Bahraini students: the struggle continues

By Yusur Al Bahrani

Students and workers in Bahrain have played a primary role in what’s known as the Pearl Revolution. They continue their fight against the Western-backed Al-Khalifa monarchy despite systematic and ongoing state repression.
More than a year ago, protesters flooded the streets of Manama and other Bahraini cities and villages in February 2011. They occupied the Pearl Roundabout, which was the Bahraini version of Tahrir Square. The government forces raided the roundabout killing, injuring and arresting peaceful protestors. The Bahraini monarchy invited troops from Western-backed Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates to aid in the crackdown on peaceful protesters. Since then, forces have attacked protesters, besieged villages and cities, raided homes in search for activists, and thrown US-made tear gas canisters on people’s homes.

Student protest
Outraged by the governments’ attack on peaceful demonstrators, students at the University of Bahrain decided to protest against the violations. They organized a peaceful protest on March 13, 2011. The university granted permission to protest, but Mohamed Al-Khaqani described this as “a trap” to launch a crackdown. Al-Khaqani was a professor at the University of Bahrain and was dismissed after the attack on peaceful students and professors.
Pro-government thugs attacked the university, vandalizing buildings and threatening students. Eyewitnesses report that the police surrounded the university, protecting and giving a legitimate cover to thugs who were holding batons, knives and swords, and thus not letting students escape the brutality of the attack. Instead of investigating the case and holding the thugs responsible for the attack, the government of Bahrain held the innocent peaceful pro-democracy students responsible for vandalizing the university and intimidating others. Many students were arrested, tortured and forced to confess to crimes they have never committed. Al-Khaqani was at the university on that specific day. He confirmed that thugs were the ones who vandalized the building. He tried to prevent them from entering the building where he was, but he could not. He defended his students from the vicious attack of the pro-government thugs. As a consequence, “homes of professors and instructors were raided,” said Al-Khaqani. Al-Khaqani was dismissed from the university, and was separated from his students who loved him.

Repression and brutality
The regime in Bahrain has attempted to silence protest but has not been successful. Massive numbers of students and workers have been struggling. “At least 4,000 people who stayed away from their jobs during the arrest or believed to have participated in the protests were sacked or suspended, including nearly 300 from the state-owned Bahrain Petroleum Company. Dozens of students were dismissed from universities, and others studying abroad had their grants suspended,” reports Amnesty International.
    Jassim Al-Hulaibi is a 19 year-old first year student at Bahrain Teachers College with outstanding academic achievements–and a goal to become a teacher and influence his students to build a better future for Bahrain. The regime decided to shatter his dreams (and some of his colleagues’). On March 27, 2011 police raided Al-Hulaibi’s home at 2 am. Numerous police cars surrounded his home. They terrorized the children and arbitrarily arrested Al-Hulaibi. They dragged him out of his home, and started verbally and physically abusing him.
Al-Hulaibi was subjected to torture. Prison guards covered his eyes, tied his hands, beat him regularly and offended his religious beliefs. He was forced to confess under torture, and charged with vandalizing a university building during the protest in the University of Bahrain on March 13, 2011 and attempting to kill some of those who were in that building. But medical reports prove that on March 13 he was recovering n hospital after being shot in the leg by regime police. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and he remains in prison until today.
So far, Al-Hulaibi has spent more than a year in prison, he was dismissed from university and his grants were suspended. In addition, Al Hulaibi’s father received an official document from the Ministry of Education demanding him to pay BD 1416 ($3766) compensating for the suspended grants.
There are many students like Al-Hulaibi (including children) facing unbelievable sentences for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. There are other students who lost their lives fighting for freedom and democracy. One of them is Ali Al-Moemin, who Al-Khaqani saluted during his lecture at the University of Bahrain. “Yes, I needed to salute my student. Ali Al-Moemin was my student. He used to sit on the front. He is my student and I love him. You killed my students and charged us for our solidarity with them. You are charging me for loving my students, and my students love towards me,” said Al-Khaqani. Al-Moemin remains a symbol of a martyr who scarified his soul for real democracy.

Protest and solidarity
The fight for freedom continues in Bahrain, despite the government’s brutality. Their demands are basic— an end to the ongoing repression, oppression, and discrimination that the majority of the Bahraini population face by the Al-Khalifa ruling family.
Imperialists have played a major role in the crackdown on pro-democracy activists, students, workers and protestors. The West’s support to the monarchies in the Gulf provided impunity for human rights violators. The only way to help students in Bahrain is to denounce the hypocrisy of the Western governments (including Canada) that sells arms to the oppressive monarchies in the Gulf.

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