Tag: bahrain
Zainab Al-Khawaja
Syrien og Bahrain
Jeg støtter ikke nogen form for sanktioner, FN-resolutioner eller militær aktion mod Syrien, så længe præcis de samme lande, regeringer og politiske partier i Folketinget, som nu udtrykker så megen omsorg for befolkningen i Syrien ikke er villige til at bruge præcis de samme midler til at støtte det demokratiske oprør i Bahrain.
Jeg ønsker befolkningen i Syrien det bedste, men der er intet, der tyder på, at Villy Søvndal og de øvrige hyklere i “Syriens Venner” tænker på andet end deres egne interesser. Så længe der ikke kommer en tilsvarende FN-resolution om Bahrain inklusive en fuld konfrontation med Saudi-Arabien om spørgsmålet, er den internationale forargelse over Ruslands og Kinas veto intet værd.
Tåregas og tortur i Bahrain
Nicholas Kristof, som jeg omtalte i mit sidste indlæg om anholdelsen af Zainab Alkhawaja, opsummerer situationen i Bahrain de seneste uger med to små billeder – det ene netop af Alkhawaja:
[Obama] should also understand the systematic, violent repression here, the kind that apparently killed a 14-year-old boy, Ali al-Sheikh, and continues to torment his family.Ali grew up here in Sitra, a collection of poor villages far from the gleaming bank towers of Bahrain’s skyline. Almost every day pro-democracy protests still bubble up in Sitra, and even when they are completely peaceful they are crushed with a barrage of American-made tear gas.
People here admire much about America and welcomed me into their homes, but there is also anger that the tear gas shells that they sweep off the streets each morning are made by a Pennsylvania company, NonLethal Technologies. It is a private company that declined to comment, but the American government grants it a license for these exports — and every shell fired undermines our image.
In August, Ali joined one of the protests. A policeman fired a shell at Ali from less than 15 feet away, according to the account of the family and human-rights groups. The shell apparently hit the boy in the back of the neck, and he died almost immediately, a couple of minutes’ walk from his home.
The government claims that the bruise was “inconsistent” with a blow from a tear gas grenade. Frankly, I’ve seen the Bahrain authorities lie so much that I don’t credit their denial. (….)
The police have continued to persecute Ali’s family. For starters, riot policemen fired tear gas at the boy’s funeral, villagers say.The police summoned Jawad for interrogation, most recently this month. He fears he will be fired from his job in the Ministry of Electricity.
Mourners regularly leave flowers and photos of Ali on his grave, which is in a vacant lot near the home. Perhaps because some messages call him a martyr, the riot police come regularly and smash the pictures and throw away the flowers. The family has not purchased a headstone yet, for fear that the police will destroy it.
The repression is ubiquitous. Consider Zainab al-Khawaja, 28, whose husband and father are both in prison and have been tortured for pro-democracy activities, according to human rights reports. Police officers have threatened to cut off Khawaja’s tongue, she told me, and they broke her father’s heart by falsely telling him that she had been shipped to Saudi Arabia to be raped and tortured. She braved the risks by talking to me about this last week — before she was arrested too.
Khawaja earned her college degree in Wisconsin. She was sitting peacefully protesting in a traffic circle when the police attacked her. First they fired tear gas grenades next to her, and then handcuffed her and dragged her away — sometimes slapping and hitting her as video cameras rolled. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights says that she was beaten more at the police station.
Khawaja is tough as nails, and when we walked alongside demonstrations together, she seemed unbothered by tear gas that left me blinded and coughing. But she worried about her 2-year-old daughter, Jude. And one time as we were driving back from visiting a family whose baby had just died, possibly because so much tear gas had been fired in the neighborhood, Khawaja began crying. “I think I’m losing it,” she said. “It all just gets to me.”
Mine fremhævelser. Mahmood Al-Yousif har et længere blogindlæg, hvor han gør opmærksom på, at myndighederne i Bahrain fortsat torterer og myrder ganske ustraffet, som Kristofs historie om Ali desværrre siger alt om:
Maybe if you have a few atoms of humanity left in you, it might help you remove that veil off your conscience and see things for what they are:
This incident – amongst hundreds of others currently being meted out to the majority of villages in this country – should be independently investigated and the officers implicated and their masters who are doing nothing to stop this must be made to account for their actions and be punished. The government who oversees this situation should be summarily dismissed of course and with haste. Nothing else would do if that illusive “new page” is to become a reality.
Hvorfor greb man ind med bombning af Libyen for at standse overgrebene, mens for eksempel den amerikanske regering ikke lægger det mindste pres på Bahrain? Vel, en af forskellene er, at undertrykkelsen i Bahrain set i forhold til landets indbyggertal er værre end i Libyen. En anden er, at vestmagterne i stedet valgte at sætte kiggerten for det blinde øjne, da Bahrains kongefamilie diskret indkaldte forstærkninger i form af nogle tusinde soldater fra Saudi-Arabien, der kunne bistå i opgøret med de fredelige demonstranter. Money talks.
