September 12, 2011
CÍAN NIHILL
DEFENDING HUMAN rights can be a perilous task. It has cost Abdulla Alderazi his job as a professor in the University of Bahrain and threatened his personal safety.
Last month he received a letter of dismissal from the university informing him of their decision, “for reasons of my activity”, he said.
September 12, 2011
CÍAN NIHILL
DEFENDING HUMAN rights can be a perilous task. It has cost Abdulla Alderazi his job as a professor in the University of Bahrain and threatened his personal safety.
Last month he received a letter of dismissal from the university informing him of their decision, “for reasons of my activity”, he said.
In Dublin this week for a conference held by Frontline, an international organisation that supports defenders of human rights across the world, Prof Alderazi expressed an unshakeable desire to continue his work as secretary general of the Bahrain Human Rights Society.
“Otherwise the suffering of these victims will continue if we don’t go and document it and report it and show the world what happened.” What has been happening is a push from the people of Bahrain for greater political and social freedoms, in line with the sentiment crossing the region following the Arab Spring.
The professor and his society have been at the forefront of this movement which was forcibly dissolved almost two years ago for advocating personal rights.
“On August 13th, 2010, there was a crackdown and there were a lot of arrests and a lot of violations of human rights,” said Prof Alderazi.
“On September 6th, 2010, the ministry issued a ministerial order dissolving the board of Bahrain Human Rights Society and of course there was huge condemnation internationally.
“They said that we were interfering in politics, the reason normally that they give in this is that we have administrative irregularities. They don’t say exactly what it is but we know that the decision is not directly from the ministry but that it comes from security.”
When the ministry demanded the keys to the society’s headquarters, Prof Alderazi refused. “If you want the keys you can send the police to break into the society and take them,” he told the ministry.
As the Arab Spring movement swept across the region, the situation in Bahrain escalated. A major day of protest was announced on February 14th, 2011, calling for reforms.
“When the Saudi army came to Bahrain then the worst crackdown happened, that is when our work which was more free at that time became more restricted, more secretive and dangerous.”
Much of the society’s work came to focus on frequent visits to Manama hospital where those injured in the protests were being transported to.
Prof Alderazi’s involvement drew the attention of his university employers, who feared that their institution would be associated with the unrest.
“On April 17th, 2011, I received a letter from the university suspending me from work for the reason of my activities, for participating in protests and for a stupid reason like going to the Pearl Roundabout.” Shortly afterwards he was fired.
“I will continue to defend human rights, it is in my blood, I will continue the same, with or without my job back,” he maintains. “I am optimistic that Bahrain will be better in the next few months than Bahrain in the last few months.”