Bahrainis are upset with John Legend — here’s why

26 Feb 15 | Bahrain, Middle East and North Africa, mobile, News and features

By Thatcher Hullerman Cook (https://www.flickr.com/photos/poptech/5107260975) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

By Thatcher Hullerman Cook (https://www.flickr.com/photos/poptech/5107260975) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Grammy and Oscar-award winning American singer John Legend is set to perform in Bahrain on Monday 2 March, according to the organisers of Bahraini festival Spring Of Culture 2015.

“While sitting at his gleaming grand piano, accompanied by the subtle brilliance of four string instrumentalists and a guitarist, the 35-year-old crooner captivates his audience at the simply wonderfull (sic) intimate venue,” reads the promotional blurb on the festival’s website. And it looks to have been a popular booking, as tickets reportedly sold out in hours.

But many are unhappy with the concert going ahead, due to Bahrain’s poor human rights record. The Gulf monarchy has seen significant protests since 2011 calling for democracy and human rights, which have been cracked down on by authorities. “The government continued to stifle and punish dissent and to curtail freedoms of expression, association and assembly,” Amnesty International said of Bahrain in their recently released annual report.

Among those speaking out against the show, was prominent human rights defender Maryam Alkhawaja. Her father and sister are currently imprisoned in Bahrain on charges related to their campaigning work.

Nabeel Rajab, another famous human rights campaigner, also reached out to Legend on Twitter. Rajab was in January sentenced over a tweet where he allegedly “denigrated government institutions”. He was today again summoned by Bahraini police, and fears he can be arrested “at any time“.

Many expressed disappointment that Legend, who on numerous occasions in recent times has spoken out on racism and injustice in his native US, would perform in Bahrain given the country’s current political situation.

Marc Lynch also expanded on his thoughts in an open letter to Legend:

You have emerged as a voice of conscience in today’s America. In your writing, performances and speeches you have proven yourself to be a principled champion of equality who is unafraid to speak out for what is right. Last year, you wrote that “As I watched the final version of Selma, I did so with the backdrop of the streets of many of our major cities filled with protesters, crying out for justice after yet another unarmed black person’s life was taken by the police with impunity.”Bahraini lives have been taken by the police with impunity as well, and Bahraini lives do matter. I hope that you will think deeply about the implications of performing in a country like today’s Bahrain, where the violence of an unaccountable police against peaceful protestors mirrors everything against which you have spoken out at home.

While some called for a cancellation of the show, others urged Legend to use his platform to speak out about human right abuses in Bahrain, as he has done in the US.

But not everybody agreed with the criticism.

This isn’t the first controversial celebrity visit to Bahrain. In 2012, reality star Kim Kardashian visited the country to launch a Millions of Milkshakes store. As Index’s Sara Yasin wrote at the time: “Bahrain is no stranger to using flashy events to attempt to whitewash its tarnished international reputation.”

Update 2 March 2015, 16:28pm

John Legend has responded to the criticism, saying that “the solution to every human rights concern is not always to boycott” and that he hopes “to meet the many people who are peacefully struggling for freedom, justice and accountability, regardless of what country they live in”. Full statement below, via The Independent:

Some have recently suggested that, due to documented human rights abuses by the government of Bahrain, I should cancel my upcoming concert there.  After consulting with human rights experts, I decided to keep my commitment to perform for the people of Bahrain, many of whom I am proud to call my fans, during their annual festival. I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about human rights, civil rights and other issues of justice, both in the United States and abroad. The solution to every human rights concern is not always to boycott.  Most of the time I will choose to engage with the people of the country rather than ignore or abandon my commitments to perform for them. Often, the best way to drive progress is to show up and participate in the conversation. As we move this work forward, I hope to meet the many people who are peacefully struggling for freedom, justice and accountability, regardless of what country they live in, and tell them directly that I stand with them. Part of my mission in life is to spread love and joy to people all over the world.  I intend to do just that in Bahrain, regardless of my disagreements with some of their governments’ policies and actions.

