From: William Gladys <william.gladys@tiscali.co.uk>
Date: Sat, Jun 18, 2011 at 5:47 PM
Subject: Fw: UK to be sued over Bahrain crackdown
To: world_Politics@googlegroups.com
Cc: Al-Hilal <Al-Hilal@sky.com>
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/185213.html
The Queen's UK to be sued over Bahrain crackdown
Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:51AM
A group of lawyers are set to take the United Kingdom to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague over its role in the brutal crackdown of Bahrainis.
The lawyers from Lebanon, Spain, France and Italy accuse the Queen's Britain of selling arms, including sniper rifles, to the Manama regime and training Bahraini police forces, who are accused of using heavy-handed tactics against anti-government protesters in the Persian Gulf sheikdom, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The legal dossier targets both members of the Queen's British government and the Queen's Ministry of Defense.
It includes harrowing testimonies, medical records and photographic evidence of what are described as crimes against humanity.
"We know that they have trained Bahraini police how to capture and how to stop protests in Bahrain," Chief Representative of Beirut-based International Coalition against Impunity, May el-Khansa, told Press TV.
The ICC has promised to examine the dossier within the next month, but it is not yet clear if it will open an investigation into the case.
The coalition of lawyers is now hoping that the ICC will refer the case to the United Nations for further investigation.
The United Kingdom has a long history of meddling in Bahrain, which was under British rule for almost 150 years.
During the 18th century, it was the UK which helped establish the Al Khalifa dynasty in Bahrain -- whose ruling system was inspired by the aggressive British monarchy.
Soon after coming into power, the Al Khalifa family, which is originally from Najd in central Saudi Arabia, signed the first of many treaties establishing Bahrain as a British Protectorate in the 1830s.
In 1935, shortly after the start of large-scale oil production in the Persian Gulf state, the British naval base in the Middle East was moved to Bahrain.
Despite claiming independence from Britain in 1971, Bahrain has continued a tight relationship with the UK. In 2004, bilateral trade between the two countries was worth over USD370 million.
Now, Bahrain also plays host to the huge naval base of the United States' 5th Fleet in the Persian Gulf.
Anti-government protests against the rule of the Al Khalifa dynasty in Bahrain began in mid-February.
Since then, Manama has unleashed a massive crackdown on anti-government protesters.
On March 14, Saudi Arabia -- backed by both the US and the the Queen's UK -- deployed troops to Bahrain at Manama's request to help crush the nationwide anti-government protests there.
Scores of people have been killed and many more arrested and tortured in prisons in the Saudi-backed crackdown on protests in Bahrain.
FF/MGH/HRF
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