Saturday, April 21, 2012

Leading Article: No Credit to Bahrain or Formula One

THE INDEPENDENT: The Formula One Grand Prix should not be happening in Bahrain this weekend. That is the long and the short of it. Although the security situation is evidently better than it was last season, when the race was first postponed and then cancelled, this is largely a result of the repression exerted by the authorities.

It does not mean there has been any serious accommodation with the opposition, still less that the regime has become any more democratic. Several dozen people have been killed in protests since the start of the year and a leading opposition activist, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, is on hunger strike in prison. Even John Yates, formerly of Scotland Yard, who is currently advising the Bahrain government, has said that the security of the race cannot be guaranteed. » | Leading article | Saturday, April 21, 2012

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