27/05/2011
NEWS STORY
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Ahead of the June 3 deadline, a Bahrain resident states why he believes the sport must stay away from the country.
For obvious reasons, the person in question chooses to remain anonymous fearing that having seen what has happened to others could happen to them. The person has been keeping Pitpass informed of the situation almost since Day One, updating us on the situation when all others appeared to have lost interest.
Speaking in Monaco on Friday night, Bernie Ecclestone claimed that the biggest threat to the race isn't human rights or ethics but the logistics, the Englishman seemingly confident that all is well.
"They are all nice people there and I don't think we'd have any problem," he told reporters. "It's just a case of if somebody wants to get a bit of attention, that would probably be a good way to do it. But I don't think from a safety point of view there is anything to worry about."
His words come days after government spokesman, Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Mubarak al-Khalifa, brushed aside claims that up to twenty-five percent of staff at the Sakhir circuit have been arrested, telling the Financial Times; "Allegations are exaggerated or unfounded to gain international sympathy... They should issue a complaint to the authorities."
Pitpass has no agenda here. As far as human rights are concerned there are plenty of countries that F1 should shun. Indeed, if that were the case the sport might struggle to get more than ten races on the calendar, if that.
In this particular case however, while many within the sport fear speaking out for all manner of reasons, we think it best that someone who is actually out there, someone who loves the sport, give us an update.
They write:
"The situation here remains grim, with the authorities telling everyone the situation is normal. This is easy to do if you have arrested anyone who disagrees with you and imprisoned every decent journalist or thrown them out of the country. The most recent occurring last Sunday when reporters at France 24 and Deutsche Presse Agentur were seized.
"With even Al Jazeera barred and Reuters in effect shut down, it would be wise for Williams to remove Reuters decals from its cars or face mass arrest, free speech is not permitted.
"France 24's Nazeeeha Saeed, now back in Paris, was assaulted beaten and subjected to electric shocks. She has stated she has "no comment on the shocks" or arrest pending a case against the Bahrain police officer who abused her.
"Normal for me these days is living with a Saudi Tank parked outside my house and armed soldiers at check points as I go about my daily work with helicopters flying over head and sporadic gunfire ringing out across the country.
"The power base here in Bahrain seems to have shifted rapidly with most observers believing the country is now controlled by the Prime Minister and his sons in partnership with Saudi, leaving the Crown prince impotent in dealings of State.
"The environment is suffused with fear. With new political trials starting weekly and masked militiamen arresting civilians without judicial process, the population live in a state of fright. Protests still take place daily and the opposition does not seem to be backing down, it is getting smarter, angrier and learning the tactics of the police, who are mainly hired help.
"I still struggle to see how the FIA would risk bringing you here. After all with 150 sportsmen locked up for saying less than Mark Webber and no press freedom, how is the FIA going to react when, one question from a journalist will lead to his arrest, detention and torture?
"A recent scathing report by Physicians for Human Rights, a U.S. group that shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, accused Bahrain of an "all-out assault on health care and health professionals", abductions of doctors in the middle of the night and "egregious" acts against patients and health professionals that included "torture, beating, verbal abuse, humiliation, and threats of rape and killing."
High Commissioner Navi Pillay voiced deep concern about the "dire" human rights situation. She charged that Bahrain's secret trial of protesters, which led to death sentences for four, was "illegal and absolutely unacceptable" and she spoke of reports of "severe torture" of human rights defenders currently in detention.
"I was stunned to see the Crown Prince at the Spanish Grand Prix at a time that snatch squads burst into junior schools across the country, grabbing terrified girls based on their religion, blindfold them, threaten them with rape and beat their feet and bodies and detain them until confessions have been forced out of the terrified children about their parents. We are talking eight year old girls here, not the most terrifying of alleged assassins.
"Lord Eric Avebury, a Liberal Democrat peer and expert on Bahrain stated recently 'I would like to see a ban on entry to the UK of some of the leading perpetrators of the Khalifa family and the sequestration of their assets. These are crimes against humanity which I hope will be subject to criminal proceedings and their assets used to compensate the victims, subject to court proceedings'.
"The intimidation is not restricted to pupils, with reports of as many as 30 elementary and secondary school teachers taken from their class rooms at a time and driven to police stations, where they are subjected to hours of verbal and physical abuse.
"So one last thought for Mr Ecclestone, M Todt and the various team principals, manufacturers and sponsors. Take a few moments to look at what has happened over the last few months in Bahrain. Think about the 600 missing people, the doctors, nurses and school children subjected to torture, the people who have died in police custody. Then pause and imagine the crack down on the population that will occur if you license the race.
"The powers that be have proved they will act without hesitation against innocent people based solely on their religion. In order to guarantee the security of the teams, the clamp down, arrests, detentions will increase visibly and the consequences for the majority of the population will be so severe, I for one will be leaving town for my own safety."
Readers are free to form their own opinions, however, as our source says, when Al Jazeera gets banned it's got to be bad. And what did they get banned for? Well this amongst other things.
Ironically, back in April 2003 when Ford, BMW, Fiat, Renault and DaimlerChrysler were threatening to go it alone and form their own series under the GPWC (Grand Prix World Championship) banner, Ecclestone said: "The teams now want more democracy. In my opinion it cannot work. As far as Formula One goes, I believe in dictatorship."
One only has to take the briefest glimpse at the F1 paddock, where individuality is frowned upon and few (if any) are prepared to share a personal opinion, certainly in terms of anything as heavyweight as politics or religion - and never on the record - to realise that by the time someone does find the balls to say they're not happy about going to Bahrain this year it will already be too late.
The fact is that there are a lot of people in the paddock unhappy not just with the ethical aspect of going to Bahrain, but with their own safety and that of their colleagues. As the teams talk of a breakaway yet again, perhaps it is time for a pro-democracy revolution on Planet Paddock.