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Families deny ‘spying’ claim
By RASHA AL QAHTANI
Published: 17th JUNE 2008
FAMILIES of eight Bahraini teachers, who have been detained in a Saudi prison for more than three months, plan to meet Iran’s envoy here to clear allegations that they are spies.
A news website www.elaph.com had quoted Saudi sources that the teachers were detained after being suspected of spying for Iran at a prohibited military zone.
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Families deny ‘spying’ claim
By RASHA AL QAHTANI
Published: 17th JUNE 2008
FAMILIES of eight Bahraini teachers, who have been detained in a Saudi prison for more than three months, plan to meet Iran’s envoy here to clear allegations that they are spies.
A news website www.elaph.com had quoted Saudi sources that the teachers were detained after being suspected of spying for Iran at a prohibited military zone.
However, Bahrain’s government and the men’s relatives denied any connection between them and Iran.
A second visit by the families since their arrest on February 29 has also been arranged by Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry by the end of this week.
They were detained after straying into a restricted area while travelling in Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed Abdulrasool Al Ghasra, whose brother Majeed is one of the eight detainees, said the families plan to meet Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Nazar Al Baharna as well as Iranian Ambassador Hussein Amir Abdullahyan to ensure that the claims are officially dismissed.
“The information on the website is not true and all the men are innocent, not belonging to any foreign political groups,” he said.
The website claimed that the detainees were being suspected of spying for a foreign group and that the punishment for such a crime would be the death penalty.
Dr Al Bahrana told the GDN that all the allegations in the website were baseless.
“We are continuously in touch with the Saudi authorities including the foreign affairs ministry and the Bahrain Embassy,” he said.
“I spoke to the embassy on Sunday and they said that they are still in touch with the Saudi authorities, but nothing new has come up.
“We have arranged a visit for the families and they will be visiting the detainees in two days time.”
Bahrain’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Mohammed Saleh Al Shaikh also denied reports that the health conditions of the detainees were deteriorating.
He said all men were all in good health and were not in any danger.
However, Sayed Hussain Al Alawi, whose brother Sayed is another detainee, said that the men continue to suffer under detention.
“Putting them in solitary confinement in two by three-metre cells is one of the worst conditions for a detainee,” he said.
“Dr Al Baharna fixed us a second visit, but what will I do with the visit if I come back without my brother, its useless.”
Visit
“I really don’t care about the visit as much as I care about seeing them come back.”
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 last month.
It states that Saudi authorities are reportedly trying to draw links between the teachers with Iran and Hizbollah.
The other six detainees are Isa Abdulhassan Ahmed, 26, Mohammed Hassan Ali Marhoon, 30, Mohammed Abdulla Al Momen, 32, Mohammed Mahdi Khalil, 30, Ebrahim Al Haddad, 28, and Abbas Ahmed Ebrahim, 28. All eight are teachers at Al Jaberiya Secondary Boys School and Shaikh Abdulla Secondary School. rasha@gdnc.om.bh
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© Gulf Daily News
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/story.asp?Article=220434&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=31089