Additional reporting by Danielle Quijada.

This article was posted on 26 February 2015 at indexoncensorship.org

Bahrain: Nabeel Rajab summoned by police and fears new arrest

26 Feb 15 | Bahrain, Middle East and North Africa, mobile, News and features

Nabeel Rajab during a protest in London in September (Photo: Milana Knezevic)

Nabeel Rajab during a protest in London in September (Photo: Milana Knezevic)

Nabeel Rajab, one of Bahrain’s most prominent human rights activists, says he has again been summoned by the police. He believes he will be handed down a new charge and that he could be arrested at any time.

“Just to inform you that I was summoned today morning to attend the police station at the same time – and I came to know that the new charge against me will incitement of hatred against the regime,” Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and a member of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East Advisory Board, said in an email to supporters this morning.

He said he is not planning to go to the station until after the weekend as he was informed so late, but added it is “very possible” that “they will come to arrest me at any time from home”.

“I do not know how many years I will be kept in jail this time but I am confident that people like you will always be beside me and my family,” he wrote.

Rajab has continuously been targeted by Bahraini authorities over his human rights campaigning work. On 20 January, he was sentenced to six months, suspended pending a fine, on charges stemming from a single tweet in which both the ministry of interior and the ministry of defence allege that he “denigrated government institutions”. Rajab was granted bail while he appealed the verdict in his case. Rajab was released last May after spending two years in prison on charges including writing offensive tweets and taking part in illegal protests.

An earlier version of this article stated that Rajab is the director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights. He no longer holds this post. 

This article was posted on 26 February 2015 at indexoncensorship.org

Ali Abdulemam: I have not lost my identity. I am Bahraini.

11 Feb 15 | Bahrain, mobile, News and features

Ali Abdulemam spoke at the Oslo Freedom Forum in 2013 (Photo: Oslo Freedom Forum)

Ali Abdulemam spoke at the Oslo Freedom Forum in 2013 (Photo: Oslo Freedom Forum)

Ali Abdulemam is a Bahraini blogger and founder of Bahrain Online, a pro-democracy news website and forum. He is also a member of research and advocacy group Bahrain Watch and a human rights defender with Bahrain Center for Human Rights. In August 2010, Abdulemam was arrested by Bahraini authorities, accused of “spreading false information” and imprisoned. He was released in February 2011 and subsequently went into hiding following anti-government protests and a crackdown by the government on protesters. Convicted in absentia for plotting to overthrow the government, Abdulemam was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In 2013, Abdulemam was granted political asylum in the UK.

Last week, Bahrain revoked Abdulemam’s citizenship along with another 71 Bahraini citizens, many of whom are journalists or bloggers. This is in contravention of Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “Everyone has the right to a nationality. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.”

This is Abdulemam’s reflection on losing his citizenship.

When I first registered on Facebook back in 2005, I wrote in my biography “Lost Identity”. It wasn’t an expectation of what is going to happen to me 10 years on, so much as expressing my thoughts regarding “identity”, and how it works in everything around me, how it affects me, affects my way of thinking, the way I look into other people, the way I define things, this century we can call it the “Identity Era”.

I first heard the news about the stripping of my nationality while I was talking with a friend on the phone. A popup message in Whatsapp appeared, saying: “Urgent. 72 citizenships revoked.” I told him “I think my citizenship has been revoked” and he laughed at me. Hearing him laughing I opened the link to see the names and scrolled down to No. 49 and there was my name “ Ali Hasan Abdulla Abdulemam”. I confirmed it to him. I said: “I think yours is also there” and scrolled down to No. 70. It made him stop laughing when I told him: “Your name is there as well”.

