Bahrain Mirror: Bahraini opposition figure Ali Al-Aswad said that claiming that "there are Shiite officers in the interior and defense ministries is absurd," in his response to a statement made by the Bahraini Foreign Ministry commenting on the US report on religious freedoms, announced by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday (August 15, 2017).

In a series of tweets posted via his Twitter account, Al-Aswad pointed out that Bahrain said the US State Secretary's statements were "inappropriate and reveals a deep misunderstanding," noting that Bahrain had previously applauded "the US president's meeting in Riyadh," also stating that "Trump understands the relations between the two countries, and there will be no tensions after that."

"The Foreign Ministry claims that Tillerson's statements reveal a deep misunderstanding of the facts, although the United States has a naval fleet and the largest embassy in Bahrain," he further stated. "The Bahraini government claims that ‘all Bahrainis of different sects serve as ministers," we ask how many Shiite ministers are there in the government now?" he asked.

"Talking about MPs represents a catastrophe and a setback, as there are 40 districts, where Shiite representation amounts to 32%, which is another proof of exclusion and marginalization in Bahrain, which is also obvious. The Bahraini government's claim there are Shiites working as prosecutors and judges aims at throwing dust in the eyes., as for every 5 Sunnis, one Shiite is appointed," Al-Aswad said.

He highlighted that "the funny thing is to say that there are ‘[Shiite] officers in the Bahrain Defense Force and Interior Ministry,' since almost no Shiite citizens exist [in these corpses]. Shiites in both ministries represent less than 2%. As for arrests, citing reports including the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry report, there are more than 4,000 Shiite political prisoners of opinion, [imprisoned] over the February 14 events."

He concluded his comments by stating that "the claim that the government of Bahrain offers all social services and employment opportunities to all without any discrimination does not need but a short tour across the villages to be proven wrong," noting that the US State Department report on religious freedoms "briefly reflects a limited number of issues that citizens in Bahrain have been suffering from for decades."

Arabic Version