Mahazza Nights: Undeclared State of Emergency and Sweeping Violations

Mahazza Nights: Undeclared State of Emergency and Sweeping Violations
30 November, 2012 – Bahrian Center for Human Rights

Since November 7th, 2012, an undeclared siege has been imposed around Mahazza, one of the Sitra island villages south of the Bahraini capital of Manama. Police forces and civilian militias, accompanied by National Guards in armored vehicles, have been deployed at the main entrances to the village to erect checkpoints, storm several houses without search warrants while arresting scores of citizens without arrest warrants in semi-marshal law situation. The blockade has resulted in the breaking-in of over 160 homes; during these incidents, citizens’ private property and money are confiscated without record or receipt. In addition to these violations, at least 25 people have been arrested (some of which were later released).

Members of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) paid several visits to Mhazzah area to explore the details of the siege, and conducted interviews with those whose houses were subjected to raids and abuses. Residents stated that a blockade similar to that of Aker area had been imposed on Mhazzah village since November 7th, yet the morning of Thursday, November 22, 2012 represented a shift in the nature of the occupation as the raids took place between the hours of 1:30am and 6:15am, where houses and residents were attacked and their privacy was inhumanly invaded without regard for the law.
Reasons for the Beginning of the Siege

The Ministry of Interior (MOI) announced through their official Twitter account on Wednesday, November 7, 2012 that a fire broke out in a car depot which belongs to one of the car dealerships in the Sitra area. Following this, a total siege was imposed around the village of Mhazzah, one house was broken into and Ahmed Abdullah Ibrahim – age 24 – was arrested. His family stated that a group of civilians, accompanied by police forces, surrounded and raided his brother’s house and arrested him without presenting an arrest warrant or providing details of the charges against him. Over a 15-day period, homes raids resulted in the forceful entry of 62 homes and the arrest of 9 people – as shown in the table below. These violations are in addition to the damages caused by terrorizing innocent people in their own homes and attacking their private property.
The Number of Raids Skyrocketed on the Morning of November 22nd, 2012

The Monitoring Team of the BCHR received the initiation news of the 1:30am Mhazzah blockade of Thursday, November 22, 2012, where police forces, backed by civilian militias, launched a series of random, wide-range break-ins which resulted in the storming of nearly 100 homes and the arrest of 14 people – 10 of which were released approximately twenty hours later – and broad damages to residents’ private properties
Residents’ Testimonials Concerning the Novemeber 22nd, 2012 Early Morning Raids:

The wife of fugitive Mr. Abdullah Alawi Abdullah stated that their house was brutally raided on 3 consecutive days. On Thursday 22 Nov 2012 at 4:30am, the door was broken before hooded civilians entered with a policemen who held a shotgun in addition to a photographer from the MOI. As they were leaving the house, a stun grenade was deliberately thrown in the home.

Mohammed Mansour Eid’s sister stated that she woke up to the sounds of breaking objects coming from a neighbor’s home. Loud knockings then sounded at her own door, and masked, civilian men entering her home, along with a MOI cameraman, asking for her brother Faisal who was not found at home. His brother Mohammed was taken as a hostage in order to pressure Faisal to turn himself in to the police. His mobile phone was confiscated as well. When several women tried to free Mohammed from the masked civilians, a stun grenade was fired in their direction. Mohammed’s sister emphasized the fact that in only one week, their house was subjected to six raids led by Officer Yousif Al-Mannaie. …more