BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

16th/ 17th/ 18th May 2014

Prince Andrew
withdraws from
promotional event for
Bahrain
Bahrains record on human
rights has made the Duke
of Yorks association with
the kingdom controversial.
He visited it frequently in
his days as special
representative for trade and
investment and he had
been touted as the keynote
speaker at todays This is
Bahrain promotional event
at the Queen Elizabeth
Conference Centre in
Westminster.
Wisely, perhaps, he has
now made his excuses. He
has already committed to
attend an economic event
at Bloomberg and
regrettably it wasnt
possible to attend both
events, says a royal
ofcial. The Duke is,
however, a long-standing
supporter of the UKs
bilateral relationship with
Bahrain.
Read More
Bahrain Conference
Can't Gloss Over
Reality of Torture and
Oppression
On Friday, HRH the Duke
of York is expected to open
a conference in London
which will highlight what is
claimed to be the "mutual
respect and tolerance"
enjoyed by those who live
in Bahrain. We ask that he
thinks again and do the
right thing by withdrawing
from the event.
Prince Andrew, who has
made numerous visits to
Bahrain, will deliver what
will be seen by many as
giving a Royal seal of
approval for the regime
there when he makes a
keynote speech.
The Conference at the
Queen Elizabeth II
Conference Centre in
Westminster, London, will
seek to portray Bahrain as
an inclusive nation which is
a shining example of
religious and cultural
tolerance across the Middle
East.
Read More
Prince Andrew under
fire for hosting King
of Bahrain, whose
regime stands
accused of human
rights abuses
Prince Andrew hosted the
King of Bahrain at the
Royal Windsor Horse Show
today in a further sign of his
steadfast commitment to
the repressive Gulf state.
King Hamad bin Issa Al
Khalifa arrived in London
amid growing controversy
as violence continues back
home, and his son Prince
Nasser bin Hamed Al
Khalifa, who captains the
Bahraini team at Windsor,
faces a court challenge to
immunity from prosecution
over torture claims.
The Duke of York had been
due to attend a Bahrain
promotional event earlier in
the day at the Queen
Elizabeth II Conference
Centre in Westminster but
cancelled due a clash in his
schedule.
Read More
Protest Planned
Ahead Of Windsor
Horse Show Visit By
Bahrain Royals
Families of Bahrain's
political prisoners have
claimed Britain is ignoring
the brutal oppression in that
country and actively
opposing democracy efforts
as the Queen prepares to
welcome the Gulf state's
Royals.
Amid a storm of negative
publicity around the
appearance of the Bahrain
royals at the Royal Windsor
Horse Show, Prince Andrew
today ducked out of a key-
note speech at a UK-
Bahrain promotional event
on Friday, claiming he was
double-booked. But the
Queen's son has previously
made no secret of his
approval of the country.
This coming week, days
after the Royals depart,
Bahrain Watch says Britain
is set to fast-track the
deportation of 19-year-old
Isa Haider al-Aali, a
Bahraini put on trial three
times on politically-
motivated charges for his
protests against the
government.
Read More
Bahraini Pro-
Democracy Activists
Stage Protest against
King Hamad in
London
Prince Andrew has
withdrawn at the last minute
from a controversial
Bahraini-funded
promotional conference in
London promoting the Gulf
Kingdom as a place of
freedom and tolerance.
The Duke of York, who has
maintained good relations
with the Bahraini regime
with frequent visits as
Britain's former special
representative for trade and
investment, caused a
controversy when speaking
during a visit to Bahrain last
month, claiming that what's
happening in the
archipelago is "a source of
hope for many people in the
world".
Read More
Special Report |
Human Rights in
Bahrain: Its time to
hold the British
Establishment to
account
The constant trail of British
politicians, ministers,
members of the House of
Lords and Members of the
Royal Family to the
Kingdom of Bahrain is an
unnerving reminder to the
Bahraini people that Britain
has not got their back when
it comes to democracy.
Why would we? We ran the
place as a colony for
decades, then helped
architect a brutal state
security apparatus that, to
this day, torments pro-
democracy activists in the
dungeons under Manama.
In recent years, both the
US and the UK have sent
over police reformers,
who according to the few
human rights activists
remaining in Bahrain, have
only made matters worse.
Nearly forty deaths have
been attributed to the
excessive use of teargas
since 2011. The torture
methods used by police
interrogators have become
more common-place and
the perpetrators act with
impunity.
Read More
Isa Haider Alaali
case: Bahraini teen
fears torture after
losing asylum claim
A Bahraini teenager fears
he will be tortured when he
is deported to the
repressive Gulf state this
week after his asylum
application was rejected by
the British Government.
Isa Haider Alaalis
deportation comes as the
Royal Family have been
playing host at the Royal
Windsor Horse Show to the
King of Bahrain, Hamad bin
Isa Al Khalifa, and his
sonPrince Nasser bin
Hamad Al Khalifa, who
faces a High Court judicial
review over whether he has
immunity from prosecution
for alleged torture.
Activists staged protests
over the weekend at an
equestrian event as Prince
Andrew long criticised for
his cozy relationship with
the Gulf state entertained
Bahraini royals at Windsor
on Friday.
Read More
Bahrain's Maryam Al-
Khawaja Wants To
Tell You About The
Arab Revolt We've All
Forgotten
Maryam al-Khawaja has
ed her home, to live in a
country where she has no
family or community. Her
father is serving a life
sentence behind bars, her
uncle serving ve years,
and her sister, newly freed
from prison, is likely to be
jailed again in September.
On Twitter, she tells me,
trolls threaten to rape and
assault her.
But if this is taking a toll on
the Bahraini activist, it
doesn't show.
"The amount I get on daily
basis is quite amazing,
about the way I look, about
raping me, trying to buy me
for a certain amount of
money," she says when we
meet in London.
Read More
Britain probes
validity of immunity
for Bahraini prince
accused of torture
It is not often that a young
royal is named in
connection with torture
allegations, but it clearly
can happen. Last week a
court in London named
Bahraini Prince Nasser bin
Hamad Al Khalifa as the
man at the center of a case
brought by a national of the
Gulf island state. Known
simply as FF, the claimant
is seeking to challenge a
2012 Crown Prosecution
Service (CPS) ruling under
which the prince enjoys
immunity from prosecution.
Although a torture survivor
himself, FF did not suffer
abuse at the hands of the
man he is rising against. He
is, his lawyer Sue Willman
told DW, simply seeking
justice.
Read More
Bahraini activist
killed in mysterious
blast
A Bahraini activist has been
killed in a mysterious
explosion in capital
Manama, local media and
Bahrain's Al-Wefaq
opposition bloc said Friday.
Local media reported that
Ali Fasial al-Ekrawi, who is
wanted by the Bahraini
authorities, had been killed
in an as-yet-unexplained
explosion in the Sitra
district in southern
Manama.
Media reports failed,
however, to say why al-
Ekrawi was wanted by
authorities.
Al-Wefaq, Bahrain's main
opposition bloc, conrmed
that al-Ekrawi had been
killed in "a tragic and
painful" incident, but gave
no further details.
Read More
Rights group calls
for GCC prisoner
release
A Gulf Arab rights group
has called for the release of
thousands of prisoners of
conscience in the region as
it marks what it calls Gulf
Detainees Day to highlight
their plight.
The overwhelming majority
of the prisoners are held in
Saudi Arabia followed by
Bahrain, the group says.
"We call for the release of
prisoners and detainees
who have been put behind
bars for simply expressing
their opinion," Anwar al-
Rasheed, head of the Gulf
Forum for Civil Societies,
said in Kuwait City on
Thursday night.
Read More