#Muharraq News | #Bahrain Bahrain’s Independence Day: Calls for UK to change its stands On the eve of the 43rd anniversary of the country’s independence, Bahrainis are planning big protests and demonstrations to mark the big day. The regime has hitherto refused to acknowledge the 14th August as the National Day, insisting on 16th December, the day the former ruler had inherited the authority from his father when he died in 1961. Britain withdrew its forces from Bahrain in mid-August 1971 after 150 years presence in the country. The British have always supported the hereditary rule of the Alkhalifa and deployed their troops on the streets of Bahrain to quell pro-democracy demonstrators. On this occasion Bahrainis are calling on the UK to change its policy on Bahrain, declare its support for real democratic transition, condemn the Alkhalifa dismal human rights records and accept the principles of self-determination for Bahrainis and their right to establish a political system on the basis of “once-man-one-vote”. They also call for listing Bahrain as a country of concern, in accordance with the recommendations of the Foreign Relations Committee last year. The Bahraini people dedicated their demonstrations and protests on Monday 11th August to Sheikh Nimr al Nimr, the revolutionary cleric sentenced to death by Saudi regime. Many protests took part in various parts of the country with strong participation from the youth and the women who carried pictures of the cleric and banners calling for his release. The people have not forgotten Al Nirmr’s stands in support of their revolution and that he is being persecuted for his principled stands. There is now worldwide concern that the Sheikh, who was wounded by Saudi troops, may hang for exercising his natural and God-given right of free expression. The situation may dramatically change if that happens. The Saudi-backed regime in Bahrain has banned several preachers from delivering lectures or sermons. Among the Shia clerics are Sheikh Mohammad Al Manssy and Sayed Kamel Al Hashemi. A Sunni cleric, Sheikh Adel Al Hamad was also ordered to stop preaching. In the early hours of this morning a young Bahraini, Sadiq Al Sitri was arrested in a dawn raid at his house in Nuwaidrat. Yesterday, Abdul Adheem Abdulla was arrested near his home at Sitra Wadyan. On 7th August members of Death Squads kidnapped the child, Ibrahim Hassan, from Demstan, took him to a remote location and set upon him with extreme torture and beating. He was dumped later in the afternoon with his bleeding body reflecting his horrible ordeal at the hands of Alkhalifa killers. The health of one of the 13 leaders whose release is sought by the international community has deteriorated in the past few days. The family of Sheikh Mirza Al Mahroos is extremely worried for his health especially after the authorities refused to transfer him to hospital. There have been wide speculations that the Alkhalifa dictators are working for the slow death of the political leaders who have asked for fundamental political change in the country. The human rights world was shocked last week when nine Bahrainis were stripped off their nationality for opposing the hereditary dictatorship. Among those affected are: Ali Sanqoor, Hamed Jaffar, Nidhal Ali, Hassan Adam, Ali Al Asfoor, Jalal Ali, Mohammad Abbas, Sayed Hashim Radhi and Ali Sangoor . They were also given jail sentences ranging from seven to 15 years. New evidence has emerged suggesting that the Bahraini government infected the computers of some of the country’s most prominent lawyers, activists and politicians with the malicious FinFisher spy software (also known as FinSpy). The infections would have enabled the government to steal passwords and files, and spy through an infected computer’s webcam and microphone. The list of 77 computers infected by Bahraini authorities was part of a massive leak of data this week, purportedly hacked from the servers of the UK-German surveillance software company Gamma International — the makers of FinFisher. Under the title “Trouble in Bahrain” the renowned human rights activist, Brian Dooley, the Director, Human Rights Defenders at Human Rights First, published an article about Irish-trained doctors imprisoned for treating protesters. The article said: “Ask most people what they know about Bahrain and chances are it won’t be much – the smallest country in the Middle East is known a bit for being on the Grand Prix circuit and for its pearl industry. In the last few years it has also gained a reputation as the place where the government attacked its nurses and doctors after they treated injured protesters as part of the 2011 “Arab Spring.”
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 07:48:30 +0000
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