UN's
Ban Ki-moon
Has No Comment
on Bahrain
Jailing Zainab
al-Khawaja
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 27
-- With all
the talk at
the UN General
Assembly
about the Arab
Spring and
freedom of
expression,
the UN's and
others'
failure to
speak out
again Bahrain
jailing Zainab
al-Khawaja for
tearing up a
photo of the
King, even
when asked, is
noteworthy.
On
September
26, the
day after US President
Obama's speech
about freedom
of expression
and after
months of UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
statements
about the
right to
non-violent
protest, Inner
City Press
asked
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky:
Inner
City Press:
The daughter
of a very
prominent
Bahrain
activist — the
daughter’s
name is Zainab
al-Khawaja —
has been
sentenced to
two
months in jail
for tearing up
the picture of
a Bahraini
royal, and I
am wondering,
does the
Secretary-General
or the
Secretariat
have any
view of this
arrest in
terms of
freedom of
speech, or in
terms of the
right to
oppose one's
Government?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
No specific
comment on
this specific
case. If that
changes, I
will let you
know.
Twenty-one
hours
later, no
statement had
been issued. Nesirky
went on to
point
backward:
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
But you will
have seen that
the
Secretary-General
met
already with
the Foreign
Minister from
Bahrain. And I
would refer
you to the
readout that
we gave on
that.
But
here was that
readout:
The
Secretary-General
today met with
H. E. Shaikh
Khalid Bin
Ahmed
Al-Khalifa,
Minister for
Foreign
Affairs of the
Kingdom of
Bahrain.
The
Secretary-General
and the
Foreign
Minister
reviewed the
situation in
the region.
They also
discussed
current
developments
in Bahrain,
including the
human rights
situation. The
Secretary-General
welcomed
the commitment
made by His
Majesty King
Hamad bin Issa
Al Khalifa, to
dialogue, good
governance and
genuine
democracy and
called on the
Government to
complete the
implementations
of the
recommendations
of
the Bahrain
Independent
Commission of
Inquiry and
the
recommendations
of the
Universal
Periodic
Review. He
also
emphasized
that a
genuine,
all-inclusive
dialogue that
addresses the
legitimate
aspirations of
all Bahraini
communities is
the best way
to promote
lasting peace,
stability,
justice and
economic
progress in
Bahrain.
And
days after Ban
"welcomed the
commitment
made by His
Majesty King
Hamad bin Issa
Al Khalifa, to
dialogue, good
governance and
genuine
democracy," a
prominent
democracy
activist was
sentences to
prison for
tearing up the
King's
photograph.
Now Ban, and
others,
have "no
specific
comment on
this specific
case." So it
goes at the
UN.
, 