The first thing I did it was to tweet: “When I woke up this morning I was Bahraini, and when I wake up tomorrow I will be Bahraini”. I am sticking with my identity. I don’t want to leave it. Now, I have my own definition of the “identity” that I love and the main part of this identity is not “lost” it is “BAHRAINI”. It is not for the government to give it or take it away, it is not for them to take me from my roots, I will not accept to be unrecognised by the world. I will keep telling myself, my kids, and my friends that I am from the country that created the “Lulu” revolution (the uprising of 2011 named after the Pearl or Lulu Roundabout that was the site of demonstrations against the government).

“What does it mean to be Bahraini?” is a question with different answers depending on the time you want the answer. I got to know the real meaning of this question when I first left jail at the end of February 2011 at three in the morning and went directly to Lulu square where the protesters were freely sleeping in peace. I felt the dignity and smelled my real “identity” which I almost lost inside prison, when they tortured and threatened me. I felt they were targeting my identity not targeting me personally: those officers who imprisoned and tortured me didn’t know me, hadn’t met me before, they had a problem with me being different from them, they wanted me to be like them.

Now I am stateless, I don’t know how I will be able to visit my aged mother, my brothers, sisters and my friends. There are so many places I love in Bahrain that I can’t imagine I will die before I visit them again: that beach I use to play in it when I was kid, that unpainted wall with graffiti that says “the parliament is the solution” from the 1990s. I still want to take a selfie with it. I miss going to Spalion cafe where my friends are still gathering to share stories and chat about culture, politics, religion etc. and again to ask Abbas the waitress for “one bastard tea”. The most important place I want to visit, and spend as much time as I can is the cemetery where my father has rested in peace for the past six years. I haven’t been there for almost five years; my father is the first person who taught me what is meant to be Bahraini.

There is a proverb my father used to tell me when I was a child: “Those who disown their roots, don’t have any”, and that’s what I want to tell my nine year old son. I will point his finger to that beautiful, tiny island in the gulf and tell him “Your father came from here, and here where we belong”. I refuse to recognise this decree by the king, I will keep writing I am Bahraini in any application form. I will not accept to be “Lost Identity” again, I have an identity and I am proud of it.

This article was originally posted on 11 February 2015 at indexoncensorship.org

Bahrain revokes citizenship of 72 critical voices

03 Feb 15 | About Index, Bahrain, Campaigns, mobile, Statements

On 31 January 2015, Bahrain’s Ministry of the Interior revoked the citizenship of 72 individuals, including journalists, bloggers, and political and human rights activists, rendering many of them stateless – its latest attempt to crack down on those critical of the government.

“Bahrain is using citizenship, the most basic of human rights, as a weapon to intimidate and silence critical voices,” said Index CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “This latest violation of international human rights standards comes amid continuing attempts to suppress free expression in the country.”

The Ministry of Interior published a statement claiming that “each citizen of Bahrain has the responsibility to act in ways that do not harm the interests of the Kingdom.” Alongside spying, financing terrorism, participation in terrorist actions, the statement lists: “defaming the image of the regime, inciting against the regime and spreading false news to hinder the rules of the constitution;” “defaming brotherly countries” and “inciting and advocating regime change through illegal means” as justification for their decision.

Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy for the Bahrain Institute for Human Rights and Democracy, and who is among those who had their citizenship revoked, said: “Bahrain has forcefully stifled, through both force and national law, any form of free expression through their vicious crackdown against free thinking. They have now turned to wiping out the only identity held by individuals exercising their rights to call for human rights and democratic reform; their virtue of being a Bahraini. The nature of belonging to a country since ones existence has now become another tool used by the government to strangle its critics with impunity.”

Ali Abdulemam is a human rights and online activist who also had his citizenship revoked. He said: “revoking the citizenship in Bahrain is used as a tool of punishment and instills fear. It sends a message to other activists and freedom fighters to stop their activities or they will face the same situation.”

Index on Censorship joins Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) in condemning the continued use of citizenship revocation by the Government of Bahrain as a reprisal against human rights activists, journalists and pro-democracy campaigners, and calls on international governments to ensure Bahrain meets its human rights obligations.