(MintPress) – The King of Bahrain outlawed all forms of public protest on Monday in one of the strongest moves to censor demonstrations since the start of the popular uprising last year. At least 80 protesters have been killed in the ongoing struggle to unseat Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, a Sunni monarch in a kingdom that is 70 percent Shiite. The lack of political freedoms has become so dire that some citizens have undertaken hunger strikes as a form of protest. Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a prominent Bahraini activist, went on a 110 day hunger strike earlier this year, risking his life to protest the ruling dictatorship in his country.
Bahraini Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Al-Khalifah announced the ban on all citizen protests saying that the “repeated abuse” of the rights of freedom of speech could no longer be approved. While the ruling monarchs have claimed the crackdown as a security imperative, the protests, sometimes swelling to more than 100,000 have been largely peaceful. Crackdowns on pro-democracy demonstrations have been aided by unwavering diplomatic and material support from the U.S., a key ally of the Al-Khalifa dictatorship.
Although the Obama administration has yet to respond to the decision, a strategic military alliance brokered to control the flow of Gulf Oil prevents Washington from offering frank condemnation of human rights abuses in Bahrain.
The crackdown
Interior Minister Lieutenant-General Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa commented on the government decision Monday, justifying regime actions by saying that Bahrain previously upheld citizens’ right to peacefully protest. However, a spate of violent clashes with police, the government claims, is the reason for the complete ban on political protests.
He said that rallies have led to unnecessary violence and property destruction, “abuses of free speech” that the ruling regime has used to suspend all forms of political demonstrations.
Opposition leaders were quick to denounce the decision as a pretext for silencing dissent and preventing the removal of a hegemonic dictatorship.
The pro-democracy movement in Bahrain predates the recent Arab Spring uprisings of 2011-2012. From 1994-1999, leftists, secularists and Islamists joined forces to demand democratic reform in the Gulf state. Forty protesters were killed by authorities during the protests, as the seeds of the current movement were sewn before Al-Khalifa’s ascension to the throne in 1999.
US Support
While the U.S. suspended arms sales to Bahrain briefly at the beginning of 2012, Washington later decided to resume weapons sales to a government that consistently abuses citizens’ rights.
“We have made the decision to release additional items to Bahrain mindful of the fact that there are a number of serious unresolved human rights issues that the government of Bahrain needs to address,” a statement said.
Many U.S. leaders justify strong support to the Al-Khalifa regime on the basis of containing the influence of Iran in the Gulf. The majority of Bahrain’s population, like Iran, is Shiite. While security experts have expressed fears, somewhat hysterically, the perceived threat of Iranian influence in the region is palpable for many U.S. security experts and policy makers.
Additionally, the U.S. Naval 5th Fleet is docked in Manama, the capital of Bahrain. With talk of intervention in Iran and possibly Syria, a U.S. military action in Bahrain, an allied oil producing state, remains unlikely. Unlike Syria, fostering regime change is not considered a priority for most members of Congress at this time.
While the Obama administration’s decision to resume arms sales and support the Al-Khalifa regime was welcomed by many within Congress, some elected representatives voiced their objection to the decision.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) commented on the decision in May, saying, “The government of Bahrain has yet to respect the Bahraini people’s legitimate demands, or to hold accountable its own police and military officers for arresting, torturing and killing Bahraini protesters.”
Congress defends Rajab, activists
While the Obama administration is largely complicit in the crimes of the Al-Khalifa regime, some within Congress have defended the rights of peaceful protesters, especially those who have been imprisoned for speaking out against the monarchical rule.
Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and 19 of his colleagues co-authored a letter requesting the release of Nabeel Rajab, one of the most prominent Bahraini human rights advocates. Rajab, was sentenced to three years in prison earlier this summer after a Bahraini court found him guilty of “organizing and participating in illegal protest.”
Nabeel’s incarceration is one that struck a chord with Ellison, an advocate of human rights. In August Ellison commented on the purpose of the congressional appeal in MintPress statement, saying:
“After today’s ruling nobody can say that there is freedom of expression in Bahrain. Nabeel didn’t advocate or participate in violence. Because he disagreed with the government, they threw him in jail. They threw the book at him.”
Ellison added, “This is the same guy that had been sentenced to three months for tweeting. This is just outrageous to me. The government of Bahrain must enact political and human rights reforms.”
For many Westerners, Rajab has become the face of the Bahraini opposition. As director of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Rajab has come under intense government scrutiny for his activism dating back to the early pro-democracy movement in the mid 1990s.
The abuse of power extends far beyond Rajab’s imprisonment. Many Bahrainis, including the well known hunger striker Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, have spoken out against the systematic torture, abuse and crackdown protesters face as they attempt to confront a hegemonic regime and demand democracy.