Panel Event – Citizenship in Bahrain, Rights or Privilege? The policy of citizenship revocation in the country
On November 12, 2020, Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) hosted an online streamed event on the revocation of citizenship in Bahrain. This event, entitled “Citizenship in Bahrain, Rights or Privilege? The policy of citizenship revocation in the country” focused on how the revocation of citizenship is used as a weapon by the Government of Bahrain to silence dissent and opposition. The event had four panelists in total: Abdulghani Khanjar, Zahra Albarazi, Mouna Ben Garga, and Courtney Radsch; and Husain Abdulla, the executive director of ADHRB, moderated the event.
Husain Abdulla began the discussion by telling his personal story about when he learned that he had lost his citizenship due to his human rights activity, and dissent and opposition to the Al-Khalifa regime in Bahrain. Luckily he was already a naturalized US citizen, so he did not become stateless, but not everyone who has had their citizenship revoked is so lucky.
Read the full article here.
Bahrain’s “Sports Whitewashing” in Europe
The terms “Sports Whitewashing” or “Sports Washing” are used to qualify a technique whereby states with poor human rights records cover their negative international reputations by associating themselves with diverse sport events or competitions of international importance. The boxing match between Andy Ruiz and Anthony Joshua for the World Heavyweight Championship which took place in Saudi Arabia last year, the 2019 Europa League final in Azerbaijan or even the next Football World Cup which will take place in Qatar in 2022 are good “sports whitewashing” examples. Moreover, “Sports-Washing” also corresponds to the fact that rich heads of states (Princes, Presidents or Emirs) enter the capital or even purchase sports teams or clubs in order to benefit from their extremely positive image all around the world. It’s what happened, for instance, when the French football team PSG and Qatar signed a deal in 2011 or when, a few years later when the Bahraini royal family created the cycling team “Bahrain-Merida” (today Bahrain-McLaren).
The Al-Khalifa family turned sports-whitewashing into its favorite tactic in order to deflect the general public attention from the systematic human rights violations in Bahrain. In 2002, the King of Bahrain offered a consequent amount of money in order to obtain that a Formula 1 Grand Prix would take place annually in Bahrain from the International Automobile Federation. The first Bahrain Grand Prix took place in 2004. Eleven years later, the Bahraini royal family wanted to repeat this successful practice by creating one of the world’s best triathlon teams. The Bahraini authorities even decided to name this team “Bahrain Endurance 13.” This name is reminiscent of a group of 13 high profile activists, human rights defenders and members of the opposition arrested in 2011 and condemned to long-term prison sentences because of their implication in the pro-democracy movement. These high-profile political prisoners are called by many NGOs the “Bahrain 13.” The team was named “Bahrain Endurance 13” in order to diminish the importance of these activists by covering the name Bahrain 13 behind the triathlon team, offering a much more positive advertising to the country and its government.
Read the full article here.
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