Bahrian regime mocks its own BICI report in sentence of police who murdered Journalist Karim Fakhrawi

Bahrain defies BICI report in sentence over death of Karim Fakhrawi
7 January, 2013 – Bahrain Justice and Development Movement

The sentencing of two policemen over the death of opposition politician and journalist Karim Fakhrawi shows a blatant disregard for the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI).

The two were jailed for seven years each, with the charges relating to abuse of a prisoner. In doing so it divorces the case from the systematic torture highlighted in the BICI and treats the case as an isolated incident of abuse rather than torture.

Karim Fakhrawi, killed in detention

The BICI referred to the incident saying, “the witnesses claimed that they had heard him screaming, “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) after every blow he received, and that all of a sudden he stopped. The witnesses stated that after the deceased stopped screaming, they heard one person say to another,“ You killed him.”

Concluding that, “the death of Mr Fakhrawi is attributed to torture while in the custody of the NSA.”

The BICI also made clear that torture whilst in detention was not a one-off thing saying, ““On the basis of the Commission’s investigation and particularly the forensic medical reports, it finds that the NSA and MoI followed a systematic practice of physical and psychological mistreatment, which in many cases amounted to torture, with respect to a large number of detainees in their custody.”

Such a conclusion could not be clearer and the decision to sentence two officers for just 7 years is a clear defiance of the BICI recommendation to “establish a national independent and impartial mechanism to determine the accountability of those in government who have committed unlawful or negligent acts resulting in the deaths, torture and mistreatment of civilians with a view to bringing legal and disciplinary action against such individuals, including those in the chain of command, military and civilian, who are found to be responsible under international standards of “superior responsibility”.”

Despite paying lip service to the BICI, this sentencing only serves to prove the lack of respect the authorities in Bahrain are paying to the BICI. In November 2012 Bahrain received widespread condemnation for failing to implement the BICI, including the Chair of the Commission Cherif Bassiouni.

The BICI aimed to avoid the scapegoating of low-level officers for crimes that clearly go beyond the perpetrators. What’s more the sentence of just 7 years for murder, caused by torture, can be compared to the life sentences handed out to opposition figures that have always called for peaceful protest. …more