From Secret Relations with Tehran to Bribing the British

During the last week, Bahrain was in the news again. Apart from news related to people's protests and arrests and suppression of the opposition, Bahrain's foreign policy got into trouble over two issues. The first one was the disclosure of the demand of the King of Bahrain from Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's Foreign Minister, to mediate and help to solve the domestic crisis in this country. The second issue was the publication of the report of Britain's House of Commons with regard to the Arab Spring and criticism of the British government for the dual approach with regard to people's protests in Bahrain and the reference to the role of Saudi Arabia in suppressing the people of Bahrain. This report has demanded an investigation into relations between the British government and the two kingdoms of the Persian Gulf region. 

The issue of asking for help from Iran was revealed when Iran's Charge d'Affaires in Bahrain met with Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim, the influential religious leader of the Bahraini Shiites, following Salehi's meeting with the King of Bahrain. This meeting was accompanied by criticism from the media and Bahrain's Minister of Justice, and the office of the Ayatollah had to explain that, based on the statement made by the Iranian Charge d'Affaires, this meeting took place due to the request of the government of Bahrain which had demanded Iran's help to solve its problems with the people. These clarifications made by the Ayatollah angered the government of Bahrain. Naturally, they did not want this request for help by the head of their country from Iran's Foreign Minister to be revealed. This request by the King of Bahrain could anger Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the official in charge of Iran's embassy in Bahrain was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and Bahrain's Deputy Foreign Minister told the media that, in this meeting, the request for help from Iran or any other country had been denied. Later, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister reiterated such a request.

Perhaps the Bahrainis feel they have the right to complain that revealing the request of the King of their country from Iran was against diplomatic norms, and if there was any hope for Iranian mediation, this hope has been lost following the disclosure of behind the scenes issues in the media. But, a careful study of this matter shows that the Bahraini side itself had prepared the ground for the disclosure of this request. Discussing the meeting between Iran's Charge d'Affaires and Sheikh Isa in Bahraini media and using it as an excuse to repeat the same accusation of dependence of the opposition leaders of Bahrain was a mistake which led to other incidents. Following these unfair accusations, it was natural that the office of Sheikh Isa had to explain that the government of Bahrain itself had asked Iran to mediate. Any informed observer of diplomatic literature can comprehend from explanations and protests of the Bahrainis that such a request was really made. But according to Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, the response to the question of why this issue was not seriously pursued is, on one hand, related to the limitations of the government of Bahrain, including Saudi influence, and on the other hand, is caused by the hypocritical behavior of the Bahrainis. The rulers of Bahrain are used to showing democratic and friendly gestures and giving promises and then not acting upon them. Among the most important examples of this type of behavior by the government of Bahrain was the formation of a fact-finding committee, comprised of 5 international judges, during the last year. In its 500 page report, this committee confirmed the use of violence and torture by security forces. It is even pointed out in this report that no evidence has been found of Iran's involvement in Bahraini events. On November 2011, when the Egyptian-American judge, Cherif Bassiouni, presented the report of his investigation to King Hamad, the king could not bear to hear the findings of the commission, which he himself had formed, about Iran's non-intervention. Thus, after recitation of the report by Judge Bassiouni for the media was finished, the King said: “Iran has damaged us through its propaganda!” Nevertheless, he promised to act upon the recommendations of the investigating committee. Today, one year has passed since this report was prepared and enforcement of this report's recommendations is still the demand of the people of Bahrain, the opposition, human rights organizations and some western countries, even allies of the government of Bahrain. And no one can claim that the government of Bahrain has acted upon these recommendations.

In September 2012, the UN Human Rights Council presented 176 recommendations to the government of Bahrain with regard to improvements in its human rights situation. Bahrain's Foreign Minister, on behalf of his country, promised to execute 154 cases of these recommendations, calling the rest in contradiction to his country's laws. But, only after a few days, the verdicts of the military courts in 2011 concerning the physicians and political activists, which were supposed to be ignored, were held up by the civil courts. The government of Bahrain does not pay any attention to the request of more than one hundred human rights defending NGOs for the freedom of these physicians and political leaders and activists. 

Recently, Bahrain returned its ambassador to Tehran and its Foreign Minister participated in Tehran's NAM Summit. These measures, alongside King Hamad's request from Salehi for mediation, smells like reconciliation. But, the government of Bahrain, which needs Iran's help in order to reach an agreement with the opposition, must accept that it is not Iran which has been damaging Bahrain during the past two years, but rather Bahrain itself, which has misrepresented its domestic crisis and accused Iran, thus, damaging Iran and its people. Attempting to present Iran as the cause of unrest in Bahrain is a failed tactic. It is obvious for the world that the main source of Bahrain’s unrests is domestic and is related to the unjust political structure and historical deprivations of the majority of this country's people from political rights. The fact that the protesters are Shiites is not a sufficient and strong enough reason for their affiliation. The era of resorting to such methods has passed and the government of Bahrain should accept that it has problems with its people. If it needs Iran's help to solve this problem, it must honestly ask, with no hypocrisy. 

Last week, the Foreign Affairs Committee of Britain's House of Commons published a report entitled British Foreign Policy and the Arab Spring. In this report, the British government is criticized for its double standards with regard to Bahrain and its unresponsiveness to human rights violations in this country and the suppression of protesters with the help of Saudi Arabia. The Bahrainis did not show a harsh reaction to this report of the House of Commons, but it was Saudi Arabia which angrily took position, stating that it was insulted in this report. Saudi Arabia even threatened to review its relations with London, if necessary. What is obvious is that the British government has good relations with the King and Prince of Bahrain. Last week, the Prince of Bahrain signed a new defense agreement with Britain in London, which was announced as concentrated on the training of military forces and intelligence and technical cooperation. In response to representatives of the House of Commons and critics of relations with the government of Bahrain, the British government said: “Bahrain is not like Syria. We have relations with the government of Bahrain and continuously remind them of the need for improvement of the situation.” However, these explanations do not convince the people of Bahrain and international public opinion and there are fundamental questions about the nature of these relations. The first and clearest question is how effective these relations and recommendations have been in improving the situation in Bahrain. Despite the fact that the number of casualties in Bahrain is less than 100, this figure is a considerable one for a small island with about half a million local population and this means that a number of people have been killed in every quarter and street. Moreover, Bahraini security forces, through the extreme use of tear gas, have made breathing very difficult for people in most days. They have also tragically wounded a large number of young Bahrainis through the use of pellet shots. Human rights organizations have protested against these repressive methods. The skepticism surrounding relations between the UK and the al-Khalifa regime is related to financial corruption. Bahrain is not a rich country and the majority of its people, particularly the Shiites, live in poverty. Unemployment and the housing crisis on this island have skyrocketed. At the same time, we witness that, in a visit to Britain, the King of Bahrain donated millions of Pounds to a British royal military academy that is responsible for the training of British officers and the children of some of the world’s royal dynasties. These donations can only be defined as bribery and they have caused much uproar in Britain.

If the British government wants, through support for the King and the Crown Prince, to show itself as a supporter of moderation against the hard-line Prime Minister who enjoys Saudi support, it needs to follow up with the implementation of its recommendations inside Bahrain. The report of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons should be a wake-up call for the British government. In other words, the continuation of ignoring the Bahraini situation and supporting al-Khalifa reveals the dual approach of this government with regard to the Arab Spring.