Rights groups vow to raise the issue at Geneva Council
Sandeep Singh Grewal
Staff Reporter

Fifty- five local and International non-governmental organisations (NGOs) dealing with human rights have joined hands in demand for the release of 15 Bahraini detainees arrested during the disturbances in December last year.
Six groups from Bahrain have sent an urgent appeal to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa yesterday.
These are- Bahrain Human Rights Society, now defunct Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR), the Haq Movement of Liberties and Democracy, Society of Supporting Freedom and Democracy and the Women’s Petition Committee.
“ We were planning to have at least hundred International organisations to be signatories for this campaign, but we had to launch it immediately,” said activist Nabeel Rajab.
Rajab claimed that he was not allowed to enter the court hearing held on Sunday. “ The officers told me there was a special order issued by the authorities banning me from attending the proceedings,” he said.
The Higher Court on Sunday adjourned the case to March. The deatinees are charged with torching a police jeep and stealing weapons. The authorities had arrested the men following the riots in December last year after Jassim Al Makki from Jidhaf allegedly died of tear gas inhalation. Rajab said they would continue with their campaign and raise the issue of the 15 detainees at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on April. “ The detainee issue would be on top of our agenda when Bahrain human rights record would be reviewed in the Council. We would also speak about the issue during our campaigning in Europe,” the activist said. Meanwhile, Bahraini observers assigned by International organisations to monitor the court trials sent a detailed report yesterday on the court proceedings.

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FIFTEEN Bahrainis, accused of hurling Molotov cocktails at a police car and stealing weapons, will have charges levelled against them read in court today, in the presence of three international human rights observers.

Their lawyers had boycotted a hearing at the High Criminal Court on February 4, when the charges were supposed to be read.

It was in protest of the hearing being moved from a normal morning session to 3pm, outside the official hours of the court.

The men were due to stand trial at 10am, but security staff locked the Justice Ministry gates after an angry crowd gathered outside, protesting against the arrests during the Eid and National Day holidays last December.

The court adjourned the case until 2pm today and lawyers said yesterday that they would be attending.

“We (defence team) had a meeting with Higher Judicial Council deputy-head Shaikh Khalifa bin Rashid Al Khalifa and it was agreed that the hearing will be held during official hours,” the team’s spokesman Hafedh Ali told the GDN.

“The hearing will be mainly for reading the charges levelled against each defendant in presence of their lawyers.

“Lawyers must be present when charges are being read in a criminal case and each defendant will respond by either pleading guilty or not.

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Hundreds take to streets, authorities deny ill treatment to prisoners
Sandeep Singh Grewal
Staff Reporter

Over 2,000 people took to the streets yesterday in Manama urging the authorities to release the detainees arrested during the recent disturbances.
Human rights activists and family members of the detainees marched from Ras Ruman to Bab Al Bahrain chanting slogans.
“ We want these men to be released by the authorities. Family members and lawyers are facing problems to meet their loved ones.
The authorities say the prisoners were not ill treated, then why did they stop the Bahrain Human Rights Society team to meet the detainees,” said Hassan Mushaima from the Haq Movement of Liberties and Democracy.
Riot police were stationed in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs premises and the open ground opposite the Ras Ruman mosque as a precautionary measure. Traffic was halted and diverted on Isa Al Kaber Avenue and vehicle access was prohibited on all roads leading towards Manama.
Activists waved placards and posters of the detainees while others distributed flyers during the march, which lasted for more than an hour. A sexagenarian was seen holding wooden board displaying tear gas shells and rubber bullets.
An official from the General Prosecution had said the authorities detained 22 men in connection with the incidents. Those detained are being charged for arson attacks and stealing a weapon during the disturbances in December last year.
Al Wefaq Deputy, Jawad Fairooz told the Bahrain Tribune, “ The detainees should be guaranteed a fair trial. The authorities should allow them to meet their families,” he said
Braving the cold weather, demonstrators wore mufflers and earmuffs as they marched and waved yellow flags with women protesters following them. The peaceful protest was organised by several political societies and human rights group. The Vice Chairman of the now defunct Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Nabeel Rajab was supervising the protest, which ended at the starting point in Ras Ruman at 5 pm.
There had been a series of protest by families of the detainees outside the Public Prosecution against the alleged torture inflicted on their kin by the authorities.

