Saudis lambasted for lashing Badawi, Alkhalifa condemned in Geneva

A wave of protests has emerged against the Saudi authorities following the confirmation of an earlier sentence to flog Ra’if Badawi 1000 lashes for criticizing the regime. The Swedish foreign minister has said she stands by her denunciation of a Saudi blogger’s flogging as medieval, three months after her criticism of the Gulf kingdom’s human rights record ignited a diplomatic crisis and infuriated business leaders fearful for trade losses. Speaking on Monday, a day after it emerged that Saudi Arabia’s highest court had upheld Badawi’s punishment, Margot Wallström said she was unrepentant and said again that the flogging amounted to medieval methods. “I would not have done things differently,” Wallström told the Guardian “No, I do not regret the medieval remark; we have not excused ourselves. But we have explained that this was not an attack on Islam.” Campaigners have called for a radical shift in Britain’s relati onship with Saudi Arabia. Andrew Smith of CAAT said: “The human rights situation in Saudi Arabia is dire. The fact that it is also the world’s largest buyer of UK weapons is a sign of the real hypocrisy at the heart of UK foreign policy.” A Foreign Office spokeswoman said on Monday: “We are extremely concerned that Raif Badawi’s sentence has been upheld … We have raised his case at the most senior levels in the government of Saudi Arabia and will continue to do so.”

In Bahrain similar verdicts have been issued in recent days. On 9th June Bahrain’s dictator ordered the imprisonment of Ghada Jamshir for 20 months for criticizing the excesses of regime’s officials. She is a liberal Sunni woman who had refused to be silenced by force. AlWefaq Society said that 1741 people had been arrested in 2014 for their anti-regime activities, including 245 children and 31 women. There were 2328 home raids resulting in the arrest of 812 political activists.

The political arrests have continued unabated. Two people were snatched from the Bahrain-Saudi causeway. Sadeq Majid Thamer and Jaffar Mohammad Sultan. were roughly handled as they were led away to the torture chambers. More youths from Dar Kulaib Town were subsequently arrested. Among them are Ali Hussain Ramadhan, Taha Isma’il Ramadhan, Ali Saeed and Mohammad Amir Thamer. Hajj Abdul Shahid (Abu Hamid) was also arrested by the Saudis who took him to Dammam prison.

On 6th June Mohammad Mahdi Hussain Al Mawali from Maqsha Town was arrested. Nine people were arrested from Duraz; Abdulla Mohammad, Ali Moosa, Mahmood  Abu Ruwais,Haidar Khalil, Yasser Abu Ruwais and Qassim Habib. Mohammad Jaffar Mo’men was detained at the airport upon his return from abroad. On 5th June an elderly man, Amir Marhoon from Abu Quwwa Town was arrested. On 9th June regime’s masked members of Death Squads raided Tubli Town and arrested Redha Hassan Hayat, an udderaged native Bahraini.

At its annual Congress on 24th May The London University and College Union noted: The intention to establish a permanent British military base in Bahrain, The brutal repression of the Bahraini uprising by the Al Khalifa monarchy, The use of systematic torture, fraudulent elections, victimisation of trade unionists, academics, and human rights activists, and religious discrimination and The use of troops from Saudi Arabia and UAE, and non-Bahraini mercenaries, to repress the population. The Congress condemns the British government's support for the monarchy. Also Congress instructs NEC to: support campaigns against the base and against arming or training security forces of repressive regimes within the region; work with EI and TUC for unbanning Bahrain Teachers Association, and for the release of Mahdi Abu Deeb and work with MENA Solidarity to produce a public report on human rights in Bahrain, making recommendations to the NEC for future solidarity action, including an international trade union led inquiry into British support for the regime.

At a Press Briefing on 5th June Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said: We are concerned about the harsh treatment of detainees at the Jaw Prison in Bahrain following a riot there in early March which was put down by security forces using rubber bullets, tear gas and shotguns, resulting in many injuries but no deaths. After the riot was quelled, the detainees were allegedly forced to spend 10 days out in the open courtyard of the prison before eventually being placed in two large plastic tents (reportedly around 300 detainees per tent). Around 100 other detainees, those accused of instigating the unrest -- were subsequently transferred to another section of the Jaw prison, and there are allegations that they were subjected to ill-treatment and torture. He mentioned the cases of Sheikh Ali Salman and Nabeel Rajab

Bahrain Freedom Movement