings when it comes to crime and punishment: super-leniency || beat-the-shit-out-of-you. It’s a weird bipolar situation where sometimes people get off way too easy when they really shouldn’t and other times people are thrown in prison for being critical of the wrong people (which is wrong).
    
    The members of parliament are to blame for being asshats for two consecutive 4-year terms. Their great accomplishments include noticing that mannequins in shop windows are way too attractive and something needs to be done about that, as well as calling for legally enforceable racial segregation (also mentioned in the above link).
    
    The people are to blame for electing the aformentioned asshats and then getting pissed off when they aren’t being represented. Guess what? It’s your fault. No really, it is.
Dean Putney

Wow… unbelievable. The world is changing so fast.
pinehead

Just to riff on the shotgun-marked car:

The pellet marks on that car suggest a proper riot gun was used (or at least a riot load fired from a short-barreled shotgun). Count the marks; there are about 30 of them in the space of that fender. Look at the distribution of the shot; it’s too loose to have come from a combat shotgun. Lastly, consider the pellet craters themselves. The craters suggest either high-powered tiny pellets or low-powered larger pellets. If it was high-powered tiny pellets, the choke would be a lot tighter, and it simply isn’t.

So what kind of load uses big pellets with just enough powder to inflict that kind of damage without penetrating the sheet metal? I’m going with rubber buckshot or some equivalent riot load. It’s the kind of thing that would incapacitate a person without shearing off limbs or blowing holes in them.