Bahrain rights activist’s wife details torture, unfair trial

Bahrain rights activist’s wife details torture, unfair trial

Bahrain’s crackdown on the pro-democracy uprising has shifted from the streets to courtrooms, workplaces, and schools. One prisoner’s wife describes sexual assault and psychological abuse. — By Kristen Chick, Correspondent – May 16, 2011 – Cairo

A prominent Bahraini rights activist tried to tell a judge today how he was sexually assaulted and threatened with rape while in government custody. But Abdulhadi al-Khawaja was forcefully removed from the courtroom. Another defendant, the elderly Mohammed Hassan Mohammed Jawad, also tried to show the judge signs of torture on his body, but was also silenced, say witnesses.

Mr. Khawaja and Mr. Jawad are among 21 Bahrainis – mostly Shiite human rights activists, clerics, and political leaders – charged with trying to overthrow the Sunni monarchy that rules this small kingdom and of having links to a “terrorist organization.” They were arrested amid the country’s pro-democracy uprising that began in February and though many have experienced jail before, family members say they have been treated much more harshly this time.

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“It has never been like this,” says Khawaja’s wife, Khadija Moussawi, who was present at the court hearing today and was reached by phone in Manama. “Before he was in jail, [but] he wasn’t tortured like this, he wasn’t beaten up like this, he wasn’t psychologically tortured.”

Detainees’ allegations of sexual assault and physical abuse contradict the monarchy’s attempt to show the kingdom is getting back to normal.

Last week, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani announced that emergency declared in March would be lifted June 1. Supplementary elections will be held in September to replace the parliamentary members who resigned over the government crackdown. Bahrain Grand Prix officials have said they were ready to hold a Formula One race, which had been called off amid the protests.

But activists say the widespread crackdown has simply moved from the streets to courtrooms, workplaces, and schools. …more