One woman’s story of the terror stalking Bahrain
29 September 2011 – Ivana Davidovic -WVoN co-editor – BCHR

It was 1.30 am on March 29 this year when a group of armed men broke into the family home of Jalila al-Salman in the Bahraini capital of Manama.
Some were wearing balaclavas and carrying machine guns. Others had batons.
There were at least 15 of them, ransacking the house, shouting at three terrified children whom they found in the bedrooms upstairs.

They barged into another bedroom where a woman was sleeping. “Don’t be afraid, we are the police!” – one of the men shouted as he held her by the neck, pressing a gun to her head.

You would be forgiven for thinking this was a raid on the house of an international terrorist when, in fact, they were after a female teacher.

“I was just in my nightdress. I had nothing to cover myself. I was on my bed and I thought I was dreaming. I could not believe what was going on.

“There were so many men inside that you could not catch a glimpse of the carpet on the floor. I heard a helicopter above my house.”
Al-Salman is still struggling to comprehend what has happened to her in the last six months – until then she was just the vice-president of the Teachers’ Association and a mother of three children under 12.

“They took me outside where there were over 15 cars parked. They wouldn’t let me say goodbye to my children. I was put on a minibus.

“As we were driving away, they told me to look outside the window as I would never see the outside world again. They hit me and called me horrible names. Names I can’t bring myself to repeat.”

Al-Salman is one of the symbols of repression of the Bahraini regime. Her crime – taking part in the recent non-violent protests at the Pearl Roundabout in Manama.

The protesters had had enough of a country run like a private company. Bahrain has had the same prime minister for 42 years and a large majority of the government and the judiciary belong to the ruling Sunni Al Khalifa family.

They are calling for an end to discrimination against Shias and a fairly elected government with genuine power.

Although parliamentary elections were held on September 24, only 13 nominally independent candidates participated. The opposition boycotted it.

On the night of her arrest the army men and the police were doing the rounds, collecting her colleagues from their beds, dragging them apart from their screaming families.

Al-Salman says that the teachers only went to the Roundabout on the sixth day, Sunday 20 March, after some of the protestors had already been injured and killed. As Bahraini citizens, they refused to accept that kind of treatment. …more

9 sentenced in Bahrain court
Published: Oct. 4, 2011 at 10:49 AM – World News

MANAMA, Bahrain, Oct. 4 (UPI) — A Bahrain military court sentenced nine defendants Tuesday to 15 years in prison on charges of kidnapping a police officer.

Gulf News reported the court, set up by King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa in March, said the police officer, Mohammad Nayef Falah, was taken blindfolded to the house of one of the defendants, kept there illegally and threatened.

In a separate case, the court also sentenced four defendants to 10 years in prison on charges of assaulting and kidnapping a police officer, Saif Allah Mohammad Ebrahim. The court said he was taken from the Pearl Roundabout to the Samaniya Medical Complex and held.

The court also sentenced six defendants to 10 years and eight to five years on charges including “inciting for the toppling of the political regime through the use of force, promoting illegal rallies, resisting the authorities, civil disobedience, going on strike and disseminating false information to undermine the regime,” Gulf News said.

The verdicts can be appealed, the publication said.

Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy violently cracked down on peaceful protests in the spring, most by members of the repressed Shiite majority.
…source

Bahrain bans Shiite ‘human chain’ rally
3-Oct. 2011 – Middle East Online

Head of Public Security says protest could cause traffic bottlenecks, it will be difficult for organisers, security bodies to control human chain outside Al-Wefaq offices in Manama.

DUBAI – Bahraini authorities banned Tuesday the Shiite opposition from organising a demonstration against the jailing of medics and activists over their roles in pro-democracy protests quelled in mid-March.

The head of Public Security, Major General Tareq Mubarak bin Daina, turned down the request by Bahrain’s main Shiite opposition group Al-Wefaq to organise a “human chain” protest in Manama, BNA state news agency said.

The security chief said the location for the protest, which had been planned to take place outside the offices of Al-Wefaq in Zinj, west of Manama, “is not suitable security-wise.”

He said the protest “could cause traffic bottlenecks… while it will be difficult for organisers and security bodies to control the human chain, which might affect the safety of participants and those using the road.”

