From her eighth floor office, there's an unobstructed view across this city's downtown, over towards the harbour and the United States' naval base that's home to the Fifth Fleet. You can't see Sitra from here because some distant high-rise buildings are obstructing the skyline.
But Samira Rajab is well aware of what's going on there — and in the other Shiite strongholds across this troubled island kingdom.
It's been three weeks since this straight-talking Shiite journalist and member of the Shura Council was appointed Bahrain's Minister of State for Information Affairs, tasked with reforming media laws and outlets in the kingdom, and getting the government's message across.
"It is a state ministry which has been asked for by parliament so that the media industry can be questioned by parliament," she says.
Little furniture
The ministry is so new there are no trappings of office which normally grace such a working space — just a couch and two armchairs, and a desk and computer in a far corner. A lone assistant helps her for now — the rest of the offices on this floor in the administrative complex on Government Avenue seem unoccupied.
Samira hasn't a new business card yet — but she needs little introduction to Bahrainis. And while her office is short on furniture, she's long on opinions.
"The media is a very special sector which has to be protected, so the first task I will start now is to make a whole package of laws and regulations to protect the right of freedom of speech and press freedom to protect journalists."
She knows about that need first-hand, having been to blame when a column she wrote for in June 2009, resulted in the Bahrain Ministry of Culture suspending her newspaper, Akhbar Al Khaleej, from publication for violating press laws. She had attacked Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's regime in Iran for cracking down on protests after the presidential election.
"Of course, all voices have to be heard, the media is open," she says. "The Shiite parties would like to project that they are not allowed to talk. It's completely wrong and it's something that these people at Al Wefaq [the main opposition political society in Bahrain] are trying to create. The issue is that Al Wefaq want to keep themselves out and make it look as if the government of Bahrain only represents one sector of Bahrainis. I believe that most Shiite are afraid [of Al Wefaq] and are afraid to speak out."
An iPhone constantly dings the arrival of texts and e-mail messages as she talks. The senders of the messages can wait — she has many points to make.
"Al Wefaq have their own agenda," she says, taking her time to make sure the nuances of her words are not lost. "They want their own system. They want a sectarian system where power is shared by the percentages of people in each sect. That is a disaster for all Bahrainis."
For the past 16 months, the kingdom has been torn apart by political divides along sectarian lines. After six weeks of prolonged protests and violence at the site of the former Pearl Roundabout and in Shiite villages, some 30 people died and resulted in the Gulf Cooperation Council members activating the Peninsula Shield security agreement to protect vital Bahraini installations as domestic security forces quelled the violence.
So was activating the Peninsula Shield a mistake?
"No," she says adamantly. "We in Bahrain are part of that shield. They are our troops. I don't want to use any other kind of troops in Bahrain. I refuse foreign troops. These are our troops. It was a very bad situation in Bahrain. We asked for protection. Any government will try to do anything for its people in this situation. We pay for that. The shield was also used [following the invasion by Iraq's Saddam Hussain] in Kuwait."
Samira's keen support of the Peninsula Shield is consistent with her statements that the GCC needs to evolve into a regional economic, political, defence and social bloc in much the same way as integration in Europe has created a strong European Union. Both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are keen to fast-track great political union.
"Al Wefaq has purposefully manipulated the agenda [in Bahrain] to create a Shiite-only agenda," she asserts. "They are trying to put something else in front of the media, but their real agenda is sectarian."
An Iranian agenda?
She pauses to answer: "I would say sectarian."
Is Iran meddling in Bahrain's affairs?
"Iran has never stopped meddling in our affairs since the days of the Shah."
After the worst of the violence, the Bahrain government instigated an independent commission of inquiry, led by Egyptian jurist Mahmoud Sharif Bassiouni, to investigate the events of February and March 2011. His investigation into the violence which polarised Bahrain society to the present day, was far reaching, brutally honest, and left no stone unturned. But he found no evidence of Iranian influence.
"He did not say there is no evidence," Samira challenges. "What Bassiouni said was that he had not been given evidence. The king has responded to that and that in the interest's of Bahrain's national security, the evidence cannot be given.
"Look," she says forcefully, "From February 14 to October 25, there were more than 49 official Iranian statements coming from all around the world from the Fars agency that Iran supports the people at [Pearl] Roundabout and they have to get their rights and ‘we support the revolution'. They came from mullahs, from Khamenei, from ambassadors all around the world."
Job losses
So should those who lost their jobs as a result of taking part in protests get their jobs back?
