Brussels, 29/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 27 January, representatives from the Shura (the upper chamber of the national assembly of the Kingdom of Bahrain) stated in Brussels that there was no problem with human rights violations in Bahrain. The country, which is led by the Al-Khalifa Sunni dynasty, has been shaken by almost daily demonstrations since February 2011 from the Shi'ite majority in Bahrain.
According to the leader of the Shura's economic and social affairs committee, Isa Abduljabbar Alkooheji, the reasons for the protests are just sectarian issues and nothing else. “No one can tell me they are human rights violations”, he said. “Until 2011, everyone lived in harmony alongside each other”, he added, stating that it was not necessary to talk in terms of Shi'ites or Sunnis, but of Bahrain as a community. He said that the demonstrations needed authorisation and he believed that daily or weekly demonstrations for the last three years “were a bit much”. “Peaceful demonstrations are a right for every citizen”, said Bassam Ismaeel Albinmohamed, the deputy-leader of the youth committee, stating that there was a difference between demonstrating peacefully and calling for violence. “Everyone, including Europe, should together oppose these calls to violence”, he added. Stating that the country's communities had co-existed peacefully for years, he added that “no one has ever complained about any restriction to speaking their demands and wishes”.
Betsy Mathieson, the secretary general of the Bahrain Federation of Expatriate Associations, said she believed the “so-called human rights activists who express negative judgments about Bahrain seemed to forget” that the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights says that “all human beings are equal”.
The EU underlined its concern on several occasions about Bahrain's human rights and called for “a process of national reconciliation, without prerequisites”. The king of Bahrain called in 2011 for a national dialogue and set up an independent commission of inquiry which issued recommendations (see EUROPE 10502). The EU also called for parliamentary elections to be held (see EUROPE 11208). However, some members of civil society, like Nabeel Rajab, and the secretary general of the main Shi'ite opposition formation, Ali Salman, are currently in prison (see EUROPE 11223). (CG)