The United States pulled its human rights officer from Bahrain last week after he'd become the subject of a weeks-long campaign of ethnic slurs and thinly veiled threats on a pro-government website and in officially sanctioned newspapers.
Ludovic Hood left the island nation on Thursday. During his final days in
Bahrain, Hood was given security protection equal to that of an ambassador, U.S.
officials said.
"The safety and security of our diplomatic personnel is our highest
priority," the State Department in Washington said in a statement in response to
inquiries from McClatchy. "It is unacceptable that elements within Bahrain would
target an individual for carrying out his professional duties."
Hood's early departure from Bahrain — five human rights and U.S. officials
confirmed that he had not been scheduled to leave Bahrain last week —
underscores the serious tensions that have arisen between the U.S. government
and Bahrain, the home port of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
On May 19, President Barack Obama criticized the Sunni Muslim government's
harsh crackdown on the country's majority Shiite Muslim population. The
crackdown has featured the destruction of Shiite mosques, the jailing and
physical abuse of leading opposition political figures and journalists, and
official harassment and intimidation of teachers, medical professionals and
others.
The campaign against Hood, however, had been going on for two months, State
Department officials said, with one of the most virulent attacks coming May 7 in
an anonymous posting on a pro-government website that included links to photos
of Hood and his wife on their wedding day and information on where Hood and his
family lived.
The posting claimed that the biggest single supporter of the anti-government
protests that began Feb. 14 was the political section of the U.S. embassy,
working "in cooperation" with a cell of the Lebanese Hezbollah militant
movement.
The head of the office, the blog claimed, was "a person of Jewish origin
named Ludovic Hood," and charged: "He's the one who trained and provoked the
demonstrators to clash with the army" near the Pearl Roundabout that was the
epicenter of the demonstrations.
Hood also was "the one" telling the opposition of the steps they should take
"to inflame the situation," the posting claimed.
The blogger called for "honest people to avenge" Hood's role, gave the
neighborhood in which he lived with his family in Manama, the capital, and
promised to provide his street address. It linked to a wedding photo of Hood
with his "Jewish wife, Alisa Newman."
The attacks continued even after Hood left Bahrain, according to an official
in Washington, with two newspapers on Monday targeting both Hood and the
embassy's current top diplomat, Stephanie Williams.
The Arabic language website appears to have the approval of Bahrain's royal
family. Called Bahrainforums.com, its homepage includes photos of Salman bin
Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Bahrain's crown prince, the country's prime minister,
?Prince Khalifa bin Salman al Khalifa, and of the king, Hamad bin Isa al
Khalifa.
Khalifa bin Salman is the longest serving unelected prime minister in the
world.
Human rights activists in Bahrain said that it is unlikely that under martial
law imposed in mid-March a publication featuring the smiling faces of the royal
family would be permitted if the regime did not approve.
The U.S. Embassy asked the government to stop the campaign against Hood, but
the government "didn't, wouldn't, couldn't stop it," said one U.S. official, who
couldn't be named because the department was restricting its comments to its
public statement. The offending blog item could still be read on the website
Monday.
"If the facts hold up...if it's true that the embassy human rights officer
has been run out of town by extremist vigilantes peddling a vile racist screed,
then Bahrain has some accounting to do," the official said.
Shiite Muslims comprise more than two thirds of the island's population but
are largely excluded from high office. Many moderate Sunnis also took part in
the demonstrations, but the crackdown has fallen largely on the Shiite
population.
Hood could not be reached for comment. Fellow Foreign Service officers said
they doubted he is Jewish, although his wife may well be.
Hood's function in Bahrain was to cover court cases and record human rights
violations in Bahrain, and he was well regarded by the human rights community
there.
In his final message to his friends in Bahrain, Hood apologized that he had
had to assume a low profile in his final weeks and couldn't say goodbye. In his
message, he sounded like a man ordered home on short notice.
"Hello," he wrote. "I am leaving Bahrain today and moving back to Washington.
I will start my new assignment at the State Department in June. I am sorry I was
not able to say goodbye properly. Given recent developments affecting the
Embassy, it was prudent for me to keep a low profile during my final weeks in
Bahrain."
(Special correspondent Laith Hammoudi contributed)
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