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Article

7 Apr 2017

Author:
Sophie Baggott, openDemocracy

Formula 1 will land in Bahrain next week. Do we forget the country’s human rights abuses?

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In past years the Grand Prix has taken place alongside violent repression, even deaths, in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Human rights campaigners fear what the 2017 race might trigger...The night before the 2012 event a father of five, Salah Abbas, was killed by police after having been tortured and shot. The Bahrain Grand Prix went on. Just before last year’s event a 17-year-old boy, Ali Abdulghani, was reportedly hit twice by a police vehicle and, as the 2016 race came to a close, he died from injuries suffered during the arrest. The violence happened in a village only three miles from Bahrain International Circuit. 

Sayed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), warns that... "Arbitrary arrests always increase when the race is held, and many of those arrested are then tortured and unfairly prosecuted. “Formula 1 should not forget their responsibility to ensure the safety of the people of the host country. If Formula 1 cannot do that, then the Grand Prix should not go to Bahrain,” Alwadaei added.

[A] Bahrain government spokesperson said the country had implemented "a range of institutional and legal reforms over recent years, in close collaboration with international governments and independent experts.” The spokesperson continued: “As a result of these efforts, Bahrain now has a number of internationally recognised safeguards in place to ensure human rights abuses do not occur."

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