Bahrain: Attacks on freedom as Al Khalifa dirty plots unveiled by Al Bandar

The ferocious attack on the freedom of speech and expression took a sharp turn to the worse on Friday night when a peaceful gathering was mercilessly attacked with tear gas and rubber bullets.

 The meeting was organised in an open space at Bilad Al Qadeem by Haq Movement to present to the people how the International Petition had been successfully handed to the Office of the Untied Nations. The meeting had been scheduled to take place one week earlier but the Al Khalifa dictatorship deployed their death squads to the venue (Sanabis Matam) hours before the event and threatened a bloody confrontation. The organisers decided to delay the event and avoid unnecessary bloodshed intended by the authorities. However, the Al Khalifa, once again, attacked the gathering which was attended by hundreds of citizens, causing injuries and mayhem.

The meeting had been going on for more than one hour, and as soon as Mr Hassan Mushaime’ began his address the death squads began firing indiscriminately into the crowd. Many sustained various injuries in the attack. The meeting was attended by human rights activists from inside and outside the country, who expressed anger at the unprovoked attack. Calls have been made to bring those responsible for this crime to account at a court of law.

In a separate development the Al Khalifa regime was forced by the international pressure and the steadfastness of the detainees, to release the political prisoners without conditions. This U-turn came after it emerged that Bahrain’s position at the UN Human Rights Council was untenable. The political prisoners went on a hunger strike that alerted the international community to their plight and plans were underway to call for a special rapporteur on human rights in Bahrain. The International Committee of the Red Cross had also been urged to visit the torture chambers after reports had indicated that torture and ill-treatment were rampant. Following their release, the prisoners are now considering taking steps against their torturers including reporting their ordeals to the international bodies whose functions include preventing torture and bringing torturers to justice.

The Al Khalifa aggression came at the backdrop of another development that uncovered the extent of their evil plots against the natives of Bahrain.

On 15th September, the authorities deported the British Political Advisor to the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, for writing a documentary report on the secret activities of a team formed by the ruling family to alter the delicate balance in the country. The team is headed by Ahmad Atiyyat Allah Al Khalifa, the minister of cabinet affairs who had operated a secret network drawing on large amounts of money in an account with Kuwait’s Finance House. The report by Salah Al Bandar, a British national of Sudanese origin, contained many documentary evidence, including cheques and receipts, for the some of the money paid to secret agents working to destabilise the demographic and political balance in an evil way. The report, which is now circulating on the internet, also highlighted the sectarian nature of the secret network including monthly payments to families who changed their religious sect from Shia to Sunni.

The secret network also funded shadowy figures infiltrating opposition sites to present Al Khalifa views and support their policies, a daily newspaper known to be the mouthpiece of the Al Khalifa intelligence service, hate preachers among the Sunni community and activists engaged in agitating sectarian conflicts in Bahrain. It is a damning report that would have brought down governments for crimes of theft, money laundering, sowing seeds of discord and threatening social peace.

Instead of arresting Ahmad Atiyyat Allah (the brother of one of the most notorious torturers, Abdul Azia Atiyyat Allah), Sheikh Hamad summoned the heads of political societies and tried to water down the significance of the report. There is now a tide of anger sweeping through the country as a result of these dangerous revelations with voices calling for real action against this dictatorial regime that is plundering the country’s wealth to further its own political agenda.

Bahrain Freedom Movement
25th September 2006