Dansk aktivist anholdt i Bahrain
Update, 21/12: Zainab er løsladt!
Update 2 – note to Boing Boing readers: Thank you for your interest in Zainab Alkhawaja and the human rights crisis in Bahrain. This is a Danish-language blog specializing in politics, tech (notably GNU/Linux and free software), culture and civil rights and a special interest in bottom-up movements like Occupy Wall Street and the Arab revolutions. Read this blog for info in English on Danish politics.
OK, overskriften på dette indlæg er måske en tilsnigelse. Der er nok ikke så meget dansk ved Zainab Alkhawaja. Ganske vist er hendes far, Abdulhadi Alkhawaja ud over at være menneskeretsaktivist også dansk statsborger, hvilket også vil sige, at hun er vokset op her i landet. Og faktisk er hun selv dansk statsborger og har alle de rettigheder, der følger med dén status. Men egentlig er hun jo fra Bahrain, og der er mange ting ved hende, der er helt og aldeles udanske.
For eksempel er hun kompromisløs, ukuelig og åbenbart totalt frygtløs. Selv efter, at hendes far blev fængslet, torteret, dømt til fængsel på livstid og tilsyneladende udsat for seksuelle overgreb i kølvandet på myndighedernes modreaktion på oprøret i Bahran; netop, mens de læger og sygeplejersker, som under demonstrationerne i februar og marts behandlede dødeligt sårede demonstranter, dømmes ved latterlige skueprocesser, deltog Zainab Alkhawja fortsat i demonstrationer mod de groteske menneskeretskrænkelser i det lille land, hvis “konge” stadig er dekoreret med én af Danmarks fornemste ordener.
Billedet (som er taget af Mazen Mahdi) viser den 28-årige Zainab, kort før hun blev arresteret. Den 15., da det skete, var det en stor historie i de internationale medier, og New York Times-journalisten Nick Kristof skrev på Twitter:
I suggest that Bahrain officials avoid torturing and imprisoning @AngryArabiya. Some day she could be their president.
I går var nyheden så nået frem til svensk presse, hvor man bl.a. kunne læse, at “danska medborgaren Zainab al-Khawaja, mer känd under smeknamnet “Angry Arabiya”, greps i Bahrain på torsdagen under en stillsam protest”. Som nogle af de sidste medier i verden tog de danske aviser så tråden op, og Politiken bragte en artikel om Zainabs anholdelse, der mest af alt handlede om hendes far.
Hvor er oprøret, vreden over at folk med tilknytning til Danmark behandles på den måde? Så langt væk Bahrain end ligger, har Zainab og hendes familie givetvis mere tilknytning til Danmark, end Wilson Kipketer og Viggo Mortensen nogensinde har haft. Hvor er Villy Søvndal og truslerne om diplomatiske repressalier? Hvor er interessen, når en person med så stor tilknytning til Danmark er helt i front og risikerer alt i kampen for menneskerettigheder og demokrati i et af de mest undertrykkende diktaturer i den arabiske verden? Er det, fordi hun er frygtløs og kompromisløs og vi ikke er det? Fordi hun risikerer alt for at gøre en forskel, hvilket vi aldrig selv ville?
Vi ser på vore hænder, skammer os og er helst fri for at høre mere. Jeg er klar over, at det selvfølgelig er noget sludder at tale om “danskerne” som et sådant abstrakt “vi”, men jeg har svært ved at se andre motiver for mediernes behandling af denne historie. Zainab Alkhawaja og kampen for et frit og demokratisk Bahrain fortjener vores støtte.
Du kan se anholdelsen af Zainab Alkhawaja her:
Bahrains tragedie
Man kan læse side op og side ned om de forfærdelige ting, der er sket i Bahrain siden myndighederne begyndte at slå oppositionen ned med tropper fra Saudi-Arabien, men nogle gange kan et enkelt fredeligt menneskes vidneudsagn være mere uhyggeligt end selv den mest skånselsløst udmalede rædselshistorie.
Mahmood Al-Yousif skriver:
I have been thoroughly depressed over the last few weeks. Everywhere around me bad news persists; people dancing over dead bodies and urging for more killings, people whom I thought to be friends started to regard me as a mortal enemy, people throw about choice terms like “traitor” and “unpatriotic” with vitriol and not much thought. What I previously heard as hesitant questions, whispered normally, enquiring whether a person was from “us” or “them” are now loud shouts of “he’s shi’i” and “she’s sunni” with pointed rigid fingers, blood-soaked eyes and wide open saber lined mouths not caring for the future of this country or its people.
