Posts from — April 2013

Father dies after hearing his son’s arrest, torture, screaming
Shia Post – 30 March, 2013

A 66-years-old Bahrain man AbdulGhani AlRayyes, father of detained Ahmed AbdulGhani AlRayyes (36-years-old) has been died after he was not allowed to see his son who he heard screaming, and fell unconscious inside the local police station, The Shia Post reported.

AbdulGhani AlRayyes (66 years old) went to Budaiya police station at 11:24pm (Bahrain Local Time) on Sunday to ask about his son, reportedly heard him screaming inside and being beaten.

He was not allowed to see Ahmed, and forced out of the police station. He fell unconscious and was moved to the International Hospital of Bahrain.

The death certificate stated “dead on arrival” as the immediate cause of death without mentioning the fact that he has hypertension.

Ahmed AlRayyes was shortly released after news of his fathers death. AbdulGhani AlRayyes’s daughter fainted after hearing news of her fathers death, and had to be moved to the hospital.

Ahmed AbdulGhani AlRayyes (born in 1986) was arrested from his home in Duraz during a house raid on 31 March 2013, his brother, Hussain, had recently been injured with pellets due to use of excessive force by security forces.

He was shot in the abdomen approximately two months ago by security forces and left bleeding; he has so far needed two operations.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses its grave concern at the continuation of beatings inside police stations, excessive use of force and the effect it has on the families of victims. …source

Family Friend Consoles one of AbdulGhani AlRayyes Sons

Bahrain: 16, Including Minors, Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison in Unfair Trial
29 March, 2013

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses grave concern over the detention and sentencing of 16 Bahraini citizens to 15 years imprisonment without clear evidence of the charges brought against them. The authorities in Bahrain have been arbitrarily arresting, detaining and sentencing citizens from protest areas in sham trials.

The Ministry of Interior claims that in July 2012 a police patrol was attacked in an attempt to kill policemen.

A MOI vehicle was burned and no causalities or injuries were announced by the ministry. The event was followed by an arrest campaign in a nearby village and many were taken into custody.

On 21 March 2013, the higher criminal court sentenced 16, some of them minors, to 15 years’ imprisonment and BD10,508 fine after charging them with attempted murder of policemen while on duty, arson of a vehicle owned by the MOI, illegal gathering and possession of Molotov cocktails.

The BCHR documentation and monitoring team met with some of the families of the 16 sentenced to document their cases:

Ahmed Yousif is only 16 years old. He was arrested after his house was raided early morning on 15 July 2012. Ahmed was reportedly beaten and tortured during arrest and interrogation in roundabout 17 – Hamad Town police station.

Hussain Mohammed, 17 years old, was kidnapped by a civilian car on 10 July 2012 when he was with his friend in their neighborhood. His family searched for him but did not hear from him until many hours later. According to his family, Hussain was tortured at the police station and in a prison visit he told them not to talk about the political situation because they record the conversations and whoever discusses such topics is then reportedly subjected to beatings and torture. …more

Bahraini court refuses to drop charges against two medic
28 March, 20130 – Islamic Invitation Turkey

A Bahraini court has refused to drop the charges against two medical personnel over their participation in protest rallies against the ruling Al Khalifa regime.

Defense lawyer Abdullah al-Shamlawi said the pair did not appear in court on Thursday.

He added that the court ordered charges against 21 other medical staffers to be dropped.

Last October, five doctors lost their appeals against convictions of protest-related offenses.

Dozens of doctors and nurses, mostly from Salmaniya Hospital, have been arrested by Bahraini forces for treating wounded protesters and taking part in anti-regime demonstrations.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights says authorities have denied medical help to jailed nurse, Haleema al-Sabagh.

Sabagh was sentenced to one year in prison after being arrested in Salmaniya Hospital.

The Bahraini uprising began in mid-February 2011. The Bahraini government promptly launched a brutal crackdown on the peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring states.

Dozens of people have been killed in the crackdown, and the security forces have arrested hundreds, including doctors and nurses accused of treating injured revolutionaries.

A report published by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry in November 2011 found that the Al Khalifa regime had used excessive force in the crackdown and accused Manama of torturing political activists, politicians, and protesters.

The protesters say they will continue holding anti-regime demonstrations until their demand for the establishment of a democratically elected government is met. …source

Bahraini Protests starts Paying Off , as 21 Medics convictions reversed By Court , Pledges to get others freed
30 March, 2013 – Jafria News

Bahriani Medic Released from JailJNN 30 Mar 2013 Manama , An appeals court in Bahrain has reversed the convictions of 21 medics arrested in connection to anti-government protests in 2011. Along with dozens of others, some of whom are still jailed, they helped treat the wounded in the mass unrest.

The physicians, nurses and other hospital workers were convicted last November on misdemeanor charges over their treatment of injured protesters, and for participating in “illegal assemblies.” Some of the accused said their convictions were based on false confessions extracted under torture.

They are now cleared from having to spend three months in prison or paying 200 dinars ($530). Two more similar cases remain open, as the suspects failed to appear in court.

The international medic community hailed the decision as a victory, but said the fight for justice is not yet over.

“The kingdom must now demonstrate a renewed commitment to civil and human rights by compensating the health professionals who were wrongly arrested, mistreated, and convicted; restoring all of those wrongly dismissed to their jobs; freeing others still serving prison sentences on similarly spurious convictions; and fairly prosecuting the officials responsible for these outrageous rights violations,” Dr. Deborah D. Ascheim, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) board chair said.

“We need to see the accountability established. And those who are responsible of torturing the doctors and arresting the doctors and putting forth charges and crimes against the doctors and giving them all this pain, they should be brought to justice. This is the priority,” Dr. Nada Dhaif, one of the acquitted doctors told RT.

Dr. Nabeel Tammam, a surgeon at Salmaniya Medical Complex in Manama, is one of the 21 whose conviction was overturned. “We will continue our pressure until we gain the freedom of all the rest of the medics still in jail,” Dr. Tammam told PHR, “because we believe that they are innocent and that all they did was to perform their humanitarian duty.”

The acquitted medics were among the 82 workers arrested between February and March 2011 for providing medical treatment to protesters. The charges against them went as far as claiming they attempted to overthrow the regime.

In September 2011, 20 of the medics were sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. However, in 2012 they were retried by a civilian court. Nine of them had their sentences reduced to 1 to 3 years in jail; two, who remain at large, had their sentences sustained; nine were acquitted after being found innocent.

Anti-government protests have rocked Bahrain since February 2011, as demonstrators call for an end to the Al-Khalifa monarchy, which has ruled the country since 1974. Hundreds have been arrested, and thousands have lost their jobs. Scores of people have also testified that they were tortured during their arrest.

Bahraini human rights activists have unsuccessfully called on the international community to intervene, over what they have called a suppression of the country’s opposition. A common thread of discontent among protesters is over discrimination against the country’s Shiite majority at the hands of the predominantly Saudi Backed Wahabi government.

Nearly 100 people have been killed since the start of the uprising. ..source