Dubai: Bahrain’s Minister of Interior Lieutenant General Shaikh Rashid Bin Abdullah Al Khalifa has issued a strong statement against attacks targeting expatriates by radical youth associated with hardline elements in the opposition.
The minister’s statement was issued in response to a brutal “home invasion” of accommodation in Bani Jamra that left six Asian expatriates injured a week ago.
According to reports five Indian nationals and one from Bangladesh were attacked by 15 masked men and beaten with iron pipes, “leaving two of them with fractures.”
The assault was the latest in a series of attacks on expatriate labourers since the political unrest of February 2011. They included the death of an Indian who was trapped in his accommodation when it was hit by petrol bombs in June.
“This campaign of terror and intimidation against expatriates who have contributed so much to the development of Bahrain is absolutely unacceptable,” the minister said. “Violations will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” he said as he reiterated that police forces remain vigilant in safeguarding the security of all citizens and residents.
“We will not stand idle while domestic terrorists attempt to hold our citizens and residents hostage for their own personal gains,” he said.
A videotaped interview with a European family who were attacked with petrol bombs while in their car was released on September 29 and has outraged Bahrainis and expatriates alike, a statement from the Information Affairs Authority (IAA) said.
“Expatriates have always been considered an important component of the Bahraini society as they play a vital role in the progress of this country,” Parliament Chairman Khalifa Al Dahrani said.
The Bahrain Federation of Expatriate Associations (BFEA), established in August, has condemned violence in all its forms and urged all those responsible for such violence, threats, and intimidation to cease their illegal actions that threaten individuals and society as a whole, the statement said.
