Bahrain’s Refugees

Bahraini activists: Seeking refuge in a storm
Many opponents of the island nation’s ruling family fear retribution and are claiming asylum in Europe.
by D. Parvaz – 12 Nov 2011 – AlJazeera

For a while, it seemed like there might be havens in the Arab world for political activists, especially in countries where there was either no uprising to start with, or where populist revolutions seemed to have succeeded, as in Tunisia and Egypt.

But things have not been that simple. Tunisia denied visas to 11 Palestinians wanting to attend a bloggers’ conference there in October, while Syrians have been harassed and even kidnapped in Lebanon. And now, Bahraini activists, including those who contributed to the Egyptian revolution, say they don’t necessarily feel safe there.

And just as Lebanon’s close ties with Syria are causing problems for Syrian activists there, Bahrainis worry that Egypt’s historically strong ties with Bahrain might lead to problems for them.

“You know, in Egypt and all Arab countries, police can catch you and give you to Bahrain,” Falah Ahmed Rabeea, a Bahraini activist, told Al Jazeera.

“The Egyptian police might give them our names or our information to Bahrain – maybe they were watching me, I don’t know. I did not feel safe.”

This unease has its roots in the relationships between Arab states and their leaders, in this case Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, and Egypt’s deposed President, Hosni Mubarak. Although Mubarak is no longer in power, Egypt’s ruling military has strong ties to his regime. The Bahraini ruler even visited Mubarak at the World Medical Centre in Cairo, where he is under medical care.

“This is frightening every human rights defender in the Arab world – how will they be treated in Egypt?”

– Nabeel Rajab, president of Bahrain Center for Human Rights

These close ties are also evident in how and where embattled leaders seek asylum at the end of their rule.

Before his fall, Mubarak was rumoured to have gone to Bahrain (among other places); Saudi Arabia rolled out the red carpet for Tunisia’s deposed President Zine Abedine Ben Ali and Reuters on Monday quoted Jeffrey Feltman, the US assistant secretary of state, as saying that some Arab leaders (he declined to name names) would welcome Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Egyptian government has in the past denied entry to Bahraini activists and blocked human rights websites set up by Bahraini activist groups. The UAE also has a record of suddenly deporting hundreds of Shia families,”without receiving an explanation or an opportunity to appeal the decision”, according to rights group Human Rights Watch.

It seems possible that a form of pan-Arabism, on a civilian scale, will ultimately prevail, but for now, no one is really breathing easy.

Murtadha, a Bahraini activist who fled to the UK via Dubai in April, said that he did not feel the same emigrating to any other Arab country (with the possible exception of Oman, he stipulated).

“Because what do you expect from Dubai or Saudi?” said Murtadha, who wished to be identified by only his first name.

“If they [Bahraini authorities] want me, they’re going to put me back on a plane and send me back to Bahrain.”

Murtadha has been told by a family member that Bahraini authorities are now looking for him.

The 28-year-old aircraft engineer has a history with law enforcement that goes back as far as 1995, when he was arrested at the age of 12 for writing anti-state graffiti on walls. They kept him for three days, beat him and threatened to rape him if he didn’t say that Iranian agents had put him up to the graffiti. …more