Ben MoxhamImagine that after Saturday’s rally you were picked up by the security forces, beaten with a hose pipe, thrown into solidarity confinement for six weeks, forced to sign a confession under torture, denied medical treatment and then sentenced for a decade on trumped up charges.
That’s exactly what happened to Mahdi Abu Dheeb, the head of the Bahraini Teacher’s Association (BTA), who did no more than lead his union during the Arab Spring uprisings in February and March 2011.
Originally sentenced back in September 2011, he lost his appeal over the weekend but was given a reduced sentence of five years behind bars. The BTA Vice President, Jalila Al Salman also got landed with a 6 months sentence. Both of them are innocent and both have been treated appallingly. Worse still, the British Government has been silent.
On the desert-battered outskirts of Cairo, in a kitsch marble convention centre, the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU) has just announced to Egypt and the world that it has come of age. EFITU was born in the inspiration and chaos of Tahrir square, exactly 12 months to the day. Since then they have been organising, organising and organising. Today was a chance to show the results and I was blown away.
