More than 120 protesters have been wounded and hospitalized this week after Bahrain’s security forces attacked them on the streets, as the Shiite opposition commemorated the one year anniversary of the uprisings.
While the Obama administration quietly pushed through more arms sales to the dictatorship in Bahrain, security forces have been beating protesters severely or holding them for in informal detention centers where they are severely beaten before release. Testimonies of victims have been collected and numerous people are reported to have died while in custody.
Security forces conducted operations into the night this week in Bahrain, seizing 15 teenagers in a raid on one building after a police vehicle was damaged by a petrol bomb earlier, residents said. An unknown number of arrests took place this week.
On Wednesday, streets were deserted with residents hiding indoors as police jeeps sped through the streets in apparent search operations. They also utilized armored personnel carriers that have not been seen on Bahrain’s streets since martial law last year.
“The heightened security presence at this time aims to spread security and reassure all citizens and residents… Expressing opinion must be within the space allowed by the law,” Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa said in comments on the ministry’s website.
But the crackdown has been severe. “There were over 100 cases on Tuesday and 37 of them are bad, with head injuries and fractures,” said one medic. “On Monday we had 20 people (wounded) in villages around the country.”
The Bahraini government is a long-time U.S. ally receiving continued economic and military support from the Obama administration, despite an extended reign of repression in response to pro-democracy demonstrations. A recent independent probe into the government’s response concluded also that torture was systemic for hundreds of detained Bahrainis.
The Obama administration has quietly moved forward with a new package of arms sales to the regime in Bahrain, after international pressure forced them to delay its planned $53 million arms sale. Using legal loopholes, they moved forward with the new sales without notifying the public.
USA and EU have created a dilemma by not knowing where to stand and to support, is it about democracy or supporting dictatorial regime such as Tyrants of Bahrain and other Arab Emirates and Saudis Tyrants regime, or supporting what the Obama administration is missing. Syrian regime offering a constitutional referendum where political parties are invited to participate and it is the peoples vote which would determine the out come of a ruling party, which means the people vote is the people voice and their choice of a government, or for US and EU keep on supporting these little Tyrants making sure that they are safe from any kind of democratic movement even the one that US and EU would like to have there?
It's high time the Russians, Chinese and Iranians started arming the Shia majority in Bahrain so they can start an armed uprising as In Libya and Syria…lynch the corrupt, effeminate Sultan and bring in the first true Gulf democracy.
You are immature my friend. The conflict in Bahrain is sectarian in nature, it is NOT a question of democracy, it is a matter of Sunni versus Shia supremacy !!! War is easier said than done. A good part of my life was spent in hard wars, so better not to instigate war, the best thing you can say is push for dialogue so societies can prosper, both politically and economically.
What is Iraq now, did you followed the news, I am sure you did. How many innocents have been killed? Yes Muslim blood is considerd cheap, that is why people push for war, may be you are one of them
if they jail and shoot the protesters, who will drive their taxis, cook and wash for the chosen (not like the other chosen, these are chosen by the US god)