There is an interview with Rodney Shakespeare, chairman of the Committee against torture in Bahrain in London, who says Bahrain's "national dialogue" is futile because it fails to meet the minimum requirements for a genuine negotiation.
Following is a transcription of his interview.
Q: Why did [Bahrain's main opposition group] al-Wefaq left the Tuesday session of the so-called national dialogue on Tuesday? Certainly the government realizes or should realize that this is a lost opportunity, isn't it?
Shakespeare: The so-called national dialogue is a travesty in which all the parts are being played by loathsome liars, autocrats and torturers. They did not call in to talk with those who have been killed because you cannot talk to those who have been killed. You cannot talk those you have tortured and the pivotal leaders are in prison at this very moment. So why anybody thought there could be a dialogue, I don't know.
The first day of the dialogue was actually spent discussing how they could increase the impression so that they will have more torturing, more killing and more imprisonment. All these are acts beyond belief; the reason for the dialogue of course was to convince the Americans that something is being done because the Americans are getting in a very difficult position, they are beginning to realize they are hated, they are hated because they support totalitarian torturers and war criminals throughout the Middle East, so there is the situation, a travesty, its purpose is completely futile; I am very pleased to see the al-Wefaq has withdrawn from operations.
If there wants to be any dialogue, the first thing should be releasing all the prisoners; the second thing should be to kick out all the existing members in the dialogue and have a few members of the government and all the opposition and the government immediately promise that there will be free and fair elections and they will pay compensation to everybody who has been tortured and to the families of everybody who has been killed. Those are the minimum requirements before there can be any progress in this matter.
Q: You mentioned that the purpose of this dialogue is futile. Looking at this from the government's point of view, what is their game plan by starting this "national dialogue"? Certainly they must have thought it might work in their favor.
Shakespeare: I see no reason to see it from the government's point of view. This government is perverse, it is completely totalitarian and it does not understand that its populace and citizens have rights. In the mental mindset of the killer khalifas, the people of Bahrain are not human; they are only allowed to exist as serfs or slaves of the ruling family so I am not going to look at this from the point of view of the killer khalifas.
I look at this from the point of view of democrats and I look forward to the day when the brave determined democrats of Bahrain win as one day they will win and they may yet win because the Americans are realizing that everybody knows now that the Americans are supporting the killers and the totalitarians and the war criminals and it is not in the interest of the US to do that and it is not even in the interest of Israel to behave as it is in this situation.
It is time that the US State Department turns around and completely change its policy it is not in the interest of the USA to support these torturers and these killers. So I am sorry I will not look at this from the point of view of the killer khalifas. I know what their point of view is.
source : http://abna.ir
