Forty years after the British withdrawal
Bahrain Freedom Movement – 25/08/2011

Bahrain: From colonialism to dictatorship and occupation

In mid-August 1971 Britain withdrew its forces from all areas east of Suez, including Bahrain. The end of the 150 years of British protection heralded a new era of extreme repressive dictatorship. How much did the British legacy influence the subsequent decades? How deeply-rooted is the on-going revolution in that legacy? Can the regime survive?

Tuesday 23rd August 2011

House of Lords, London

Lord Avebury, Vice Chairman Parliamentary Human Rights Group: As most of you know, we have been holding seminars on human rights and democracy in Bahrain here in the Palace of Westminster for the best part of two decades in the hope of conributing in a small way to the struggle by the people for their freedom, and my correspondence also dates back to 1993. The Bahrain Minister of the Interior then, who was needless to say a member of the prolific al-Khalifa family, was referring to the Committee for the Defence of Political Prisoners as a ‘terrorist-controlled propaganda organisation’, and Ian Henderson, a British citizen, was head of the Bahrain security apparatus, where he presided over the systematic torture and detention without trial of opponents of the government.

Today the al-Khalifas still exercise absolute power, now with a fake parliament and gerrymandered elections as a smokescreen for the same pattern of abuse: mass arrests, show trials, torture to extract confessions, extrajudicial executions, and two added twists compared with 20 years ago: the systematic dismissal from jobs in the private as well as the public sector of anyone suspected of being sympathetic to the opposition, and the recruitment of Sunni mercenaries from Syria, Yemen and Pakistan to beef up the security forces and change the demographic balance of the population.

To protect himself and his family against international obloquy for these heinous crimes against the people, the king has appointed a commission of inquiry, to look into charges of gross abuses of human rights, but only during the months of February and March, and not up to the time they arrived in Bahrain in July when the abuses were continuing unabated. It was a mistake for the investigation to be conducted by a body appointed by the man who stands at the apex of the alleged criminal activities.. The right approach would have been for an independent inquiry by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, as indeed she contemplated originally. Even if the royal commission had preserved its distance from the government, the perception would have been that, owing its existence to the king, it would be susceptible to influence by the boss. In practice, it seems they have had a cosy relationship with the oligarchs. The chairman, Mr Cherif Bassiouni, has exonerated the king and the crown prince of any responsibility for the actions of their government; has praised the interior minister, the attorney-general and the military prosecutor; he says that there was no proof whatsoever of crimes against humanity, and he declares that if there are no signs of torture on a person’s body, that means he wasn’t tortured. As most people know, and Mr Bassiouni must surely be aware as a human rights expert, there are methods of torture that don’t leave marks, such as water-boarding, low-level electric shocks, or sexual abuse. …more

Governments attack Twitter activists
24 August 2011 – IFEX

The governments of at least three Arab countries – Egypt, Bahrain and Kuwait – have launched investigations into or prosecuted Twitter activists, provoking other countries in the region to follow suit, reports the Arabic Network of Human Rights Information (ANHRI).

In Egypt, activist Asmaa Mahfouz faces a military investigation for her comments on Twitter and Facebook, in addition to a phone call she had made to a religious satellite channel, that “insulted the military,” report ANHRI and Human Rights Watch. Mahfouz had criticised the military for failing to intervene to protect protesters on 23 July. Although she was released on 20,000 Egyptian Pounds (US$3,400) bail, Mahfouz still awaits trial.

The Mahfouz case is the latest in a series of moves prosecuting critical expression by Egypt’s military, which is increasingly setting narrower and narrower limits on what is permissible, Human Rights Watch said. According to Human Rights Watch, military courts have sentenced at least 10,000 civilians since January 2011 after unfair proceedings.

Bahrain started targeting Twitter users last April when it investigated well-known rights activist Nabeel Rajab for publishing a picture of a Bahraini citizen who allegedly died after being tortured in police custody. According to ANHRI and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), of which Rajab is president, another investigation is planned into Rajab’s tweets. …more

Bahrain police clash with protesters
Aug 25, 2011

Bahraini protesters wear masks to avoid being identified by regime forces. Saudi-backed Bahraini police have clashed with peaceful protesters who are demanding an end to the decades-long rule of the Al Khalifa regime in the country.

The clashes took place on Wednesday night in the village of Nuwaidrat where young men and women staged a protest rally to demand the downfall of the Al Khalifah regime, witnesses said. Saudi-backed police forces resorted to firing tear gas to disperse demonstrators after more people joined the protesters chanting anti-regime slogans.

