SHAFAQNA – The National Democratic Opposition declares full support of international efforts to clamp down on terrorism, but will not accept support to the dictatorship and authoritarianism that controls national wealth and decision-making in Bahrain.
Attempts to veil ongoing human rights abuses and killings against the people of Bahrain are a total disgrace. These abuses and atrocious killings, perpetrated by the Bahraini Authorities, have been documented and reported by international human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Human Rights First and the International Federation for Human Rights as well as the UN Special Rapporteurs.
Bahrain has been suffering from a tyrannical regime that has jailed more than 10,000 political prisoners since the eruption of the pro-democracy protests in 2011. Today, prisons are overcrowded with prisoners of conscience, with 150 citizens sentenced to life, 160 children serving unfair sentences and more than 200 citizens suffering from deformations from brutal torture in custody.
The regime’s courts continue to issue vindictive rulings against its dissidents, human rights activists and journalists. Over 50 citizens have been stripped of their citizenship since November 2012. Torture continues to take place in Bahrain jails. Most recently, Bahraini citizen Hasan Alsheikh lost his life under brutal torture.
The demands raised by the majority of the people of Bahrain to build a state of democracy and power-sharing are legitimate. The Bahraini opposition calls on the world to stand beside the people of Bahrain against the inhumane practices of the Authority in Bahrain. The world powers are urged to press Bahrain to live up to its pledges concerning human rights and halt all forms of discrimination. Misleading statements will only deteriorate the status of the Bahraini Authority against its people.
We will not accept to be stripped of our fundamental humanitarian rights through the shameful attempts to legitimize torture and corruption and support of the dictatorial rule in Bahrain. We do not accept the baseless statements which claimed progress in reform and human rights have been achieved in Bahrain. History has proved wrong such statements which attempted to whitewash the acts of the Nazis and the apartheid rule in South Africa and other countries where the peoples prevailed against injustice.