infopalSaudis advised to release Badawi, Hammond urged to apologise to Alkhalifa victims
The Saudis came under pressure to stop persecuting one of their citizens. Prince Charles told the new king to “find a solution” to the case of blogger Ra’if Badawi after eruption of international outrage following a sentence of 1000 lashes on him. It is hoped that Charles would also tell the Saudis to pull their troops from Bahrain and allow its citizens to determine their own destiny. The human rights world has been outraged by UK’s Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, after he told the Parliament that “Bahrain is moving in the right direction” after its dictator asked his uncle to form a government and remain prime minister after spending 43 years in that post, sentencing Nabeel Rajab to six months in jail for a tweet and arresting Sheikh Ali Salman for boycotting the regime’s outrageous elections.
Meanwhile the policy of genocide has taken new forms. A Bahraini man has been refused permission to enter the country upon his return from abroad. Farhad Khorshid had his citizenship revoked in his absence and was deported to Qatar when he returned home. He is one of 72 Bahrainis whose citizenship was revoked last week. The dictator sought to attract “Legitimacy” to his illegal action by mixing peaceful protesters with members of ISIS, a policy that has been deplored by Amnesty International. On 6th February Amnesty International condemned the forcible exile of Farhad Khorshid and said: Stripping citizens of their nationality on the basis of vague allegations without due process protections is arbitrary and in violation of Bahrain’s international human rights obligations. The right to a nationality, which must not be deprived arbitrarily, is enshrined in Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The policy of intentionally making people redundant is a serious addition to other genocidal policies being implemented by the Alkalifa occupiers, including political naturalization, torture and detention.
Targeting the natives has continued at an alarming rate especially as the Fourth anniversary of the Revolution approaches. Last night seven people were snatched from Sitra; Mohammad Abdul Wasi, his two sons; Hassan, 27 and Sadiq, 25, Mohammad Ali Yaqoob, 39, Mohammad Salman Al Asfoor, 36 and Hussain Ali Al Asfoor. Two women have been detained for their anti-regime protests. Maryam Sahwan has been remanded in custody for seven days for taking part in a peaceful protest on 16th January in Demstan town. Jalila Sayed Amin from Southern Sehla has been arrested after raiding her home last night. She has been taken to unknown destination. On 8th February Sayed Ahmad Sayed Majed from Bilad Al Qadeem was arrested and taken to secret torture houses. The mother of Abdul Hakim Al Aradi was detained while visiting her jailed son, and taken to Al Rafa’ torture centre. She was subsequently released. Murtadha Abd Ali Al Saffar was detained in a raid at his house in Barhama town. He was taken to the notorious CID torture centre. From Sanabis three young men were snatched by members of the Death Squads as they left the town of Bilad Al Qadeem: Mohammad Abdulla, Ahmad Ibrahim and Ali Imran.
On Saturday 7th February, regime’s forces raided a house in Demstan town and arrested Qasim Abdulla from Sanabis. No news have been heard about him which indicates that he had been taken to the secret houses where torture is routinely administered on detainees. Meanwhile the world is still awaiting the fate of the youngest political prisoner in the world. Hussain Habib is only eight months old but he is sharing his mother’s cell. Zahra Al Sheikh is languishing behind bars for her anti-regime’s activities.
On 3rd February Index on Censorship issued a statement in connection with the continued policy of revoking citizenship of Bahraini natives. “Bahrain is using citizenship, the most basic of human rights, as a weapon to intimidate and silence critical voices,” said Index CEO Jodie Ginsberg. The statement named two activists among Alkhalifa victims; Ali Abdul Emam and Sayed Ahmad Al Wada’ei. It said: Index on Censorship joins Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) in condemning the continued use of citizenship revocation by the Government of Bahrain as a reprisal against human rights activists, journalists and pro-democracy campaigners, and calls on international governments to ensure Bahrain meets its human rights obligations.
On 4th February Amnesty International issued a statement on the issue titled: Stop arbitrarily rendering citizens stateless. Amnesty International is seriously concerned about the Bahraini authorities’ increasing resort to revocation of nationality as a means to punish critical voices, as the authorities stripped 72 individuals of their Bahraini nationality, rendering many of them stateless. The organization urges the authorities to rescind this decision and stop targeting dissidents.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
11th February 2015