THIRD PARTY EVENT Bahrain: The abandoned revolution
THIRD PARTY EVENT organised by Dr Ala’a Shehabi, Bahrain Watch.
On February 14 2011 just days after Mubarak fell in Egypt, the Bahraini people began a popular uprising that has been unabated. Nabeel Rajab, the most prominent human rights activist has just been sentenced to 3 years imprisonment, whilst 13 other activists have been sentenced to life imprisonment.
We will be asking why do we hear very little about events in Bahrain in the media? What strategies has the Bahraini regime adopted to win the media battle, as well as the daily battles on the street? We will also be presenting the findings of a research project on the PR companies employed by the regime.
As well as discussing the PR war, the panel of experts will discuss the prospects of accountability for torture and related abuses inside and outside of Bahrain.Officials accused of torture are frequent visitors to the UK, most recently the King’s son, Nasser Bin Hamad was a VIP guest at the Olympics. What kind of legal action can be taken in the UK, given Britain’s supportive foreign policy to the Bahraini regime?
A film report highlighting the plight of detained athletes will also be shown.
Chaired by Brian Whitaker, journalist for The Guardian since 1987 and its Middle East editor from 2000-2007. He is currently an editor on the paper’s “Comment Is Free” section. He runs, Al-Bab.com, about politics in the Arab world and is author of What’s Really Wrong with the Middle East.
With:
Mohammad Al Tajir, a human rights lawyer who was detained last year for his outspoken criticism of Bahrain’s judiciary and defending several detained activists.
Marc Owen Jones, a doctoral candidate at Durham University and member of advocacy group Bahrain Watch. His research focus is on how social media functions as a tool of surveillance and social control in Bahrain. He also writes a blog that documents, among other things, the role PR companies play in marginalising dissent and whitewashing human rights violations.
Carla Ferstman, the Director of REDRESS, an international human rights organisation that assists torture survivors to seek justice.
Adam Hundt, a human rights solicitor and partner in Deighton Pierce Glynn who specialises in cases against the UK government, in particular for migrants and refugees. More recently he successfully represented a client who had been tortured abroad with the knowledge and complicity of the British security services.
