Middle East Focus: End of Alleged Reform in My Gulf? What Reform?..............

Arabia Deserta

End of Alleged Reform in My Gulf? What Reform?..............

“The three women in head scarves and black abayas surged into the main atrium of the Seef Mall at 11 p.m. the other night, unfurling a banner outside the Next clothing boutique that read, “It is forbidden to arbitrarily arrest and detain people.” A picture was taken, and in less than a minute they had dispersed. As they tried to leave, more than a dozen plainclothes and uniformed police officers surrounded one of them, Fakhria al-Singace, pinning her spread-eagled on a cafe table. “You have no right to arrest me!” she shouted. “Shut your mouth!” a female officer said as she tried to handcuff Ms. Singace, pulling off her cloaklike abaya in the process. Officers shooed shoppers away and questioned a journalist. The arrest at one of Bahrain’s busiest late-night spots occurred in the second week of a sweeping crackdown in this island kingdom in the Persian Gulf, a strategic American ally that is home to the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet and that appears to be reconsidering its decade-long flirtation with reform. Contentious parliamentary elections, in which the Sunni governing family could lose some power to the restive Shiite majority, are scheduled for Oct. 23…….. Initially, the arrests seemed to single out high-profile Shiite political and human rights leaders, but by Thursday the number of detainees had swelled to 159, and appeared to include many young men not known as activists......... ” New York Times

There is no immediate fear from the election in Bahrain. The opposition (both Shi'a an Sunni) feels that the ruling family and their supporting elite will make sure the Shi’a majority (about 70% of the population) will not get a majority in the elected half of the legislature (the other half is appointed by the ruling family). They claim that is what they did last time and succeeded.
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mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmal.com