UK National Security – Who Pays the Price? is a series of three films showing how the UK’s approach to its national security is affecting people around the world.
Sayed, Bahrain
The Gulf state of Bahrain has a long history of authoritarian government and political repression. In the Arab Spring of 2011, popular uprisings were crushed with the support of the Saudi military and there were widespread human rights violations by the Bahraini state.
During and since this time, the UK government has provided security and justice training to institutions that are implicated in severe abuses. It has also supported arms exports, despite Bahrain featuring on its own human rights watch list. Sayed Alwadaei is a Bahraini human rights activist who has suffered for speaking out against the dictatorship.
Teresa, Northern Ireland
More than 3,600 people were killed in the conflict known as The Troubles.
Republican and Loyalist paramilitary groups carried out most of the killings; the UK security forces are estimated to be directly responsible for about 10 percent of the deaths, but there is also evidence of numerous instances of collusion between these forces and paramilitaries.
One of these cases was Gerard Slane, who was murdered by a loyalist paramilitary group, the UDA, in a killing linked to the security forces.
His wife Teresa is still fighting for truth and justice.
Ameen, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is well known for its authoritarian government and widespread repression. Despite talk of reforms under Crown Prince Mohamed Bin-Salman, there has been a recent increase in imprisonment, torture and executions.
While the decision to finally allow women the right to drive attracted global publicity, it has been accompanied by a crackdown on the women’s rights movement.
The government is also leading a coalition military campaign in Yemen, which is responsible for widespread civilian casualties.
Ameen Nemer is a human rights activist from Saudi Arabia who was forced to seek asylum in the UK.