{"id":9031,"date":"2012-04-20T18:43:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-21T01:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=9031"},"modified":"2012-04-20T18:43:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-21T01:43:00","slug":"bahrain-f1-cuts-deeper-than-insult-its-an-assault-on-human-decency-and-is-contemptuous-to-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=9031","title":{"rendered":"Bahrain F1 cuts deeper than insult, its an assault on human decency and is contemptuous to freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"

CNN: Bahrain\u2019s Formula1 is an insult to country\u2019s democratic reformers<\/strong>
\nBy Maran Turner – Special to CNN – 20 April, 2012<\/p>\n

(CNN) – \u201cUnified: One nation in celebration\u201d is the jubilant slogan of this year\u2019s Formula 1 Grand Prix in Bahrain. The irony could not be harsher: while sports fans look forward to this glamorous race, one of the country\u2019s most prominent human rights activists is close to death in protest of his ongoing unlawful detention.<\/p>\n

Solidarity protests in the streets continue to be brutally suppressed. From the perspective of a majority of Bahrain\u2019s population, it is not one nation. And it is certainly not celebrating.<\/p>\n

One day after the race, on April 23, the Bahrain government will announce a decision that may determine the island kingdom\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n

This decision is whether to release Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a well-known and internationally respected human rights activist in Bahrain. While the watchful international community is hoping for release, it is entirely possible that the decision may only be a call for a new trial. Mr. al-Khawaja is unlikely to survive long enough to participate in a sham trial.<\/p>\n

Since February 8, while most of us have enjoyed more than 200 meals including breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day, Mr. al-Khawaja has had zero. Not a morsel of food in over 70 days. He is on a hunger strike and his intentions have been clear from the beginning \u2014 freedom or death.<\/p>\n

When Bahrain erupted in protests last spring \u2014 the Arab Spring \u2014 Abdulhadi al-Khawaja emerged as a central figure in the peoples\u2019 (in particular the Shi\u2019a minority\u2019s) struggle for democracy. This is not a surprise to people who are familiar with his more than 20 years of human rights advocacy. But after suffering greatly at the hands of authorities and being convicted on bogus security charges by a military tribunal, the advocate has become a victim of Bahrain\u2019s abuse and a symbol of its intolerance. …more<\/a><\/p>\n

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CNN: Bahrain\u2019s Formula1 is an insult to country\u2019s democratic reformers By Maran Turner – Special to CNN – 20 April, 2012 (CNN) – \u201cUnified: One nation in celebration\u201d is the jubilant slogan of this year\u2019s Formula 1 Grand Prix in Bahrain. The irony could not be harsher: while sports fans look forward to this glamorous 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":[2883],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9031"}],"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=9031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9032,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9031\/revisions\/9032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}