Joan Smith's article on Bahraini politics ("Bridging the Gulf: Bahrain's big experiment with democracy", 12 September) is as dismaying as it is deceptive. Framing the analysis in terms of a process of political liberalisation under challenge from political Islam diverts attention from the ruling al-Khalifa family's policy of divide-and-rule. Far from being a successful "modernising experiment", the last elections in 2006 were marred by allegations of vote-rigging on a massive scale, and recent weeks have seen a repressive crackdown on human rights activists and political opponents ahead of the next round of elections on 23 October.
Activists returning from a human rights seminar at the House of Lords organised by Baroness Falkner in August were arrested on arrival at Manama airport and held in solitary confinement and tortured; one detainee alleged he was hung from his wrists while being beaten. The state-controlled media has begun a campaign of misinformation to persuade popular opinion that these activists were orchestrating a plot to overthrow the government. The detainees include a British national, Jaffar al-Hasabi.
It is disingenuous and disappointing to see an article containing statements such as "political exiles have been allowed to return home" appear in a newspaper renowned for its campaigning stance for human rights and its opposition to illiberal and authoritarian regimes.
Dr Kristian Ulrichsen, Centre for Global Governance, London School of Economics, London WC2
09-25-2010, 12:30 AM
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