Bin Daina ordered security measures to ban the event, BNA said.

Al-Wefaq slammed the ban as “illegal” and an “indication of constraints on the freedom of expression,” in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

It said the “human chain for solidarity with the prisoners of conscience and medics” was planned to take place in a secondary road and not on the artery cited in the ban.

On Monday, a Bahraini special court established to try defendants accused of taking part in a month-long Shiite-led protests slapped jail verdicts ranging between 15 and 25 years on 36 Shiites.

The same National Safety Court outraged international human rights organisations by condemning 20 medics to up to 15 years in prison for charges including attempting to overthrow the regime.

It had also sentenced 21 opposition leaders and activists to between two and 25 years over plotting to overthrow the regime in the Gulf monarchy.

Scores of Shiites were also been tried in the quasi-military court, including at least five sentenced to death for killing policemen.

Authorities said in May that 405 detainees had been referred to courts, while 312 were released. …more

Bahrain sentences more activists to jail
Twenty-six more sentenced to jail, raising number to 60 in two days, as officials ban opposition “human chain” protest.
Last Modified: 04 Oct 2011 18:38

After months of protests in the island kingdom, more than 400 people were arrested for their participation [EPA]

A Bahraini security court has sentenced 26 activists to prison for their part in anti-government protests, raising to 60 the total number convicted over the past two days in stepped-up prosecutions.

Bahraini authorities on Tuesday also banned the largely Shia opposition from organising a “human chain” demonstration against the jailing of medics and activists.

The official Bahrain News Agency said Tuesday’s verdicts included members of a Shia political group, Al Amal, which was banned by the Sunni monarchy after pro-reform protests began in February.

The three cases involved the alleged kidnapping of policemen and calls to overthrow the Gulf kingdom’s regime during a month of demonstrations, the chief military prosecutor said.

Among those listed was cleric Mohammed Habib al-Muqdad, who was also convicted of inciting attacks on policemen in sermons delivered at Pearl Roundabout, the focal point of the protests against the Al Khalifa dynasty.

In another case, four defendants, including Muqdad, were jailed for 10 years after being found guilty of kidnapping policeman Saifullah Ibrahim and taking him to Pearl Roundabout, “parading him in front of people gathering there and then to Salmaniya Medical Complex to incarcerate him”, BNA said.

They were also guilty of “spreading false news” through different means including “falsifying images and providing them to satellite channels,” it said.

‘Human Chain’

A top security official on Tuesday rejected a request by Wefaq, Bahrain’s main Shia opposition group, to stage a “human chain” protest because the protest “could cause traffic bottlenecks”.

Major General Tareq Mubarak bin Daina, the head of Public Security, said the planned location of the protest was “not suitable security-wise”, and that the safety of those participating and using the road could be affected.

Wefaq slammed the ban as “illegal” and called it a constraint on freedom of expression, in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

It said the protest was planned to take place in a secondary road and not on the main road cited in the ban.

Second day in a row

Tuesday’s verdicts were issued a day after 36 other Shia were jailed up to 25 years in cases related to the month-long protest which was quashed in mid-March and followed by a wave of arrests.

The same National Safety Court outraged international human rights organisations by condemning 20 medics to up to 15 years in prison for charges including attempting to overthrow the regime.

It had also sentenced 21 opposition leaders and activists to between two and 25 years over plotting to overthrow the regime in the Gulf monarchy.

Scores of Shia were also been tried in the quasi-military court, including at least five sentenced to death for killing policemen.

Authorities said in May that 405 detainees had been referred to courts, while 312 were released.

…source

Bahrain jails Shi’ite party members over protests
04 Oct 2011 12:24 – Source: Reuters – By Jason Benham

DUBAI, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Bahrain on Tuesday sentenced 14 members of a Shi’ite opposition party, including its chairman, to up to 10 years in jail for calling for forcible regime change during Shi’ite-led pro-democracy protests this year, state news agency BNA said.

In two separate cases, nine Shi’ites were sentenced to 15 years in prison and four to 10 years for kidnapping two policemen, BNA said.

The verdicts handed out by a military court are the latest in a series of lengthy sentences imposed since June on opposition figures and protesters involved in an uprising in February and March for reforms in the Sunni-ruled monarchy.

