IHRC has called on the United Nations to apply pressure on the governments of Persian Gulf countries to cease repressing resident Shia communities under the pretext of the US/Israeli war against Iran.
The letter comes after a wave of arrests in Bahrain of scholars and ordinary citizens and the deportation of thousands of Pakistani Shia by UAE.
Manama, which has faced retaliation from Iran over its hosting of hostile US military bases, has so far arrested around 350 people, among them 41 Shi’i scholars. Almost 70 citizens have seen their citizenship revoked.
As recently as March this year, 32-year-old Sayed Mohamed Almosawi disappeared for nine days only to be found tortured to death at the hands of the Bahraini National Intelligence Agency.
Similarly, the UAE is estimated to have repatriated 5000 Pakistanis as collective punishment for Islamabad’s role as peace broker between Washington and Tehran and also because it perceives the constituency as sympathetic to Iran. Many deportees have reported having their phones seized and assets frozen, effectively being forced to return to Pakistan empty handed.
“These cases set a dangerous precedent for the treatment of political opposition and people who belong to a certain nationality or religious group,” says the letter. “If allowed to continue this will not only allow the continuation and intensification of such repression but also will inspire regimes across the world to initiate or intensify repression in their own countries with impunity.”
The full text of the letter can be read here.
[ENDS]
For more information or comment please contact the Press Office on (+44) 208 904 0222Â or (+44) 7958 522196 or email media@ihrc.org
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IHRC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
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