BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

24th/ 25th/ 26th October 2014

Bahrain F1 Grand
Prix rights complaint
'merits examination'
A complaint by activists that
human rights regulations
were breached when the
Formula 1 Grand Prix was
staged in Bahrain "merits
further examination", a UK
government panel has said.
Companies in charge of the
sport are alleged to have
failed to comply with
Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and
Development (OECD)
standards.
The OECD says events in
member countries must
"respect human rights".
The complaint was made by
Americans for Democracy
and Human Rights in
Bahrain.
The ADHRB is an
organisation that lobbies for
democratic reform in the
Gulf state.
Read More
UK body to
investigate Bahrain
human rights
complaint
A complaint that human
rights regulations were
breached during the staging
of Formula 1 Grand Prix in
Bahrain will be investigated
further by a UK government
panel, according to a BBC
report.
The complaint was lodged
with Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD)
relation to companies in
charge of the sport, who are
alleged to have failed to
comply with OEDCs
standards in relation to
human rights.
Americans for Democracy
and Human Rights in
Bahrain, which lobbies for
democratic reform in the
country, lodged the
complaint against Formula
One World Championship
Limited, Formula One
Management Limited
(FOM), Delta 3 (UK) Limited
and Beta D3 Limited, which
it said is responsible for
organising the event.
Read More
Bahrain: Free
Activists Facing Free-
Speech Charges
Bahrain authorities should
drop all criminal charges
against two prominent
human rights activists, and
immediately release them,
Human Rights Watch and
the Gulf Center for Human
Rights said today. The
charges clearly violate their
right to free expression.
Bahrain should also
immediately revoke all laws
that violate freedom of
speech, including those that
criminalize insulting or
defaming state institutions
or the monarch.
Nabeel Rajab, one of
Bahrains most prominent
human rights defenders, is
due in court on October 29,
2014, to face charges that
he offended national
institutions, and a possible
three-year jail sentence.
Zainab al-Khawaja, another
leading human rights
campaigner, could receive
an even heavier sentence
of up to seven years when
she stands trial on October
30 on charges that she
insulted the king of Bahrain.
Among Bahrains main
international allies, only the
United States has called on
the Gulf states government
to drop the charges against
Rajab and al-Khawaja and
release them.
Read More
Bahrains
Inconvenient
Revolution: A Battle
Between A King And
A Family Of Freedom
Fighters
Dubbed the inconvenient
revolution by those on the
ground who have fought it,
Bahrains democratic
uprising remains very much
a black dot on the Arab
Spring map, a revolutionary
movement which the media
has gladly avoided due to
the overlapping and
conicting political and
moral interests it has laid
bare.
We knew that Bahrains
freedom would be subject
to contention. It has to do
with Bahrain being central
to Britain and other foreign
powers strategic interests
in the region, Maryam al-
Khawaja said in a recent
interview with MintPress
News.
More than an island
kingdom home to just over
1.3 million people, less than
half of whom are Bahraini
nationals, Bahrain is a
geostrategic jewel of
extraordinary importance to
Gulf monarchies as well as
Western powers.
Read More