Protests in Bahrain Still Drawing Questions About Treatment of Detainees

By Adom M. Cooper
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

MANAMA, Bahrain–Bahraini detainees and activists who were convicted for taking part in anti-government protests last year began a hunger strike on Sunday January 29 2012. The strike was announced as the Gulf kingdom’s interior minister called for punishment against those “attacking policemen” to be raised to a 15-year prison term.

Young protesters carry independence flags in Bahrain. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

Mohammed al-Maskati, head of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR), shared these words with the AFP concerning the hunger strike.

“This evening, they will have their last meal.”

BYSHR stated that 14 prevalent human rights activists and opposition leaders would begin a hunger strike “in solidarity with pro-democracy protests and in protest against the brutal crackdown.” Also, that detainees held in police stations and the Dry Docks detention center would also participate in the strike as well as BYSHR activists not presently behind bars.

The 14 leading individuals in jail include several opposition leaders who wee convicted last year of plotting to overthrow the regime of the Sunni Al-Khalifa after security forces ended a month-long protest movement demanding democratic changes. But the conflict between members of the Shiite majority and police have intensified recently as the first anniversary of protests that began on 14 February 2011 gets closer.

According to the BNA state agency, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashed bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa said on Sunday 29 January 2012 that the recent clashes have seen an “increase in violence and attacks on security personnel.” He also stated his intention to urge parliament to pass laws to punish “assailants and the instigators” of attacks that target security forces with jail sentences lasting up to 15 years.

“My responsibility is to call for the strengthening of law protecting police as there are no deterrent laws so far.”

The interior ministry has reported that some 41 officers were injured in orchestrated attacks on police on Tuesday 24 January 2012 with protesters in Shiite villages, while the opposition said one protester was killed and several others were injured.

In addition to dealing with alleged attacks on officers, the Bahraini government is also refuting opposition claims that security officers were responsible for the deaths of anti-government protesters, stating that they died of “natural causes.”

The death of teenager Mohammed Ibrahim Yacoub was one of four deaths reported by the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Also, the opposition group al Welfaq accused Bahraini authorities of running over Yacoub with a police car. According to the Bahrain News Agency, the Ministry of Health denied the allegation.

Luma Bashmi, a spokeswoman for the president’s office at the Information Affairs Authority, stated to CNN on Friday 27 January 2011, that the 17-year-old had “died from complications of Sickle Cell Anemia following his arrest on Wednesday 25 January for rioting in Sitra.”

Yacoub, whose age was previously reported as 19, reportedly told police about his medical condition when he began to feel ill during his interrogation. Then, police took him to a medical center but his condition continued to worsen. Intensive care doctors were not able to resuscitate him, due to internal bleeding and a fatal drop in blood pressure.

As part of the Health Ministry’s defense, it released a video purportedly taken at the time of the arrest that it allegedly shows Yacoub unharmed. It also released a medical report that indicated the boy’s cause of death was “sickle cell complications” and that his body had remained free of injuries.

According to a BNA report, Yacoub was arrested on Wednesday 25 January 2012 for participants in act of violence and vandalism.

Bashmi, of the Information Affairs Authority, also reported on the deaths of two more protesters. The first, Saeed Ali Al-Sikri, reportedly fell in the bathroom of his residence on Wednesday 25 January 2012 and later was pronounced dead in a hospital. The public prosecutor ordered forensic blood tests but no results have been released at this point. The second, Abbas Al-Shakikh, had been diagnosed with cancer last year. He was admitted to a hospital but his condition quickly deteriorated and he passed away on Wednesday January 25 2012.

The demonstrations and protests in Bahrain began on 14 February 2011, inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. But unlike other nations in the Arab Spring, the movement in Bahrain failed to gain any real traction and have been repeatedly quelled by crackdowns backed by troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In November 2011, Bahrain’s Independent Commission of Inquiry issued a report highly critical of the crackdown. Set up by the king, the commission concluded that police had indeed used excessive force and torture during last year’s crackdown on protests. Commission chairman Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni stated at the time that abuse of detainees included beatings with metal pipes and batons and threats of rape and electrocution. Additionally, the report stated that the mistreatment included physical and psychological torture, intended to extract information or to punish those held by security forces.

The report recommended reforms to the country’s laws and better training of its security forces. But the reports surrounding the death of protests such as Mohammed Ibrahim Yacoub make it clear that change has not happened at all and that civilians continue to suffer.

 

 

For more information, please see: 

ABNA – Iran Condemns Bahrain’s Cruelty Against Peaceful Demonstrators – 30 January 2012

Ahram – Bahrain Detainees To Begin Hunger Strike – 29 January 2012

Reuters – Bahrain Wants Stiffer Penalties For Security Staff Attackers – 29 January 2012

CNN – Bahrain Government Refutes Claims Over Protester Deaths – 28 January 2012

BBC – Bahrain Criticized Over ‘Inappropriate’ Use of Tear Gas – 27 January 2012

Al-Jazeera – Bahrain Confirms Teen Died In Police Custody – 26 January 2012

NYT – In Bahrain, Worries Grow of Violent Shiite-Sunni Confrontation – 25 January 2012

 

 

 

Author: Impunity Watch Archive