US Ambassador accused, as human rights and political activists tortured
Three more prominent figures were arrested in the early hours this morning. Abdul Ghani Al Khanjar, the spokesman of the Committee of Martyrs and Victims of Torture, Sheikh Saeed Al Nouri and Sheikh Mohammad Habib Al Miqdad who have taken up the issue of the detainees as well as other political matters were rounded up as they slept. Their homes were viciously attacked, children frightened and women disturbed.
These arrests came three days after the arrest of another prominent human rights activist, Dr Abdul Jalil Al Singace, the Chairman of the Human Rights Committee of Haq Movement; the Movement for rights and democracy in Bahrain. Dr Al Singace was seized at the airport upon his return with his family to the country from holiday in UK. He is severely disabled with permanent defects in his legs that confine him to a wheelchair.
He was handled in inhumane way, being pulled by members of the Death Squads, run and managed by the royal court. His whereabouts are unknown, and his lawyer, Mr Mohammad Al Tajir, has, so far, been unable to locate him. His interrogations have been carried out in the absence of lawyers. He has already been accused of sedition and making unauthorized contacts with foreign bodies. His work naturally entails communicating with international human rights bodies. One day before his departure from London he met the Bahrain Desk officer at Amnesty International to discuss the human rights abuses of Bahraini detainees.
The reaction of the Bahrainis to the latest crackdown on human rights activists and public figures representing the majority native Bahrainis (Shia and Sunni) has been furious. In various parts of the country, citizens have protested and called for the immediate and unconditional release of the detainees. They have been angered by the policies of genocide being implemented by the Al Khalifa ruling family which had occupied the land by force.
There are deep feelings of resentment within the people of the role of the American Ambassador who had lured Dr Al Singace from abroad to the hands of the Death Squads. Last week the Ambassador attacked the Bahraini human rights and political activists for taking their case to the outside world.
He gave assurances that they would be safe to express their views freely inside the country. On Thursday 12th August, the military ruler, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, issued a similar call. On Friday, however, Dr Al Singace was arrested at the airport. Few weeks ago, the Ambassador had warned the opposition of severe consequences if they persisted to oppose the Al Khalifa occupiers. He said the “government” would take serious actions against these opponents. It is clear that he has now replaced the British Political Agent who had ruled the country during the British rule prior to 1971.
The CIA was instrumental in formulating the “reform programme” imposed by the ruler in 2001, recruiting scores of supporters from amongst former opposition figures. They were lured by money and position to link up with the Al Khalifa hereditary dictatorship whose latest round of torture practices were exposed six months ago by Human Rights Watch.
With the latest crackdown against those who ventured to criticize the US-supported dictatorship in Bahrain, the country has now been plunged in a new crisis that could become more bloody as the Americans let loose the Al Khalifa Death Squads to attack the native Bahrainis with savagery, barbarism and lack of any human decency. A black chapter is thus unfolding following the total failure and collapse of the “political reform programme” that legitimized Al Khalifa dictatorship. Under this programme; the prime minister is spending his 40th year in his post, the number of the Al Khalifa ministers in the cabinet rose from 5 to 17, and 90 percent of Bahrain’s coastlines have been grabbed by the Al Khalifa. All this extensive “democratization” is now taking place under the direction of the US Embassy in Manama.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
15 August 2010