Letter from Chairman of The Amal Society, Sheikh Mohammed Ali AlMahfood to President Barack Obama, USA

The folowing letters have been authenticated to be from The Chairman of The Amal Society, Sheikh Mohammed Ali AlMahfoodh written to President of the United States of America, Barack Obama. Received here, April 20, 2011. They were written nearly a month ago. Sheikh Mohammed Ali AlMahfoodh has not been seen since. He is thought to be in hiding from the Murderous Regime of Bahrain’s King, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

LETTERS TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Dear Mr. President,

I am writing to you a letter representing the conscience and heart of Bahrain. I am writing to you from the country of paradise that has turned into a big city drowned in the blood and wounds of the innocent people.

To begin with, I would like to tell you that your presence as the first African-American in the country that established racism was the source of our inspiration in this movement. What we did, is we embraced and adopted the slogan of “change”, just the same as you did to run your campaign. The difference lies in the fact that you adopted this slogan and motto of “change” in the strongest country in the world; the strongest system that has been going through continuous and constant change and development to cope with the advance of time for more than 200 years; and you succeeded Mr. President in your campaign, and with your success you created hope in all the hearts of every American that he/she can become the President of the United States one day regardless to age, sex, race, profession, ethnicity, and so on. When compared to our call for change, we did this facing a regime that has been in throne for also more than 200 years, but as you can see there is no sense of any comparison between the system and development of the US and Bahrain.

For 200 years this regime has been chasing Bahraini people by violence, genocide, torture and all the means to practice discrimination against us.

Dear Mr. President,

I would like to raise rhetoric in this context; are you with or against change and development? Do you support democracy or dictatorship? I am raising these questions because all Bahraini people supported you and prayed that you succeed to become the President of the United States. I, personally, always mentioned you as a model of the new United States spirit; I always highlighted the fact that your success to become the President serve as a torch that should lead all the world for more democracy, freedom, and equality, and the human rights movements in general. However, I would like to express on the behalf of Bahrain that we were all shocked and we feel betrayed by the current shy reluctant decisions and support of democracy in Bahrain. We feel that you threw us as a helpless prey in the hands of brutality, violence, hatred and sectarian genocide.

What is happening right now in Bahrain is an organized sectarian cleansing against the majority of Bahrain. It reminds us of the crimes of Sarajevo and Rwanda, and the US is giving them legitimacy. Hundreds are sacked from their careers, and I should point out in this context that the sacked people are professional doctors, educators, PhD holders, and among many others of the elite professionals and businessmen. Even athletes and lawyers are among these victims. Even children are thrown out of school because they took part in a protest. Definitely, the US is responsible for these crimes since you consider these as part of “restoring law and order” as Secretary Clinton said. Of course, this is both negative and positive. It is positive because the US considers Bahrain a strategic ally and we all know the fifth fleet is located in this island; and hence you can do some positive work to forward democracy. The proof is when it came to the “dissolve of the two parties: Wefaq and Amal” – of which I serve as Chairman – within hours Bahrain retreated from their initial decree and statements.

However, this role is negative since the US is directly responsible ofwhat is happening; as a matter of fact, the US is a partner in all theviolence and torture with militia and troops, and even torture in thejails and prisons. Your silence means that you are supporting thesesectarian-based attacks, violence, and massacres.

Dear Mr. President,

The troops have gone far beyond all this. They are destroying mosques and places of worships. This is done intentionally, and there are threats to even destroy houses. At the same time, hundreds of detainees are tortured in the dark cells, and their families do not have any information about them. The whole state is under a violent siege, horror and torture.

I would like to assure you the regime’s retreat from dissolving the Shiite parties is a big lie. I am the Chairman of Amal Islamic Society, and the society is registered under the official law. However, I have been forced to be away because I am threatened and chased for more than a month. The regime’s security has attacked my house more than two times to arrest me. They also attacked my daughter’s house and they arrested her husband who has nothing to do with politics. They scared his two children who cannot sleep at night because they are always scared of a new attack of these people. They also attacked my niece’s
house and my sister’s house and detained their husbands. They arrested the manager of my office. My family is scattered and we do not know about each other since more than a month. My daughter and her husband were sacked from their jobs among many others, and my and many children are scared of going to school because they might be detained as well. Many members of Amal society are under custody now. We are all targeted and chased by security. All this shows you that the retreat is a big bubble.

Dear Mr. Obama,

I am full of confidence that you do support peace and democracy. I am full of confidence that you do not want to be a witness or a partner in a new Sarajevo in the Gulf region. I would like to call for your immediate action and measures in order to stop the terror and sectarian genocide and sectarian violence that is happening on all levels. I would highly urge you and encourage your brave conscience to take action now before it is too late if you have such an intention as soon as possible, because every day we have a new case of death either under custody or through the daily violence and nightly house attacks.

Finally, I would like to thank you for your time and I am full of hope that the New Spirirt of the United States will do something to support peace and democracy and stop bloodshed and violence in Bahrain.

Sincerely,

Chairman of Amal Society

*Sheikh Mohammed Ali AlMahfoodh*