Amnesty to F1 Organizers: Nothing Changed, Al-Khalifa’s Brutality Continues
A Bahraini 15 year-old was in intensive care on Saturday after being shot by anti-riot police while attending the funeral of a journalist killed during the recent protests.
According to news agencies, Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Aziz was among several people injured during the funeral for Ahmed Ismail al-Samadi, 22, who was reportedly martyred by al-Khalifa regime forces in the village of Salmabad, outside the capital, during a demonstration on March 30.
Abdael Aziz sustained bullet wounds to the chest as police fired tear gas and live rounds on mourners.
The demonstrators called for the release of all jailed activists and protesters and demanded that al-Khalifa regime steps down.
The shooting came as Formula One bosses said the Bahrain Grand Prix would go ahead next week as planned even as the regime's security forces continue their brutal crackdown on peaceful protests.
In response, Human rights campaigners Amnesty International have issued a damning report into the current state of Bahrain a week ahead of the staging of the grand prix.
"Despite the authorities' claims to the contrary, state violence against those who oppose the al-Khalifa family rule continues. In practice, not much has changed in the country since the brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters in February and March 2011," the report said.
Amnesty further noted that "the government's response to protests has only scratched the surface, reforms have been piecemeal, and human rights violations are continuing unabated."
Meanwhile, activists are to hold a protest rally outside the British embassy in the Bahraini capital of Manama after former Metropolitan police deputy chief told world Formula 1 authorities that the Gulf kingdom is calm and ready for the Grand Prix motor race.
The activists also say the F1 go-ahead is a clear insult to the families of the protesters killed by the al-Khalifa regime as participants in the Grand Prix enjoy "live concerts and parties, in the middle of the island."
The rally organized by the February 14 Youth Coalition comes as two pro-democracy activists, Ali Mushaima and Musa Abd Ali, have gone on hunger strike in London in solidarity with the Bahraini opposition leader Abdulhadi al-Khwaja who has been refusing food for the past 69 days while in prison.
Source: News agencies, Edited by moqawama.org
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