(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The follow is an interview with president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights Nabeel Rajab who explains the difficult situation journalists and human right activists are facing in Bahrain with many of them having been killed or detained.
Q: The question of torture being used against these activists, the question of torture being used against the al-Khawaja family, for we haven't any news about them. Tell us what you have been doing as part of the human rights groups there in Bahrain about the fate of those that have been arrested and those who have been tortured.
Rajab: First of all we have the first one that we buried yesterday who died of torture in ten days' time. He is the fifth one in perhaps a month's time. And as you know they didn't only kill him and torture him, but they threatened his family not to show his body to anyone, and they have threatened to arrest them. They will not allow the burial normal ceremony which starts from the mosque to the cemetery. They have lost one and they don't want to lose others.
So that's why the family was forced not to march to the cemetery and was taken from the hospital directly to the cemetery to bury him as they were so much afraid. They have lost one and they don't want to lose the others. Kareem Fakhrawi was killed the other day. They raided his house, they had stolen his money and all expensive items including charity money for organizations were stolen by the security forces. They almost buried him without anyone seeing the body, but a few government guys who were angry felt that they must see.
So they opened his coffin and then people started taking pictures and showing the torture marks. The government is trying their best to cover their crimes. From one side they try to threaten the families of those that are getting killed and taking pictures, and from the other side they are threatening human rights activists like myself to be referred to military court. However, it is now too late and too difficult because their crimes are so numerous it cannot be covered. Abdul Hadi is an example of hundreds of people. Although, he is a well known human rights activist in the Arab region they have treated him so badly.
They beat him until he was bleeding and unconscious. So you can imagine how those people who are unknown in the Arab region, and are unknown in Bahrain are treated when they are arrested. Crimes are committed on an hourly basis. Houses are still being raided at night from 1:00 to 4:00. Every house they raid, they will take the money, any valuables and they destroy what's left. You can see thousands of pictures now uploaded online of the houses which have been raided.
The government is trying to humiliate, and oppress all these people who came out protesting and calling for reform. Half of the population came out one month ago calling for reform and calling for change. Now the government is using foreign mercenaries that they brought from outside the country to humiliate people, and hundreds of people are getting arrested. It's just bigger than our capacity. We cannot take care of all of them, as there are just too many I myself cannot open all of the email complaints I'm receiving. Around 1,000 people have been documented as terminated so far. We believe there are up to three to four thousand. All of them are professionals with high-ranking jobs, well-respected people, engineers, doctors, unionists, activists are terminated.
The only problem is that they are from a Shia sect. The government is practicing sectarian cleansing now. This is for all of the government institutions. Every Shia citizen is targeted based on his accent and being Shia. The people targeting them are not mostly Sunni people, but they are mercenaries which were brought in from outside of the country. The government brought them as a lesson to the protesters to not repeat what they have done. I think every time they do this, and every time people are more committed and more convinced this situation cannot continue.
These crimes cannot continue. We will not remain quiet forever. As much as we see these crimes happening, we know this situation has to change. That's why people have decided not to be silent anymore.
Q: Tell us about your experiences with the authorities there and these allegations of human rights violations. What should be done about it?
Rajab: You know that as we remain the only few people exposing the human rights violations in Bahrain after all international journalists were banned from coming to Bahrain, and after blocking all the websites, and after closing down and sacking the only chief editor of the independent newspaper. So we remain the only people telling the outside world what is happening here such as abuses and human rights violations.
Thus the government came for us as activists one by one. Most are in detention now, and have been subjected to torture as I expect. I'm targeted as you know they refer me to the military. I'm speaking to you here, and I just saw a newspaper saying Nabeel Rajab is receiving money from Iran.
This is intimidation and harassment. I have never in my life met any Iranian official. I have never in my life met any diplomat. But they are dying to link the activism and uprising in Bahrain to Iran. They think this is the best way to get the West on their side, and the best way to frighten the neighboring countries. We become victim of this “satanic policy” of the government by trying to link Iran with the internal issues of Bahrain. Iran has nothing to do with Bahrain's internal issues.
We don't want anybody to be involved in this. It's an internal issue. As we don't want the Saudis to remain in Bahrain, for it's an invasion. They should leave our country. So this is the same thing with everybody. We are saying this is an internal issue, and it has to be dealt with internally. Bahrain government is depicting the opposition, human rights activists, unionists, doctors and all as being linked to Iran. I will not work though. It's a very clear story now with what is going on inside. Even the media in the West for the past five or six days seems that the picture is becoming clearer to them.
The Bahrain government is fighting with the peaceful uprising that is calling for more reforms, human rights to be respected, political participation, elected government, written constitution and it's enough for the ruling family to have the whole wealth of the country. It's enough for the ruling family to be the majority of the government in the cabinet. It's enough that all of the ruling family has the high-ranking jobs of each of the big governmental positions or financial institutions. People of Bahrain want to take part in the government. They want to take part in politics.
They want to take part in their work. So working for a solution represented by the government has deepened the crisis. It has made the crisis bigger. It has made the gap between the ruling family and the local people bigger.
Q: In your previous comments, your referred to those people who are attacking Bahraini civilians and those who are attacking mosques and sacred sites. You said all of them are not Bahrainis but mercenaries. Tell me what Bahraini people think should be done by the international community about the involvement of Persian Gulf Arab states here. Explain how Saudi Arabia has gotten itself involved in this, and how the United States has been reacting about the situation there.
Rajab: Other than the Saudi troops and the [P]GCC troops, the Bahrain government used to bring mercenaries in from outside especially from Baluchistan, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen. A lot of Balochi human rights groups explained the issue on Baluchistan. The Balochi nation does not want to allow mercenaries to go to Bahrain to oppress a nation. We are in touch with a human rights group in Pakistan and they are angry about what is going on. In Baluchistan the human right groups are angry about what is going with the Bahraini government.
When most of these people come, they do not know the actual story. They tell them you will come and work for police or a government institution. Then when they come, they end up in a bloody conflict they have to fight against innocent people calling for reform.
Now they have tanks and troops from Saudi Arabia that they have deployed in Bahrain from the neighboring country. It would silence the United States and it shows very clear that they have a green signal from the United States.
Two days after the [US] Secretary of the State left Bahrain, the Saudi troops occupied and invaded Bahrain. Many people think that even the silence of the United States or Obama's administration with what is going on in Bahrain is a kind of support because the United States government thinks it is an oppressive regime. Those tribal regimes in the [Persian] Gulf country could guarantee their interests and influence in the region.
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