Bahrain Mirror: The leader of Bahrain's main opposition group, Al-Wefaq Secretary-General Sheikh Ali Salman, said that "the deterioration of the economic situation in the country is a result of rejecting political reform. If we had an elected government and a real parliament, our economic conditions wouldn't have deteriorated to this extent, and no decisions would have showered us all of a sudden." The opposition leader stated this in a letter sent from prison on Saturday commenting on a series of governmental decisions.

"Let the government allow the people to peacefully demonstrate against the decisions to raise petrol prices to determine where the people are at and where the government is", Salman suggested in his letter.

"If we want to put an end to the decisions showering us all of a sudden in order to empty our pockets and rob food from our children, we should demand the right to elect our government", he stressed.

"How much official statements have we heard saying that the citizens will not be affected by austerity; however, here they are; decisions raising the prices of meat, poultry, electricity and gasoline", Sheikh Salman further stated.

"If a democratic state is forced to adopt austerity measures, the first who to be affected would be the ministers, MPs and the wealthy citizens, while in other states the poor are affected", Salman added.

Sheikh Salman considered that "the inevitable result of rejecting political reform and detaining those demanding democracy are the deterioration of economic conditions and the sabotage of the citizens' well-being."

"The real and serious solution is a rational political reform which allows the citizens to be the center of the political process and enables them to freely elect the government and parliament", he further stressed.

Arabic Issue