Male protesters were wearing masks to avoid being identified by the police. Nuwaidrat was not the only village in Bahrain to see overnight anti-regime protests. Demonstrators in the village of Sanabis also took to the streets on Wednesday, chanting slogans against the rule of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

A separate demonstration also took place in the village of Dair.

Bahrainis have been holding anti-government rallies since mid-February, demanding the Al Khalifa dynasty to release its four-decade grip on power in the Persian Gulf country. Scores of people have been killed, many under torture in prison, and hundreds more have been arrested in a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters in Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

In March, a number of Persian Gulf Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, deployed military forces to Bahrain in an attempt to assist Manama quell peaceful protests. …source

Saudi-backed raids continue in Bahrain
shiapost – August 25, 2011

Saudi-backed security forces in Bahrain continue their brutal crackdown against protesters who are demanding an end to the rule of the Al Khalifa regime in the country. Latest footage posted online showed police firing teargas to disperse peaceful demonstrations in the town of Sanabis, the capital of Manama.

Bahraini human rights activists said the incident happened on Wednesday night after police stormed the village. Meanwhile, more images have surfaced, showing Saudi-backed police conducting overnight attacks in Bahraini towns. Anti-government protesters have been holding massive protest rallies across Bahrain since mid-February.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deployed military forces to Bahrain in mid-March to assist the Manama government in its violent crackdown on the popular protests. …source

Bahrain: Sectarian cleansing campaign to the security institutions
31 July 2011 – BCHR

Bahrain’s regime aims at the slight Shiites manpower in the police and the army by killing, torturing and imprisoning. This campaign comes after decades of excluding Shiites out of military. Bahrain’s regime aims at the slight Shiites manpower in the police and the army by killing, torturing and imprisoning…

Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses its deep grave due to the crackdown led by the regime in Bahrain against anyone expressing his/her views demanding freedom, democracy and human rights, this time it affected the employees of both Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense which are chaired by members of the ruling family. The authorities have killed, arrested, and demobilized large numbers of their employees, BCHR has documented more than 248 cases.

Since decades Bahrain’s regime practiced the policy of sectarian discrimination in the military, in the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defense and any other military institutions. Since the seventies and after the independence of Bahrain, the Bahraini authority led a sectarian discrimination and marginalization campaign conduce to separate and imprison large number of military personnel, this discrimination against Shiite in these institutions continued until this day, reaching its peak in last March, through murdering, imprisonment and torturing lots of Shiites working in the police and the army. To fill this void in the military institutions, Bahrain’s regime employs foreign forces in the security forces and the army.

Since Monday, February 14, 2011 peaceful demonstrations inspired by the Arab spring in Tunisia and Egypt broke out in Bahrain, and many workers at the military stood side by side with the rest of the people demanding freedom, political and civil rights guaranteed by the international human rights covenants as well as the Constitution of Kingdom of Bahrain. Thursday, February 17, forces launched a surprised attack on the peaceful protestors at the Pearl Square in the early morning hours. This sparked an outrage among Bahraini people of all sects, affiliations and orientations, protests promoted Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, to appear on the official TV trying to ease the demonstration and announced that every citizen has the right to express his opinion peacefully. …more

Pakistan to send more troops to Bahrain
23/08/2011 – August 22, 2011

TEHRAN – Pakistan has agreed to dispatch more mercenaries to Bahrain to help Al Khalifa regime’s crackdown on anti-government protesters in the Persian Gulf state.

The agreement was reached when President Asif Ali Zardari met King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa during his one-day visit to Bahrain on Wednesday last, Iranian news agency IRNA reported.

Manama has been recruiting former soldiers and policemen from Pakistan at a steady rate to strengthen the government’s forces. In many demonstrations, Bahraini protesters shouted slogans against Pakistani security forces in Urdu. Pakistani and Saudi forces have played a major rule in suppressing anti-government protests in Bahrain since the beginning of unrest in the Persian Gulf country.

Tens of thousands of Bahraini protesters have been holding peaceful anti-government rallies throughout the Middle Eastern country since February, demanding an end to the rule of the Al Khalifa family.

Scores of people have been killed and many more arrested and tortured in prisons in a government-sanctioned crackdown on protests since the beginning of the demonstrations.

According to a Bahraini human rights group, there are currently over 1,000 political detainees inside the country. …source

Installation of mechanisms for the prevention of torture and ill-treatment
Public submission to the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry – Geneva, August 2011 – APT Association for Prevention of Torture

Background

The Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) is an independent non-governmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, that specializes in the prevention of torture and other forms of ill-treatment. The APT has been working with the Government of Bahrain and Bahraini NGOs from 2008 until June 2010 on raising awareness about the prevention of torture and ill-treatment, in particular in the context of follow-up to commitments and pledges that Bahrain has taken in the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review process (UPR) in 2008. Namely, the UPR Steering Committee had invited the APT to conduct two trainings on the prohibition and prevention of torture for the Bahraini judiciary and law enforcement in May 2009 and in June 2010.

