AhlulBayt News Agency - Commenting on the statement issued by the Ministry of foreign Affairs in Bahrain, Al Wefaq National Islamic Society recalls that all forms of freedoms are restricted and repressed by the Government, including freedom of opinion, expression and peaceful assembly. If freedom of peaceful expression was ensured in Bahrain, hundreds of thousands of citizens would fill the streets again to raise demand for democratic transition. The Bahraini Authorities have even forbidden criticism of their behavior, even on the lowest levels. Further, human rights and political activism is seized by the Government which is prosecuting opposition leaders and citizens, solely for expressing their opinion in the country’s need for political, economic and human rights reforms.
The situation of the freedom of the media is no better. A one-sided-opinion media is overshadowing the Bahraini scene as the recommendations of the BICI report remain unimplemented. Political parties are still banned from issuing press releases. Whilst the state and quasi-state media has been overwhelmingly biased and working for certain agenda. Above this, a significant number of columns that incite hate and contempt are being published every day amid the absence of accountability. International media has also been banned and many journalists were expelled and deported.
In response to the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Al Wefaq reiterates its call for an independent judiciary as it is the guarantor power. This was mentioned in the Manama Document and the previous dialogues and included in official documents and statements of the Government.
On the very same day the Ministry spoke about independent judiciary and freedom of the media, the Bahraini judiciary handed 5-year sentences to two citizens for expressing their political opinions on Twitter. Earlier in the week, these same courts acquitted a security police officer who was caught on camera attempting to kill with fire arm from close range an unarmed and peaceful protester, causing him severe injury to the face. Many police officers and militants accused of killing protesters during crackdown on peaceful demonstrations escaped justice over the past years as the courts ruled for their acquittal.
Bahrain must amend its legislations so as to meet the requirements of the International Law, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the two international rights covenants it signed in 2006. Legislations issued in Bahrain over the past few years restricted basic humanitarian rights.
Sadly, justice, equality and fair opportunity are nonexistent in Bahrain as the documented systematic discrimination is maintained in the practices of the official state-institutions. The gap between the state and the people is now widest than ever have been, five years after the eruption of the popular movement for democratic transition. However, the state continues to support and endorse sharp community divide.
Finally, locking up opposition leaders, including Sheikh Ali Salman and Ibrahim Shareef alongside several thousand political prisoners, reflects the size of the political deadlock.
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