"On humanitarian grounds, yes — they have to work," she says. "Politically, Bahrain is under this pressure even after the mistakes of the doctors [At Sulmaniya Medical Centre]. It is very complicated case."
The hospital became the headquarters of opposition protesters during the height of the violence and was taken over the security forces as part of the crackdown in mid-March 2011.
Samira is clear that she holds Al Wefaq responsible for the breakdown in Bahraini society and its split along sectarian lines.
"Al Wefaq made a big mistake not talking to the Crown Prince after the events of February 14, 2011," she says. "There was a big offer there and I think they could have achieved their goals then. Even Bassiouni says it was a big mistake.
"They dug a big hole — the problem now is that nobody is allowed to take action without representing all the Bahraini people or without arguments with each other.
"After February 14, the Sunni people have been unified and have a very loud voice now and will not accept anything that will be achieved now between the King or government and Al Wefaq."
And it's not possible to move forward until Al Wefaq considers the mistakes it has made in shutting out the Bahraini government and dividing the island.
"We needed the National Dialogue. We needed it, The people had to sit down and talk. We needed to understand what was going on ... at the end of the day we all want a solution."
Is power sharing a way forward?
"Power sharing is here already," she answers. "Just not between sects. Shiite are in the government since the government started. No one was talking about how many Shiite or Sunni there are. It's a very new mindset now to talk about Shiite or Sunni. We are all Bahraini. I am Shiite. I have never felt that I am different. I am Bahraini."
Criticism
Her public views have brought her criticism and made her the target of violence. In October, after appearing on Al Jazeera, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at her home.
"I can't say I'm not threatened and afraid," she admits." I work under that pressure. If I have the power to work and reach the media and protect Bahrain and the kind of life I like in Bahrain, I cannot live under religious political parties in Bahrain and this is the life I choose to live and I need it for my children. I have these beliefs which make me strong."
And Samira is also aware that taking the Minister of State's position exposes her to further attacks.
"Yes, [the protesters] are aggressive," she says. "Most of them are brainwashed and they can do anything. We have more recent aggressive examples in Lebanon and these are the same people."
So what does she say to youth in Sitra or other villages where violent protests occur almost nightly.
"They will reach the age where they will be sorry for what they have done," she says. "These children need to be protected by the children's law in Bahrain. We have a good law for children's rights in Bahrain. We have to talk to the leaders who are exploiting our children."
Explosions
Two bombs have exploded over the past six weeks, injuring a number of policemen.
Samira says western media have made the bombs bigger news than they actually were.
"There's an interesting point to make here," she says. "[Al Wefaq] always says Bahrain doesn't allow Shiite to work in the Interior ministry and Defence forces. This first bombing of security forces actually took place outside the home of a Bahraini Shiite sergeant working in the Interior Ministry. He had been threatened by Molotov bombs and told that he shouldn't work with the government. He asked for security and that's who they bombed. But that wasn't reported in the western media."
When it comes to getting their message out, Samira says opposition forces are adept at using social media and the latest technology, having "very expensive modern cameras" at violent incidents to capture police response.
"We have a hard time getting our message out," she says. "Let me give you one example where a CEO of a four star hotel told me that four months ago, there were reports on the BBC that the Bahrain Formula 1 race would be cancelled," she says. "On that day he lost 200,000 Bahraini dinars in bookings. When the race was cancelled last year, his hotel lost 1 million dinars and he had to let more than half of his staff go. That message never got out in the West."
But what's out in the West is a claim that Samira was a supporter of Saddam Hussain. Is is true?
"Yes," she answers.
At the time, or still?
"It is not that I support Saddam Hussain as a person, I support the idea of loving our lands, our people, the Arab people. I did not support his invasion of Kuwait and we knew that day was the start of the going down for all Arabs. The opposition use this caption of supporting Saddam Hussain as propaganda against me. I believe in nationalism. I believe in my country. I love Bahrain."
A secular Bahrain where all people are equal and everyone has equal access to decent housing and good jobs, even in Shiite villages?
"There is no peace in Bahrain without good roads and a good standard of schools," she says. "If 95 per cent of all levels of doctors are Shiite, how come they say they live in a poor situation? Eighty per cent of engineers are Shiite. Seventy per cent of lawyers are Shiite. The Deputy Prime Minister is Shiite, half of the economy is Shiite. It is very easy for Shiites to say they have poor jobs and poor housing. These are the facts."
