Alastair and Archie had stayed overnight, and for an extended lunch we had Philip and Edwina, Kina, Sue and Lyulph, Vanessa and Jamie, and Alex.
We listened to the Queen and Mr Ahmedinejad, and I thought he should have also livened his talk up with some clips of essential events of the past year, such as the installation of some new centrifuges or the stoning to death of a married woman found guilty of adultery - its only 80 lashes if she's unmarried.
Of course, Mr Ahmedinejad avoided any reference to the extremist interpretations of Islam preached by some, though not all, of the mullahs in Iran. The Iranian media no longer report executions as they did until recently, and I'm not sure that sinners are executed in public these days.
In Islam,as in Christianity, so much depends on the interpretation of the scriptures. The Qur'an and the Bible could both be treated as justifying men's domination of women and the criminalisation of gays, and there are some Christians who still read the Bible as if every word came directly from the almighty and must be followed to the letter. Actually, those books are the product of their times, and they reflect the ideas of the 1st and 7th centuries, but nowadays, in the Dar el-Harb, the non-Islamic world (the Abode of War,literally), there is acceptance in principle of the equality of all human beings, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. So we are doubly shocked to read that militants in the Pakistani province of Swat have announced that all girls' schools must close by January 1, and they will blow up any that are still open after that date. Its appalling enough that in the view of these people,led by Maulana Fazlullah, women should be deprived of education, but worse,that apparently the Pakistan authorities have no power to arrest them for threatening violence against anyone who resists them,on their own radio station!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Wednesday, December 24
The last three days were largely taken up with changing from TalkTalk to O2 as ISP, a decision taken on the grounds of speed. Its definitely faster, but their helpline was totally useless. Every machine on the network had to be set up individually by connecting it to the supplied router and running the O2 software on it, and Lindsay's computer didn't recognise the ISP. I thought it might be a fault on the ethernet cable, which runs through the window frame of my room, along the back of the house and in her window frame, so I tried using another ethernet cable inside the house and when that didn't work, got JW to move Lindsay's machine into my office so we could use the short yellow cable supplied with the router. When that didn't work either and I telephoned O2 helpline, after a lot of humming and haaing they finally admitted there was a fault at their end, which they rectified. They weren't prepared to offer any advice on how devices sould be connected via a hub, or how the NAS storage device should be connected. It turned out that once a machine had been recognised by connecting it directly to the router, it could then be linked via the hub - just as well since the router only has four ports. The NAS was recognised by the router and I left it attached though it would probably be happy being connected via the hub too.
One residual problem is that my laptop, and one desktop, connected to the network wirelessly, see each other but not the ones that are linked by cable.
This galvanised me into a partial reorganisation of my office. We don't use fax nowadays so I'm getting rid of the bulky HP All-in-one that sat on top of the filing cabinet, and cancelling the telephone connection, saving £20 a month. There's an IT recycling outfit on Coldharbour Lane that accepts old kit, so I hope to get rid of the HP, the old router and some other bits and pieces after the Christmas shutdown.
Sunday I visited Rosalind O-Reilly, who retired from the Lords Library in 1982 abd is now in a nursing home in Pimlico. It seemed to be well-run and clean, and the staff were kind and attentiveto the needs of the residents, who were in the dayroom after their lunch, but Oh dear, what a dreary existence! Ros said she didn't get bored, but she doesn't read, and her only regular visitor is a brother who comes up once a month from Shropshire. She isn't able to get up from the chair, let alone to move about, without assistance, and there seemed to be very little social interaction between the residents, only one of whom was mobile.
One residual problem is that my laptop, and one desktop, connected to the network wirelessly, see each other but not the ones that are linked by cable.
This galvanised me into a partial reorganisation of my office. We don't use fax nowadays so I'm getting rid of the bulky HP All-in-one that sat on top of the filing cabinet, and cancelling the telephone connection, saving £20 a month. There's an IT recycling outfit on Coldharbour Lane that accepts old kit, so I hope to get rid of the HP, the old router and some other bits and pieces after the Christmas shutdown.
Sunday I visited Rosalind O-Reilly, who retired from the Lords Library in 1982 abd is now in a nursing home in Pimlico. It seemed to be well-run and clean, and the staff were kind and attentiveto the needs of the residents, who were in the dayroom after their lunch, but Oh dear, what a dreary existence! Ros said she didn't get bored, but she doesn't read, and her only regular visitor is a brother who comes up once a month from Shropshire. She isn't able to get up from the chair, let alone to move about, without assistance, and there seemed to be very little social interaction between the residents, only one of whom was mobile.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Curious refusal of visa to human rights activist
Statement by Lord Avebury on the refusal of visa to Mr al-Maskati, President of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, to attend a seminar on human rights and democracy in Bahrain, helf under my chairmanship in the House of Lords on Thursday December 18.
