Bahrain uprising achieves moral victory: Analyst

Bahraini protesters have achieved a “moral victory” as they have unmasked the illegitimate nature of the Manama regime to the world, a political analyst tells Press TV.

“I believe that the Bahraini protests have achieved a major moral victory over the Al Khalifa regime by delegitimizing this regime and exposing it in face of the international community,” said Jamal Wakim, from the Lebanese International University, in a Friday interview.

He underlined the need for Al Khalifa regime to hold talks with protesters, noting, “The Bahrainis have real claim for justice and for human rights especially that they are deprived of all political rights, freedom of expression and the right to share wealth with the ruling family,” he added.

Wakim also pointed to what he called Riyadh’s interventions as a key obstacle to the democratic movement in the country.

Riyadh is concerned that success of the Bahraini uprising might endanger stability in the eastern regions of Saudi Arabia where rebellion is rife, the commentator further noted.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain. In March 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to Bahrain to help Manama quash the anti-regime protests.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others injured and arrested in the Manama regime’s ongoing crackdown on peaceful anti-regime rallies. Amnesty International has expressed concerns over the “continuing detention of prisoners of conscience and the harsh sentences” given by courts in the Persian Gulf country to protesters.