Nabeel Rajab, the President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights is back in prison, only days after his release. The reason is his refusal to abandon his right to free speech and expression of opinion. Since his release he has been calling for more peaceful action by the people to continue the revolution and force the much-needed political change. Despite the regime's repression, Mr. Rajab has been un-repentant especially with his colleagues and hundreds of other citizens languishing in al-Khalifa torture dungeons.
His second arrest will only intensify the struggle and confirm the image of savagery, repression and authoritarianism of one of the West "staunchest" stooges. The prominent lawyer, Mohammad al-Tajir, who was detained and tortured last year has also been targeted by the dictator's security apparatus. They circulated a video of his private life which was secretly filmed as he slept with his wife at their private chalet. This is one of the most despicable act any regime would commit.
Mr. Rajab's arrest came at a time when the spirit of revolution is being re-invigorated as the people's leaders addressed the al-Khalifa Appeal Court detailing the horrific torture inflicted on them over the past 15 months. The first session was on 22nd May when Abdul Hadi al-Khawaja and Abdul Wahab Hussain challenged the al-Khalifa judge to order an impartial investigation of the torture they had been subjected to. The graphic description of that torture was hair-raising. It is a curse on the regime and its supporters. The US and UK cannot be absolved of responsibility as they continued their un-wavering support to its al-Khalifa actions. Their expression of "concern" they utter when forced by the developments does not dissociate them from the al-Khalifa crimes. On Tuesday 29th May Mr. Hassan Mushaima and Dr. Abdul Jalil Al Singace addressed the court and delivered damning testimonies of their ordeals at the hands of the al-Khalifa torturers. The international community will be complicit in those crimes if it does not take action to bring senior al-Khalifa figures to justice. Several more testimonies were delivered on Tuesday 5th June by Ibrahim Sharif, a Sunni liberal, Sheikh Mohammad Habib Al Miqdad and Mohammad Hassan Jawad.
Among the most senior officials implicated in the torture of the last two victims is Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa. The question is whether the UK Government will reward this torturer by allowing him to lead the Bahraini athletes to the Olympic games in July. There have been international calls not only to ban him from attending the Olympics but also to arrest him and bring him to justice. Failing to do this will send the wrong message to torturers and human rights abusers. The West will lose any moral grounds for claiming to uphold the rule of law and respect of human rights.
The situation at Bahrain prisons has been deteriorating as prisoners have become more aware of the need to continue their fight for freedom from their torture dungeons. At the Dry Dock prison, scores of detainees have staged hunger strike demanding their immediate release. Several of them have now collapses and transferred to hospital. Instead of releasing them, the al-Khalifa torturers threatened to fabricate new charges against them unless they stopped their action.
Anger has dominated the political and human rights bodies in Bahrain as the dictator and his clique continued to imprison children, torture them and deny them access to studies or examinations. Among the most outrageous of the cases is that of the 11-years old Ali Hassan who was described by the torturers acting under the command of John Timoney and John Yates as a "threat to national security".
Yesterday the child pleaded with his lawyer: "I want to go home". Having been tortured by those heartless torturers the boy is disoriented and unaware of the thuggery of the Timoney and Yates men. The people have been outraged by the assertion of the al-Khalifa interior minister, Rashid al-Khalifa, when he claimed this week that "the police have no orders to torture detainees"! Perhaps the prisoners torture themselves. This thuggery has flourished since Timoney and Yates took command of the security apparatus of the al-Khalifa nine months ago. The pro-democracy tweeter, Peter Clifford remarked: #Bahrain MOI Min says "Torture & Killing not part of country's policy" - Why so many tortured & dead then?
