Bahraini regime lies about releasing prisoners: Former MP
Press TV has conducted an interview with Jalal Fairooz, a former Bahraini lawmaker in London, to discuss the Al Khalifa regime and its ongoing crackdown on human rights activists in Bahrain.
The following is an approximate transcription of the interview.
Press TV: What do you make of this cracking down of the Bahraini regime on anyone who exposes the human rights abuses that are happening; be it in prison, on the streets of Bahrain, anywhere else?
Fairooz: There are two faces of it. The first one is that because of the axis of the Saudi-American coalition against Yemen now, and another coalition which is supposed to be against ISIS, the Saudis and the pro-American governments, they think they are stronger now and they are pushing for more of their policies, this includes Bahrain as well. And also the other face is that the situation in the region will be changing soon after the American-Iranian resolution of the nuclear file and that scares the government of Bahrain.
That is why they are just trying to accelerate the rate of pressurizing the opposition figures so that the opposition will come to a ground of accepting the terms of the government. That is why we have seen lots of pressure on the scholars and also on the figures of the opposition these days.
Press TV: The Bahraini crown prince is now in the US for that Camp David Summit with President Barack Obama. Do you think the question of Bahrain and its revolution will come up?
Fairooz: It has to, because just the day before yesterday, 45 members of the Congress signed a letter and issued it to Obama requesting that he brings the matter of Nabeel Rajab and the other arrested opposition figures on the table. And also Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International, they have all been calling for this and it is there that the government of Bahrain tried to give a message to the world that it is releasing prisoners and there was some hope that this will happen, but it came out that it was just a lie and they are just seeking for whitewashing their faces against what is going on.
And now that they are in Camp David, they feel that the Americans will only want their money, the [Persian] Gulf to buy weapon so they are putting even some terms in their meetings. It is not that they are going to release prisoners.
AHK/HSN
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