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Teachers’ Iran links probed
By RASHA AL QAHTANI
Published: 29th May 2008
SAUDI authorities are reportedly trying to draw links between eight Bahraini teachers, arrested three months ago, with Iran and Hizbollah.
However, the men’s relatives have denied any connection between them and any foreign groups.
They have also denied the men have been involved in political unrest in Bahrain.
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Teachers’ Iran links probed
By RASHA AL QAHTANI
Published: 29th May 2008
SAUDI authorities are reportedly trying to draw links between eight Bahraini teachers, arrested three months ago, with Iran and Hizbollah.
However, the men’s relatives have denied any connection between them and any foreign groups.
They have also denied the men have been involved in political unrest in Bahrain.
“Just because the men are Shi’ites they are linking them to Iran and Hizbollah,” claimed Sayed Hussain Alawi, whose brother Sayed Ahmed Alawi is one of the eight in custody.
“I don’t know why they are holding them for this long – they are just postponing their release.
“They (the Saudi authorities) have no evidence against them.
“This is not right and very sectarian. They should be freed by now. Why are they holding them?
Suggestions that the men had been questioned over alleged political affiliation with foreign powers surfaced in a report by the dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR).
The centre has now compiled testimony of the men’s relatives into a report and vice-president Nabeel Rajab said it was time to bring the men home.
“The Saudi authorities are still carrying out their interrogations and I believe that they should be back home by now,” he said.
“Bahraini authorities have let this issue go on for a long time now and I think it is time they took the matter seriously.”
He said one of the teachers had been questioned about a visit he made to Iran in 1997 and interrogators even knew how long he stayed there.
The centre also claims one of the men had to be taken to hospital after he broke down and started banging his head against a cell wall.
In addition, it says the men have been asked who they make religious payments to, since Shi’ites donate one-fifth of their monthly income to religious clerics as a sign of allegiance.
They have also allegedly been asked about their participation in activities such as strikes and sit-ins in Bahrain.
The BCHR report states the men’s relatives have written to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, pleading for their release.
The eight detainees are Mr Alawi, 29, Isa Abdulhassan Ahmed, 26, Mohammed Hassan Ali Marhoon, 30, Mohammed Abdulla Al Momen, 32, Mohammed Mahdi Khalil, 30, Majeed Al Ghasra, 28, Abbas Ahmed Ibrahim, 31, and Ibrahim Al Haddad, 28.
All eight are teachers at Al Jaberiya Secondary Boys School and Shaikh Abdulla Secondary School.
They were detained after straying into a restricted area while travelling in Saudi Arabia on February 29. rasha@gdn.com.bh
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http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/story.asp?Article=218744&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=31070
