Al Khalifa violates basic rights of Bahrainis: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Ibrahim Mousawi, a political commentator from Beirut, about the continuation of attacks on the opposition figures in Bahrain.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Talk to us about the Al Khalifas and their continuation of the crackdown against voices calling for democracy in Bahrain, now they’ve revoked the citizenship of top Shia cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim.

Mousawi: Well, the first question that we want to talk about before we talk about any condemnation or denouncement for the decision that has been taken by the Khalifa family is why are they afraid so much of Sheikh Qassim? Why are they afraid of their own people? What is it that makes them so afraid, frightened from the people’s right and from the people’s demand for their constitutional basic human rights? When the people in Bahrain are not asking for any participation in the authority in such a way that it would threaten the reign of Khalifa.

They are asking for the very basic needs and rights of any people that the authorities should accept, should welcome actually. They are only asking for a constitutional royalty. They are asking for a constitutional monarchy. They are not asking to oust the Khalifa family. They are not asking to topple down the whole regime, though the regime has persecuted them, though the regime has continuously worked against the will of the people.

They are giving nationalities and giving citizenships to people who are shipping them from different countries - from Bangladesh, from Pakistan, from Jordan, from Syria - while they are denying the nationalities and the citizenship for the Bahraini people. Is it because the Bahraini people from the very beginning have been pressing in a peaceful way? I believe they went out of their mind. The kind of reaction that we have seen from different regulations, from different legal bodies, from the Human Rights Watch is very important. It denounces these. This is not considered illegal and this question is the legality of the whole monarchy and the place.

This is one thing and the other thing it was very remarkable, this kind of reaction that came from Tehran. Always we talk about Tehran and we talk about Iran, its support for the people, for the demonized people, for the persecuted people, for the oppressed people. The kind of reaction that came from Tehran was the strongest so far and we believe that all of the people who believe in the human rights, who believe in the rights of the people for self-decision-making, for participation should support this move.

Press TV: How far the Al Khalifa’s willing to go, to quell and quash the voices of dissent and calls for democracy in Bahrain?

Mousawi: They have already gone too far actually. What is more than that when you go to the top Shiite cleric, who is representative of the people, who is always pressing for peaceful change, for peaceful demands, for peaceful participation, who is considered a safeguard and a kind of guarantee for the continuation of the civility and the safety and the peaceful demonstrations. When they go against him, I believe this kind of a crackdown against the people they went too far. And I believe maybe it’s time if it’s not for the international community to do something about it. I believe now the people are going to take the decision to stand for this kind of actions, for these kinds of attacks, for this kind of hostilities against their own basic rights.

Press TV: And of course, there’s a question of the international response or lack of it when it comes to Western countries specifically in terms of the mainstream media. It seems that they’ve also turned a blind eye to events in Bahrain.

Mousawi: Absolutely, I mean this is something very evident. When you talk about “the international community”, you’re talking about hypocrisy, you’re talking about double standards, you’re talking about governments and systems who bow down to the pressures of Saudi Arabia and to the Bahraini government, because they have their own interest there. They have the oil that they would trade and they would not change for the rights of the people. The economic interest comes first and the political interest comes first and what is being done by the Bahraini government, by the Saudi government is not being done separately, they are partners in this in persecuting the people in Bahrain.

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