In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
BAHRAIN: A Shameful Human Rights Record By Yasin T. al-Jibouri INTRODUCTION I wrote this essay when I was living in Falls Church, Virginia, and circulated it on October 13, 1993 after it had already been published in Islamic Monitor magazine of IRIC, Islamic Research and Information Center, which maintained an office at the prestigious National Press Building near the White House in Washington, D.C. Since its inception and till its closure, I was an active contributor to this fine magazine. This is one of a number of articles which I wrote for it one of which could not be published due to being too lengthy although it may have been the most important of all those articles: It was my rebuttal to Samuel Huntington’s “Clash of Civilization?” article published in the summer of 1993 in Foreign Affairs magazine. Huntington created a huge storm with his article which I and many other Muslims in the U.S. and abroad regarded as one of the most fierce deliberate attacks on Islam and Muslims. LOCATION AND BRIEF HISTORY Situated in a bay area on the southern coast of the Gulf between the northeastern Saudi coast of al-Ahsa (or al-Hasa) to the west and the Qatar peninsula to the east, Bahrain is comprised of a major island, al-Bahrain, and 30 small islands. Its total area is about 256 square miles, and its population is estimated at less than a million. It gained “independence” from the British in 1971 and became a member of the United Nations. The British, however, seem to be the real rulers in Bahrain, maintaining a total control over the country’s security, economy, and foreign policy, and keeping a British army stationed in Bahrain always ready for action. It was the first Arab country where oil was discovered as early as 1932, but oil experts’ reports predict that in the year 2003, Bahrain will run out of oil. The capital city of Bahrain is Manama in the northeast of the main Bahrain island, and its ruler Isa bin Sulman Al Khalifah resides at ar-Rifa al-Gharbi, about six miles south of Manama. He rules the country on hereditary basis assisted by his brother the Prime Minister. It was only in 1973 that Bahrain had a written constitution which it suspended in 1975, including all articles related to the National Council.