Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain, ADHRB, is leading a delegation of Bahraini Americans to Washington DC to meet members of Congress and staffers on the hill to discuss the deteriorating political developments and gross Human Rights violations that are taking place in Bahrain. The delegation's one week visit also includes meeting with think tanks and media personnel. ADHRB is an organization that consists of Americans who are interested in raising awareness of the political and human rights situation in Bahrain. Their major goal is to push the policymakers to adapt a positive vision toward Bahrain where the Bahraini regime is pressured to adopt serious and genuine political reforms that lead to a democratic Bahrain.
The Obama Administration was clearly reluctant in pushing their Persian Gulf Ally to move toward democratic changes in the country.
In a statement released by Husain Abdulla, the director of ADHRB, he stated that: "The Bahraini American community was extremely disappointed with the Obama Administration for its lack of support for the pro-democracy movement in Bahrain. While we supported the positive changes in Tunisia and Egypt, we clearly did not value the Bahraini uprising and somehow considered the demands of the Bahraini people lesser value of the other countries. We are taking this delegation to Washington DC to make a clear case to our policymakers; that a free and democratic Bahrain where people of Bahrain can determine and decide their own political future in which they can elect their leaders in a free and fair election is far much better to our interest in the region; than a Bahrain that violates Human Rights on daily basis which is the case now."
Mr. Abdulla also stated that, "We are going to Washington to remind our policy makers that one day this country was oppressed and we did not like it; we did everything possible to gain our freedom. The people of Bahrain want the same as our founding fathers did; they want to have dignity in their own country by making Bahrain into a true democracy. Our founding fathers faced tyranny then and the Bahraini people are facing tyranny now by opposing the absolute Al-Khalifa monarchy."
ADHRB and the Bahraini American community urge the White House to seriously change its policy toward Bahrain from supporting oppression and dictatorship to supporting freedom and Democracy.