On December 14 I learned that Mr al-Maskati had been told more than once by the British Consulate in Manama that his application for a visa to attend and speak at the seminar being held under my chairmanship at the House of Lords on December 18 was still being processed, and since there were only a few days left for him to make his travel arrangements I emailed a senior official in the Consulate as follows:
May I please ask for your help with the application for a visa by Mr Mohammed al-Masqati of Bahrain Youth for Human Rights, who is an invited speaker at a seminar on Bahrain that I'm chairing in the Moses Room, House of Lords, on Thursday? He has attended the Consulate but has been told that his application is still under consideration, and I'm getting anxious, as tomorrow is the last working day in Manama before our seminar.
If you would kindly email me in the morning, I hope to say that the visa is being granted, it would be helpful.
On receiving an automatic ‘Out of office’ reply saying the official would be away until December 29 and giving an alternate email address, I forwarded the original email to the suggested address with a covering note as follows:
I had an 'out of office' reply to this email, and since the matter is indeed urgent, I would be grateful if you would email me in the morning.
On the morning of December 15, having had no answer, I telephoned the Consulate, and the official I spoke to on referring to their computer database of visa applications, told me that no trace could be found of an application under either ‘al-Maskati’ or ‘al-Masqati’.
I telephoned the office of the Minister who deals with these matters, and they referred me to the ‘MPs’ hotline’, and after several attempts to contact thus number, only to receive an answerphone message, when I finally got through I was asked to provide Mr al-Maskati’s passport number. I emailed the official at midday of December 15 as follows:
Details of applicant:
Mohamed Abdulnabi Ebrahim Ali Al-Maskati, Bahraini Passport No: ******* (details withheld for reasons of confidentiality)
This gentleman has been invited for a short visit so that he can speak at a seminar I'm chairing on the morning of Thursday this week.
These seminars have been held regularly every six months for many years, and none of our invited speakers has ever infringed the immigration rules to the best of my knowledge.
Its a public holiday in Manama tomorrow, but I very much hope that the UKBA can make up their minds to grant Mr al-Maskati a visa in time for Wednesday first thing, which I hope would enable him to book a last minute flight.
The following day, December 16, the official emailed me:
Just to keep you updated on Mr Al-Maskati's visa application, this application has been referred, and is being currently being looked into.
The words ‘has been referred’ meant that the Consulate in Manama had referred the application to the UK Borders Agency in London. I replied:
Thanks for that. But if he doesn't get the visa tomorrow, he will miss our seminar on Thursday, which I must say would be a great disappointment.
On Wednesday, December 17 the official emailed me:
While I can't pre-empt any final decision, I did want to update you that it does look likely that Mr Al-Maskati's application may be refused.
At that point it was already too late for Mr al-Maskati to make travel arrangements even if the application had been granted.
Although it would have added greatly to the analysis of the situation of human rights and democracy in Bahrain if the seminar could have heard from the President of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, his absence underlined what I said in my own speech about the attempts to silence Bahraini activists speaking at meetings abroad:
“When three prominent human rights activists spoke at a meeting in Washington DC about the exclusion of Shi’a from higher education and public sector jobs, they were branded as ‘traitors’ and ‘stooges of the Unuted States’ on returning to Bahrain, and the Interior Minister, one more al-Khalifa, called for the enforcement of Article 34 of the Penal Code, which provides that a person who criticises Bahrain abroad is liable to three months imprisonment and a fine. I wrote to the Foreign Office Minister who deals with Bahrain, Bill Rammell MP, and he said our Ambassador was seeking a call on the Interior Minister to discuss his Article 34 demand, and also the wider issues of Bahrainis speaking at conferences abroad”.
We will make arrangements to receive a note of the speech Mr al-Maskati would have delivered, for inclusion in the report on the proceedings of the seminar, and we will make further inquiries with Foreign Office Ministers about the reasons why the application was referred to London, and why it was refused.
On December 14 I learned that Mr al-Maskati had been told more than once by the British Consulate in Manama that his application for a visa to attend and speak at the seminar being held under my chairmanship at the House of Lords on December 18 was still being processed, and since there were only a few days left for him to make his travel arrangements I emailed a senior official in the Consulate as follows:
May I please ask for your help with the application for a visa by Mr Mohammed al-Masqati of Bahrain Youth for Human Rights, who is an invited speaker at a seminar on Bahrain that I'm chairing in the Moses Room, House of Lords, on Thursday? He has attended the Consulate but has been told that his application is still under consideration, and I'm getting anxious, as tomorrow is the last working day in Manama before our seminar.
