King of Bahrain's Invite to Prince William's Wedding Causes Outrage

LONDON -- Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding next month has been billed as the media event of the decade. But the young couple's big day could now be overshadowed by a row over one of the royal family's guests of honor: King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain.

The Sunni monarch is conducting a bloody crackdown on his majority Shiite population, crushing their calls for democracy with bullets, tanks and tear gas. Amnesty International reports that shotgun-wielding security forces have killed at least eight Bahraini protesters in recent days, and many more people -- including medical personnel -- were injured during a heavy-handed police raid on the country's main hospital earlier today.

The U.N.'s human rights commissioner, Navi Pillay, has condemned Bahrain's government for its "shocking and illegal conduct" and systematic "harassment and intimidation of health professionals." And while the U.S. is an old ally of Khalifa, the State Department has also rebuked the king for using "excessive force and violence."

This barbaric behavior has led Brits of all political persuasions to question why the royal family hasn't torn up King Khalifa's wedding invite. "How does the Queen justify her invitation to an unelected tyrant with fresh blood on his hands?" asked Mehdi Hasan, the editor of left-leaning weekly The New Statesman. An article by Oxford University historian Mark Almond in the right leaning London Daily Mail, meanwhile, questioned whether the happy couple's nuptials was really a "suitable event to receive a ruler with the blood of his own people on his hands."

Buckingham Palace has so far refused to confirm whether the King of Bahrain will be attending the ceremony. However, reports in the British media last month stated that Khalifa and some 40 other monarchs -- including the kings of Jordan and Saudi Arabia -- had received a "save the date" fax from Queen Elizabeth II.

As the monarchy never releases an official guest list before a royal wedding, it's possible that the controversy could be quietly resolved before April 29. Earlier today, Britain's Sky News reported that Khalifa might send a family representative in his place, and so avoid causing a scene at London's Westminster Abbey.

But British anti-monarchy group Republic wants William and Kate to take a public stand against Khalifa's anti-democratic aggression, by rescinding invitations to the king and other Middle Eastern "despots and oppressors."

"I would ask the Windsors to spare a thought for those protesters who have been shot, arrested, tortured and killed," Republic's campaign manager Graham Smith wrote in an article for the London Guardian. "Can you look those people in the eye and justify the invitation you have extended to their oppressors?"

Smith went on to question why the royal family had invited so many tyrannical sheiks and sultans in the first place, and yet decided against inviting democratically elected leaders such as U.S. President Barack Obama. "[The Windsor clan] favor status over principle and 'royalty' over legitimacy," he said. "No doubt if Kim Jong Il of North Korea ... were to crown himself King Jong Il, he too would discover new friends in ... Buckingham Palace."

The anti-royal organization had previously pledged not to protest at the site of the young couple's wedding, but a flurry of angry posts on Twitter suggest that Khalifa's presence at the ceremony could attract demonstrators. "What on earth is King Hamad going to wear to Kate & William's wedding?" asked one user on the social networking site. "A military uniform or a blood-stained dishdash?" Another wrote: "To invite murderers and despots must be a FIRST for a Royal wedding. Hope you get a nice present!"

One user pretending to be Kate Middleton addressed an issue that has puzzled many royal-watchers: "Nobody will tell me why the King of Bahrain is still deemed suitable to come to my wedding but Sarah [Ferguson, the Duchess of York] is not. : ( ."