British teachers support Bahraini freedom movement

This video is about Ms Jalila al-Salman, vice-president of the Bahrain Teachers Association.

By Rory MacKinnon in Liverpool, England:

Activist hailed for standing up to regime

Tuesday 02 April 2013

Teachers applauded a Bahraini union organiser in Liverpool today as she recounted a violent crackdown by their Tory-friendly government.

Bahrain Teachers Association vice-president Jalila al-Salman described security forces bursting into her bedroom on a dawn raid two years ago.

Ms Salman told delegates at the NUT annual conference that the union had faced “the worst campaign of defamation” since joining peaceful protests in 2011.

“We all needed people’s demands but did not act politically as fabricated in the media, we just fought for teachers’ rights,” she said.

Yet the Khalifa regime quickly moved to silence them. On March 29 the Bahraini ministry of education legally dissolved their union and police placed their entire board under arrest.

“They threw all of our things out into the street.

“We have nothing to show for our work.”

Both she and the union’s president Mahdi Abudeeb said they were tortured in prison, and Mr Abudeeb still remains in jail.

NUT general secretary Christine Blower said they were delighted to host Ms Salman and called her a role model as both a woman and a trade unionist.

Ms Salman’s visit comes just weeks after a Tory tete-a-tete with the regime.

Minister for the Middle East Alastair Burt hailed “the strong relationship between the British people and Bahraini people” after meeting Prime Minister Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa in Manama last month.

Mr Burt was followed by UK Trade & Investment’s senior military adviser Nigel Maddox, who held his own talks with the Bahraini military’s commander-in-chief.

The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights claims 88 people have died at the hands of state security forces since the protests began in February 2011.

Yet Britain’s arms sales to the region continue with £100,000-worth of military equipment in the last quarter to September alone.

Bahrain villagers protest against F1 race as memory of last year’s riots casts cloud on approaching Grand Prix: here.

Silent Witness — The U.S. Government and the Trial of Bahraini Human Rights Defender Abu Deeb: here.

As the Bahraini people continue their revolt against staging the Formula 1 race under the patronage of the Alkhalifa, the regime has intensified its crackdown against the pro-democracy activists, detaining and torturing them in revenge: here.

Related articles

• Bahrain dictatorship police attacks women with grenades (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Bahrain regime kills teenager (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• International Women’s Day in dictatorial Bahrain (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Bahrain dictatorship’s British computer spyware (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Free Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Bahrain regime tortures again (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Bahrain urged to release prisoners (bbc.co.uk)
• Bahrain dictatorship and Martin Luther King (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Mr. Baird goes to Bahrain (thestar.blogs.com)
• Free Bahraini political prisoners, petition for Obama (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)