The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) is mandated to investigate and report about the events that occurred in February and March 2011 and to make recommendations on providing justice and ensuring non-repetition. The BICI can thus, inter alia, make “recommendations concerning the institutionalization of mechanisms designed to prevent the recurrence of similar events” (Royal Decree No. 28 of 2011, §10) Based on APT’s mandate and expertise on prevention, this public submission will focus on suggesting measures and mechanisms to prevent torture and other ill-treatment. …more

Russia Strikes First Bahrain Arms Deal After U.K., French Bans
By Henry Meyer and Ilya Arkhipov – Aug 25, 2011 2:01 PM MT – Bloomberg

Russia for the first time is selling weapons to Bahrain after the U.K. and France banned deliveries of security equipment to the Gulf monarchy because of its crackdown on protesters.

Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state-run arms trader, says it wants more business in Bahrain. The country is selling AK103 Kalashnikovs with grenade launchers and ammunition for tens of millions of dollars to Bahrain, according to a person close to the Russian Defense Ministry who declined to be identified because the information isn’t public.

In February, France and the U.K. revoked export licenses for security equipment that could be used to quash internal unrest in Bahrain after government forces shot dead several protesters. At least 30 people were killed in this year’s uprising in Bahrain, a U.S. ally situated between Qatar and Saudi Arabia that is home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

“The relationship between Russia and Bahrain has been increasingly getting stronger,” Abdul-Aziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, a Bahraini government spokesman, said by phone on Aug. 24 from the capital, Manama. “We are looking to cooperate with Russia in trade and technical services. One of the fields is in the area of light arms.”

He declined to comment on the details of specific contracts. Rosoboronexport Chief Executive Officer Anatoly Isaikin last week said Bahrain has become a new customer for Russian armaments.

“States in the region are interested in Russian air- defense systems, aviation equipment and weapons for ground forces,” the Moscow-based company said in an e-mailed response Aug. 24 to questions from Bloomberg News about the arms deal.
Human Rights

Bahraini security forces beat paramedics, doctors and nurses who treated the wounded during the uprising and prosecutors charged dozens of medical workers with crimes such as “incitement against the regime,” according to Human Rights Watch. In June, the U.S. put Bahrain on its list of human-rights violators.

“We will not issue licenses where we judge there is a clear risk that the proposed export might provoke or prolong regional or internal conflicts, or which might be used to facilitate internal repression,” U.K. Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said on Feb. 18.

Rosoboronexport said a mutually beneficial partnership between the two countries would help to strengthen Russia’s position among the Gulf’s U.S.-allied monarchies. …more

BJDM Call for Postponing of Bahraini By-Election
By admin – August 25, 2011

The Bahrain Justice and Development Movements believe the forth coming by elections in Bahrain must be postponed, as they will not legitimately represent the will of the people.

The September by-election is due to replace the 18 MP’s that resigned in February in protest at the treatment of pro-democracy demonstrators.

All 18 previous MP’s came from Bahrain’s largest opposition party, Al Wefaq, who along with other opposition groups have boycotted the by-election.

The lack of any real opposition is just one of many reasons why the poll cannot take place at this time.

Primarily, the Bahrain Government is trying very hard to portray the country as having ‘returned to normal’ following the state of emergency that was their response to the mass protests of February and March.

This is simply not the case. Hundreds of political prisoners still languish in jails, whilst there has been no justice for those injured and killed by Security Forces. An election cannot take place amidst this backdrop, with so many potential opposition voters having their suffrage removed.

Furthermore, the recent national dialogue did nothing to address the very serious problems that Bahrain has with its electoral process. One of the biggest stumbling blocks for democratic change is the unfair distribution of voting constituencies. Despite opposition candidates winning the more than half of the overall votes, they still always find themselves in a minority in parliament.

We believe that before an election can take place, the field must be levelled. All political prisoners must be released from prison and serious democratic reforms have to be made.

Until this point any election will be considered illegitimate. We reject this sham democracy and instead demand the basic democratic rights that the people of Bahrain have been demanding for years.

Ali Al Aswad, a former MP who resigned in February and whose seat is being replaced, said:

“Not re-contesting my seat was a very difficult decision for me, but one which was made out of principle. We simply cannot endorse this mock election and we ask that it be postponed until basic democratic conditions are met.” …more