During his first meeting this week with His Royal Highness The Prime Minister, Britain’s newly-appointed Ambassador Simon Martin was very eloquent and forthright when expressing his views.
He candidly declared: “Bahrain deals with terror threats that jeopardise its security and stability just like other countries of the world do. Countries have the right to defend the aspirations of their citizens to live in a secure and stable atmosphere by eradicating terrorism, considered the most serious infringement on human rights.”
This is a refreshingly frank and to-the-point statement – the very opposite of what Switzerland and 32 other countries, knowing nothing about Bahrain, expressed recently along with unjust accusations.
To strengthen our logic let us go back to the summer of 1997 in London.
The British Press during that time, reported that six IRA terrorists had been jailed for 35 years each for plotting to black out London on a scale unseen since World War Two.
Prosecutors had revealed that the six IRA members planned to bomb electricity stations, paralysing power supplies to London and south-eastern England, in order to humiliate and punish Britain’s government for its policies in Northern Ireland.
One of the defendants denied these charges – claiming that they were merely planning a hoax to force the British authorities to shut down power supplies themselves, creating chaos in the capital.
The important point is that although this attempted sabotage was foiled, the Crown Court still delivered a severe and punitive verdict.
Many will ask, was it not a very harsh penalty considering that no lives were lost or property damaged? But let us pause for a moment and consider the potential consequences of this crime had it reached fruition. It would undoubtedly have crippled hospital life support systems, created mayhem on roads and railways, and led to many deaths.
Back to Bahrain, where our police force regularly discovers bomb factories and arms caches, along with plans for terrorist acts.
Such plots, even when foiled, deserve the maximum penalty, as happened in that Crown Court in London. Bearing in mind that many, many policemen have died as a direct consequence of the evil weapons produced by such ‘factories’.
Judges, whether in Bahrain or anywhere else, must be totally dispassionate and neutral in their evaluation of a case, for they represent a nation’s conscience which cannot be manipulated by politics, emotions or misplaced compassion. Law and order must be objective and divorced from any human consideration.
Criminal laws are not based on compromise or fear of consequences, and should always remain society’s firm and unyielding guardian.