Analyst:

Al Khalifah feels threatened by Nabeel Rajab’s remarks

Rasa - The United Nations has called on the Bahraini regime to “immediately and unconditionally” release the country’s prominent human rights activist, Nabeel Rajab, after Manama grilled the imprisoned activist over criticizing the government and the Wahhabi ideology.

News ID: 426045

Date: 25 December 2016 - 23:19

RNA - Catherine Shakdam, director of Shafaqna Institute for Middle Eastern Studies in London, believes the Bahraini regime feels threatened by Nabeel Rajab’s comments, adding that it seeks to silence him in an attempt to suppress the opposition movement in the country.

“The problem with Nabeel Rajab is that he has spoken the truth about the crimes that the regime has perpetrated against its own people and he is not afraid to tell the truth however ugly it is and this is something that Al Khalifah regime is trying to basically silence and he has systematically come out and spoken on behalf of his people, on behalf of the oppressed and trying to promote democracy, civil rights and human rights,” the analyst told Press TV in an interview on Sunday.

She also stated that Manama is trying to push the Bahrainis toward violence because then it would have a justification to be more “brutal” and “bloody.”

Shakdam further noted that Bahrain is a tyranny, which is being manipulated by Saudi Arabia, and that it is trying to continue to play into a sectarian narrative.

However, she opined, at some level, the Al Khalifah regime will understand that by cracking down on its people, it will lose its throne.

She noted that Saudi Arabia wants to manage the situation in Bahrain through violence, because Riyadh knows that if it loses Bahrain, monarchies in the Persian Gulf would be threatened as a whole.

847/940