Reply #2: Furore over royal wedding guest list

[Turborama]

Bahraini prince pulls out after global outrage at crackdown on protests / Human rights groups say representatives of despotic regimes should be barred

By Jonathan Brown
Monday, 25 April 2011

Prince Charles and the Foreign Office found themselves at the centre of a human rights row over the guest list for Friday's royal wedding, with protests planned outside Westminster Abbey and five-star hotels because of invitations to foreign despots and figureheads from autocratic regimes.

The Crown Prince of Bahrain was last night forced to pull out of attending the wedding, hours before he had been due to fly in to London, amid anger over his role in the Gulf state's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

Human rights activists had pledged to disrupt Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa's stay in Britain with a series of protests, insisting that he is the chief architect of the Saudi-backed security forces' violent response to the demonstrators, which has left up to 31 people dead.

More than 500 opponents of the regime have been arrested since protests began in February, while there has been mounting international outrage at the regime's targeting of medical staff willing to treat those injured in clashes with Baharani police.

The Bahraini prince wrote to the Prince of Wales yesterday apologising for withdrawing, which he described as a matter of "deep regret". He said he had left the decision "for as long as possible in the sincere hope that ongoing events – resulting from recent unrest in the Kingdom of Bahrain – might have improved, leaving me able to join the celebrations without being.

More on this right royal PR disaster that's unfolding: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/furore-over-royal-wedding-guest-list-2274407.html