Bahrain medics recall jail ‘horror’
By Ali Khalil (AFP) – 26 december, 2011

MANAMA — Shiite Muslim doctors, out on bail in Bahrain pending retrial for their role in pro-democracy protests, look back with horror at months of torture and demand a neutral hearing.

“I can’t talk,” sobbed consultant paediatrician Nader Dawani, recounting how he was forced to stand up for seven days, while being beaten repeatedly, mainly by a female officer.

“She was the harshest. She used to hit me with a hose and wooden canes, many of which broke on my back,” said the frail 54-year-old man.

“They attempted to insert a bottle in my anus,” he recounted.

Dawani is one of a group of medics arrested after security forces in the kingdom ruled by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty crushed a Shiite-led uprising inspired by Arab Spring protests that toppled the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt.

They face a plethora of charges, the most serious of which is occupying the Salmaniya Medical Centre and possessing weapons, while denying access to the hospital to Sunnis as Shiite demonstrators camped in the complex’s car park.

The doctors also stand accused of spreading false news — particularly concerning the condition of wounded protesters — illegal acquisition of medicines and medical facilities, and participating in demonstrations.

Thirteen were convicted by a military court on September 29 and sentenced to between five and 10 years in jail. But before the verdict was handed down, they had already been released and now face retrial before a civil appeals court.

Claims that torture was used against scores of Shiite detainees, including the medics, were upheld in November by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, a panel tasked by King Hamad with investigating the crackdown following an international outcry over alleged human rights violations.

King Hamad said he was “dismayed” by the findings of the report concerning the use of torture, and pledged reforms.

“We do not tolerate the mistreatment of detainees and prisoners,” he said.

Many Shiite medics who were not arrested, like consultant neurosurgeon Taha al-Derazi, lost their jobs just for being photographed at a demonstration.

The medics insist that they are innocent. The commission’s report stated the charges that they inflated the number of protesters injured were unfounded, noting that hospital records showed hundreds were admitted during mid-February.

“All my statements to media were related to the wounded,” said consultant orthopaedic surgeon Ali Alekri, insisting he did not meddle in politics and only led demonstrations against the then health minister who was later sacked.

“Our slogans were clear: sack the minister and his administration for failing to protect medics, halting ambulance movement when needed and giving false information on numbers of casualties,” he said.

“We never called for the fall of the regime,” he added.

Alekri said the medics “need a neutral body,” an “international judicial body” to judge them. “We don’t trust the Bahraini judicial system.”

It was speaking out that got them in trouble, the medics said.

“We are witnesses to the crimes of the regime,” said Dawani, who, like most of his sentenced colleagues, and other foreign and Sunni medics, appear in abundant video footage treating casualties at the SMC accident and emergency department.

Rula al-Saffar, the head of the Bahraini Nursing Society, who faces 15 years in jail, said the authorities wanted to humiliate the Shiite elite.

“We are the elite of Bahrain… They want to tell the well-off Shiite families that they can humiliate them,” said Saffar, 49, who said she shocked her interrogators when she told them her mother was a Sunni.

During five months in custody, Saffar said she treated more than 200 female fellow prisoners who were subjected to torture and did not escape abuse herself.

“At night they would take me blindfolded. I can smell alcohol fuming with their breaths. One interrogator would say: It is the weekend and we are a group. If you don’t confess, we will sleep with you one at a time.”
…source

Bahrain: Demonstrations Continue Facing Regime’s Brutality
Local Editor – moqawama.org

As Bahraini people continue demonstrating against the brutality of the regime in various several towns and villages across the country, the Bahraini forces continue attacking civilian protesters.

Demonstrations were held in the eastern town of Sitra, the northern village of Dair, and several other areas.

Calling for “freedom, reform, and regime change,” protesters chanted slogans against the al-Khalifa ruling dynasty.

However, Saudi-backed regime forces used tear gas to severely disperse the protesters.

In parallel, the latest reports from Bahrain revealed that the al-Khalifa regime has hired armed militia to create fear and horror among the Bahraini people and suppress the revolutionary figures.

According to the reports, the Bahraini militia forces backed up by the military and security forces of the regime attacked the residential areas in Hamad and Dar-al-Kalib and created horror among people.

The Bahraini militia forces also practiced assault and battery against people and destroyed their properties.

Meanwhile, state media announced Saturday that Bahraini authorities had dropped charges relating to freedom of expression against “343 individual suspects in 34 cases” linked to anti-regime demonstrations in February and March.

However, Matar Matar, a member of the main opposition group, al-Wefaq, censured the announcement, saying that it is “a media show, not linked to the application of the recommendations of the independent commission of inquiry.” …source

Bahrain police fire rubbet bullets and tear gas at Shiite opposition offices
23/12/2011 – Bahrain Freedom Movement

Bahrain police attacked the headquarters of the main Shiite opposition party in the capital on Friday, after the group challenged a new government ban on its weekly protests, the Associated Press reported.

Security forces fired rubber bullets at the headquarters and used tear gas to disperse hundreds of people trying to protest elsewhere in the capital. This was the latest episode between Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy and the opposition movement in the last 10 months of unrest. The movement is led by Shiites, the country’s majority, who have long complained of discrimination, the AP reported.

According to Al Jazeera, Matar Matar, a former al-Wefaw member of parliament said the people had given the government proper notice of the protest but police still used excessive force to remove them.

“Today, the government did not allow us to do our protest. Even the legal protests are facing difficulty and the space is reducing for the freedom of expression,” Matar told Al Jazeera. “We were expecting the opposite after the BICI [Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry] report; that there would be more space.”

Read more at GlobalPost: Bahrain: Fresh protests as report charges government with excessive force

This was the first time the weekly Friday protesters were banned by authorities since emergency laws were lifted in June. The Interior Ministry gave reasons for banning the event, including that it would block road traffic and endanger others in the area, the AP reported. The Ministry also said on its Twitter account that a group of people hurled stones at police forces.

Shiite clerics defied government orders on Friday and still held prayer services on the rubble of mosques that had been bulldozed by the government earlier this year. It was the first time Shiite clerics took part in the protest movement, the AP reported. According to the Shiites, at least 38 mosques used by their congregations have been bulldozed since protests began in February. …source

Three demonstrators were subjected to severe torture after being arrested by Bahraini security forces
December 24th, 2011 – BYCHR

The Bahraini security forces yesterday (December 24, 2011) detained three demonstrators, and were subjected to brutal torture.

The Security forces used batons and wooden sticks.

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) interviewed them yesterday.

Additional details:

Dozens of protesters took part in the march (Village of Karzakan).At 5 pm, security forces arrested three protesters.

Security forces detained them in a building belonging to the Ministry of the Interior.

Had been tortured for two hours and then were released.

Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) expresses its deep concern due to torture of demonstrators and demanded an immediate investigation into these allegations. …source