Downing Street’s welcome insults the victims of Bahraini repression
London – 12 December 2011
“It is a shocking misjudgement to fete the King of Bahrain at a time when his regime is arresting, jailing, torturing and killing peaceful democracy protesters, and the latest victim is a 6 days girl died of suffocation of tear gas thrown at her family house. This welcome is a slap in the face to the victims of repression. Britain should be siding with Bahrain’s democrats, not with the dictatorship,” said human rights campaigner Mohammed sadiq of Justice for Bahrain who has been working with and supporting the Bahraini democracy movement.
“Britain should not be conducting business as usual with a tyranny that is guilty of gross human rights abuses,” added Mr Mohammed.
“David Cameron should press the Bahraini authorities to End the killing and human rights violations in Bahrain immediately and making sure the BICI recommendations will be implemented and supervised by international organisation such as the UN or EU the state of emergency immediately. Saudi Arabia and the UAE should be urged to withdraw their troops.
“If the duty to protect civilians applies in Libya, why not in Bahrain?
“Instead of cosying up to the dictatorship, Britain should be working with the rest of the international community to impose sanctions on the Bahraini regime.
“These sanctions should include a halt to arms sales and military cooperation, a travel ban and assets-freeze on top regime officials and a prohibition on the export to Bahrain of luxury items for the rich ruling elite.
“Human rights activists in Bahrain report that more than 40 civilians have been killed, including infants and others who have died in custody after beatings and torture. According to BICI report over 300 has been tortured and 400 democracy protesters have been injured. Doctors and nurses who treated the wounded and spoke publicly about their injuries have been arrested, beaten and tortured. Forty-seven of them are being put on trial.
“Already four protesters have been sentenced to death, following military trials held behind closed doors.
“Close to 1,000 Bahrainis have been arrested since the start of protests in February, although about 300 of these have since been released. Twenty-one opposition activists and human rights defenders are being prosecuted on trumped up charges. An estimated 1,000 professionals have been sacked from their jobs, accused of pro-democracy and pro-Shia sympathies. The country’s only opposition newspaper has been closed down. The editors of Al-Wasat are being put on trial on bogus charges of misreporting the protests and the government’s crackdown. Twenty-seven Shia mosques, meeting houses and shrines have been destroyed or damaged,” Mr Mohammed added.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has condemned the brutal tactics of the Bahraini regime as “shocking and illegal conduct.”