Bahrain quashed the protests in March, helped by troops from its Sunni neighbours Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

At least 30 people were killed, hundreds wounded and more than 1,000 detained — mostly Shi’ites — during the uprising and a crackdown that has drawn fire from human rights groups.

Six members of Bahrain’s Islamic Action Society (Amal), six members received 10-year jail terms and eight were given five-year terms after being convicted of organising illegal protests, broadcasting false news and rumours, and transmitting pictures abroad which harmed Bahrain’s reputation, BNA said.

Nine members of the Shi’ite group were acquitted.

Amal chairman Sheikh Mohammed al-Mahfoodh, who was arrested with other party members in May, was tortured and held in solitary confinement for 45 days, his daughter said.

“He was tortured with electric shocks and whips,” Hajar al-Mahfoodh told Reuters by phone. “There was no tangible evidence to condemn my father or the others.”

She said the men’s access to lawyers was restricted to just five minutes at each of the six court sessions.

In April, the government said it would dissolve Amal and the main Shi’ite opposition group Wefaq, but held off after public criticism from the United States.

“The courts have looked at many cases of trying to ‘overthrow the regime’ since King Hamad came to power. This shows the situation in Bahrain is not stable and political reform is essential for stability,” Mattar Mattar, a member of Wefaq, told Reuters.

“The cases always lack evidence of physical weapons used on the ground. Is it enough to overthrow the regime just through statements?” he said.

BAN ON PLANNED PROTEST

In a separate statement, Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said it would block a planned “human chain” protest by Wefaq around its headquarters in the capital Manama later on Tuesday.

“This most recent attempt to disrupt life in Bahrain and further inconvenience its citizens follows recent weekend rioting in a popular mall and calls for a traffic blockade aimed at preventing people from reaching their places of employment,” the government’s Information Affairs Authority said.

Wefaq said the protest was intended to take place on the service road in front of its headquarters, not on the highway.

Bahrain faces almost daily protests by Shi’ites, angry over a crackdown in which thousands lost their jobs and over government reform plans that fall short of giving the Gulf state’s elected parliament full legislative powers.

Bahrain handed out life sentences on Monday for 14 Shi’ites for killing a Pakistani national in October and sentenced 22 for terms of up to 18 years for attempted murder, “spreading terror”, and inciting hatred of the regime.

Last week a military court sentenced doctors to jail for between 5 and 15 years for occupying a medical complex, using ambulances to transport protesters, storing weapons and other offences which the defendants denied. (Reporting by Jason Benham; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Crackdown in Bahrain Hints of End to Reforms
By THANASSIS CAMBANIS – NYT

This article was published just over one year ago – Published: August 26, 2010

The government said the detainees were suspected of security and terrorism violations, and were not being held for expressing dissident political views.

Many detainees have been held without charge or access to lawyers and family members, human rights advocates said.

MANAMA, Bahrain — The three women in head scarves and black abayas surged into the main atrium of the Seef Mall at 11 p.m. the other night, unfurling a banner outside the Next clothing boutique that read, “It is forbidden to arbitrarily arrest and detain people.”

Three women in head scarves and black abayas surged into the main atrium of the Seef Mall at 11 pm the other night, unfurling a banner outside the Next clothing boutique that read, “It is forbidden to arrest, detain and exile people.”

A picture was taken, and in less than a minute they had dispersed. As they tried to leave, more than a dozen plainclothes and uniformed police officers surrounded one of them, Fakhria al-Singace, pinning her spread-eagled on a cafe table.

“You have no right to arrest me!” she shouted.

“Shut your mouth!” a female officer said as she tried to handcuff Ms. Singace, pulling off her cloaklike abaya in the process. Officers shooed shoppers away and questioned a journalist.

The arrest at one of Bahrain’s busiest late-night spots occurred in the second week of a sweeping crackdown in this island kingdom in the Persian Gulf, a strategic American ally that is home to the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet and that appears to be reconsidering its decade-long flirtation with reform.

Contentious parliamentary elections, in which the Sunni governing family could lose some power to the restive Shiite majority, are scheduled for Oct. 23. Bahrain’s rulers worry that tensions between the West and Iran could provoke instability here, partly because of the close ties between the Shiites and Iran, and partly because of the American naval base, though Bahrain has said it will not allow any attack on neighboring countries from its soil.

