UK looking to compensate Brexit loss with ME deals

EghtesadOnline: Director of the London-based Abrar Islamic Foundation (Abrar House) Saeed Shahabi believes that the British government is seeking to compensate for Brexit loss with Middle Eastern deals.

News ID: ۷۷۲۰۹۴

08 December 2016

In an exclusive interview with IRNA on Thursday, he said 'I think it is not a very intelligent move from the British to move out of Europe and then to have alliance with those dictators in the Gulf.'

He believed 'they should have remained with Europe and they would not have been in need for the financial resources of those who are dictators and tyrants and do not respect human right.'

He went on to stress that 'it does not seem to me that Theresa May is one of those Champions of Human rights. Although she said a few days ago that she was not going to put human right behind her back, but her career does not indicate that she is a fan or advocate of human rights.'

'Human rights is only used as a tool and as a card to be used when it is needed but it is not as a principle or as a value,' he said, noting that 'this is why the British government has not taken after the issue of Human right in Bahrain.'

He said: 'In fact they have sent their inspection teams to the prisons but yet all the violations have continued, they never stopped; the torture, the arbitrary arrest, the citizenship revocation.'

'If the British want to do something in Bahrain they can, but it sees to me that they don’t want to do that much.

Even their relations with the Saudis have been attacked by the people here by the media and human right activists, human rights police, everybody are saying there are war crimes in Yemen and the British are part of war because they are supplying arms and expertise and intelligence to the Saudis; so they are party to the conflict in Yemen yet they don’t want to stop that and the war on Yemen is continuing and they have never called for ceasefire. '

He asserted that 'they want to go to the Gulf and get cash for these policies. So I do not believe that it is good for the British economy, they can make some money now but it is short lived.'

The IRNA correspondent put a few question to him on the issues the text of which follows:

Q. How can the British government make a balance between their concern about human right and then having military base in Manama.
A. They never said they are the champions of human right.
They say they want to have a military base, extend their military influence in the region, stronger relation with the dictators.
Even Mrs. May said yesterday that the security of Bahrain is our security but we don’t understand what she means; I think she is referring to the regime and not the people of Bahrain. So the security of those dictators is the security of Britain which is not right.
The security of Bahrain is the security of the whole world.

Q. What is Mrs. May’s aim for attending GCC summit?
A. It is clear that they want to have economic free trade with the gulf region; because they think they have some money, specially now the oil prices are rising so they want to cash on that.
But I think the interest of the British people is to have security and peace in the world and that is not going to happen if the British government is supporting terrorism and extremism and this extremism will come back to Britain and create more problems inside the country.
For such policy, British people have to pay the price of that.

Q. How long can the Bahraini government sustain?
A. If the British withdraw their support they cannot stay.
The Bahraini government is like a sick person who is clinically dead but because there are machines that make him breath he is alive. But if you remove those wires and then he is dead.
So the same thing with the Al-Khalifa. If you remove the British support and the Saudi, Emirati, Pakistani and British troops they will die.'