Ecclestone on Bahrain democracy protestors – “just a lot of kids having a go at the police."
April 21, 2012 9:17 PM
By Issan Ghazni
By Issan Ghazni
Please read this cracking article written by Karen Leigh and published today in Deutsche Welle http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15899519_page_0,00.html.
It highlights the increasingly desperate efforts by the regime to project international legitimacy through staging the F1 Grand Prix - despite massive local opposition by democracy protestors who are facing human rights abuses and torture. All well documented by international human rights monitoring groups.
This article which is a must read, talks about the security forces escalating their oppressive tactics this week with a pre-race sweep which has led to the arrest without charge of 60 leading democracy activists. We have also heard today of an activist found dead on the street following his arrest by security forces.
The latest reports from activists show that live ammunition is now being used alongside the indiscriminate use of tear gas in residential areas.
What planet is Bernie Ecclestone living on? His comments on news channels around the world yesterday arguing that this situation is nothing to do with FI are ludicrous!
"The crackdown has become harsher because of F1, so in part we're blaming them for the injuries and arrests," Maryam al-Khawaja, head of the foreign relations office at the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, told DW. "We received reports that young boys were arrested and tortured in prison, some as young as 17. So we're definitely putting it on the shoulders of Ecclestone and F1."
Tim Farron was absolutely right when challenged about the appalling situation on Question Time this week - he said that the Grand Prix should definitely not go ahead during the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations, and that we should send a loud, clear and strong message to the regime to that effect.
Sport should be about providing the space for human endeavour, raising the spirit, embracing diversity, promoting good relations and achieving excellence - it should not be abused for political gain. However, that's exactly what Bernie Ecclestone is allowing the Crown Princes of Bahrain to do.
Issan Ghazni
Chair - Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats
Former National Diversity Adviser to the Liberal Democrats
Website : www.issanghazni.co.uk
Twitter : @issanghazni