Double Strandards Against Change in Bahrain – Interview with Maryam Alkhawaja

Double Standards Against Change in Bahrain: Interview with Maryam al-Khawaja
by Marc Botenga – Monthly Review Press

Protests against the Formula One Grand Prix held in Manama on 22 April could have reminded the world that repression in Bahrain is still ongoing. But once more the so-called international community by and large turned a blind eye: no diplomatic pressure, certainly no “crippling” international sanctions. The Grand Prix went ahead as planned. A firebomb thrown by Bahraini protesters, however, caused US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland to ask for “demonstrators’ restraint in ensuring that they are peaceful.” The contrast with Syria, where Western politicians systematically downplay violence by the Syrian opposition, and some even talk of offering military support to the Free Syrian Army, could hardly be larger.

Maryam al-Khawaja has consistently raised her voice against these double standards. At twenty-four years of age, she heads the foreign relations office of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). She has testified on human rights violations in Bahrain before the UN, the US Congress, and the European Parliament. Her sister Zainab has been arrested over and over by the Bahraini regime, once reportedly just for trying to see her father. Maryam’s father, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, is an illegally-detained human rights activist who has been on hunger strike for over two months now.

Marc Botenga: You are responsible for international affairs at the BCHR. How did you get involved in activism?

Maryam Al-Khawaja: In 2010, I started volunteering and writing reports for the BCHR. We would go and document human rights violations, people being arrested and tortured and so on. We would then send these reports abroad to different NGOs, the United Nations, and several governments. This was what the regime feared most: someone documenting their violations. I was threatened. It became impossible for me to find a job inside the country just because of my name. So I started working full-time with the Center. I was in Bahrain in February 2011 when it all started. After I left to testify to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2011, I was unable to return.

It is no surprise that the Bahraini government is not fond of you, but you also received threats from inside the United States. Why is that?

I am not sure, but the Bahraini government has a lot of friends in a lot of places. They have around 12 public relations companies working for them, but, despite all the money they are spending, we have still been able to bring out what is happening inside the country.

Your father started a hunger strike on 8 February. What does he hope to achieve?

Most importantly, he wants to bring international attention to the situation in Bahrain and to how human rights abuses are still happening on a daily basis. The government of Bahrain has been making a lot of empty promises about reform and change, but on the ground nothing has changed. …more