Bahrain sliding into absolute dictatorship, warn trade unions http://www.irna.ir/ENNewsShow.aspx?NID=30346483&SRCH=1

The deputy director of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has returned from a visit to Bahrain, warning that the country risks sliding into an “absolute dictatorship.” Jaap Wienen, who was on an urgent mission over the weekend, said that the Bahraini authorities must “abandon the path of violence, threats and confrontation.” “Bahrain is sliding rapidly towards absolute dictatorship, and the authorities seem intent on creating and deepening sectarian divisions,” Wienen warned. “The international trade union movement will not simply stand by and allow this to happen.

If the government does not change course, the global diplomatic and economic consequences will be severe,” he said in a statement obtained by IRNA from Britain's Trades Union Congress, a member of the ITUC. The ITUC, which has 301 affiliated member organisations in 151 countries and territories with a total membership of 176 million workers, wrote to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to demand an immediate end to worker reprisals in response to their participation in strikes and protests for greater democracy in the country. “The campaign of intimidation by government-sponsored groups has intensified in recent days, with the appearance of billboards including names and photographs of opposition leaders, calling for 'no mercy and execution',” it said in its latest release.  “Journalists are being dismissed and are facing persecution and arrest, and reports continue to emerge of extreme violence by the authorities against people in detention, including the deaths of four detainees,” it added.

[also see>Bahrain: The Return of the British ‘Butcher of Bahrain’ http://globalvoicesonline.org/2007/07/29/bahrain-the-return-of-the-british-‘butcher-of-bahrain’/ 

‘The Butcher of Bahrain’ This week has seen the arrival of Ian Henderson in Bahrain, and Bahrain’s bloggers are not happy about it. Ian Henderson was the head of the state security services in Bahrain for over 30 years; he is accused of having employed brutal tactics to suppress the opposition in Bahrain, such as imprisonment, torture and forcible exile, and has been given the moniker ‘The Butcher of Bahrain