An atmosphere of growing fears rises in the small nation of Bahrain. The past days have been filled with strict rulings alienating the nation’s efforts at freedom of speech, violating international Human Rights laws, and setting a harsh tone in Bahrain’s monarchal governance. Among the current turmoil, Human Rights lawyer Tairmoor Karimi has faced such harsh sentencing from his homeland and is now facing imminent deportation and exile.
In 2012, Mister Karimi was awakened by his children to learn from televised news that his citizenship has been revoked. This event came as a result of his participation in the 2011 protest at Pearl Roundabout, making him 1 out of 31 people losing their citizenship due to “harm to state security” and for “riots and incitement to hate the ruling system”. The removal of their Bahraini citizenry does not stop there. According to Amnesty International’s reliable sources, around 268 Bahrainis were stripped of their nationality since 2011, and within those numbers, 208 were done in the year 2015 alone. It seems the Bahrain government is attempting to not only silence voices in its nation but is planning on removing them permanently.
These people and their families are left stuck in their homes, without jobs, access to bank accounts, and the incapacity to travel due to their lack of citizenry. Karimi is in such a situation and is considered an illegal immigrant in his own nation, accused of “violations of asylum and immigration law” during his court proceedings to appeal the decision. Karimi pushed for an appeal and Monday the 23rd of May 2016 his proceedings were rejected by the court and he is now stateless. Karimi is at a high risk now of facing expulsion from his country.
Amnesty International calls these citizenship strippings a breach of Human Rights laws and warns Bahrain of the repercussions this could have in the wake of rising levels of unrest and protests in the nation:
“His expulsion would send a clear signal that Bahrain blatantly disregards international law and is stepping up its chokehold on freedom of expression.”
Amnesty’s warning is one of many and despite international pressures and efforts, such acts continue to occur. The best example is of the just recent re-sentencing of Ali Salman, opposition leader and head of the Al-Wefaq Islamic Society, who was initially sentenced to 4 years in jail and is now facing 9 years of jail time after an appeal was made. Again, the charges made revolve around speaking out against the current regime: “crimes of promoting change in the political system by force.” Only two years ago, in 2014, did the UN Human High Commissioner for Human Rights speak out against the imprisonment of Salman, warning just as Amnesty has, about the repercussions of such sentencing. Protests have broken out in the past due to the government’s actions in the sentencing of its citizens, and more are to come amid a growing regime of fear, censorship and blatant human rights violations.
