UK Parliamentarians express concern for Bahrain activists

23rd June, 2011

Politicians in the UK have been speaking out against the showtrials of opposition leaders in Bahrain. Lord Avebury, a long-time human rights activist who has been supporting the pro-democracy movement in Bahrain since the mid-1990s, wrote to Foreign Secretary William Hague, saying:

“We should have realised long ago that you can’t hold a dialogue with a man whose foot is on your neck, and I suggest that we ask the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Bahrain

23rd June, 2011

Politicians in the UK have been speaking out against the showtrials of opposition leaders in Bahrain. Lord Avebury, a long-time human rights activist who has been supporting the pro-democracy movement in Bahrain since the mid-1990s, wrote to Foreign Secretary William Hague, saying:

“We should have realised long ago that you can’t hold a dialogue with a man whose foot is on your neck, and I suggest that we ask the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Bahrain and report to the world on the human rights situation, and particularly on the state of health of the people convicted, most if not all of whom have apparently been tortured. May I also ask you to protest to the authorities about the trial and life sentence passed on the British citizen Saeed Al-Shehabi, who wasn’t notified of the charges against him, let alone represented by a lawyer of his choice. This was a grossly irregular process, and one that I hope you will publicly condemn.”

Foreign Office minister for the Middle East, Alistair Burt also reiterated that the government is ‘concerned’ about the situation in Bahrain[1]. However, the UK government has been expressing concern for some time now, and even the addition of Bahrain to the US list of human rights abusers[2] has not proved embarrassing enough for the authorities to change their hard-line stance. Lord Avebury told BCHR that ‘action needs to be taken at the level of the Secretary of State [William Hague]’, and that the UK needs to do more than just continually express ‘concern’ about the situation.

Bahrain has already agreed ‘in principle’ to a visit by the High Commissioner for Human Rights[3], and we would like to see a date set in the near future for this to happen.

The Arab Spring is a golden opportunity for both the West and the Middle-East. It threatens established dictatorships because it is largely secular in character. It concentrates on rights and freedoms, not on the establishment of purely religious states[4]. The revolutions are cosmopolitan, and concentrate on the things we all share – a need for peace, security, the ability to find work and practice freedom of religion, speech, association and other liberties which should not be the monopoly of Western states but are universal rights that apply to all people and societies. This is what scares dictators, because they could not survive in a society which was truly free.

Please stand with the people of Bahrain who suffer discrimination and persecution, and call for the release of political prisoners and a true and genuine dialogue on reform in Bahrain.

John Lubbock
Advocacy Officer,
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
London, June 23, 2011