Reason, it appears, has disappeared. The benefit of the doubt has no place.
Will a dialogue ameliorate these feelings? Will it put the country back on a reconciliatory track? Will we ever think of an inclusive “us” rather than solidify an already created and maintained cantons of rage?
I don’t know any more.
I’m just a simple Bahraini who’s now lost, and thoroughly disgusted.
Link: Lost & Disgusted
Dansk statsborger fanget og torteret i Bahrain
Fra TV2 News. Det drejer sig selvfølgelig om menneskeretsforkæmperen Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, far til Zainab al-Khawaja, som vi tidligere har omtalt.
Se også dette interview med Abdulhadis datter Maryam al-Khawaja.
Bahrain – hvorfor den larmende tavshed?
Mens vi hører om nedkæmpelsen af oprøret i Syrien og borgerkrigen i Libyen, er der noget nær fuldstændig tavshed om Bahrain. Er det, fordi Bahrain er en af USAs vigtigste allierede i Golfen, eller fordi det er vores allierede og gode venner i Saudi-Arabien, der deltager i undertrykkelsen? Al Jazeera English lader tre af områdets eksperter diskutere spørgsmålet.
Zainab al-Khawaja: Undertrykkelsen i Bahrain er USAs ansvar
Den sultestrejkende menneskeretsaktivist Zainab al-Khawaja, som jeg tidligere har omtalt, giver et interview om sin families situation og situationen i Bahrain, og hvorfor hun i mangel af bedre våben har valgt at gå i sultestrejke, indtil hendes familie er løsladt eller hun selv er død.
Bahrain: Kvinde går i sultestrejke, indtil hendes familie er løsladt
Zainab al-Khawajas far, ægtemand og svoger er alle blevet anholdt i myndighedernes seneste offensiv i Bahrain. Zainab har besluttet at gå i sultestrejke, indtil de bliver løsladt, og hvis det ikke sker snart, har hun i sinde at fortsætte, til hun dør, erklærer hun:
Zainab al-Khawaja, 27, will today enter her fourth day without food in protest at the violent arrest and subsequent disappearance of the outspoken dissident Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, 50, along with her husband and brother-in-law.
Zainab, who was brought up in exile in Denmark, is taking only water, and told the Guardian she is already feeling weak, with breast-feeding sapping her strength faster than she had expected. She says she will leave her 18-month-old child with family members if she dies.
Around a dozen masked and heavily armed soldiers, apparently from Bahrain‘s special forces, stormed her apartment in the capital, Manama, at 2am on Saturday. Her father had previously called for Bahrain’s king to face trial for murder, torture and corruption.
Asked whether she was willing to die, she replied: “Yes. It is difficult with a child but I am willing to make that sacrifice. My daughter has great aunts and grandmothers who will look after her if anything happens to me … We have the feeling that sacrifices are necessary to bring changes to our country, but what is making it harder is the way the world is reacting. Still the US administration is standing with the dictator here.”
Zainab forklarer mere om baggrunden for den desperate aktion i et åbent brev til præsident Obama på sin egen blog, Angry Arabiya:
Although they said nothing, we all know that my father’s crime is being a human rights activist. My father was grabbed by the neck, dragged down a flight of stairs and then beaten unconscious in front of me. He never raised his hand to resist them, and the only words he said were “I can’t breathe”. Even after he was unconscious the masked men kept kicking and beating him while cursing and saying that they were going to kill him. (…)
When you were sworn in as president of the United States, I had high hopes. I thought: here is a person who would have never become a president if it were not for the African-American fight for civil liberties; he will understand our fight for freedom. Unfortunately, so far my hopes have been shattered. I might have misunderstood. What was it you meant Mr. president? YES WE CAN… support dictators? YES WE CAN… help oppress pro-democracy protesters? YES WE CAN… turn a blind eye to a people’s suffering? (…)
I am writing this letter to let you know, that if anything happens to my father, my husband, my uncle, my brother-in-law, or to me, I hold you just as responsible as the AlKhalifa regime. Your support for this monarchy makes your government a partner in crime. I still have hope that you will realize that freedom and human rights mean as much to a Bahraini person as it does to an American, Syrian or a Libyan and that regional and political considerations should not be prioritized over liberty and human rights.
På billedet ses vor ven og allierede, udenrigsministeren af Bahrain sammen med NATOs generalsekretær Anders Fogh Rasmussen. De er uden tvivl midt i vigtige diskussioner om Bahrains rolle i “befrielsen” af Libyen. De har nok en torturbøddel eller to, de kan sende. Hvor er der en spand, man kan brække sig i?
De bedste ønsker herfra til Zainab al-Khawaja og hendes familie samt til alle andre gode og frihedselskende mennesker i Bahrain og omegn.
Foto fra Angry Arab.