Press TV: The brutal crackdown in Bahrain claims another innocent life, but the United States is silent about the killings in the tiny Persian Gulf state. How can you explain this US stance?
El-Shami: Well, obviously the United States is closing both eyes on the violations of human rights in Bahrain. Given the strategic importance of this country and its regime to the US, Bahrain is the home of the US Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf. But I would say that the United States is not very happy about what the Bahraini authorities are doing. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once said that they (Bahraini authorities) are going the wrong way. Not only the United States, but other important players in the region like Egypt as well; nobody is happy about escalating the sectarian tension in the Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia is missing the support of the Egyptian regime this time, of course after the revolution in Egypt. The revolutionary Egypt said that the people of Bahrain have the right to express their demands peacefully. We have also recently heard talks both in Cairo and Tehran about resuming political relations. So I would say that Saudi Arabia and the Bahraini regime are increasingly isolated in what they are doing, even though the United States is not saying much about it, but escalating the sectarian tension is not really serving the interest of the region at all.
Press TV: How do you think the fact that the US Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain is going to affect the United States' policy regarding the ongoing crackdown in the Arab country?
El-Shami: I think they will have to consider their position because now the future of Bahrain, as an independent and sovereign country, is increasingly questionable with the lack of any political answer to the unrest in Bahrain. Oppression, arresting hundreds of activists, and closing down newspapers is not the answer to what the people of Bahrain are asking for. The answer is political reforms. The answer has to come through resuming national dialog with the opposition. Unfortunately, the regime in Bahrain has done nothing whatsoever in this direction. As I said hundreds of people are still arrested. Actually tens of people are missing and their families do not know whether they are killed or under arrest. They know nothing about them. And even closing down a newspaper shows how frightened and how weak -- in my opinion -- the Bahraini regime is at this point. So we have not seen anything done toward a political solution, which is the only solution in Bahrain. I am afraid things will deteriorate there. And the country's independence will be questionable in the future.
Press TV: Speaking of media, we hardly ever see any Western media cover the popular uprising in Bahrain. What could be the reason for this media blackout -- especially the Western ones?
El-Shami: I would say Bahrain is a kind of very sad piece of news; not only for the Western media, but even for most of the Arab media unfortunately. Double standards are not only in the political positions of the United States or Europe, but there are double standards in the media as well. I would not of course say each media outlet, but most of them were told that this is kind of embarrassing news that they will not really be willing to emphasize. In the Arab world, of course, there is a different kind of calculation. The Saudis have huge influence on the Arab media so they can handle how the Bahrain events are covered.
But as a journalist, working twenty years in the Arab media, I will tell you that closing down newspapers has always been associated with the falling of regimes in this part of the world. Ex-President Sadat of Egypt closed down one of the main newspapers in 1981, and his regime was finished like few weeks or months later. The same thing happened to Ex-President Mubarak of Egypt, where there was crackdown on the media a few weeks before the revolution. So this is a sign that we have always seen when regimes are nearing their end. As I said, the Bahraini rulers are going in the wrong direction. There have to be talks with the opposition. There have to be political reforms. This is the only answer.
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