From Bahrain To East London: After Five Years Of Protest, What Has Changed?

Kay Ayed hears what’s been happening in a strangely under-reported country in the Middle East.

bahrain

I’m sure you’re familiar with the ongoing civil war in Syria, Iraq and many other countries in the Middle East. But there’s one country whose situation often goes unnoticed: Bahrain. This could be because of its very small size and population in comparison with other countries, yet this by no means justifies lack of coverage.

It all started in 2011, when Bahraini civilians began peaceful protests as part of the Arab Spring.

A Bahraini civilian, whose name cannot be revealed due to safety concerns, explained the situation as follows:

“Bahrain went from bad at 2011 to worse today at 2016 and yet forgotten. Human rights simply do not matter anymore. Even while writing this I made sure to stay anonymous and to avoid mentioning names because that makes me directly targeted by authorities talking about what I myself and my family went through and what actually most families went and still going through on daily basis here in Bahrain, which is said to be a democratic Muslim country.

“Since February 2011 the so-called Day of Rage, Bahrain just keeps falling from a deep dark hole into a deeper one. Conditions have gotten worse, laws have become more oppressive, and people have only been more oppressed for making simple demands including constitutional reform, political reform, and socio-economic justice.

“During the past five years, the plan was to change the composition of the population, reducing the anti-government majority of anti-government by giving national status to others who took over jobs as nurses, doctors, teachers, police, etc. while native Bahrainis lost their jobs in return. Discrimination has even taken over in education, where scholarships are no longer based on grades, but your sect, origin and political stance.

“Bahrain has acquired the highest number of political prisoners in the world – 4000 prisoners by 2016. And over 200 civilians have been killed; sometimes with weapons that are forbidden internationally.

“My family is one of many targeted families who live in fear. We cannot live, eat or even sleep like normal people. And because members of our family are ‘wanted’, our houses get broken into every once in a while by masked policemen searching for them or, at least, something that would lead to them.

“Already two family members have been imprisoned on false charges, even though they are not politically active!. One of them is sentenced to 15 years: his child that was less than one month old when they broke into their house and abducted him to an unknown destination where he stayed for two weeks and torture showed clearly on his first visit; meanwhile during those first weeks the authorities had denied him being arrested. The second one is underage, on his first visit he told us that he is sent to solitary confinement for a week where he was waked up every day at 6 in the morning to stand till the afternoon as a punishment and was tortured every time he sits or leans to the wall. And in months he was sentenced to one year and considered lucky for that as others in the case were sentenced to 5 years and above and due to that, he lost his last year of education in school and gained a criminal record on a trumped-up case.

“We lived in a small house with two rooms and a kitchen which has been shot with teargas through every door and window while we suffered inside. It has been broken into many times and I myself was beaten by policemen who had different accents and languages. As a girl and a Muslim, men are prohibited from touching me, yet I was pulled from my hair and my head was hit against the wall. I was slapped, kicked, and then threatened with being thrown from the top of the house if I didn’t confess about people I do not even know. Meanwhile a gun was pointed towards my mother’s head. And that is still nothing compared to what women go through inside jails.

“This is what most families in Bahrain go through while they continue their peaceful way aiming for a free democratic country yet the world’s completely silent.”

Perhaps you think my unnamed source is exaggerating, hiding behind her anonymity in order to make unfounded claims. But the salient points in her account are readily corroborated by other, independent sources such as Gadear Mubarak, Head of Research at the European-Bahraini Organisation of Human Rights (EBOHR).

Ms Mubarak resides in Stratford, East London and has taken part in a number of protests outside the Saudi embassy in London. She explained that “these demonstrations were primarily targeted at the Saudi government. However, they were also there to raise awareness of the heinous crimes and atrocities committed by Al Khalifa [in Bahrain].

“The majority of protesters usually live in or around West London, so it is easier for them to commute to protests, but I feel like I have the duty to represent East London’s voice in the call for justice in Bahrain. Protesters like myself have vowed to continue until justice prevails.”

 

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