Demonstrators held after jobs protest
By TARIQ KHONJI
Published: 27th December 2006
THREE demonstrators, including two convicted of involvement in a violent protest at the airport last year, were briefly detained by police following a demonstration outside the Interior Ministry’s headquarters yesterday.
The three men, all former civilian employees of the ministry, were demanding their jobs back.
They say that they had been there for less than five minutes when police warned them to leave.
When they refused, they were taken into custody and held for over five hours at Al Nuaim Police Station.
Demonstrators held after jobs protest
By TARIQ KHONJI
Published: 27th December 2006
THREE demonstrators, including two convicted of involvement in a violent protest at the airport last year, were briefly detained by police following a demonstration outside the Interior Ministry’s headquarters yesterday.
The three men, all former civilian employees of the ministry, were demanding their jobs back.
They say that they had been there for less than five minutes when police warned them to leave.
When they refused, they were taken into custody and held for over five hours at Al Nuaim Police Station.
Abdul Ameer Madan, a former technical inspector, and Hassan Abdulnabi, a mechanic, want to return to work at the General Directorate of Traffic.
Both were arrested following clashes with police at Bahrain International Airport in December last year.
They were sentenced to a year in prison for causing disturbance in public place, but released after serving nine months following a Royal pardon three months ago.
Abbas Abdali was an Interior Ministry maintenance worker who lost his job after being convicted of falsely claiming he was beaten up by unknown masked men in Askar in July.
He claims that the charges could have been brought against him because of his involvement in the Unemployment Committee, an unofficial organisation championing the cause of the unemployed.
He was released from prison about four months ago and has been unemployed since. He and his wife Zainab were briefly taken into custody when they held a similar demonstration outside the ministry on December 12.
“We have been coming back and forth to the ministry and each time they ask us to come back and nothing is done,” said Mr Madan.
Mr Abdulnabi said they were released yesterday with yet another promise to look into their cases.
“We hope that this isn’t yet another empty promise,” he said.
The demonstration at the airport last year was in protest against the temporary arrest of cleric Shaikh Mohammed Sanad on his return from Iran. He was subsequently released.
© Gulf Daily News
