Reuters/Geneva
Bahrain yesterday accused Shia Iran of fomenting deadly violence in the kingdom, and a Tehran official accused the Sunni-ruled island state of torturing and imprisoning its critics.
The clash at the UN Human Rights Council came after three policemen were killed on Monday by a bomb at a protest in Daih, west of the capital Manama, during a procession of mourners for a Shia Muslim who died in custody last week.
“This is terrorism. Premeditated. Pure and simple,” Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa told the Geneva forum, adding that 11 were injured in the incident.
Bahrain blacklisted three anti-government groups as terrorist organisations on Tuesday. The attack has raised fears of more violence in the Sunni-ruled kingdom, where opposition groups led by majority Shias have staged protests for three years demanding political reform and an end to perceived discrimination.
The shadowy Saraya Al Ashtar organisation has claimed responsibility for the attack in a message on social media.
Iran denies having links to Bahrain’s opposition but does champion its cause. “The violence we see in Bahrain is directly supported by elements of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Khalifa said.
“Governments have repeatedly assessed Iran’s active involvement in: indirect training of violent actors in Bahrain through proxy groups based outside Bahrain; emergence of insurgent groups directly linked to the Al Quds Force, a special unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard; arrests across the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) of individuals being directed by Iranian operatives; and seizures of large amounts of deadly weaponry,” he said.
Khalifa called on Iran to “respect the principles of non-intervention, peaceful coexistence and good neighbourliness enshrined in the UN Charter”.
Bahrain had always sought friendship with the Islamic Republic and continues to act in good faith, he said. “But we will not tolerate any foreign actor to compromise our security and stability.”
Morteza Sarmadi, Iran’s vice-minister of foreign affairs, said Bahrain was suppressing freedoms of peaceful assembly and of expression, detaining political and human rights activists and torturing prisoners.
“It is unfortunate that the Bahraini government is misusing this august body to make unfounded allegations against others, rather than providing necessary information on the improvement of the situation of human rights in his country,” he said.
Children injured while planting bomb
Two children, aged 10 and 11, were wounded while planting a roadside bomb in a Shia village in Bahrain where a blast killed three policemen this week, police said yesterday.
“A group of terrorists exploited these children by asking them to plant a home-made bomb” in Daih, state news agency BNA quoted a police official as saying.
He said one child was “seriously” wounded when the device exploded.
Police photos showed one child’s fingers mangled by the blast and both boys’ faces and bodies peppered with shrapnel.
Police said they have launched an investigation aimed at identifying those who incited the pair to plant the device.
Monday’s explosion in Daih that killed three policemen was the bloodiest attack on security forces since the Shia majority backed an uprising in February 2011 against the ruling al-Khalifa family.
An officer from the United Arab Emirates was among the dead, making him the first officer from another Gulf state to be killed since forces from the region entered Bahrain in March 2011 to boost security personnel who later quelled the month-long uprising.
Public Security Chief Major General Tariq al-Hassan said in a statement that four more suspects in the “terrorist blast” have been detained, raising to 29 the number of arrests linked to Monday’s attack.
