Just as the fighting heats up once again between government forces and protesters in Bahrain, a virtual brawl nearly broke out between the daughter of a human rights activist that was imprisoned and tortured in Bahrain, and government representatives on HuffPost Live.
Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy's fifth fleet, and yet I'm certain millions of Americans have never even heard of the small island country floating between Saudi Arabia and Iran, where about 40 percent of all the world's oil flows through.
Bahrain, ruled by a Sunni minority, is the Arab world's forgotten revolution. Despite the government's use of torture and its brutal crushing of the popular uprising, the Obama administration continues to sign weapon deals and the Ryan-sponsored trade agreement.
In our segment Friday, Maryam Al Khawaja, the daughter of Abdulhadi Al Khawaja -- who was arrested on April 9, 2011 -- took on a doctor who tended to her father, and who she accused of being complicit in his torture.
Despite repeated attempts by the government to blame the protest movement on Iran, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry found no connection to Iran, but did find brutal police abuses and systematic torture, even of children.
To counter the voices of human rights activists, doctors, lawyers and dissidents that mobilized online, share videos and photos documenting police abuses, the government has paid millions to American, British and other PR firms like Qorvis with the aim of cleaning up its image abroad -- namely, here in America.
The unrest has since fallen from the front page of newspapers and web sites around the world, as these stories often do. While the death toll is nowhere near Syria's 20,000 count, Human Rights Watch and other rights groups on the ground continue to report egregious violations of fair trial rights and police abuses. Just this Friday, police fired tear gas and stun grenades at dozens of anti-government protesters who defied a ban on unauthorized demonstrations, marching through the capital.
As U.S.-made tear gas canisters continue to rain down on Bahrain, the Obama Administration has largely stood by the government, continuing to sell arms at record levels to Bahrain and its Saudi allies.
At the DNC, Obama said, "The historic change sweeping the Arab World must be defined not by the iron fist of a dictator or hate of extremists" -- and yet our weapons sales tripled in 2011 to a record high, driven by arms sales to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Joining me on HuffPost Live to discuss whether Bahrain's public relations offensive is working were Brian Dooley, of Human Rights First; Fahad al-Binali, a spokesperson for the Bahrain International Affairs Authority; Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists; Justin Elliott, a reporter at ProPublica; Leah McElrath, a social media activist; Maryam Al-Khawaja, acting President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights; and Mohammed Al-Muharraqi, a surgeon working in Bahrain.
Watch the full segment below:
Follow Ahmed Shihab-Eldin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ase
Bahraini Activists Document Crackdown on Protest
And if someone actually
does give it their best shot at trying to put things in Bahrain
in perspective, the big shots at the networks will simply pull
the plug on them and flatly deny that afterwards
: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4un32suyEK0 "CNNI is
receiving heavy criticism for failing to air a documentary that
brings the violence in Bahrain to a global stage.The newsoutlet
allows certain countries the opportunity to pay for specific
programming that highlights their country"
Our money (taxes) goes on one hand to weapons that are killing protesters in Bahrain, and goes to radical groups that would be called terrorists in any other event, in Syria aka rebels.
crackdown on protests-- not good
conditions in Bahrain-- not nearly as bad as in Syria and other places
Compare the Assad regime response to protest with that of Egypt, Ken and stop telling lies.
in any country 10000 people gathering in one place is illegal. you need police, ambulance staff. look at any football match.
No journalist is there to report the news. they paid to report "angles". they are not impartial. blame the bahrain government and you must lay the same blame at the opposition.
The opposition lobby is strong......poor guys. but this is how these exiles are paid. They tried it on Formula1 racing. Formula1 found their claims baseless and went ahead with the race. FIA sent teams there and the teams went there many times over several months before the race.
If we did, Iran would control the strait.
When i first learned of the situation, my ignorance showed in that i thought Bahrain was a Shia country due to its majority and surprised that the Sunni's were in power. I was even more surprised of the inequalities between the two (reading the Quran in English and learning of the values of respect and equality and not to think you are better than another being except for in piety (and God is the judge of that)). But i think you hit the nail on the head in your article - business, 40% of the oil flows through their and the USA sells it arms to them. And lets not forget the political agenda at the moment -Sunni's (almost everyone) good- Shia's (Iran) bad.
Unjust rulers will have their day.
While we appreciate your interest in covering a story on Bahrain, it's not black and white, and unfortunately your story shows lack of research and doesn't add value to the discussion towards stability or a national dialogue.
For the sake of constructive criticism, having different opinions on the show would be a good step towards hosting a critical, constructive and informed report. Thank you
But when Russia does the same to Syria they must stop the sell of weapons, because don't you know it only US can profit from death and misery. Sick of the double standards. But then to top everything off, the regime(most likely due to external sugestions) tried to point the blame at Iran and NO involment has been found making this a truly internal revolution. In Syria there's lots finacing for the rebels that's coming from KSA, a truly outside interferance on some countries internal affairs.