Media not interested in plight of Bahrainis: Activist

Press TV has interviewed Saeed Shehabi, Bahraini opposition leader in London, about a court in Bahrain extending the jail term of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Ali Salman, who is the secretary general of the country’s main opposition bloc, by five years.

A rough transcription of the interview appears below.

Press TV: Yet again the Al Khalifah regime has resorted to unreasonable harsh measures in order to insinuate fear and to dampen the spirits of the pro-democracy demonstrators in Bahrain. How far are they willing to go to confront the peaceful demonstrations there?  

Shehabi: Sheikh Ali Salman’s verdict is one of the extreme measures that are taken by the regime in order to safeguard itself. They think that by exercising more pressure they will eventually be able to defeat the people’s will. That is not true. The regime is going through a difficult time because it has been discarded; it has been challenged by human rights bodies, by the local people, by the scholars, by the media people and even by some of their allies who are really embarrassed by their activities, yet these allies are still supporting them.

Sheikh Ali Salman is a man of peace, a man of reform like the others, like Mr. Hassan Mushaima, like Abdulwahab Hussain, like all the other scholars who are in jail, they are calling for reform. This state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue. You cannot continue having a dynasty ruling people for over 200 years without any sign of reform. It is an antiquated system that Sheikh Ali and others have stood to reform but it is impossible to reform it.

Press TV: And another aspect that is perplexing is the prolonged silence of mainstream media with regards to events taking place in Bahrain.

Shehabi: We must understand that the media is controlled by the powers which are enemy of reform, of democratic transformation. These powers do not want to see the Arab world progressing or having representative governments because representative governments in the Arab world will move towards self-realization, self-defense, they will oppose occupation by foreign forces, Western domination and these values are not compatible with what the West wants to achieve.

So these allies are directing their media to ignore the plight of people. Of course within the Arab world, the Saudis are pouring billions of dollars into mainstream media in order to control it and to prevent it from supporting the pro-democracy movement.

So the other point is at the movement living in one of its bleakest eras in modern history because the Saudis are at the forefront, they are driving a big bus, a big coach which is full of these useless dictators. So the media is not interested in the people’s plight. The media is directed to support the regimes and to stand against anyone who is calling for democratic transformation.

So it is not surprising to see that Sheikh Ali Salman’s plight and also the plight of thousands who are languishing in jail [are] denied and [are] really ignored by this mainstream media whether it is in the West or in the Arab world.   

Press TV: And its is not just the mainstream media ignoring Bahrain, it is certain Western states most notably the United States and Britain that have turned a blind eye to the rights violations taking place in Bahrain which in the eyes of many critics and observers of the situation is quite unjustifiable?  

Shehabi: We know that for example Britain’s foreign minister is visiting Saudi Arabia. Of course he says that he is there to discuss the war in Yemen, human rights and so on. In reality, it is not expected that he will do anything and in fact the jailing of Sheikh Ali Salman on the eve of his visit is just an indication that these Western powers are supporting these dictatorships. They are supporting it whether it is the Bahraini dictators or the Saudi dictators.

Unfortunately the West is not living up to the standards that is expected of them to support and to defend democracy and promote human rights.

It has been exposed as a fallacy and … countries are only interested in getting the oil money from the Saudis and their [Persian] Gulf allies. So the plight of people is simply ignored and set aside.     

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