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Coming up next on BBC News it's HARDtalk. Zeinab Badawi speaks to | :00:07. | :00:17. | |
:00:17. | :00:20. | ||
Parliament in Bahrain, Jalal Fairooz. | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
Have the authorities in Bahrain learned any lessons from their | :00:23. | :00:25. | |
suppression last year's anti- government protests which sparked | :00:25. | :00:27. | |
widespread condemnation or are they still clamping down on the | :00:27. | :00:30. | |
opposition? A few weeks ago the government banned all rallies and | :00:30. | :00:32. | |
gatherings saying they were associated with violence and | :00:32. | :00:37. | |
rioting. They also revoked the Bahraini nationality of 31 | :00:37. | :00:45. | |
individuals, allegedly for threatening national security. My | :00:45. | :00:50. | |
guest today on HARDtalk is one of main opposition Shia political | :00:50. | :01:00. | |
:01:00. | :01:17. | ||
group Al-Wefaq. Jalal Fairooz, welcome to HARDtalk. | :01:17. | :01:23. | |
Thank you. You have been stripped of your Bahraini nationality, what | :01:23. | :01:29. | |
do you think the authorities have on you? They failed to say. I have | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
neverhave never been called to go to the | :01:34. | :01:39. | |
police. I have been a prominent figure of Bahrain, I served Bahrain | :01:39. | :01:47. | |
for so many for so many have been the deputy chair of the major | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
committees in the parliament, I have been at an international | :01:51. | :01:59. | |
representative of Bahrain, I was elected as vice-chair of human | :01:59. | :02:07. | |
rights and democracy by the IPU. I have never had any problem. Because | :02:07. | :02:12. | |
of my outsp of my outspman rights in Bahrain, they were not | :02:12. | :02:19. | |
happy about that. Fahad al-Binali told the BBC after your nationality | :02:19. | :02:26. | |
was revoked that they had done this as a matter of national security, | :02:26. | :02:33. | |
he said the decision was not taken lightly. They have done things for | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
no reason. There have been some people accused of jeopardising | :02:38. | :02:48. | |
:02:48. | :02:49. | ||
national security. If they want to do it, they need to go to court. As | :02:49. | :02:56. | |
the 1963 law says, it has to be proven that I have done anything. | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
The Human Rights Declaration, article 15, it is very clear that | :03:01. | :03:07. | |
you cannot make anyone status. were teaching business and were an | :03:07. | :03:13. | |
instructor in the USA when you got this news? Yes. They should have at | :03:13. | :03:20. | |
least called me in. I have only received threats over the telephone | :03:20. | :03:28. | |
talking to the international media. You can I do that. Fahad al-Binali | :03:28. | :03:38. | |
:03:38. | :03:39. | ||
the decision. This is a joke. One of the 30 is a lawyer, he tried to | :03:39. | :03:46. | |
appeal. Are you going to appeal? spoke to a lawyer, they say, let's | :03:46. | :03:55. | |
try. Another person tried, you cannot even issue a letter of | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
delegation to that lawyer. There is no way you can do the appeal. What | :04:01. | :04:05. | |
do you appealed to? There is no independent judiciary system in | :04:05. | :04:13. | |
Bahrain. What are you going to do? You are stateless, your three | :04:13. | :04:20. | |
children between 16-21, they might have their nationality revoked, you | :04:20. | :04:25. | |
are seeking asylum in the UK? the only country around the world | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
where they revoke nationalities. You do not understand why they | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
would do that. If they have anything against me they can take | :04:34. | :04:40. | |
me to court. Let me try and defend myself. They have not done that. I | :04:40. | :04:47. | |
do not know what to do. Had he sought asylum in the UK? Yes, I did. | :04:47. | :04:56. | |
But actually, I like my country. My parents, and sisters are Bahraini. | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
I have never been in any country for several weeks. How does this | :05:01. | :05:11. | |
:05:11. | :05:12. | ||
make you feel? I am proud of Bahrain, I'm proud of my country. I | :05:12. | :05:18. | |
did work for the progressive three forces in Bahrain. The problem is | :05:18. | :05:25. | |
