Bassiouni-al Khalifa show and charade over for Western powers, regime reaffirms it’s unrestrained comittment to Human Rights abuse with funeral attack

Clashes with police follow Bahrain funeral
by Gregg Carlstrom – 27 Nov 2011 – AlJazeera

A’ali, Bahrain – The evening call to prayer in this village on Thursday was punctuated by the explosions of sound bombs fired by Bahraini police.

Tear gas canisters arced overhead as residents crouched on their rooftops and huddled in doorways, chanting allahu akhbar (“God is greatest”) and yasqat Hamad (“down with Hamad”). “This is Bahrain now,” one teenaged boy said, wearing a scarf over his face to shield his identity.

The violence began moments after the funeral of Abdulnabi Kadhem, a local man who was killed here yesterday, allegedly when police jeeps drove him off the road. Hundreds of protesters, some of them throwing stones and Molotov cocktails, marched from the cemetery to the main road, where a large group of police had been waiting all afternoon.

Police responded with a volley of tear gas that sent mourners and protesters alike fleeing into A’ali’s back alleys. Many ducked into houses, where women offered vinegar and perfume to ease the sting of the gas.

“This is Bassiouni’s tear gas,” one woman shouted, between gasps of a perfume-drenched tissue.

She was referring to Cherif Bassiouni, the Egyptian judge who headed the official inquiry into this year’s human-rights abuses in Bahrain.

The commission released its final report on Wednesday afternoon, handing a copy to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in a ceremony at one of his palaces. It accused Bahraini security forces of numerous abuses: torture, wrongly killing unarmed protesters, arbitrary arrests, and more.

It recommended a number of reforms, including investigations into torture and human rights training for the police and army.

“These are his reforms,” another woman said bitterly.

But Bahrain’s king has set up a commission to implement the findings of the report. It accused Bahrain of using torture to crush protests in the Gulf Arab state earlier this year.

‘Bassiouni says you are killers’

Several people collapsed from tear gas inhalation on Thursday afternoon, and residents said a number of people were arrested. Police could also be seen trying to break into at least one home to conduct a search.

Reports from A’ali village

These sorts of small-scale clashes have become a routine part of life over the last few months in Bahrain. Police have effectively sealed off A’Ali and other villages, which prevents protesters from massing in one location, like they did in Manama’s Pearl Roundabout earlier this year.

So they provoke the police stationed outside their villages, and the police inevitably respond, often with overwhelming force.

The actual funeral procession was peaceful: Thousands of people marched through the streets of A’Ali, chanting “Down with Hamad”,”Leave, you murderer”, and “The people demand the overthrow of the regime”.

Kadhem died on Wednesday morning. Witnesses said the police, who often drive at high speed down the narrow streets of Bahrain’s villages, drove Kadhem’s car off the road and then collided with him.

Bahrain’s interior ministry said Kadhem drove into a house, but the damage to his car, which was crumpled on the sides, was inconsistent with that statement.

Dozens of police jeeps had gathered outside A’Ali in the hours before the funeral, clearly anticipating a confrontation.

They tried to bar at least one foreign journalist from entering the village to cover the funeral.

“Bassiouni says you are torturers,” one man shouted at the police through a loudspeaker. …more