{"id":16389,"date":"2013-02-20T15:53:51","date_gmt":"2013-02-20T22:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=16389"},"modified":"2013-02-20T15:53:51","modified_gmt":"2013-02-20T22:53:51","slug":"freedom-13-freedom-for-all-political-prisoners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=16389","title":{"rendered":"Freedom 13, Freedom for all Political Prisoners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Bahrain must offer more than talk<\/strong><br \/>\n20 February, 2013 &#8211; Boston Globe<\/p>\n<p>TWO YEARS after protests erupted in the tiny kingdom of Bahrain, King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa has finally announced talks with the political opposition. But the people of Bahrain need more than just talk. The largest opposition party, al-Wefaq, faces popular pressure to withdraw from negotiations. Many in Bahrain have lost faith in the royal family\u2019s willingness to implement democratic reform.<\/p>\n<p>If the Sunni king \u2014 a strong US ally whose family has ruled since the 19th century \u2014 is serious about allowing Bahrain\u2019s Shi\u2019ite majority a greater voice, he needs to show it. He must pardon and release the \u201cBahrain 13,\u201d a group of opposition leaders arrested in 2011. He must end violence against nonviolent protesters. And he must hold his own government accountable for systematic torture.<\/p>\n<p>In retrospect, the king\u2019s decision to appoint a respected international commission to investigate the aftermath of the initial uprising looks more like a brilliant stalling tactic than a sign of a more just system. So far, few of that commission\u2019s recommendations have been implemented.<\/p>\n<p>Now, activists who once pushed for modest reforms are calling for the monarchy\u2019s ouster. Serious talks could provide a peaceful way out. Bahrain is home to the US Navy\u2019s Fifth Fleet, which patrols the Persian Gulf, through which much of the world\u2019s oil passes. If the monarchy is toppled, or if the crackdown takes an even bloodier turn, the Fifth Fleet could be forced to leave. Russia\u2019s disastrous attempts to prop up Bashar Assad in Syria, home of a Russian naval base, provide a cautionary tale about how badly such an alliance can backfire. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/editorial\/2013\/02\/20\/bahrain-conflict-king-hamad-bin-isa-khalifa-must-offer-more-than-talk\/Q3WZcLfpSSmICpnEM0FIKJ\/story.html?s_campaign=sm_tw\" target=\"_blank\">&#8230;source<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"igit_tsb_button\" style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.crookedbough.com%2F%3Fp%3D16389&amp;text=Freedom+13%2C+Freedom+for+all+Political+Prisoners&amp;count=horizontal&amp;via=\" style=\"\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bahrain must offer more than talk 20 February, 2013 &#8211; Boston Globe TWO YEARS after protests erupted in the tiny kingdom of Bahrain, King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa has finally announced talks with the political opposition. But the people of Bahrain need more than just talk. The largest opposition party, al-Wefaq, faces popular pressure to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=16389#more-'\" class=\"more-link\">more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[1662],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16389"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16389"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16391,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16389\/revisions\/16391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}