If you would kindly email me in the morning, I hope to say that the visa is being granted, it would be helpful.
On receiving an automatic ‘Out of office’ reply saying the official would be away until December 29 and giving an alternate email address, I forwarded the original email to the suggested address with a covering note as follows:
I had an 'out of office' reply to this email, and since the matter is indeed urgent, I would be grateful if you would email me in the morning.
On the morning of December 15, having had no answer, I telephoned the Consulate, and the official I spoke to on referring to their computer database of visa applications, told me that no trace could be found of an application under either ‘al-Maskati’ or ‘al-Masqati’.
I telephoned the office of the Minister who deals with these matters, and they referred me to the ‘MPs’ hotline’, and after several attempts to contact thus number, only to receive an answerphone message, when I finally got through I was asked to provide Mr al-Maskati’s passport number. I emailed the official at midday of December 15 as follows:
Details of applicant:
Mohamed Abdulnabi Ebrahim Ali Al-Maskati, Bahraini Passport No: ******* (details withheld for reasons of confidentiality)
This gentleman has been invited for a short visit so that he can speak at a seminar I'm chairing on the morning of Thursday this week.
These seminars have been held regularly every six months for many years, and none of our invited speakers has ever infringed the immigration rules to the best of my knowledge.
Its a public holiday in Manama tomorrow, but I very much hope that the UKBA can make up their minds to grant Mr al-Maskati a visa in time for Wednesday first thing, which I hope would enable him to book a last minute flight.
The following day, December 16, the official emailed me:
Just to keep you updated on Mr Al-Maskati's visa application, this application has been referred, and is being currently being looked into.
The words ‘has been referred’ meant that the Consulate in Manama had referred the application to the UK Borders Agency in London. I replied:
Thanks for that. But if he doesn't get the visa tomorrow, he will miss our seminar on Thursday, which I must say would be a great disappointment.
On Wednesday, December 17 the official emailed me:
While I can't pre-empt any final decision, I did want to update you that it does look likely that Mr Al-Maskati's application may be refused.
At that point it was already too late for Mr al-Maskati to make travel arrangements even if the application had been granted.
Although it would have added greatly to the analysis of the situation of human rights and democracy in Bahrain if the seminar could have heard from the President of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, his absence underlined what I said in my own speech about the attempts to silence Bahraini activists speaking at meetings abroad:
“When three prominent human rights activists spoke at a meeting in Washington DC about the exclusion of Shi’a from higher education and public sector jobs, they were branded as ‘traitors’ and ‘stooges of the Unuted States’ on returning to Bahrain, and the Interior Minister, one more al-Khalifa, called for the enforcement of Article 34 of the Penal Code, which provides that a person who criticises Bahrain abroad is liable to three months imprisonment and a fine. I wrote to the Foreign Office Minister who deals with Bahrain, Bill Rammell MP, and he said our Ambassador was seeking a call on the Interior Minister to discuss his Article 34 demand, and also the wider issues of Bahrainis speaking at conferences abroad”.
We will make arrangements to receive a note of the speech Mr al-Maskati would have delivered, for inclusion in the report on the proceedings of the seminar, and we will make further inquiries with Foreign Office Ministers about the reasons why the application was referred to London, and why it was refused.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Bahrain seminar
The pictures are of yesterday's seminar in Bahrain in the Moses Room. On my right is Hassan Mushaime, Leader of the Haq Movement, and on my left, the Director of a new US organisation to promote democracy and human rights in Bahrain.
One of our speakers, Mohammad al-Maskati, was unable to attend because the British consulate in Manama were told by the FCO not to issue him with a visa at the last minute, after much prevarication. I couldn't get a straight answer when I inquired about the problem, either from the consulate or from the FCO, and I will have to nake further attempts to find out what the problem was after Christmas. Irs bad enough that the Bahraini regime does its best to intimidate activists into silence at home and abroad, and we shouldn't appear to be collaborating with them.
One of our speakers, Mohammad al-Maskati, was unable to attend because the British consulate in Manama were told by the FCO not to issue him with a visa at the last minute, after much prevarication. I couldn't get a straight answer when I inquired about the problem, either from the consulate or from the FCO, and I will have to nake further attempts to find out what the problem was after Christmas. Irs bad enough that the Bahraini regime does its best to intimidate activists into silence at home and abroad, and we shouldn't appear to be collaborating with them.
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