Belligerent Bahrian Regime boasts Human Rights Progress at UPR, then targets Activists who spoke-out at UPR

Bahrain deteriorating
By Brian Dooley – September, 2012 -Foreign Policy

Bahraini human rights activists who went to Geneva to tell the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) about the kingdom’s ongoing government crackdown are again being targeted, this time in the wake of last week’s conclusion to Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process. In May, several activists were threatened on social media and criticized in government-friendly newspapers because they appeared in Geneva to participate in the UPR. At that time, Laura Dupuy Lasserre, president of the HRC, reminded the Bahraini government that “we are all duty bound to ensure that nobody is persecuted on his return to his country for having participated in meetings of the human rights council or other bodies.” Bahrain clearly didn’t understand her message.

Right now, Bahraini activists who gave their side of the story in Geneva as part of the UPR are being targeted by government-supporting media in Bahrain. The Al Watan newspaper has featured their names and also published a photo with the activists’ faces ringed in red. In Bahrain, such a “ringing is red” is taken as a threat and has often been a precursor to arrest. Newspaper reports suggest the activists have “contributed to the distortion of Bahrain’s reputation abroad.” One human rights defender, Mohammed Al Maskati, said he received death threats by phone while in Geneva. Such developments signal a further escalation of suspicion about what’s happening in Bahrain. The one thing that Bahraini officials, U.S. government leaders, the opposition, and international NGOs all seem to agree on is that things are bad and probably getting worse.

Earlier this month, the most prominent opposition leaders and dissidents in Bahrain were sentenced to long jail terms after the trumped up charges against them were affirmed by an appeals court. Leading human rights defenders Nabeel Rajab and Zainab Al Khawaja have also recently been detained; Rajab was given a three-year sentence for his part in “illegal gatherings.” And dozens of others are living in limbo. The verdicts for 28 medics detained and tortured last year were again delayed, this time from September 11 to October 2.

Last week, the ministry of the interior announced it will soon “tackle crimes related to defamation and abuse on social media networks” after “it was noticed that some people were using the communication technology to abuse national and public figures through the Internet.” Bahrain is ruled by the Al Khalifa monarchy and its supporters. It’s clear that we should all expect a crackdown on anyone ridiculing the Bahraini royals on Twitter or participating in other forms of non-violent political dissent. The prime minister, coincidentally the king’s uncle, also declared last week that protests in the capita, Manama, would not be tolerated. He noted that opposition groups had “tried to turn Bahrain into a playground for subversion, anarchy and social divide.”

Some protests have taken on a violent edge in recent months as police clash with a minority of demonstrators using petrol bombs and other missiles. Violence doesn’t occur at every protest, but a common pattern is for a protest to deteriorate into missile throwing from a small number of demonstrators while police fire tear gas or rubber bullets or sometimes birdshot. Three weeks ago, a 16 year-old boy was shot dead by police. …more