that there is no actual reform. The dictatorship is predominant. People | :05:25. | :05:32. | |
are seen in Bahrain, the government is saying, they have to be quite | :05:32. | :05:39. | |
tough on dissidents because of the spate of bombings in November, we | :05:39. | :05:49. | |
:05:49. | :05:54. | ||
also had a anti-government protests that end violence in November. -- | :05:54. | :06:04. | |
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than 14 months there has not been any violence at all. Is that really | :06:06. | :06:13. | |
the case? There was a village in Akar, outside Manama, anti- | :06:13. | :06:21. | |
government protests. One policeman died as a result of a bomb. There | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
have been other examples of violence in villages outside the | :06:25. | :06:31. | |
capital. That particular case, the government said there was a bombing. | :06:31. | :06:41. | |
:06:41. | :06:42. | ||
The UK, the US, they can dent that. After 24 hours there was a | :06:42. | :06:52. | |
:06:52. | :06:52. | ||
statement, we are sorry, it was not a bomb. -- condemned. There have | :06:52. | :07:02. | |
:07:02. | :07:02. | ||
been other clashes, Molotov cocktails used against the police. | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
Actually, in the parliament just three months ago, since the | :07:07. | :07:16. | |
beginning of the uprising, just after that first week, until that | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
time, we are talking about 15 months, there had not been a single | :07:21. | :07:27. | |
police casualty. Whatever is being called bombing is just like booby- | :07:27. | :07:35. | |
traps. Two migrant workers were killed. That was on 5th November. | :07:35. | :07:41. | |
Of course. The government is not necessarily over-reacting. ily over-reacting. | :07:41. | :07:51. | |
something that any government would look upon as serious. Al-Wefaq | :07:51. | :08:00. | |
lot of ambiguity around it. Some intelligence sources in the West | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
have said we do not believe the people are behind it. That has not | :08:04. | :08:14. | |
:08:14. | :08:17. | ||
been corroborated. The rallies were not be tolerated because people's | :08:18. | :08:23. | |
lives are being threatened. The government has the responsibility | :08:23. | :08:33. | |
:08:33. | :08:37. | ||
to bring in peace. The opposition parties, until the prohibition of | :08:37. | :08:44. | |
the demonstrations, every week, one or two demonstrations. There was no | :08:44. | :08:54. | |
:08:54. | :08:58. | ||
violence. What they are calling violence, you attack the wives and | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
the mothers. Teenagers, what do you expect from them? We have been | :09:03. | :09:09. | |
trying to stop the people from going to violence. There is a | :09:09. | :09:19. | |
:09:19. | :09:20. | ||
document which was signed As the Foreign Secretary, William | :09:20. | :09:29. | |
Hague, said, it was very good that you did that. He said he urges | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
other opposition to do that. But put it to you that the February | :09:34. | :09:40. | |
14th Movement, made up of youths, are resorting to violence. Do you | :09:40. | :09:50. | |
:09:50. | :09:51. | ||
perpetrating acts of violence. You littlee a | :09:51. | :10:00. | |
little bit impatient. That is a that in Northern Ireland. People | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
are so frustrated because they do not see a light at the end of the | :10:04. | :10:14. | |
:10:14. | :10:15. | ||
single Molotov cocktail that has been thrown out, the person who | :10:15. | :10:22. | |
threw it, h threw it, hail. What happened to the violence, you can | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
see it on YouTube. Molotov cocktails a cocktails athrown on | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
people by police. All the violence is being perpetrated by the police. | :10:33. | :10:39. | |
How many police are behind bars because of violations of human | :10:39. | :10:47. | |
authorities say that after the protests started last year, we set | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
up an independent commission of inquiry, we are learning the | :10:51. | :10:59. | |
lessons from that repression. Some people say 35 people died, others | :10:59. | :11:09. | |
:11:09. | :11:11. | ||
say 80. You mean things will not recur. The problem is, twice as | :11:11. | :11:19. | |
many people have been killed by the violence. That happened after | :11:19. | :11:29. | |
