King Hamads, Human Rights Ball – No Honor for the Invited, complete with celebratory torture, gassing and murder

Bahrain’s Commission of Inquiry Report: Whitewashing a Counter-Revolution?
November 22, 2011 – By: Alaa Shehabib – Alakhbar

Tuesday, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) will publish the findings of its three month investigation into violations of human rights. In utter insensitivity to the victims, the panel of government-appointed international law experts will hand over their report to the King of Bahrain at a “launch party” at his palace.

Apparently the head of the king’s Royal Court, one of the notorious hardliners in the ruling family who had a hand in the state’s repression, sees this occasion as some kind of celebration.

Much fanfare is expected, and invitations have been sent directly to the doorsteps of journalists and international NGOs, after locking them out of the country, if not throwing them out over the past eight months.

Meanwhile, local NGOs like the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, that has been the strongest advocate of victims, has been kept off the invitation list.

Critics’ skepticism towards the commission largely stems from the way it was established, through a unilateral decision by the King, reinforcing the key problem of authoritarianism in the country. No consultations of any sort over the decision to establish the commission, its functions, its mandate, the terms of reference or selection of commissioners took place; not with the victims nor with civil society organizations.

To make things worse the commission’s chairperson, Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni persistently made statements to the press that absolved the head of state of responsibility over human rights violations right from the very start.

This seriously affected the perception of partiality of the commission. At one point, thousands of protestors gathered on BICI’s premises to protest the failures of the government, forcing the commission to close.

The statistics are baffling – since February 14 when the uprising began, over 1500 have been arrested, 500 remain in detention, including my husband, 45 people have been killed, hundreds wounded and nearly 3000 sacked from their jobs.

The campaign of persecution was relentless and unceasing. One of its latest victims is 16 year old Ali Alsatrawi. His dismembered body was buried just three days ago, after being driven over by a police security jeep.

Despite the violence, the people of Bahrain continue in their brave ‘intifada’ with daily protests. By the Ministry of Interior’s own account, they have “dealt with” 1300 protests over the past five months. The uprising in Bahrain has not been ‘crushed’ or ‘quelled’ despite the introduction of Saudi troops in March.

People like myself affected by the repressive government crackdown with family members that have been killed, tortured, fired, expelled, or are in exile or in hiding, will be the most capable of judging this report.

My husband, Ghazi Farhan, was arrested on April 12 and later sentenced to 3 years in jail. He is completely apolitical. The anger I have is not because I am separated from my husband or have become a single mother with a newborn baby. It is much deeper. It is because of the repeated cycles of injustices that each generation has had to face over the past century that culminated in the biggest uprising in Bahrain’s history.

This regime has sought to radically alter the make up of the country’s population – through political naturalization of thousands of foreigners – and the physical land mass of the island – through mass land reclamation from the sea. Bahrain’s government has failed to come to terms with the land and the people it governs. That is at the heart of the popular revolt in Bahrain. …more