Al Khalifa unwilling to recognize people’s rights: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Jalal Fairooz, a former Bahraini MP in London, about a group of Shia clerics in Bahrain calling for the promotion of equality in the Shia majority Persian Gulf country, which has a Sunni-dominated government.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Now freedom for electing your own parliament, your own government, not being discriminated based on ethnicity, color, religion or sect seem things that are enshrined within human rights law. Why is this not being afforded to Bahraini citizens?

Fairooz: Well it is that the mindset of the ruling regime which will not accept the people’s right, it just wants to dictate on whatever it wants. It is absolutely totalitarian regime that will not allow its people to just live the way other people are living.

The demands of the Bahraini people are very simple. They just want their simple rights. They want to be part of the system not to be slaves but it seems that because the family of Al Khalifa, they have the backup of the Saudis from one side and the British from the other side, it seems that they are going to do more of atrocities.

Imagine just this morning there was a parliamentarian question in the UK Parliament regarding the stripping of nationalities of the Shias and discrimination against the Shias in Bahrain and the reply was that, it was very shameful, that okay, we support the government of Bahrain. Imagine how Britain is supporting the Bahraini dictator in Geneva just this week that there are lots of European states who want to present a statement against all the atrocities being committed by the Bahraini regime and not complying to the international requests, but UK to your surprise and everyone’s surprise is just backing up and trying this statement not to be presented. That is the case really in Bahrain.

Press TV: And ever since the onset of this revolution we have seen Bahrainis from all walks of life and all sects participating in this uprising, be it Sunnis or Shias, be it the young and old, but over here right now what is significant is that Islamic scholars have penned the statement to Bahraini officials. How significant is that? What is the importance of that?

Fairooz: Well because of not hearing the voice of the people and lately even one of the major [backers] states that the Ministry of Interior of Bahrain [has] called that the Bahraini Shias are pro-foreign forces and that was a very, very, very shameful claim and that is why the clerics stood up against that.

He also called that the religious institutions to be under the authorities of the government which is beyond what even the Bahraini constitution asked that the religious institutions have their independence and there is no overhand of the government.

On the other side you could see how much of the atrocities are being committed on the people these days. Just over the past two weeks several people have [been] stripped of their nationalities and they have been deported out of Bahrain even though they were Bahrainis and their parents were Bahrainis but on the other side you could see how much the Bahraini government is bringing in new people from Syria, from Pakistan and granting them citizenship.

That is why the clerics of Bahrain have stood up and said, ‘stop, this is not the way to treat the people.’

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