:11:29. | :11:29. | ||
Bassiouni. Yes, he chaired the commission. 17 of them married | :11:29. | :11:39. | |
:11:39. | :11:41. | ||
teenagers. 23 of them are about 60 years-old. They have been killed | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
arbitrarily by police. Since the government introduced the | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
recommendations of the independent commission? That is not what the | :11:50. | :11:55. | |
government spokesman is saying. He says there is 122 cases under | :11:55. | :11:59. | |
investigation to deal with complaints. 12 cases have been | :11:59. | :12:09. | |
:12:09. | :12:12. | ||
referred to court. The BICI Has recorded hundreds of cases of | :12:12. | :12:20. | |
torture. There are around 70 types of violations. The government say | :12:20. | :12:27. | |
they accept 122 cases. They have referred to referred to Out | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
of these, how many of these have been put to trial? We cannot look | :12:31. | :12:37. | |
at individual cases. The point I'm making to you, it is not just the | :12:37. | :12:47. | |
:12:47. | :12:49. | ||
Bahraini authorities saying they have brought in these reforms. | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
Legal and law-enforcement systems have been overhauled so you do not | :12:53. | :12:57. | |
have military tribunals anymore. It is not just them saying we have | :12:57. | :13:03. | |
done this, the bridge government is saying that of the 176 | :13:03. | :13:10. | |
recommendations 143 have been taken up. -- British Government. It does | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
not say that they have applied them. In the House of Lords the minister | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
said that the Bahraini authorities are trying to make progress on | :13:19. | :13:25. | |
these matters and we are supporting them in doing that. The problem is, | :13:25. | :13:32. | |
they need to stop torture. Up until today there is torture. Just two | :13:32. | :13:42. | |
:13:42. | :13:45. | ||
weeks ago they said reforms, torture is going on daily, | :13:45. | :13:50. | |
repression continues. Yesterday one person died. The repression is | :13:50. | :13:58. | |
continuing. We have not had a Amnesty International. I can say | :13:59. | :14:08. | |
that an independent analyst like Michael Stevens who says security | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
reforms have been comprehensive. Hillary Clinton said it is easy to | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
see the glass as half empty, I see it as half full. Do you give the | :14:17. | :14:27. | |
:14:27. | :14:28. | ||
They have not refrained from violating human rights. They have | :14:28. | :14:38. | |
:14:38. | :14:42. | ||
demolished over 40 mosques. Five have been rebuilt. To backwoods ago, | :14:42. | :14:49. | |
-- two weeks ago he could see them. They are not stopping the killing | :14:49. | :14:59. | |
:14:59. | :15:05. | ||
of Human Rights said Derry's -- said there is no serious are | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
playing of the recommendations. You're making serious allegations. | :15:10. | :15:19. | |
:15:20. | :15:22. | ||
They say they are trying to make would have lasted, but I am | :15:22. | :15:25. | |
bewildered by the level of criticism by a nation that has a | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
knowledge mistakes and has plans in place to put things right. Give | :15:29. | :15:37. | |
them a chance. We want to see them stopping the way a measure of human | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
rights. They have revoked nationalities. There has been the | :15:42. | :15:49. | |
demolition of mosques. They have killed people and raided houses. I | :15:49. | :15:59. | |
:15:59. | :15:59. | ||
am a saying that, I am referring to Human Rights Watch. It is all being | :15:59. | :16:06. | |
so that they ran no serious measures. They write what is its | :16:06. | :16:13. | |
recommendations -- and there are 26 recommendations. Only are three of | :16:13. | :16:21. | |
them have been... As his us what the British government has said. | :16:21. | :16:31. | |
:16:31. | :16:34. | ||
This is the Geneva Convention. fact of the matter is that the Shia | :16:34. | :16:38. | |
populations, the discontent among the population goes back many years. | :16:38. | :16:44. | |
Your party was set up in 2001. What is it that you want? Was changed | :16:44. | :16:54. | |
:16:54. | :16:56. | ||
