Long Live Freedom Long Live People of Bahrain

Long Live Freedom Long Live People of Bahrain, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.

Message from the Bahrain Freedom Movement:


Bahrain: Revolution continues, regime squeezed into last repressive stand

With four most prominent human rights activists languishing behind bars in torture dungeons, the Alkhalifa rulers have shot themselves in the foot. Many voices have been raised against the invitation of the self-styled king, Hamad Alkhalifa to the Diamond Jubilee in London later this month. Media interest in the Bahraini revolution has been revived and calls made to the organisers of the celebrations calling for removal of the dictator from the guests list. Bahrainis have planned to act against this visit and expose the crimes of the regime.

Their allies in Washington and London are under increasing pressure to act to stop this human tragic fiasco. Citing growing violence and polarization along sectarian lines, human rights groups and independent experts in Washington are urging the Obama administration to exert more pressure on Bahrain’s regime to free political prisoners and launch a serious dialogue with its opposition on major democratic reforms. The administration "should be telling the Bahraini government that time is short, and, if they don't act, there will be an escalation on the U.S. side," said Tom Malinowski, the Washington director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), who was briefly detained by police at a demonstration during a visit to the Gulf Kingdom last month. Emil Nakhleh, who also headed the CIA's Political Islam desk said: "The huge U.S. naval presence in Bahrain has not improved Western security in the Gulf; has not altered Iran's behavior; and, more important, has not silenced the anti-regime opposition in the Gulf and in other Arab countries," According to Joost Hiltermann, a Gulf expert at the International Crisis Group (ICG) the government appears intent on increasing its dependence on Saudi Arabia — hundreds of whose troops remain in Bahrain after they were sent there to back up Bahraini forces during the crackdown — to the extent of favoring a "Saudi-Bahraini confederation" that, if consummated, would mean "political suicide by Saudi embrace." He said the situation on the ground is deteriorating as more radical anti-monarchical elements in the Shi'a community, notably the February 14 Youth Movement, gain support at Al-Wefaq's expense.

On another level the regime has reversed a previous decision to grant visas to representatives of several U.S. and international mainstream organizations – including the Committee to Protect Journalists, Freedom House, Index on Censorship, and Reporters Without Borders – to travel to the kingdom next week to assess press and free-speech conditions there.

Meanwhile, a UN official in Malaysia has clarified the UN’s stands on the use of gear gas in comments on a recently-published article. He said the United Nations in Malaysia would like to refer to the article published in The Star on May 7, 2012 titled ‘Police: Tear gas used at rally safe, UN-approved’. The UN has consistently condemned the excessive use of force, including through the use of tear gas. Please also note that the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council have on various occasions publicly expressed concerns about reliable reports indicating that civilians who died from tear gas suffered complications from gas inhalation, and that security forces have been firing metal tear gas canisters from grenade launchers into crowds. Moreover, unlike what is alleged in the article, the UN does not set international standards on different kinds of irritants, nor has the UN approved ‘CS Gas’ as a ‘riot control’ agent. As far as the use of force is concerned, the relevant UN instrument is the Basic Principles on the use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, which was adopted by the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in 1990, not the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) of 1993.

Bahrain Freedom Movement
11 May 2012