British military base in Bahrain against human rights

This 2017 video is called Report: UK & US turn a blind eye to Bahrain’s human rights abuses.

A video called British base in Bahrain is “slap in the face for everyone fighting for human rights” used to be on YouTube.

It used to say says about itself:

8 December 2014

Activists are protesting in Bahrain. The reason: the country’s plans to host a permanent British military base. They say it’s a reward for London, which ignores human rights violation in Bahrain. The protesters carried banners “Shut up Iain Lindsay” – it’s British ambassador to the country who they want to be sacked. The UK military is expanding in the region after most of its projects were scrapped in the 70’s. The base costs more than 23 million dollars and will be used to fight ISIS and as a training ground for Syrian rebels. Dominic Kavakeb from Bahrain’s Justice and Development Movement is In the NOW.

From RT.com:

Bahrain’s price for hosting UK naval base is ‘blood of our children’ – Rajab to RT

Published time: December 09, 2014 05:53

The opening of a large UK naval base in Bahrain is a reward to London for not speaking out against the royal family’s abuses against dissenters, human rights activist Nabeel Rajab told RT. Hundreds of Bahrainis protested the announcement.

The Royal Navy will return to the former British protectorate after a 40-year absence, UK Foreign Minister Philip Hammond announced in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, on Saturday. The naval base will be the navy’s largest center of operations outside Britain.

Police used tear gas after hundreds of people took to streets in Sitra, a town near the base, to protest in the wake on the announcement. Protesters said the move was a form of payback for support of the repressive regime, which crushed the pro-democracy uprising in 2011, arresting and allegedly torturing scores of activists.

“Maybe Britain was the only country that openly supported the dictatorship in Bahrain and clearly opposing our struggle for democracy and human rights,” Rajab told RT. “Taking into consideration that the silence of the UK, Bahrain paying that [as] an award to them and for that reason Bahraini people are upset as the information [is] coming out.”

The British authorities say they plan to use the base facility in operations against the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), which occupies large territories of Iraq and Syria. However, local activists do not want to see the British Navy in Bahrain.

The Bahrain regime has various links, in its sectarian ideology and in various of its torturing police officers now fighting for ISIS, to ISIS and Al Qaeda. So, rather dubious allies in a so-called ‘war on terrorism’.

“We don’t think that it will help very much the security because they could deal with ISIS from wherever they are,” Rajab said. “We’re a small nation, we’re a peaceful nation. We would like to maintain our peaceful relations with all our neighbors everywhere.”

“And finally we will have to pay the price of their presence here. And unfortunately I would say this comes in the blood of our children. We don’t welcome this base.”

Earlier, the results of elections held in November caused clashes of demonstrators and security forces. The activists attempted to block the streets in protest against parliamentary elections which they see as a farce and a sham. The police had to use tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

Bahrain has been criticized by international organizations for human rights abuses, however, as the home of the US Fifth Fleet, it has faced little criticism from Western governments.

“Bahrain’s human rights record regressed further in key areas in 2013 and the government made little real progress regarding reforms it claimed to pursue. Security forces continued to arrest scores of individuals arbitrarily in towns where anti-government protests regularly take place,” the Human Rights Watch website says.

Human Rights Activists Condemn New UK Military Base in Bahrain: here.

Bahrain: Zainab Al-Khawaja sentenced to additional 16 months. Index reiterates its call for the British government to hold Bahrain to account for its blatant and persistent human rights abuses. It is clear that Bahrain is flouting its stated commitments to human rights, including freedom of expression, and it is incumbent on Bahrain’s allies to halt this alarming erosion in freedom. By Index on Censorship / 9 December, 2014: here.

Bahrain court sentences pro-democracy activist Zainab al-Khawaja to 16 months in jail: here.

British Bahrain base legitimises tyrants: here.

Joan McAlpine: Cameron has imperial delusions of Bahrain military base, flies in the face of peace: here.

Britain returns to the Gulf: here.

British naval base in Bahrain ‘not deep enough’ for aircraft carriers being built in Fife: here.

Bahraini court sentences teenage boy to 130 years in prison after opposing king: here.