Said Yousif Al-Muhafdha, in exile for defending human rights in his home country of Bahrain

I have been forced into exile for defending human rights in my home country Bahrain
by Said Yousif Al-Muhafdha – 16 DEcemebr, 2013 – Altahrir

It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. But I made it to continue doing the work that matters most to me: documenting the human rights violations in Bahrain that have been ongoing since protests for change began in February 2011. I will stay abroad and work from exile for the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) after receiving numerous death threats for launching a campaign to hold officials accountable for torture.

The BCHR launched a campaign called “Wanted for Justice” from Nov. 1 to Nov. 23, which has involved publishing the names and photos of people responsible for human rights violations in Bahrain. Many of these offenses have gone unpunished. What we want is simple: We want their crimes to be known internationally, and the perpetrators must be held accountable and given fair trials.

We’ve listed 59 people in our report. The allegations range from torturing protesters to arbitrary arrests. The list covers lower level police officers, to Bahrain’s King Hamad himself.

Despite promises of reform and the government-commissioned Bahrain Independent Commission for Inquiry (BICI) report, the situation on the ground is still grim. Human rights violations will only continue as long as those responsible for carrying out torture go unpunished.

Bahrain’s Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa (who took office in 1971) is shown here with Lt. Colonel Mubarak Huwail after he was acquitted of charges related to torturing doctors who treated injured protesters in 2011.

His words to Huwail? “These laws are not to be applied to you.”

This is what so-called reform has looked in Bahrain. All about show, without any real change.

And for documenting and speaking out against these abuses, many members of BCHR have had to pay a price, and we continue to be targeted by the government’s malicious campaigns.

One of the BCHR’s founders, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, was given a life sentence for his role in the 2011 protests. The organization’s current president, Nabeel Rajab, has been serving a two-year jail sentence since July 9, 2012 for his role in protests earlier that year. Acting President Maryam Al-Khawaja cannot go back to Bahrain. In August, she attempted to visit, but was blocked from boarding her British Airways flight on the request of the government.

In fact, a large number of BCHR members have been forced to settle in the United Kingdom and across the globe because of their human rights work. Each of them has a different, heartbreaking story, but there’s a common refrain: They are paying a price for speaking out against human rights violations. …more