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Bahrain: New Allegations of Detainee Abuse
Rights Group Denied Permission to Visit Detainees with Independent Doctors
(New York, February 16, 2008) – Bahrain should investigate allegations that security personnel have repeatedly abused detained opposition political activists, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch called on the government to allow independent physicians to examine detainees who have alleged abuse including torture and sexual assault.

The detained activists were among dozens arrested following clashes between protesters and security forces in and around the capital, Manama, in December. In one incident, protesters set fire to a police vehicle. Several detainees now face charges including possession of weapons allegedly stolen from the vehicle. In January, relatives of detainees – and also men who had been detained in connection with the clashes and then released – said that interrogators had tortured several detainees and sexually assaulted at least one.

“The silence of Bahraini authorities in the face of multiple complaints of detainee abuse casts doubt on their commitment to the rule of law,” said Joe Stork, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Bahrain should immediately allow independent physicians to examine detainees who are alleging abuse.”

The Bahrain Human Rights Society, an independent group which has official permission to operate, said on January 27 that it had asked the public prosecutor for permission to visit the detainees but the authorities refused to allow physicians to take part in the visits.

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URGENT APPEAL – THE OBSERVATORY

New information

BHR 001 / 0208 / OBS 017

Arbitrary detention / Ill-treatments / Torture

Bahrain

February 13, 2008

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Bahrain.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) about the ongoing arbitrary detention of Messrs. Maytham Bader Jassim Al-Sheikh, Hassan Abdelnabi, Abdullah Mohsen Abdulah Saleh and Ahmad Jaffar Mohammed Ali, members of the Unemployment Committee, Naji Al-Fateel, member of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR), Mohammed Abdullah Al-Sengais, Head of the Committee to Combat High Prices, and Ebrahim Mohamed Amin Al-Arab, founding member of the Martyrs and Victims Committee and acts of torture and ill-treatments.

According to the information received, on February 3, 2008, the trial of Messrs. Maytham Bader Jassim Al-Sheikh, Hassan Abdelnabi, Abdullah Mohsen Abdulah Saleh, Ahmad Jaffar Mohammed Ali, Naji Al Fateel, Mohammed Abdullah Al Sengais and Ebrahim Mohamed Amin Al-Arab was scheduled to start before the High Criminal Court. Nevertheless, on the morning of that day, while the defendants were not present, the presiding judge informed their lawyers that the session would be postponed to the afternoon. At 3 p.m., without the presence of the defendants’ lawyers, the session was adjourned to February 24, 2008. The judge also indicated that the trial could be held any time. They had been charged of “illegal gathering” as well as “theft of a weapon and ammunition and possession of weapon and ammunition without permission”, after a demonstration held on December 17, 2007, at the occasion of the Martyrs’ Day[1].

On February 3, after the Court session, the prisoners were allowed to talk to their families for a few minutes. Some of them, including Mr. Maytham Bader Jassim Al-Sheikh, informed them that they had been victims of sexual assaults by investigators of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), where they were being detained.

On February 6, 2008, Mr. Al-Sheikh was taken from the CIB to the Dry Dock Detention Centre (DDDC), where the legal general attorney doctor visited him and confirmed that he showed clear signs of sexual assault. However, the general attorney office later denied in a press statement that abuses had been observed on the detainees.

As of February 13, 2008, Mr. Al-Sheikh was still detained at the DDDC, while Messrs. Mohammed Al Sengais, Naji Al Fateel, Hasan Abdelnabi and Ahmad Jaffar Mohammed Ali remained detained in the premises of the CIB. Messrs. Al Sengais, Abdelnabi and Ali are presently held in solitary confinement, in a 1×2 meter filthy dark cells filled with insects with their eyes-blinded and hands-cuffed. No further information could be obtained regarding the place of detention of Messrs. Abdullah Mohsen Abdulah Saleh et Ebrahim Mohamed Amin Al-Arab.

