Bahrain: Fear grows of religious and political polarization

The arrest of Sayyed Hadi Sayyed Ibrahim, from Bilad Al Qadeem two days ago has been received with anger and dismay, as the number of political detainees continues to spiral. He is an active young man who, like thousands other Bahrainis, aspire to a better life based on constitutional democracy.

 This adds to the public grievances resulting from institutionalizing torture as a means of breaking the will of the people of Bahrain at the hands of the torturers employed by the ruling family.

These feelings are further crystallized by the lack of action by the ruling family to protect Bahrainis when their lives become under threat. Its failure to secure the release of eight innocent Bahrianis detained illegally by the Saudi authorities three months ago has put into question its commitment as a government and exposed its inherent weaknesses and meaninglessness. The eight have been in detention since they were arrested when they lost their way in the vicinity of the capital, Riyadh. The Saudi authorities have, so far, refused any visit to them by their families whose anguish is being solidified day after day. Appeals have been to international human rights organizations to intervene directly and demand their immediate and unconditional release, after it became clear that the ruling family had failed to act.

On another level, an independent journalist has been summarily dismissed from the government-controlled “Akhbar Al Khaleej”. Mr Hussain Al Mahdi, has been punished for writing an article in another blog criticizing the ministry of interior for its heavy handedness in dealing with detained Bahrainis. So far the Journalist Association has failed to take action, support him openly or call for his reinstatement. It is a well-known practice for journalists and writers to be dismissed for speaking out their minds and refusing to tow the official line. The local media has become a mouthpiece to the regime and failed to live up to what is expected from representative and responsible professional bodies, especially in defence of those who are aggrieved or wronged by the government, for expressing their opinion.

Another negative development has been the ratification by Sheikh Hamad of what has become known as the “Law of the Molotov”. According to this draconian law, people caught in possession of a Molotov cocktail bottle risks being arrested, maltreated and given substantial prison terms.

As the Bahraini activists carried their case to Geneva last week, it has now emerged that the ruling family of Bahrain has adopted bribery as a means of influencing the stands of the UN bodies and other independent international human rights or media organizations. At the eighth session of the UN Human Rights Council, the case of the people of Bahrain was presented by Mr Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja, the President of the Bahrain Human Rights Centre took central stage to repudiate the ruling family’s report on the situation of human rights in Bahrain. Representatives of other oppressive Arab governments put enormous pressure on the officials of the Council to stop independents human rights bodies from speaking against the governments reports. Mr Al Khawaja continued his intervention but was silenced at the end. It was bad day in the history of the Human Rights Council which has become a mouthpiece to repressive regimes. Its performance has so far been disappointing, two years after its inception. There are calls against the policies of the Council which allows countries with dismal human rights records to sit on the Council.

Bahrain’s ruling family has, meanwhile, protested against a report by the Washington-based American Islamic Congress in which it accused the Bahraini government of violating the rights of Mohammad Al Masqati, the President of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights for his anti-regime activities. Several other human rights bodies have taken stands against Bahrain’s ruling family for violating the rights of Bahrainis, including Human Rights Watch, Front Line and others. These criticisms have come at a time of increased activities against the regime. Today, a major demonstration took place in support of Sheikh Isa Ahmad Qassim, the most senior cleric in the country, who was attacked by extremist salafist members of Sheikh Hamad’s half-elected council.

Bahrain Freedom Movement
20/06/2008