Deported From Bahrain: The Formula One Firestorm

The Bahrain Grand Prix took place last weekend, but not without problems.

Amongst protests, Channel 4 foreign correspondent Jonathan Miller was arrested and later deported while covering the controversial race.

In an interview with anchor Marco Werman, Miller shares his experience.

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Marco Werman: I am Marco Werman and this is The World. It seems to be the race without a checkered flag, it just keeps going. Bahrain is still reeling from all the unrest surrounding its Formula One Grand Prix over the weekend. The race went ahead despite days of demonstrations and clashes between protestors and police. Yesterday, there were more clashes after the funeral of one man who was killed in the turmoil. Bahraini authorities had hoped the Grand Prix would show that all was well in the country. Instead, it highlighted the continuing tensions there over human rights and demands for political reform. Correspondent Jonathan Miller of Britain’s Channel 4 TV was in Bahrain covering the unrest. He was arrested with other members of the Channel 4 crew, their driver and a Bahraini human rights activist. Miller and his crew were eventually deported. They’re now back in London. So Jonathan, what were you doing right before your arrest?

Jonathan Miller: We’d gone out to one of the Shia Muslim villages and these people have been the ones primarily demanding more democracy and protesting on the street. I was in one of these villages and I was filming a small flash mob demonstration. We were aware all the time that we were filming there of a police helicopter above us. We suddenly realized that this helicopter had clocked us filming and it came very low and started circling just above us so we retreated back to our car. Then what ensued was quite frankly able to compare with the excitement of the Grand Prix itself. We had a full-on helicopter car chase until eventually we were caught by riot police who surrounded our car when we ran out of road. It was a very dramatic chase for about 10 or 15 minutes.

Werman: Was the Bahraini human rights activist, Ala’a Shehaba, with you at the time of your arrest? Were you with her at the time?

Miller: Yes, she was. We’d hitched up with her a couple of times during the day. She had decided, along with our driver, that it was not worth getting caught; we too were in the country without accreditation. What confronted me when I got there was a country which is not unified as the government would have you believe, but deeply divided along sectarian lines primarily between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Many, many people in that country are extremely unhappy with what we all in the West would consider rather basic democratic rights.

Werman: What happened while you were in custody, Jonathan?

Miller: My crew, my cameraman, producer and myself refused to be taken separately from our Bahraini friends to the police station because Bahrain has a very, very bad record in terms of human rights. In the end, after about an hour, we were taken to the police station and we were actually separated. Dr. Ala’a was taken off and interviewed in the women’s police section and Ali, the driver, was taken off separately. We continued to demand the right to see him and eventually he was brought to us and showed us his arms which had been lacerated; they had been cut. I wasn’t allowed to speak to him and I asked to do so; he wasn’t allowed to speak to me either. He was taken, he was presented to me and then he was taken away again. Just before we left, we did hear that Ali the driver and Dr. Ala’a had themselves both been released. The eyes of the world were watching Bahrain. It has been trying to convince the world that it had changed, that things were normal. We clearly saw that it wasn’t, but by holding them to account by saying, “Look, the world is watching”, I think they were aware that nothing could happen to those two Bahrainis that we were with.

Werman: Have you spoken with Dr. Shehaba since you’ve gotten back to London?

Miller: I have’nt directly spoken to her. Colleagues of mine have, I think, today, but I have been in direct contact with her by other means as I have with Ali. They assure me that they are okay. One of the things that I feel looking back on it now is the Grand Prix was a big event; the demonstrations appeared to be timed to coincide with that, the three days of rage that the activists had called. But the Grand Prix is gone now; the media spotlight has moved on; we’ve been thrown out, others are leaving but, as you pointed out, the struggle by the people for their basic democratic rights against a fairly repressive regime there will continue.

Werman: Correspondent Jonathan Miller of Channel 4 TV in London, thank you very much for speaking with us.

Miller: Thank you very much Marco.

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