A day of mourning.

Today, Friday 25 Feb 2011, has been declared by both the state and the opposition parties as a national day of mourning to remember the seven martyrs who were killed by the riot police and the army, in separate incidents, at or near the Pearl Roundabout in central Manama.

The latest to enter the Bahraini Pantheon of Martyrs are:

1. Ali Abdulhadi Mushaimi
2. Fadhel Ali Salman Almatrouk
3. Mahmood Maki Abu-Jassim
4. Ali Mansour Ahmed
5. Ali Ahmed Abdulla
6. Isa Abdulnabi Ali
7. Redha Buhmaid

I know that there are at least two still in critical condition in hospital at the moment.

Let us just pause for a little while and thank them for their sacrifice. And hope that their spilt blood will not go without changing this country for the better for every single person on these islands. They died fighting to allow us to live with the most basic of human rights; to live with dignity. With respect for human, political and economic rights. For a bilateral constitution which defines the relationship between the government and the people. For equal opportunities. For transparency. And for the eradication of corruption.

I salute them and all those who have gone before them.

May they rest in peace, and may this country and its people never forget them. I hope that their names be solidly etched on the Pearl at the spiritual centre of the protests so that we never forget.