26/04/2011
NEWS STORY
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A group of activists in Bahrain have used Facebook in order to send an open letter to Bernie Ecclestone, in which they ask the F1 supremo not to put their country's round of the 2011 world championship calendar.
Having had the original running of the event cancelled by Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa in late February, the FIA issued a 1 May deadline at which point a final decision on whether an alternative date could be scheduled.
However, just days before the deadline, unrest in the country continues. Consequently, a group of 'activists', calling themselves the 'Youth of the 14 February Revolution', have used the social networking site Facebook to send an open letter to Ecclestone, asking him not to reinstate the country's Grand Prix until "basic human rights are restored and the repression is over".
They write:
"We are addressing to you this open letter publicly regarding the organization of Bahrain Grand Prix, and we, citizen of Bahrain, and human rights supporters of the world, are asking you to consider the challenges to organize what should be a happy sporting event in the middle of a country under siege and martial law, surrounded by tanks and military forces, while the population is being reduce to silence, killed, tortured, etc...
"Not mentioning the difficult climatic conditions, and the fact that organizing a motor sport festival in the middle of a despotic crackdown on the population, wouldn't be well understood and accepted worldwide.
"Also, in support of the population of Bahrain, we're asking you reconsider hosting Grand Prix of Bahrain until basic human rights and freedom are restored, and, if you wish, to issue a letter stating that the Grand Prix cannot, and will not, be organized in Bahrain until basic human rights and freedom are restored, and the repression is over.
"With your permission, we will display this letter of support on Facebook and other networks to show the solidarity of the Formula 1 sporting industry with the democratic and freedom aspirations of the Bahraini people!
"We thank you very much for your support and wish to see the Grand Prix in Bahrain soon, in a free and democratic atmosphere to which you would have contributed."
Meanwhile, on the same day that it was announced that the Crown Prince will not attend this week's royal wedding in London, our man in Bahrain writes:
"M. Todt has to make a fairly simple moral call this week, does he, as head of the FIA and its standard bearer, support the detention and torture of doctors and nurses who treat the injured. There has been acceleration in the arrests and detentions of doctors and nurses this week, either snatched from hospitals, their homes or in one case while operating on a patient. Accurate reports put this number at over 40.
"Physicians for Human Rights this week reported details of attacks on physicians, medical staff and patients with "weapons, beatings and tear gas". "These attacks violate the principle of medical neutrality and are grave breaches of international law," it says. The New York Times cited reports from Bahrain as saying that "doctors are disappearing as part of a systematic attack on medical staff. Many physicians are missing following interrogations by unknown security forces at Salmaniya Medical Complex"
"I can hear the call already, says our source, 'The FIA is not a political organization, but the sports governing body'. However is it correct for the FIA, a sport's body to promote an event in a country where 150 sportsmen remain detained untried, their locations unknown? This includes four from the national football teams two of which were forced to apologize on TV for their peaceful protest and were then thrown in jail.
"While it was refreshing to see Mark Webber speak out about his discomfort at the situation in Bahrain and urge restraint; Red Bull probably should pack a third driver, as Mark learns intensive Arabic assisted by the local police.. Sportsmen are detained in Bahrain for much less.
"A 'Yes' vote may mean a few beans in the bank, but the FIA will have turned their backs on the 150 Sportsmen, detained, imprisoned not charged, completely failed to support doctors and nurses detained and imprisoned for doing their jobs, where another 600 people remain, well no one is really sure.
"F1 can come to Bahrain but the villagers and opposition leaders rather harshly and unfairly see the decision by Ecclestone to waive the race fee, as freeing up cash which went straight into buying weapons to be used against their families, there are scores to be settled and the villagers now rather worryingly see themselves as martyrs.
Expats have joined the ranks of the enemy; the claim is that Europeans have offered no protection. At a makeshift Shiite road block last night the volunteer guards said to me, 'Drones to Libya but you supply weapons to the Kalifa's to attack us'. He had a point.
"I am beginning to wonder at what point do the press start to call it ethnic cleansing, maybe if the free press were allowed here, the outside world would get a clear picture of daily life."