Bahrain F1 cuts deeper than insult, its an assault on human decency and is contemptuous to freedom

CNN: Bahrain’s Formula1 is an insult to country’s democratic reformers
By Maran Turner – Special to CNN – 20 April, 2012

(CNN) – “Unified: One nation in celebration” is the jubilant slogan of this year’s Formula 1 Grand Prix in Bahrain. The irony could not be harsher: while sports fans look forward to this glamorous race, one of the country’s most prominent human rights activists is close to death in protest of his ongoing unlawful detention.

Solidarity protests in the streets continue to be brutally suppressed. From the perspective of a majority of Bahrain’s population, it is not one nation. And it is certainly not celebrating.

One day after the race, on April 23, the Bahrain government will announce a decision that may determine the island kingdom’s fate.

This decision is whether to release Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a well-known and internationally respected human rights activist in Bahrain. While the watchful international community is hoping for release, it is entirely possible that the decision may only be a call for a new trial. Mr. al-Khawaja is unlikely to survive long enough to participate in a sham trial.

Since February 8, while most of us have enjoyed more than 200 meals including breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day, Mr. al-Khawaja has had zero. Not a morsel of food in over 70 days. He is on a hunger strike and his intentions have been clear from the beginning — freedom or death.

When Bahrain erupted in protests last spring — the Arab Spring — Abdulhadi al-Khawaja emerged as a central figure in the peoples’ (in particular the Shi’a minority’s) struggle for democracy. This is not a surprise to people who are familiar with his more than 20 years of human rights advocacy. But after suffering greatly at the hands of authorities and being convicted on bogus security charges by a military tribunal, the advocate has become a victim of Bahrain’s abuse and a symbol of its intolerance. …more