Riyadh threat to suspend relations with London has now created a new dilemma in the Saudi-UK bilateral ties.
According to Al-Alam News Channel, Riyadh is dissatisfied with some British MPs’ criticism of Bahraini regime’s crackdown on its people’s revolution. In fact, Saudi Arabia has been in charge of the political situation in Bahrain since mid-March, 2011, when its troops suppressed Bahraini people’s protest in Lulu (Pearl) Square.
The Saudi regime managed to stop the West from criticizing its occupation of the tiny Persian Gulf island nation.
However, some consider the Saudi regime’s adventurism in Bahrain as former Iraqi regime’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
British Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee criticized the Foreign Office’s stance towards events in Bahrain, calling for Bahrain to be included in a list of “worrying” countries. The Committee stressed that the Al Khalifa regime has both failed to implement real reforms, and implementation of the recommendations of the fact-finding committee, as well as its commitment to Human Rights.
As the grassroots movements and protests continue in Bahrain, particularly in Manama, Saudi Arabia is working on new plots to restrict information-dissemination about the revolution and the regime’s persistent suppression of the revolution.
This is while the political tension in Bahrain has penetrated other Persian Gulf littoral countries; last of which was widespread unrests in Kuwait following the dissolution of the People’s Assembly (Ummah Majlis), calls for reforms, and criticizing Kuwaiti Amir by people like Musallam al-Barrak who is a parliament member.
Kuwait recently witnessed the largest protests in its history calling for the collapse of the regime and revision of electoral laws. After those events a number of activists and former parliament members were arrested on charges of leading the protests, but they were quickly released to prevent further tensions.
The UAE also arrested more than 50 members of Muslim Brotherhood Society and disbanded Reformation Population (Al Aslah Jamiaa) under the pretext that it was the religious and political lead of that group.
Meanwhile, a British House of Lords’ member has recently criticized the Bahraini regime’s treatment of opposition, emphasizing that, Bahraini courts could not be considered as legal.
Condemning the torture of political prisoners in Bahraini jails, Lord O. Berry added that “Bahraini courts are only a tool at the hands of the ruling regime in this country”.
Noting the lifting of the state of emergency in Bahrain, he said “nothing has changed. The British Henderson was the brainchild of torture in Bahrain in the past, and now another British police officer is giving them advice”.
“I condemn this, and I am sorry that we have neglected the way Bahraini regime treats its people. Very little change has occurred in Bahrain since 1990s. But people are still imprisoned without trial; they are tortured in jails, and forced to confess under torture. “One can never consider Bahraini courts as legal”, he stated.