Abuse of Judical Power and Murderous Crackdown has become daily routine in Bahrain

University students sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and ongoing sham trials
14 March, 2012 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses its grave concern over the continuous human rights violations against university students in Bahrain. A year past the start of the revolution, university students are still being subjected to injustice, unfair trials, arrests and torture.

On February 14 2011, Bahraini youth started to demand democracy and freedom from the oppressive Al Khalifa regime. Most of these youth were targeted even before the declaration of Martial Law in March, through a government-sponsored thug attack of the pro-democracy students at the University of Bahrain (UOB) during a planned protest which took place on March 13 2011. Following the state of emergency, the government targeted students in a fierce crackdown; more than 500 were expelled, many were arrested, tortured and put through sham trials. At least 6 UOB students were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in an unfair trial lacking evidence.

Human chain formed by male students on 13 March 2011 to protect their female classmate from being attacked by government- sponsored thugs (Dr. Mike Diboll blog[1])

As a former professor at the University of Bahrain who was present at the time of the thug attack on March 13, Dr. Diboll recalls, they were “carrying blunt or sharp-edged weapons including axes, swords, golf clubs, iron bars, heavy chains, and baseball bats.” [2] Students were violently attacked without any protection from university security nor police forces, who only interfered when the attack was over. On that day at least 80 students were wounded and transferred to the nearby health center, although the majority was suffering from suffocation due to teargas. However, there were a few serious injuries. Mohammed Abdulmahdi, a 19 year old Applied Studies student in UOB, was hit on the head with a sharp weapon. It caused him to go into coma for around 100 days. When he woke up, he lost his ability to speak[3].
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