23 Apr 12 | Middle East and North Africa, News and features
Index condemns the arrest and deportation of foreign journalists covering demonstrations against the Bahrain Grand Prix this past weekend.
Three journalists from Channel 4, including foreign affairs correspondent Jonathan Miller, were arrested while filming a demonstration on Sunday. The arrest of the journalists, along with a local driver and prominent Bahraini human rights activist was reportedly “aggressive”.
Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority (IAA) tweeted today that the journalists were in violation of “media rules” for entering the country without accreditation.
International media was given limited access to the country during the controversial race, as journalists from Sky News, Financial Times, CNN, and Reuters were denied entry. According to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Japanese journalists from Asahi Newspaper were detained while covering protests. Local fixers and journalists are also under threat — photojournalist Mazen Mahdi claimed that police threatened to break his camera while covering a protest yesterday. Blogger and activist Mohammed Hasan was arrested and detained on Friday, and arrested once again Sunday with journalist Colin Freeman of the Sunday Telegraph. He was reportedly beaten during his initial arrest.
While the IAA has claimed that it allows the foreign media and workers to monitor ongoing unrest freely, this has not been the case. Journalists and rights workers were barred from entering Bahrain in the time leading up to the anniversary of Bahrain’s unrest, 14 February.
Bahrain should allow foreign media to have unfettered access to the country, and local fixers and activists should not be targeted for working with international journalists.
19 Apr 12 | Uncategorized
It looks like LMFAO’s party-rockin’ tour has been enlisted in whitewashing Bahrain’s human rights abuses. According to the state-owned Bahrain News Agency (BNA), the duo is set to perform in a free show for fans at the Bahrain Grand Prix Sunday.
Bahrain has borrowed a favourite from the iPod of fellow protest-crusher Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad to help ensure that the race goes forward.
Let’s recap: yesterday, ongoing clashes between protesters and security forces turned violent when stun grenades were fired at a demonstration outside of a cultural exhibition celebrating the upcoming race. Imprisoned hunger striker and activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja is now entering his 71st day on hunger strike, despite international outrage over his continued detention.
While the BNA has been active in publicising the concert, which they claim was responsible for a recent spike in ticket purchases, LMFAO has kept mum about the concert. They have not publicised the performance, which suggests that they’re being used and they know it.
Both the Bahraini government and CEO of Formula One, Bernie Ecclestone, have claimed that the race would be secured, and dismissed concerns about protesters. Ecclestone claimed that “there’s nothing happening” and that things were “peaceful” in the troubled kingdom. However, former assistant-commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, John Yates, admitted yesterday that they cannot “guarantee security” at the race. He also added that security forces would use live rounds if necessary, but dismissed the possibility as unlikely.
In honour of the group’s Bahrain performance, I’ve made a few memes. Feel free to post your own, and tweet them during their performance on American Idol tonight. Hopefully, their own fans can be made aware of what is happening in Bahrain, and place pressure on the group to avoid being used to take attention away from what has been a failure to make substantial reforms.
13 Apr 12 | Middle East and North Africa
Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa recently secured an invite to Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee luncheon.
According to the Daily Mail, the Queen invited King Hamad because it “would have been very rude to have left anyone off of the list.” Of course, the Queen would not want to suffer the embarrassment of singling out one despot, so she’s invited them all.
Bahrain’s government has been working overtime to revamp their public image after last year’s brutal crackdown on popular protests left a rather inconvenient stain on its international reputation. While paying lip service to human rights and reform, unfulfilled promises have only brewed tension in what have now become almost daily face-offs between disillusioned protesters and security forces.
It seems that the tiny kingdom does not have time to answer popular demands for reforms, after all, there are air shows to organise and a Grand Prix to hold. The United Kingdom said they would push Bahrain to implement recommendations made by the Bahrain Independent Commission for Inquiry (BICI) last November. In light of the country’s deteriorating situation, a friendly invitation to lunch only sends the wrong message, and shows an unwillingness to push where it actually counts.
The royal family is no stranger to controversial invitations. Bahrain’s Crown Prince declined an invitation to the royal wedding last year, and only months before the start of Syria’s violent unrest, a lavish dinner held by the Queen was attended by none other than the father-in-law of the country’s murderous dictator, Bashar Al-Assad.
The Bahraini King’s invitation was not an oversight — the guests at state events are cleared with the Foreign Office, as MP Denis Macshane pointed out yesterday. Invitations to state events only damage the credibility of Ministerial promises to place pressure on repressive regimes.
Bahrain’s violent suppression of protests sparked by last year’s Arab Spring was met with international outrage. Before an external body could step in, King Hamad commissioned the Bahrain Independent Commission for Inquiry to investigate whether or not human rights were violated in the months following the crackdown. The commission was met with scepticism from activists within the country. Still, evidence was gathered and the final report was released in November last year.
The report confirmed many of the violations documented by local activists during the crackdown. At a ceremony held at his palace, King Hamad expressed a commitment to implementing the committee’s recommendations, and called the report a “historic opportunity for Bahrain to deal with matters that are both serious and urgent”. In the months following the report’s release, committees were formed and international experts brought in, including disgraced assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, John Yates. The Bahraini government also enlisted Miami Chief of Police John Timoney to train security forces. Despite the government’s readiness to celebrate its commitment to transparency and human rights, the months following the report’s release have only shown a deteriorating situation. Well-known activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja is currently serving a life sentence for his role in protests last year. He has been on hunger strike for over 60 days, and family members fear that he is close to dying. Calls for his release have been ignored, and instead, the government seems to be more concerned with ensuring that the controversial Formula One race go ahead as planned.
The aim here is clear: A slick new Bahrain that only looks like it values human rights in order to repair profitable international relationships.
