MANAMA // Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa yesterday expressed regret for the death of two people in protests on the Gulf island.
"With regret, there were two deaths among our dear sons. We extend our sincere condolences to the families and ask God to grant them endurance and consolation," the king said in a rare and conciliatory address on state television.
He promised that the "regretful incidents" would be investigated and the process of political reform would continue.
"Reform is a continuous process that will not stop," he said.
Thousands of protesters were converging in the Pearl Roundabout in the centre of the capital as he spoke, joining thousands of others who had earlier attended the funeral of the one of the dead men. Together they chanted, "Sunni, Shiite, we are all brethren."
The events marked the second night of protests after Bahrainis thronged the streets of at least 16 villages on Monday night. Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima suffered a fatal gunshot wound as police attempted to disperse the protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets on Monday.
The unrest continued yesterday morning, when police clashed with mourners who had gathered at Salmaniya Medical Complex to collect Mushaima’s body. The second Bahraini, Fadhel Salman Matrouk, was killed when many in the panicked crowd sought shelter in the hospital.
The nature of Matrouk’s fatal injury was not immediately known, but Bahrain’s chief of public security said yesterday that he was wounded when mourners clashed with security patrols that were “evacuating a car which was hindering the funeral cortege from proceeding.”
An estimated 4,000 mourners attended Mushaima’s funeral later in the day in his hometown of Daih before moving on to protest in Manama.
Bahrain’s security forces kept a low profile at the funeral, a decision that Ibrahim Sherrif, the Sunni leader of the opposition National Action Society said “was the only sensible thing”.
The Ministry of Interior, meanwhile, has also offered various public security and safety details on its Twitter feed, confirming the deaths and alerting motorists on how to avoid the protests.
“A medical source affirms that the injured individuals currently being treated at SMC are in stable condition and no other death is recorded,” announced one tweet late on Tuesday night.
In another, the ministry said: “Chief of Public Security: Clashes between funeral participants and a police patrol led to Bahraini Fadhel Salman Matrook’s death. Probe is on.”
In a statement last night the ministry said: “Out of keenness to maintain citizens’ safety, we express our regret over those who fell dead or injured in the last incidents and extend our sincere condolences to their families and all the people of Bahrain, sharing with them their grief and sufferings.”
It added: “In order to maintain the safety of the homeland and citizens and to avoid the recurrence of similar regrettable incidents, we urge all the citizens to adhere to calmness and solidarity and to contain the incidents in total patience, rationality and advancement of national interests.”
"Concerning yesterday's death, late citizen Ali Abdulhadi died in a separate incident that had no relation to the demonstration. However, details of what exactly happened will be provided by a probe into the case.
"With regard to the second death and as it was earlier explained by the Public Security Chief, it took place during the funeral of late Ali Abdulhadi when some mourners clashed with three patrols which were in the same place as the funeral trying to evacuate one of their vehicles which had gone out of order. Fadhel Matrouk was injured in the mourners' clash with the patrols and died after being rushed to hospital. A probe has been opened to explore the reasons behind the death.
"We would like also to inform the citizens that out of respect of the feelings of the mourners, they have been allowed to head to the Lulu [Pearl] roundabout where they are still there. Meantime, we have taken all necessary measures to ease the traffic in the area but we urge the citizens not to go to that area to avoid traffic jams."
In protest at the killings, Bahrain’s largest political party, the Al Wefaq National Islamic Society, yesterday said they would postpone their participation in parliament because of the deaths.
A party representative in the funeral procession said their main aims are to end discrimination against Shiites and press for constitutional reform.
In a bid to address economic grievances in the run-up to this week’s protests, the king announced that every family would receive a gift of 1,000 Bahraini dinars (Dh10,000).
Last night, the atmosphere at the Pearl Roundabout was jubilant, as demonstrators waved flags and hoisted their political leaders on their shoulders. Some brought tents and were planning to stay.
jcalderwood@thenational.ae
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Company profile
Date started: January, 2014
Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe
Based: Dubai
Sector: Education technology
Size: Five employees
Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.
Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)
The%20specs
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
yallacompare profile
Date of launch: 2014
Founder: Jon Richards, founder and chief executive; Samer Chebab, co-founder and chief operating officer, and Jonathan Rawlings, co-founder and chief financial officer
Based: Media City, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: 120 employees
Investors: 2014: $500,000 in a seed round led by Mulverhill Associates; 2015: $3m in Series A funding led by STC Ventures (managed by Iris Capital), Wamda and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority; 2019: $8m in Series B funding with the same investors as Series A along with Precinct Partners, Saned and Argo Ventures (the VC arm of multinational insurer Argo Group)
More on Quran memorisation:
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Match info
Bournemouth 0
Liverpool 4 (Salah 25', 48', 76', Cook 68' OG)
Man of the match: Andrew Robertson (Liverpool)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company%20profile
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NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
SHAITTAN
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVikas%20Bahl%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAjay%20Devgn%2C%20R.%20Madhavan%2C%20Jyothika%2C%20Janaki%20Bodiwala%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
THE%20HOLDOVERS
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Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
'The Sky is Everywhere'
Director:Josephine Decker
Stars:Grace Kaufman, Pico Alexander, Jacques Colimon
Rating:2/5
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
