“Dying with Dignity is Better than Living in Humiliation” says Al-Khawaja

Human rights in Bahrain have become a “causualty of Obama’s double-standard” writes Ahmed Shihab-Eldin. Highlighting the stark differences in the President positions toward the crackdowns on pro-democracy portests by Bashar al-Assad in Syria and King Hamad in Bahrain, Eldin expresses his disappointment with President Obama, who is said has yet to live up to his promise in restoring America’s human rights reputation abroad.

Eldin brings to light the forces that have enabled the uprising in Bahrain to be discounted, including American PR company Qorvis, which Eldin says provides its services to the Kingdom for $40,000 a month plus expenses. Eldin points to Qorvis employee Tom Squitieri, who himself has written for the Huffington Post and for the Foreign Policy Association without clarifying his affiliation with Qorvis, calling Bahraini protesters “foot soldiers for puppet masters with a greater agenda” in an attempt to discredit the protests as Shia-proxies for neighboring Iran.

In his article, Eldin compares the actions of Syrian President and King Hamad of Bahrain. Both, he says, have prevented international media from entering the country. Both have made arbitrary arrests and raided homes of alleged dissidents during night hours. Both have tortured innocent civilians. One of these unlawfully detainees, human rights activist Albdulhadi al-Khawaja, has committed to a hunger strike for 8 weeks in protest of the regime is on the verge of death, laying in a hospital bed in critical condition. He maintains that dying with dignity is better than life without freedom.