Bahraini Prince Should Not be Welcomed in UK, Petition Asserts

Published May 20th, 2012 - 08:43 GMT via SyndiGate.info

Many would say not to let the smile of Sheikh Nasser fool you

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The petition drawn up by Avaaz, the world's largest and most effective online campaigning community for change, will call on the British Prime Minster David Cameron and Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to prevent Sheikh Nasser's entry to the UK, declaring him as "persona non grata", the Ahlul Bayt News Agency reported.

Sheikh Nasser, one of six sons to King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa of Bahrain and the President of the Bahrain Olympic Committee, had publicly called for "a wall to fall on the heads" of all those who peacefully demonstrated against the Al-Khalifa regime.

He also headed a committee that arrested, imprisoned and tortured 150 sportsmen and sports officials, including a disabled athlete, with some prisoners saying they were personally beaten by Sheikh Nasser himself.

Furthermore, when Mohammed Hubail, Bahrain's national football team player, was sentenced to two years imprisonment, Sheikh Nasser tweeted, "If it was up to me, I'd give them all life."

Meanwhile, the All Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Bahrain has urged British Foreign Secretary William Hague to withdraw an invitation to the King of Bahrain to attend the UK Queen's diamond jubilee event because it lends "respectability to a tyrannical regime."

Earlier this month, supporters of the Bahraini uprising rallied at British premier's office in London condemning the Queen's invitation of the Bahraini dictator for the diamond jubilee celebrations.

The Al-Khalifa regime holds at least hundreds of anti-regime figures including three leading Bahraini human rights activists in custody, while international human right bodies are banned from visiting the country.

The regime has also killed at least 50 activists in the crackdown on protests since February 2011.

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February 2011, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty's over-40-year rule.

Violence against the defenseless people escalated after a Saudi-led conglomerate of police, security and military forces from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar - were dispatched to the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom on March 13, 2011, to help Manama crack down on peaceful protestors.

So far, tens of people have been killed, hundreds have gone missing and thousands of others have been injured.

©2012 Fars News Agency. All rights reserved

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