Bahrain “retrial” for illegally detained Activists resembles moving deck chairs to save Titanic

Bahrain Court Orders Retrial for Jailed Activists
By KAREEM FAHIM – 30 April, 2012 – NYT

CAIRO — A Bahraini court on Monday ordered retrials for a political activist who has been on a hunger strike for nearly three months and 20 others who were convicted by a military tribunal for their participation in protests last year against Bahrain’s ruling monarchy.

The activists, including some with life sentences, were not released pending the new trials. The official Bahraini news agency said the court that would hear the appeal would reconsider “the proceedings from the beginning.”

Bahrain, a close American ally, promised broad reforms after its harsh crackdown on months of protests last year, protests that focused attention on the ruling dynasty’s stranglehold on political life, torture of dissidents by the authorities and the Sunni majority’s dominance of the country’s Shiite majority. Up to 70 people have been killed since the protests broke out in February 2011.

Despite the promises of reform and some improvements, human rights advocates say the monarchy has resisted fundamental change, failing to hold senior officials to account or to release activists imprisoned on politically motivated charges. In some cases, the authorities have simply adjusted, rather than ended, their abusive tactics, advocates say, and unrest has continued.

In a report released Sunday, Human Rights Watch said that Bahraini police officers were still beating and torturing detainees, months after the kingdom recruited high-profile police officials from London and Miami to reform the security services. The group said it had interviewed 14 males, including several teenagers, who said they were arrested and beaten for participating in protests. …more