DUBAI, UAE – A decade after protesters rallied in the Bahraini capital to demand the fall of their government in 2011, authorities continue to suppress all signs of dissent. Activists behind these turbulent days say the memory of the protests that threatened the Sunni monarchy’s takeover is virtually extinguished.
But many live with the consequences.
“This was the beginning of the dark era,” said Jawad Fairooz, a former leader of the now outlawed Shiite political party Al-Wefaq, who was stripped of his nationality for his political work in 2012.
Although many activists and protesters have fled into exile or been imprisoned, the threat of dissent persists in this small kingdom with a predominantly Shiite population on the east coast of Saudi Arabia.
In contrast to neighboring Arab Gulf monarchies, low-level riots have affected Bahrain in recent years. Police have been out on the streets of the city for the past week, residents say, without risking the renewed demonstration.
A website of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, commissioned by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, which had hosted an independent report on the 2011 protests and the government crackdown that ended them, has mysteriously gone offline. before it was restored on Thursday. The government described it as a “technical error”, without detailing it.
For weeks beginning on February 14, 2011, thousands of streets stretched across Bahrain, animated and energized by pro-democracy protests surrounding Egypt, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen. The Bahrain protests were organized primarily by the nation’s Shiites seeking greater political rights in the Persian Gulf state, which is a key Western ally and home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
“It was overwhelming,” recalled Nazeeha Saeed, a journalist at the time for a French television news channel, who described the tumultuous days of the Pearl Roundabout, the symbolic center of the capital, Manama, which later went be excavated by the authorities. “I have never seen anything like it. People forgot that we were a Persian Gulf kingdom backed by powerful monarchies. “
Soon, Saeed said, everything went wrong. Security forces tried to disperse the site, responding to protests with torrents of tear gas, rubber bullets and, in some cases, live fire. Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck. She said she was arrested and beaten for telling foreign journalists what she saw.
Now in exile in Berlin, Saeed said he cannot return home. Bahrain fined her $ 2,650 in 2017 for working with a government-issued press card. At the same time, the government refused to accredit two journalists from the Associated Press and has since strictly controlled visas to inform the island.
As violence escalated during the weeks of February 2011, the demonstrations became a popular movement crossing sectarian strips. Calls for constitutional reform became demands for the dismantling of the country’s political structure. The monarchy went to nearby Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for help, inviting foreign troops to crush the protests.
Following the crackdown, King Hamad ordered an internationally recognized commission of jurists and scholars to investigate under the direction of the late law professor Cherif Bassiouni. The resulting 500-page report, based on more than 5,100 interviews with protesters and residents, describes prisons full of torture, dozens of arbitrary arrests and the extraction of forced confessions against those trapped in the dredge. The detainees were reportedly beaten and forced to kiss photos of the king and prime minister.
A decade later, activists in Bahrain and in exile say their country is much less free than in 2011. The government, which has criticized its government as an Iranian plot to undermine the country, has stepped up its crackdown. . Bahrain blamed Iran for also provoking the 2011 protests, although the report by Bassiouni and other experts found no evidence of this.
Tehran denies interference in Bahrain, although weapons confiscated on the island have been linked to Iran. Even Iran, under the ancient shah, tried to claim Bahrain as part of its territory.
Prior to the anniversary of the events of 2011, Bahraini officials have not responded to repeated requests from The Associated Press for comment.
Since 2011, authorities have targeted not only Shiite political groups and religious leaders, but also human rights activists, journalists and online opponents. Mass testing has become a commonplace. Political parties have been dismantled. Collecting independent news on the island has become almost impossible. Meanwhile, there have been sporadic low-level attacks on police and other targets by Shiite militant groups.
Even a tweet can go to jail, even though Bahrain’s constitution guarantees its citizens freedom of speech. Nabeel Rajab, one of the most prominent leaders of the 2011 protests, was only released last year in house arrest due to the coronavirus pandemic after serving years of an internationally criticized prison sentence.
As the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the country last March, the government announced it had arrested more than 40 people for spreading rumors about the virus and “disrupting public safety”. And last fall, activists say authorities explored the Internet for its dissent following the long-running death of Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa. One of the key demands of the protesters in 2011 was for Prince Khalifa to resign and be tried for corruption and human rights violations.
A Bahraini man, a former journalist who refused to be identified for fear of reprisals, said he was jailed for two weeks after posting a Koranic verse on social media that security forces said they suggested he was rejoicing over the prime minister’s death. One detainee in the same cell had published politically charged poetry, while another had simply tweeted about the words “good morning,” he said.
“Since 2011 we’ve only gone backwards,” the 47-year-old said. “Now, the only meaning of opposition in Bahrain is to try to document the arrests of your friends.”
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Follow Isabel DeBre on Twitter at www.twitter.com/isabeldebre.