Initially, the arrests seemed to single out high-profile Shiite political and human rights leaders, but by Thursday the number of detainees had swelled to 159, and appeared to include many young men not known as activists.

The government said the detainees were suspected of security and terrorism violations, and were not being held for expressing dissident political views.

“The king said 10 years ago we would have freedom,” said Sheik Mohammed Ali al-Mahfoodh, a Shiite cleric and opposition leader who backs an election boycott. “The experiment is now over.”

Many detainees have been held without charge or access to lawyers and family members, human rights advocates said. Local Web sites — blocked this week by the government but accessible through proxy servers — chronicled clashes with riot police officers and allegations of torture, supported by photographs circulated almost instantaneously by BlackBerry.

Supporters of the government have been clamoring for tough action all year. “The only thing the government did wrong was that it went too easy at first,” said Jamal Fakhro, a member of the Shura Council, a body appointed by the king to limit the power of the elected Parliament. “The government has taken hard measures to reinstate security and stability. The people want order.”

Around 3 a.m., at the same time that Ms. Singace was being questioned at the Sanabis police station, Mr. Fakhro received a picture on his BlackBerry of her hoisting the protest banner.

The government said this week that it would no longer tolerate unrest among the Shiite majority, who make up about two-thirds of the population but are barred from many government jobs and face a chronic housing shortage.

Detainees can be held in secret for 15 days under Bahrain’s anti-terrorism statutes, which are applied to people who criticize the government or take part in riots and tire burnings.

Those convicted of compromising national security or slandering the nation can be deprived of health care and other state services, the government said.

“The reform project leaves no excuse or justification, whatsoever, to illegally express opinions that harm the nation,” Deputy Prime Minister Ali bin Khalifa al-Khalifa said.

Bahrain’s royal family ruled under a state of emergency until the current king, Sheik Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, took power in 1999. He created a Parliament, and his security forces disavowed torture.

The kingdom beefed up its security forces with naturalized Sunnis, who are housed in brand new subdivisions in the island’s interior. Shiite opposition groups estimate that 65,000 to 100,000 Sunnis were added to voter rolls in the last decade as part of what they say was sectarian gerrymandering.

“If the Shias took control of the country, they would pop out one eye of every Sunni in the country,” said Amed Abdallah al-Boainain, 21, a resident of Askar, a coastal settlement for Sunnis employed by the security services and the royal court. Two of his brothers work for the police, and he is applying to join them.

Opposition leaders say the government is using a small number of acts of vandalism to fan public hysteria and justify taking down political rivals.

“The government wanted only decorative democracy,” said Khalil Ibrahim al-Marzook, a member of Parliament from the opposition Shiite party Al Wefaq. “Now it is hijacking everything.”

Allegations of torture and police brutality circulate daily. A 23-year-old man nicknamed Abu Maryam showed marks on his ankles and feet, which he said were struck with hoses when he was interrogated about tire burnings.

Still, Shiite youth are continuing to set the fires that so frustrate the government, burning electricity pylons, wiring and traffic lights as well as tires. On a recent night, one 24-year-old said the crackdown would only intensify Shiite anger. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he takes part in the nightly operations, posting photographs of burnings and clashes to opposition Web sites.

“We aren’t provoking violence,” he said. “All we do is burn tires. We don’t hurt anybody. The government won’t give us permits to protest peacefully.”

Shiite clerics and Wefaq leaders have condemned such acts but have rallied the anger of constituents against the government, which they maintain treats Shiites as second-class citizens.

This year, opposition politicians united across sectarian lines to investigate official corruption. Sunni and Shiite legislators collaborated on a report that accused the royal family of illegally appropriating one-tenth of Bahrain’s scarce public land.

Opposition leaders have also accused the United States of turning a blind eye. “Bahrain is important to the United States for security issues,” the American ambassador, J. Adam Ereli, said in a telephone interview. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t raise human rights issues as well.”

The crackdown began on Aug. 13, when the opposition leader Abduljalil al-Singace was arrested after returning from a conference in London, where he criticized Bahrain for rights violations. The arrests of three other prominent Shiite activists followed, and his sister Fakhria was later detained at the Seef Mall.

