Sunday, May 22, 2011

How Bahrain is oppressing its Shia majority...


Six years ago, Bahrain's parliament gave me a standing ovation. This month, the Bahraini government barred me from entering the tiny kingdom which sits off Saudi Arabia's coast and hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet. While this fall from grace might seem extreme, it is easy to explain.

In 2005, I was representing the Bahrainis detained at Guantánamo Bay and, with a colleague, went to Bahrain to advocate on their behalf. We emphasised that the US had denied our clients due process, had asserted that our clients had no right to humane treatment, and had inflicted abuses on certain clients, as corroborated by US government sources.

Bahraini officials welcomed us with open arms. A prominent member of parliament invited us to a session at which Guantánamo would be discussed. There, he thundered that the rights to due process and humane treatment were universal, and decried that they were being denied to his fellow Bahrainis. Pointing to us in a spectators' balcony, he said we had done more for his countrymen than anyone and offered his heartfelt gratitude. His colleagues arose in spontaneous applause. More...

Don't miss:
  1. Bahraini forces rape and kill poetess Ayat al-Ghermezi... 
  2. How Western PR agencies help to whitewash despots and dictators...
  3. Cameron blasted for welcoming 'torturer' of Bahrain to No. 10...
  4. Bahraini state terror continues...
  5. Cops in Bahrain beat up schoolgirls and threaten them with rape...
  6. Bahrain's secret terror...

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