Torture continues in Bahrain one year on from protests

Amnesty International has warned the Bahraini government against using excessive force as the first anniversary of mass protests in the country approaches. The organisation also said that it continues to receive reports of torture and other human rights abuses in Bahrain.

Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, said: “Victims and the families of victims of torture and excessive use of force are still waiting for justice. The government still holds prisoners solely for being involved in peaceful protests and those responsible for serious human rights abuses last year have not been brought to justice.”

Amnesty International also warned that the government risked falling short of meeting its self-imposed deadline of the end of February to implement the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI)’s recommendations to improve human rights. 

Colm O’Gorman continued: “The government has made a number of announcements of what it has done to improve the human rights situation, but it has still not delivered in the most important areas.

“Only when we see prisoners of conscience being released and perpetrators, including those who gave orders, being brought to justice will we be able to judge whether this is more than a PR exercise.” 

35 died

At least 35 people died during protests in February and March 2011, including five members of the security forces and three migrant workers. At least a further 20 have died since then as protests continue. 

Amnesty International said that since the end of June 2011 the government has taken some limited positive steps, including: the lifting of the state of emergency; the setting up of an independent commission of inquiry; the release of some detainees; the transfer of all trials from military courts to civilian ones; and the reinstatement of hundreds of workers. 

On 23 November the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) submitted its report to the King and made detailed practical and legislative recommendations. The report confirmed that gross human rights violations had been carried out. 

The King accepted the findings of the report and appointed a 19-person national commission, made up mostly of government supporters, to oversee the implementation process.

Little change

But Bahrainis have complained that the process is very slow and the most important issues have not been addressed.

At the beginning of 2012 the government said that 48 people from the security forces had been investigated for their roles in suppressing protests. So far only eight policemen, five Pakistanis, a Yemeni national and two Bahrainis, are known to have been brought to trial. 

Very little information has been made public about how these investigations were carried out or their terms of reference. 

The Minister of Interior said on 2 February that most of the recommendations related to the Ministry had been implemented and that he has transferred all cases involving allegations of torture and other abuses made against the police to the Public Prosecution Office for investigation and possible prosecution. 

“The government’s promises to implement all of the BICI recommendations will remain hollow if investigations into violations by the government remain shrouded in secrecy,” said Colm O’Gorman. 

 Meet the activists in Bahrain who demanded their human rights

Torture

Allegations of torture and other ill-treatment continue to be reported. Hassan ‘Oun, an 18-year-old student was arrested on 3 January 2012 from a garage in ‘Arad. An official from the Public Prosecution Office ordered his detention for 45 days pending investigation.

 He told his lawyer that when he was initially held in a police station he was forced to stand for about 11 hours and that he had been beaten on his feet with a hose and threatened with rape. 

More than 1,000 people dismissed from their positions during the unrest have still not been reinstated, according to Bahraini trade unionists. 

Many of those who have been allowed to go back to their jobs have been asked to sign statements that they would not protest again and put under pressure to give up trade union activities. 

The security forces have continued to use excessive force to deal with demonstrators. In particular, several protesters have died since the end of November as a direct or indirect result of the inappropriate use of tear gas. Teargas is being used even inside houses, when security forces enter suspects’ homes. 

Sayyed Hashem Saeed, aged 15, was killed when a tear gas canister hit him at close range during the security forces’ response to a protest in Sitra, south of Manama, on 31 December 2011. Security forces later also used tear gas to disperse mourners at his funeral. 

Anniversary protests 

Thousands of people, the vast majority from the Shi’a majority population, are expected to defy the authorities and take part in protests to mark the first anniversary of 14 February. 

There are fears that violence could erupt between protesters and security forces, who have routinely used excessive force to quell protests. In recent weeks, small-scale protests in Shi’a villages and in the outskirts of Manama have increasingly ended in violence with both security forces and protesters blaming each other. 

As well as the use of excessive force by security forces, there have been incidents of groups of masked young Bahrainis attacking security forces, including with Molotov cocktails, blocking roads and burning tyres. 

The organisation called on the Bahraini authorities to allow peaceful protests to take place on 14 February. 

Amnesty International recognises that the Bahraini authorities have a responsibility to ensure public safety and maintain law and order, including through the use of force when absolutely necessary, justified and proportionate. However, it is important that this must be done in accordance with what is permissible under relevant international law and standards. 

The organisation also called on the Bahrain authorities to lift all travel restrictions on foreign journalists and international human rights organisations.

Several journalists and human rights workers have been denied entry at Bahrain International Airport and others have been refused visit visas. Many journalists had been planning to travel to Bahrain to cover the 14 February anniversary.

Amnesty International said it feared that the government wanted to avoid international scrutiny as mass demonstrations are expected.

Background: human rights in Bahrain in 2011 

In February and March 2011 tens of thousands of Bahrainis, mostly from the Shi’a community, protested against the government and called for political reforms, social justice and an end to what they perceived as government discrimination against them. 

Excessive use of force 

Between 14 and 21 February seven protesters died as a result of excessive use of force, including the use of rubber bullets, shotguns and other live ammunition. In mid-March a state of emergency was declared, a day after Saudi troops rolled onto Manama to support government forces. 

Arrests, detention and torture 

In the days and weeks that followed hundreds of activists, including opposition leaders, medical workers, teachers, journalists and students were rounded up and detained. Most were arrested at dawn without any warrant and held incommunicado in police stations or in the Criminal Investigations Directorate in Manama, the capital. Many reported that they had been tortured or ill-treated during that period when they were being interrogated. They were forced into signing confessions which were used against them in court. 

Unfair military trials 

Scores of people were tried by the National Safety Court of First Instance, a military court established by the emergency law, and sentenced to prison terms of up to life after grossly unfair trials. 

Dismissals 

More than 4,000 people, including teachers, students and nurses, were dismissed from their jobs or university because of their active participation in the anti-government protests. 

Destruction of religious structures 

At least 30 Shi’a prayer centres were demolished in the aftermath of the protests in February and March, on the pretext they had been built illegally. Amnesty International considers this practice to have constituted a form of collective punishment. 

Trial of opposition leaders 

AbdelHadi al-Khawaja, a well-known human rights and opposition activist, was one of 14 prominent opposition leaders arrested, tried and sentenced on charges that included calling for an end to the Monarch and its replacement with a republican system. He received a life sentence and he was reportedly so badly tortured that he needed surgery on his jaw. 

During their trial the military prosecution failed to provide any evidence the 14 used or advocated violence. Amnesty International has called for their release as prisoners of conscience, if their prosecution was solely linked to their right to freedom of expression and assembly.