Thirteen days after Mr. Singace’s arrest, around midnight on Thursday night, his lawyer was allowed to see him for the first time, Mr. Singace’s daughter Zahra said. The public prosecutor had not yet brought any charges.

“The government is using anti-terrorism laws, but only against opposition members and human rights activists,” said Nabeel Rajab, director of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. “Bahrain should be in the Guinness Book of World Records. This is a country that has discovered 20 supposed coup attempts in the last 20 years.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: September 16, 2010 …source

Bahrain: Deteriorating human situation as leaders and doctors jailed
Bahrain Freedom Movement – 02/10/2011

The martyrdom of Jaffar LutfAllah, 74, from Abu Saibe’ village on Friday 30th September has enraged the people of Bahrain and called on the international community to take serious actions to stop the onslaught by Saudi and Al Khalifa forces on the country. Mr LutfAllah had inhaled large amounts of chemical gases fired by the regime’s security forces on Sunday 18th September and went into coma. He was taken to hospital and passed away 12 days later.

The family described in detail the crime to the Bissiouni committee supposedly investigating the crimes committed by the Al Khalifa against the people, but it failed to take serious action. The attack happened when the regime’s forces attacked a peaceful protest near the entrance of the village with large amounts of chemical and tear gases. It has now been established that those forces often throw gas canisters inside people’s homes where the effect of the gases become more lethal in confined spaces. This brings to four the number of martyrs in September. The earlier martyrs are: Ali Al Sheikh, Jaffar Hassan Yousuf and Sayyed Jawad Sayyed Ahmad.

Meanwhile it has been reported that the health of both Abdul Wahab Hussain and Dr Abdul Jalil Al Singace have deteriorated as a result of hunger strike and ill-treatment by the regime’s torturers. Today is the eighth day of the strike. The leading figures who had been incarcerated in Al Khalifa jails since the Saudis invaded Bahrain in March had gone on hunger strike to protest the vicious attacks on women that had taken place last week. News from inside the jail have confirmed that the hunger strikers have been severely punished in recent days. They have been denied medical care which is greatly needed as most of them suffer various illnesses due to relatively old age and ill treatment. More than 30 women had been arrested, shackled and thrown on the street before being taken to torture cells. Images of women, handcuffed and scattered on the roads had cause enormous anger and pain among the people who, unlike the Al Khalifa, hold women at high esteem and respect. Senior religious scholars had also staged a protest against the ill-treatment of Bahraini women by the Saudi-backed Al Khalifa forces. A rally was held on Thursday by Bahraini women to protest this crime and was addressed by former women hostages including the poet, Ayat Al Qurmuzi.

On another level the international community has been outraged by the death and lengthy prison sentences passed by the military court against a large number of Bahrainis. On Wednesday 28th September the Saudi and Al Khalifa clans, through their military court, confirmed the earlier prison sentences passed against the leading figures. Eight were given life sentences and 14 were given prison sentences ranging between 5 and 15 years. On Thursday 29th September, 20 doctors were sentenced to lengthy prison sentences. Most were given 15 years and the rest five to ten years. The doctors were released two weeks ago in response to international pressures only to be charged and summoned by the military court to serve their jail terms. The American President, as usual, expressed “concern” at these sentences while the British Foreign Secretary condemned them. Irish doctors who had staged hunger strike last month in support of Bahraini doctors, are planning to lobby the American professional bodies to take action in support of these victims whose main crime was performing their duties and treating the victims of the vicious attacks by the Saudi and Al Khalifa forces in March.

The Saudi and Al Khalifa forces have continued to arrest more Bahrainis. Among the latest are seven from Bilad Al Qadeem, arrested on Friday 30th September: Abd Ali Hayat, his daughter, Fathiya and two sons: Jassim, Mohammad . Three brothers were also arreste; Ahmad Al Madani and his two brothers; Hussain and Abdulla. Demonstrations have continued in various parts of the country. Last night the people of Dair took to the streets but were severely attacked by hooded members of the Death Squads when they reached Zakariya Al Ahsiri Square.

Bahrain Freedom Movement
2nd October 2011