Obama repeatedly “kicks Bahrain Opposition to the crub” as pleas for his help grow louder

Jailed doctors call for U.S. support in Bahrain
Washington Post – 7-OCt.2011

HAMAD I MOHAMMED/REUTERS – A boy holding a Bahraini flag gestures to the camera as he participates in a rally held by the Shi’ite opposition party Al Wefaq in Tubli, south of Manama, September 22, 2011. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed (BAHRAIN)

“We thought there were positive signs in Obama’s speech. He encouraged the government of Bahrain to have real dialogue with the opposition,” he said. “But they are not really active, because the American Navy is stationed in Bahrain.”

Joe Stork, the deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said the administration had been reserved in its criticism since May. “The U.S. government has plenty to say about human rights in Iran, Syria or Libya but rather loses its voice when it comes to Bahrain,” he said.

There are growing worries that Bahrain has become deeply divided along sectarian lines in the aftermath of the uprising. The divisions are driven in part by discontent among the country’s Shiite majority at perceived discrimination by the government, which is led by the Sunni Muslim al-Khalifa royal family.

Alekri, the surgeon, said there were areas of the country he could no longer visit because he feared that Sunni people would attack him. He said he has been described as a killer doctor on state television. His daughter has been bullied in school by her Sunni classmates, he added.

The fear goes both ways.

“Among the Sunni community, there is a fear of the protesters vastly disproportionate to the threat they pose,” said Jane Kinninmont of the London-based Chatham House think tank.

She said a state media campaign portraying Shiite protesters as armed and dangerous had widened the gap between the sects.

The unrest in the kingdom of a million subjects has also stirred existing sectarian tensions in neighboring countries. Bahrain’s Gulf Air has suspended all flights to Iraq, which is led by a majority-Shiite government. Relations have worsened between Iran, where the Shiite theocracy has been vocally supportive of the protest movement, and Saudi Arabia’s Sunni leadership, which sent troops to Bahrain to assist the government in quelling the uprising.

Iraqi Shiite groups, both inside and outside the country, have campaigned on behalf of the Bahraini protesters.

Although the monument at Pearl Square in Bahrain’s capital was destroyed by government forces in March, hundreds of protesters still take to the streets every day.

“Many Shia who were not political before have been alienated as they see nonpolitical, professional Shia people being targeted,” Kinninmont said. “The society is now deeply divided.” …more