Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): During his meeting held with members of the parliament on Sunday (January 8, 2017), the Bahraini Interior Minister Rashid bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa stressed that "negligence and conspiracy are the main reasons behind the escape of the ten convicts." His comments were made as part of their discussion of the circumstances and details surrounding the Central Jaw Prison breakout.

Although the Interior Ministry was quick to reveal the names and pictures of 4 young Bahrainis whom it claimed to be suspects involved in the breakout operation, the ministry did not post any details or pictures of the suspects from the police force. It is incomprehensible how the authorities allow themselves to vilify civilian suspects, while covering up for mercenaries from the police force, whose crime poses a greater and more dangerous threat.

It even seemed that the Interior Minister was mitigating the seriousness of such involvement by justifying the policemen's actions, stating that it is a matter of bribes and that "bribes do not only take place in prisons but everywhere across the world." Whether the Interior Ministry admits or not, the major truth that this incident proves is that whoever can be bought with money can also be sold for money. Mercenaries who have been imported from Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Balochistan and Pakistan by the Bahraini regime and hired in the security forces cannot be loyal to anyone or anything but money. Regardless of whether or not the issue of bribery is limited to prisons, what the minister does not want to concede is the fact that bribery and financial corruption is intensifying and becoming a prevalent problem in the environment incubating these mercenaries, especially that requiring dirty work to be done. The Al Khalifa regime's security authority hires these people to do what other decent Bahrainis would refuse, in return for money, accommodation, a nationality and other privileges. Therefore, nothing holds back these mercenaries from taking on more dirty work for additional profits.

Hence, one can find these policemen smuggling narcotics and hashish into prison and selling them to prisoners and drug addicts, or turning the prison into a black market smuggling in 25-30-dinar-worth cell phones for 1,000 BD. Perhaps the Jaw novel, written by a political prisoner under the alias from behind bars and published by Bahrain Mirror, unveils the extent of corruption festering within the security force and the so-called Rehabilitation and Reform Center, which is nothing but a den of administrative corruption, immorality and human regression.

Al-Khalifa continued to reiterate that the Jaw Prison fugitives are "terrorist elements," which required the interior ministry to deploy its forces and set up checkpoints across the island kingdom, paralyzing traffic for over one week until now. However, it seems that Bahraini citizens do not feel frightened or threatened by the escape of these "terrorist elements," since they know that they are not terrorists and that they do not pose a threat to citizens as the interior ministry claimed. They are aware that these fugitives have a problem with the government and not the people, and so Bahrainis, pro and anti-government alike, went on to not express their fear or concern about the "dangerous" fugitives but rather voice their frustration at the interior ministry's measures that paralyzed traffic, preventing them from reaching their workplaces. They began making up and posting humourous humorous stories and jokes about the escape of the youth Rida Al-Ghasra who became somewhat like a "legend" since he attempted to break out of jail four times, also poking fun at the interior ministry forces that have until now failed to catch him despite all their efforts and endeavors.

The Interior Minister admits to the corruption of the security service force which is basically in the hands of mercenaries and exploiters, yet instead of reevaluating this corrupted corpse, he launched a new widespread campaign of arrests. The interior ministry retaliated against the escape of 10 prisoners by arresting 45 others, terrorizing residents of of neighborhoods across the country across the country with multiple raids.

Any respectable minister would have immediately resigned from his post after such a scandal surrounding a major government corpse. Rashid bin Abdullah should follow the example of the Iraqi Interior Minister Mohammad Al-Ghaban, who resigned three days after the Karada bomb blast in central Baghdad that left dozens killed announcing that he is is adamant to resign and that reversing his decision is in pawn of the achievement of reform in the security institution.

Arabic Version