LONDON (Dispatches) – A group of British MPs condemned the UK government’s “blind eye” over human rights abuses in Bahrain and called for an end of funding to the kingdom during a backbench debate on Thursday.
Ten years after the kingdom’s 2011 pro-democracy uprising - and the Bahraini government’s subsequent crackdown - the MPs expressed exasperation over the UK’s staunch support for its longtime ally given the ongoing repression in the country.
Their criticism comes as 1,400 political prisoners, including many imprisoned for their roles in the uprising, remain behind bars, accusing authorities of unfair trials and torture.
The UK has financially supported Bahrain for a decade, including through the opaquely run Persian Gulf Strategy Fund. In August, the government disclosed that the fund is supporting Bahrain’s interior ministry and four other bodies which oversee detainees.
“After a decade of Britain love-bombing Bahrain, there has been no improvement in their behavior,” said Scottish National Party MP Brendan O’Hara, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy and Human Rights in the Persian Gulf, who raised the debate.
The discussion, O’Hara noted, coincided with the 190th day of a hunger strike by Abduljalil al-Singace.
Singace, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for his pro-democracy activism during the popular Bahraini uprising, has been on hunger strike since July 18 last year in protest against his mistreatment at notorious Jau prison.
Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael also called for the Bahraini Minister of Interior Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifah to be placed under Magnitsky sanctions “for his role in overseeing appalling human rights violations and a culture of impunity”.
Meanwhile, for the third consecutive day on Thursday, people in Bahrain kept up their rallies in protest at a Saudi Arabian court’s upholding of the death sentence against two Bahraini youths.
The demonstrations were held throughout several Bahraini villages, with participants holding up pictures of the victims, who have been identified as Sadiq Thamer and Jaafar Sultan.
The duo were jailed in Saudi Arabia in 2015 and issued the sentence for allegedly trying to blow up a border crossing linking the island and the kingdom.
They appealed the sentence, but the Saudi Court of Appeals recently upheld the ruling. Both have pled not guilty, denouncing the verdict as politically-motivated.
Bahrain has been cracking down on all forms of dissent since 2011, when it started to face a popular backlash over its heavy-handed treatment of the country’s Shia majority.
Saudi Arabia, seen by some observers as Bahrain’s “big brother,” has been supportive of Manama’s suppression campaign, and at one point, even tried to boost the Bahraini crackdown by sending troops and military vehicles over to the island.