By Mark McMurray
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

MANAMA, Bahrain — On Wednesday, a Bahraini court postponed the verdict of 11-year-old Ali Hasan until July 5.  Hasan has been accused of participating in anti-government protests.

The prosecution accuses Hasan of assisting protesters by blocking a street with trash containers and wood last month during protests in Manama.  Hasan’s defense claims he is a child who was merely playing with friends in the street at the time.  Defense attorney Mohsen al-Alawi has called on the court to drop all charges.

Until he posted bail last week, Hasan was in prison, spending the last few weeks in custody awaiting his trial.  As a result of this incarceration, Hasan, a sixth-grade student, had to take his school exams behind bars.  During his time there, he roomed with three other children and was forced to clean the facility.

Hasan spoke with the Guardian newspaper by phone from his parents’ home in the Bilad al-Qadeem suburb of the capital.  “I cried all the time but I became friends with the other boys there and we could play for four hours every day – but had to spend all our other time in a locked room,” he said about his time in jail.

The day before his arrest, there was fighting between protestors and police near Hasan’s house.  Demonstrators used burning tires and trash cans to block the street.  The next afternoon, Hasan was on the street playing with friends when the police came.  “While we were playing there, some police forces came towards us which made us panic.  My friends managed to run away … but I was so scared by the guns they were carrying that I couldn’t move … and I was arrested,” he said.  Following his arrest, Hasan was taken to a variety of police stations where he was forced to confess to involvement in the protests.  “I was crying all the time. I told them I’d confess to anything to go back home,” he added.

On Wednesday, the government defended its handling of the Hasan case.  It concluded he was arrested for blocking a road, held in police custody for only six hours, and then transferred to juvenile detention for the next month.  The government contends that Hasan was paid by a man to cause trouble on the street.  Chief of Public Security Tariq Al Hassan said, “What is deplorable is how some older people will take advantage of vulnerable youth for their own political purposes.”

There have been some concerns surrounding Hasan’s case.  Mariwan Hama-Saeed of Human Rights Watch said, “He was not accompanied by a lawyer during his questioning [and] it seems the only evidence used against him is his own confession and the testimony of a police officer.”

Hasan’s case is just one of the more recent examples of the government’s crackdown on protestors since unrest began in Bahrain fifteen months ago.  The political unrest pits the Shiite majority, seeking a greater political voice, against the ruling Sunni dynasty.  Since the upheaval began in February 2011, more than 50 people have died.

For further information, please see:

AFP – Bahrain 11-year-old ‘to Hear Verdict on July 5’ – 20 June 2012

Washington Post – Bahrain Court Delays Verdict in Case of 11-year-old Who Allegedly Took Part in Protests – 20 June 2012

Guardian – Bahrain Puts Boy Aged 11 on Trial for Alleged Role in Roadblock Protest – 19 June 2012