'US greenlight Saudi attack on Bahrain'

Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:35PM

Interview with Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights

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Saudi Arabian forces have invaded Bahrain to help the tiny kingdom's government in its deadly crackdown on protesters.

The US-backed attacks on Bahraini civilians are illegal under international law but they cannot be compared to the long history of human rights abuses committed by the Bahraini government, says Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

The following is the transcript of Rajab's interview with Press TV.

Press TV: Saudi Arabia has sent 1,000 troops to Bahrain, and Kuwait and the UAE have also followed suit. The US says that it's not an invasion then what is it?

Rajab: The definition of what the United States says we do not agree with at all. In fact, we say the United States has given them the green light. From the moment the US Secretary of Defense left Bahrain, we've seen the Bahraini government take the decision to invite the troops from the neighboring countries, and it's been agreed to by the United States. This is an act of violence, an act of war, and we think these troops are not welcome in this country. People are very angry on what has been happening. It's going to deteriorate the situation and push the situation into a more vigorous crisis as the people of Bahrain see those troops occupy. We don't think this was a right decision by our government. We don't think it was the right decision by the governments of the [Persian] Gulf countries because even if they have treated to help each other this is in the time of an invasion, in time of an attack from an outsider.

But what we have is a total internal issue. We have a dispute with this ruling family. This is our political right. What we have and demand is political reform, human rights to be respected, an elected government, a constitution that is written by the people, all rights that are guaranteed by international conventions and treaties for human rights. This is a very clear violation of our rights. We think it's totally wrong with the Saudis and the [Persian] Gulf countries. I'm really surprised to see Qatar involved in that because when it comes to Egypt and Libya, they backed the revolution to Al-Jazeera, directly. But when it comes to Bahrain, not only has [Qatar] not said anything, taken any decision, but is supporting our government. That's totally unacceptable. That's what we call double standard politics. It is agreed by all civil societies, all the political societies today, have written and are akin to the United Nations calling for the intervention because we think this is an act of war and we don't accept it. We will not tolerate it and we will call them occupiers.

Press TV: What kind of an intervention by the United Nations do you think would take place?

Rajab: We are talking about pressuring the government, pressuring the government of the GCC, because none of the other governments ever asked for help from other countries on their own people as the Bahrain government did. This is something I don't understand. What we have is a total internal issue. People are protesting very peacefully. They don't have any kind of arms, no machine guns, no tanks...and their own government brings troops from outside to crack down the peaceful protesters.

If you are in Bahrain today, gangs of mercenaries are filling all over the country attacking villages. I am sitting in my home now and my house is protected outside by the civilians from the same area where I live because the Ministry of the Interior has pulled all police. There are completely no police on the streets. Those thugs, those mercenaries who have been brought in from other countries are attacking people, shooting them with guns, attacking them with swords. We have many people trying to hurt people. In the last couple of hours, three people were shot and are in critical condition. There are a group of civilians protecting each and every city and village in Bahrain now. A security group is formed from the same village and town including the areas of the human rights activists and politicians. My house is protected now not by the police or the government but by the people of the same area where I'm living. Things are too loose now. The government is trying to show there is no security to justify their military intervention which is expected to be in the middle of the night or tomorrow early morning. And we're expecting to see a curfew or state of emergency in the coming few hours.

Press TV: I can imagine the situation is deteriorating as we speak. What human rights have been violated by the al-Khalifa family in the latest uprising and, in general, in Bahrain's history?

Rajab: Bahrain's government has a bad record in human rights. The numbers of statements reported in the past six months were many. But we are categorized as one of the worst countries in the Middle East in terms of human rights. Of course, in the past two or three months it has deteriorated more. We have the biggest percentage of political prisoners, including child political prisoners. We have systematic discrimination of indigenous people, or the Shia people. Our government brings people from other tribes from Jordan, Syria, Yemen, and Baluchistan, to change the demography of the state to make the indigenous people a minority. We have systematic torture for the political prisoners. We have accepted use of force by the Special Forces, by riot police, where people die by excessive use of force.

Our government does not employ their own people in the army where they import their army, the security forces, special forces, and the riot police from outside where they have a very high percentage of unemployment, and homelessness. At the same time, they give [foreigners] a nationality and homes where the local people can see that - which makes them angry.

Our situation, according to Transparency International, is pretty bad. According to the Human Rights Watch, the Bahraini government practices systematic torture. A crisis group has warned Bahrain a few year ago. They asked the Bahraini government to solve their problems, especially when it comes to naturalization and discrimination. They told the Bahraini government that if this isn't solved quickly, this country is heading into a crisis. And this is what we are witnessing today. Unfortunately, our government is not wise, the people who are ruling this country are not wise people. A problem could have been solved politically by dialogue, talking to their own people. But our government has always chosen a military, security means, getting support from outside for their situation. They have always chosen the wrong way to solve their problem. That's why we see today, instead of this problem getting solved, it's getting more deteriorated, more complicated.

Press TV: In Libya, Yemen, and Egypt we saw branches of the army defecting to the people. Have there been many defections of the armed forces towards the people in Bahrain? How different is the situation here in Bahrain?

Rajab: It is bad. The army is not from their own people. Ninety percent of the army is brought from Syria and Jordan. That's why you don't expect the army or police to stand with their own people. That's why you see them deploy the army in the streets; they start shooting and killing people. This is the same thing applied in the security forces. Many of these issues could have been solved if they were local people in the army and security forces. But because many of these people in the army and police are not from this country, not only that but they have the same part of training as these people you are fighting. They are non-religious, non Muslim, so it is good to hit them politically. But people with suspicious forces, they tried to kill [people] and beat them as they are shouting “God is Great! God is Great!” like they are doing something great to God. This is how they were trained, to uprise with the “kafir” and to kill them. Those people don't speak the same language. They are not from the same culture, they don't understand what is the actual theory behind it even thought they were brought from outside. But plenty of them don't know what is going on in Bahrain. They think those protectors are criminals. You should kill them, beat them. That's why you see them in a very violent way.

Most casualties have been here in Bahrain. Also, we have a very small society and we have over 3,000 injuries in one month's time uprising. We have seven deaths… and we have 3,000 injuries. That's a lot. Bahrain's population is 600,000 people with that many injuries. Bahrain government could have controlled that with their police. They've pulled their police and army and now they are inviting the Emirates, Qatar, Kuwaiti, and Saudi armies. I don't know why they have done this. This is deterioration. This is what we expect to see in the next few hours.

GMA/AKM

Source: presstv.ir