- The European Tour drops Bahrain from its 2012 schedule
- Volvo Golf Champions was due to be played at Bahrain's Royal Golf Club
- Tour hope to return in future
- The postponement follows cancellation of Bahrain's F1 GP
(CNN) -- The European Tour has dropped Bahrain from its 2012 schedule.
The second Volvo Golf Champions tournament was due to be played at the Royal Golf Club, a course designed by British golfer Colin Montgomerie, in January next year.
But following a crackdown on anti-government protestors that left at least 32 people dead the European Tour has decided to drop Bahrain from the schedule, for now at least.
"With work still ongoing to resolve issues in Bahrain and the need to confirm the venue by the end of July 2011, the difficult decision to postpone the event for 2012 was taken," the Tour said in a statement.
But Bahrain would, it confirmed, remain on its roster.
--George O'Grady, European Tour
"We know that Bahrain is working hard to address the issues it has faced in recent months, as well as to reach out to the international community," said George O'Grady from the European Tour.
"We, together with the European Tour players, look forward to returning and building on that first, very successful, event in the future."
The postponement of next January's tournament will be seen as another blow to a Bahrain government keen to show the world that stability has returned to the island following months of anti-government unrest. In June motor sport's governing body, the FIA, cancelled Bahrain's 2011 F1 Grand Prix amid security fears.
Red Bull's Australian driver Mark Webber raised ethical concerns about hosting a major sporting event in the Kingdom.
"In my personal opinion, the sport should have taken a much firmer stance earlier this year rather than constantly delaying its decision in the hope of being able to reschedule it in 2011," Webber wrote on his personal web site in June.
"It would have sent a very clear message about F1's position on something as fundamental as human rights and how it deals with moral issues."
FIFA has also asked the Bahraini authorities to explain the jailing of several national football team players. Alaa Hubail, a striker who played 52 times for his country, was sentenced to two years in prison for his involvement in "illegal protests".
A spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the sentences being handed down to protestors.
"There are serious concerns that the due process rights of the defendants, many of whom are well-known human rights defenders, were not respected and the trials appear to bear the marks of political persecution," said Ravina Shamdasani.
When asked by CNN about the arrest of the footballers the Bahraini FA confirmed several had been arrested, but claimed they had been treated fairly according to the law.
"The players have been arrested, investigated and detained for having opposed the general laws and bylaws of the country," the vice-president of the Bahraini Football Association, Sheikh Ali bin Khalifa al Khalifa, told CNN back in June before Hubail's sentence was handed down.
"The fact that they happen to be footballers and national team players is highly irrelevant."
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