Just saw this on today’s Al-Wasat:‬
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العاهل يستقبل عائلة بن رجباستقبل عاهل البلاد جلالة الملك Øمد بن عيسى آل خليÙØ© بقصر الصاÙرية أمس عائلة بن رجب، وذلك للسلام على جلالته، وقد رØب عاهل البلاد بالجميع وتبادل معهم الأØاديث الودية.
وأكد خلال اللقاء أن مملكة البØرين Øققت الكثير من الإنجازات ÙÙŠ مختل٠الميادين، وذلك بÙضل عمل وعطاء أبناء الوطن ودور عائلات أهل البØرين الكرام وتكاتÙهم لخدمة وطنهم.
وقد أعرب Ø£Ùراد عائلة بن رجب عن شكرهم وامتنانهم لعاهل البلاد، داعين الله أن ÙŠØÙظ جلالته.
وخلال المقابلة ألقى عيسى Øسن بن رجب قصيدة شكر لعاهل البلاد نيابة عن أخيه Ù…ØاÙظ الشمالية جعÙر Øسن عبدالرسول بن رجب بهذه المناسبة.
‪Al-Wasat Newspaper – 3 Aug 2010
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‪Briefly, HM the King received the bin Rajab family who extended their wishes to HM and one of them read out some poetry in praise of His Majesty.
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‪Very strange. Because, that big guy sitting closest to His Majesty is none other than ex-minister Mansour bin Rajab who is supposedly under investigation and house arrest for corruption, money laundering and even purportedly assisting the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the bargain too. So seeing this news-piece and his personage in the presence of HM only suggests that he has been exonerated with the charges against him dropped!‬
‪It can only be perceived that he was not found guilty and he’s a free man. So what happened? Has bin Rajab’s name been cleared? Can he now take everyone who slandered him to court (as he likes to do!) Where’s the truth in all this?
An intriguing situation to be sure and I am mildly interested in how this drama will continue to unfold…
Arthur
3 August 2010What do you say about this sub human treatment being meted out by your fellow Arabs:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/world/middleeast/02domestic.html?pagewanted=2&partner=rss&emc=rss
mahmood
3 August 2010Despicable of course, but I’m afraid you’re commenting on a wrong thread.
Bahrainiac
3 August 2010I too had to take a double-take at the photo in the Bah-Tribune. Curiouser and curiouser…. It’s going to be an interesting week.
The Cynic
4 August 2010“I say he gets a simple slap on his hand. (maximum punishment!)
“Bad lil baby, don’t ever do that again, okay? or else next time i’ll have to… Awwwww.. will you look at that cuuuuuuute face. come here baby, give daddy a big hug… etc.†(-_-;)” – Quoting a previous comment I posted to this thread:
http://mahmood.tv/2010/03/19/sitting-minister-arrested-for-corruption/
What a slap in the face of the public this has become.
For the love of God, at least wait for the guy’s name to be officially cleared before you treat him as the angel of innocence.
Maybe this would not have been a very hard slap if it came from other than HM, but coming from HM is a very big disappointment to me, and maybe everyone else.
This act portrays severe tolerance and promotion to the term “Above the Law”.
Simply, disappointing indeed.
Abdulhadi Khalaf
4 August 2010Cleared or not, the case of Mansoor bin Rajab adds some support to the claim see my “unfinished Business….”) that Bahraini wujaha are a particular breed.
Their right of “to participate in public affairs or to function as political intermediaries are not a natural component of their status in their communities. Theirs is an assigned role – it is specific, personally and temporally”.
Unfortunately,0ur wujaha are selected not to represent their constituencies, but rather to provide support to the regime. A wajeeh may become powerful patron of a local network; a clan, a village or a religious community. However, he is not expected to claim the right to speak for them or represent them. Those shaky grounds explain why Bahraini wujaha have an obvious stake in sustaining the status quo. For, only through preservation of the status quo could they serve as patrons to the local, and often competing, a network on which their initial claims to notability depends.
The ruling family has provided the wujaha with privilges but has reserved its right to continually changing the faces of the wujaha, sometimes rotatively. The constant worry of each individual wajeeh is his awareness of the shaky grounds on which he stands. The ruling family obviously needs him, yet he remains dispensable.
The ex-minister may believe his troubles are over. Ours have not.
AbuRasool
mahmood
5 August 2010I’ve read your article with much interest AbuRasool the contention of which – as it is demonstrated here too – is very true and valid. And for the very same method to actually work for close to 300 years is amazing. You would think that people would wise up, but influence is heady and the money that goes with it is even more intoxicating. If both happen at the expense of others, well, so be it is the usual response!