Al Khalifa Crackdown: UK, US Condemn Arrest of Bahrain Politician

Local Editor

The UK Foreign Office will discuss the case of a Bahraini politician, who was arrested for criticizing Prince Charles' visit to the Gulf, with the Bahraini regime.

Last week Bahrain's Cyber Crime Directorate accused Sharif of defaming the Kingdom when he criticized the British Prince of Wales' visit whist giving an interview to an American news outlet.

Sharif said Prince Charles's day-long tour to the Gulf state could "whitewash" an ongoing crackdown on dissent and fuels human rights abuses perpetuated by the Bahraini regime.

Two days' later, he was detained and charged with "inciting hatred" against the Gulf monarchy's rulers. The charge carries a possible three-year jail sentence.

In a statement, the Foreign Office said: "We are concerned by the charges brought against Ebrahim Sharif, and we will be raising these concerns at a senior level with the Bahraini government."

The US had also expressed its concern.

The US State Department's Director of Press Relations Elizabeth Trudeau said: "no one anywhere should be prosecuted or imprisoned for engaging in freedom expression, even when that expression is critical. Any charges against Sharif on that basis should be dropped."

Ebrahim Sharif, the former leader of Bahrain's secular National Democratic Action Society, spoke to an Associated Press [AP] reporter about the royal visit while Charles was in the country.

He was quoted by AP as saying he did not know whether the prince had raised human rights questions when meeting the Bahraini prime minister, Prince Khalifa bin Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

AP further quoted Sharif as saying: "Bahrain's government values its relations with the UK and if the UK puts its weight behind the improvement of human rights in Bahrain, the government will listen. They need friends... We can't have absolute power in the hands of the ruling family."

Bahrain is notorious for its crackdown on freedom of speech. Journalists, academics and even citizens who speak out against the regime had been systematically arrested and even tortured for their dissent.

At present, the leader of the country's largest Shiite opposition group, Sheikh Ali Salman, is in jail. Human rights activist Nabeel Rajab is in prison, awaiting sentence for allegedly spreading "false news."

And journalist Nazeeha Saeed, a France24 correspondent who was detained and tortured in 2011, has been prosecuted for "illegal reporting" on behalf of foreign media. She was subjected to a travel ban.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team