81 executed by Saudis as the Johnson barters their blood for oil
On Saturday 12th March Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior announced that it had executed 81 individuals whom it says were “convicted of terrorism”. 41 of the men were from Saudi’s Shia Muslim community of the Eastern Province. The men were tried in the country’s Specialized Criminal Court pursuant to the Counterterrorism Law, which has been widely criticized as politicized and for lacking basic due process. The bodies of the victims have not been handed to their families. “Today’s unprecedented shocking mass executions in what we know to be sham trials under sham laws in Saudi Arabia should dispel any mythology about MBS’s transforming into some kind of ‘reformer’,” said Sarah Leah Whiston, Executive Director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN). “Coddling MBS has only made him more brazen, from holding hostage the price of oil amidst a global crisis, to killing dozens of his countrymen in a single day.”
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Brachelette has condemned the mass executions carried by Saudi Arabia. On Monday the UN human rights chief condemned the executions and urged the kingdom to stop using the death penalty. Michelle Bachelet said war crimes may have been committed if people were beheaded following court cases that do not offer proper fair trial guarantees. “I condemn Saudi Arabia’s mass execution on Saturday of 81 people on terrorism-related charges,” Bachelet said in a statement.
Yesterday khalifi regime’s courts issued a one-year prison sentence on young Bahraini native, Sayed Hussain Mahmood from the town of Al-Markh. He was also fined 100 Bahrain Dinars ($250) for opposing the khalifi hereditary dictatorship. Political prisoner, Yousuf Hussain who suffers from acute form of diabetes is struggling to receive medical care for his condition. On Monday his appointment to see a diabetes specialist was cancelled. He has been waiting for this appointment since last July. He has also been waiting for months to see a skin specialist as his condition continues to deteriorate. The mother of political prisoner, Hassan Abdulla Habib who has acute form of sickle cell disease has been begging to see her son at the Salmaniya Hospital where he was recently transferred. He has had a tumor removed from his lung and his family is extremely worried about his health.
As this year’s car race in Bahrain Formula scheduled for this weekend approaches, human rights activists have raised serious concerns about the human rights situation in the country and called for the cancellation of the race. They are aware of the “sports wash” as a means of marketing a rotten regime that has been plagued by serious human rights crimes over the past decade. To add salt to the injury the Formula 1 management has extended its contract to continue racing in Bahrain until 2036, saying that the Middle Eastern country holds a “very special place in our sport.” Ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix last year, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton urged the global racing series to not ignore human rights violations in the countries where it stages races. Bahrain has been accused of exploiting the series to gloss over, or “sportswash,” its human rights record. Last week 27 NGOs wrote to the CEO of Formula 1 (F1), Stefano Domenicali, to condemn the company’s “clear double standard” on Ukraine in comparison to Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend. Rights groups raised concerns over F1’s failure to engage with rights groups in spite of “continued institutionalized repression” in Bahrain. They also called on F1 to use their platform to secure redress for victims in Bahrain, reconsider their policy on racing in Gulf states due to their role in waging war in Yemen, and evaluate their contract with Bahrain, said the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) yesterday.
Today, political prisoner Husain AlSahlawi was transferred to Jau Prison clinic in Bahrain, following the deterioration of his health due to a chest infection; an apparent complication linked to his testing positive for Covid-19 in prison for more than 11 days last month. Earlier this week, Husain was rushed to Salmaniya hospital for the same health concerns linked to his chest infection and Covid. He was prescribed medication and returned to Jau Prison where authorities refused to provide him with his prescribed medication.
The death toll of the Saudi-Emirati war on Yemen is estimated to be at least 377,000 individuals, as of the end of 2021. More than two-thirds of these Yemenis killed were likely children. These statistics come from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which reported in November that the number of deaths by direct and indirect causes in Yemen was projected to surpass 377,000 by the end of 2021. March 2022 will mark the seventh anniversary of this war, which has caused the largest humanitarian crisis on Earth.
The young Saudi youth, Abdullah Al Huwaiti who was recently sentenced to death has been on hunger strike for the past week. He was banned from communicating with his family and his mental health has deteriorated. He has been transferred to the psychology hospital.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
16th March 2022