you want? We are seeing what the American government has been saying. | :16:56. | :17:02. | |
We need to integrate what the people. The divorce a single shares | :17:02. | :17:12. | |
:17:12. | :17:13. | ||
in the army. In the police force you will see a relief 2% Shia. In | :17:13. | :17:15. | |
the cavernous Darrell Lea a few. Today they have been new | :17:15. | :17:25. | |
:17:25. | :17:29. | ||
been a few appointments. You just quoted the US deputy of state. | :17:29. | :17:35. | |
President Obama said last year that the patriotism that binds the | :17:35. | :17:39. | |
country together must be more powerful than the six areas and | :17:39. | :17:49. | |
:17:49. | :17:52. | ||
that tears them apart. -- the sectarianism. What is it you want? | :17:52. | :18:00. | |
We want dignity, human-rights. We are grateful for the constitution. | :18:00. | :18:07. | |
We want to stop corruption. want the King to have no power. At | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
the moment he has the power to appoint the upper chamber in | :18:11. | :18:15. | |
Parliament and nominates the Cabinet ministers. In a third are | :18:15. | :18:23. | |
wary this year -- in February this year he said we have made political | :18:23. | :18:28. | |
dismiss the government. All ministerial appointments Bahrain | :18:28. | :18:33. | |
approved by Parliament. The lower house of parliament is totally | :18:33. | :18:42. | |
elected. You were a member of this Parliament. Given credits. You are | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
saying that the lower house is being elected. It is dominated by | :18:47. | :18:56. | |
the upper house which has been appointed by pro-government groups. | :18:56. | :19:06. | |
:19:06. | :19:13. | ||
You were elected. Al-Wefaq have 62.5 % of the vote. We have run the | :19:13. | :19:23. | |
:19:23. | :19:27. | ||
reason misusing of districts. I was voted for. Other districts are a | :19:27. | :19:33. | |
quarter of this size and population of mind. In 2010 you had an | :19:33. | :19:43. | |
election. Y election. Yw saying that actually you have your finger on | :19:43. | :19:51. | |
the pulse of the vast majority of the populat the populats not really | :19:51. | :20:01. | |
:20:01. | :20:08. | ||
the shears. -- Shia. It is just the opposition vote. They are all | :20:08. | :20:18. | |
:20:18. | :20:23. | ||
together. Your mother is Iranian. The spokesperson on the government, | :20:23. | :20:30. | |
her mother her mother n. One-third of the population of Bahrain is | :20:30. | :20:40. | |
:20:40. | :20:41. | ||
originally from Iran. Who has done the hatred? The government | :20:41. | :20:49. | |
institutions. Every day they are promoting hatred. You have the | :20:49. | :20:59. | |
:20:59. | :21:00. | ||
prince of the Sony, I met Prince of the Kingdom of Bahrain. He is | :21:00. | :21:10. | |
:21:10. | :21:13. | ||
reaching out to everybody. Wade and Sue engage in a dialogue? -- Why | :21:13. | :21:19. | |
don't you. If you look at the Minister of Information, she says | :21:19. | :21:26. | |
the party is seen as a Trojan horse for Iranian interests. It is not | :21:26. | :21:34. | |
says She says the group is sectarian him | :21:34. | :21:42. | |
nature and fulfils the aspirations of Iran. That is a nasty claim we | :21:42. | :21:49. | |
will have to take her to court about it. She is a seat to shake | :21:49. | :21:59. | |
:21:59. | :22:02. | ||
A lot of prominent opposition members are in jail. The government | :22:02. | :22:12. | |
:22:12. | :22:13. | ||
has made al has made altarian hatred. In Bahrain, 7% of the higher ranks | :22:13. | :22:23. | |
:22:23. | :22:24. | ||
in the Government's arts sheer force of -- are Shia. One anonymous | :22:24. | :22:34. | |
:22:34. | :22:42. | ||
certain that the dynasty will fall. Is he right? Probably. This | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
government is not looking at the best interests of the people. They | :22:47. | :22:56. | |
need to come to way common ground. We once a legitimate dialogue. | :22:56. | :23:01. | |
want to be citizens, not prevented from joining certain sectors of | :23:01. | :23:11. | |
:23:11. | :23:12. | ||
society? The race bad discrimination. -- and there is bad | :23:12. | :23:20. | |
discrimination. We want to see people altogether. There has to be | :23:20. | :23:30. | |
:23:30. | :23:31. | ||
accountability. People have all the right. We h right. We hd. | :23:31. | :23:41. | |
:23:41. | :23:43. | ||
The government says they do not refer | :23:43. | :23:53. | |
:23:53. | :23:54. | ||
refer to the State Department. Look have the equally for a legitimate | :23:54. | :24:03. |