On February 11, 2008, the relatives of Messrs. Al-Sengais, Al-Fateel and Abdelnabi were able to visit them. Mr. Al Sengais’ relatives reported that he was bearing signs of a scar on the head and that he was complaining of strong headache. They further asserted that on February 10, Mr. Al-Sengais had been dragged, handcuffed behind his back, to the outside of his cell, beaten in the yard by a metallic piece and further tortured by two men. On February 7, 2008, he had been taken to Bahrain Defence Force Hospital for treatment, where the physician had recommended that he be taken to psychiatric hospital for treatment due to the abuse he was enduring. An appointment was set with the psychiatrist for February 24, but later postponed to February 28 because of the adjourned court session.

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Front Line is concerned following reports of the postponement of the court hearing of the seven human rights defenders: Maytham Badar Jassim Am-Sheikh, Hassan Abdelnabi Hassan, Abdullah Mohsen Abdulah Saleh, Ahmad Jaffar Mohammed Ali, members of the Unemployment Committee, Naji Ali Fateel, member of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR), Mohammed Abdullah Al Sengais, head of the Committee to Combat High Prices, and Ebrahim Mohamed Amin-Al-Arab, founding member of the Martyrs and Victims Committee.

further Information
Posted 05/02/2008 The court session was scheduled for 4 February 2008, at the High Criminal Court. On 4 February 2008, at approximately 10.00am, without the presence of the human right defenders, the presiding judge informed the lawyers of the defendants that the court session would be postponed until 3.00pm. At 3.00 pm, the court hearing went ahead without the presence of their lawyers. The trial was further adjourned until 24 February 2008.

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Observers fail to attend trial hearings of accused

Sandeep Singh Grewal
Staff Reporter

Observers assigned in Bahrain by International human rights group were not allowed yesterday to attend the hearing of 15 people arrested in connection with the disturbances last month.
Mohammed Al Maskati, who was assigned by Defender International (DI), an International human rights body to monitor the court hearing, alleged that the authorities changed the timing of the hearing from 10 am to 3 pm.
“The authorities changed the timing from morning to afternoon, which is after government working hours. This is a violation of human rights as they knew that I had the permission to attend the court hearing with a journalist only in the morning,” said Maskati, who is also the President of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights.
The activist alleged the authorities changed the timing of the trial on purpose so that he could not prepare a report on the proceedings and circulate to International Human Rights Organisation.
However, Maskati said he has prepared a detailed report on the incident which has been sent to the DI headquarters in Norway.
The trial was postponed to February 24. Those detained are being charged for arson attacks and stealing a weapon.
Family members of the detainees started to gather since morning in front of the court building at the Diplomatic Area.
Maskati said family members were not aware of the time change of the hearing and ended up protesting until the afternoon.
“The family members were not initially allowed to enter the building as the security had closed the gates. In the afternoon, some family members were allowed to attend the court hearing,” Maskati said.

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Bahrain Tribune: Four groups will monitor detainees’ trial
Four groups will monitor detainees’ trial on Feb. 3
Sandeep Singh Grewal
Staff Reporter

An international human rights group is arriving in the Kingdom to monitor the court hearing of those detained following disturbances last month.
“There will be two activists who will monitor the trials of the accused slated on February 3,” Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights president Mohammed Al Maskati told the Tribune yesterday.
The charges against the detainees, include torching a police Jeep and stealing weapon.
Nabeel Rajab from the defunct Bahrain Centre for Human Rights said four international rights group had confirmed participation. They are, International Federation of Human Rights, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and the Human Rights Watch and a group from the European Union.
The families of the detainees have protested several times outside the Public Prosecution offices in the Diplomatic Area during the hearing.
Now activists plan to demonstrate outside the premises on February 3.
“We are inviting public to take part in the protest to show solidarity for the detainees who have complained of ill-treatment by the authorities,” Maskati said.
The General Prosecution had said 22 men have been detained. This is the second time, rights group have sought intervention of international organisations. The local groups contacted the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and other organisations and sent an open letter to US President George Bush during his visit in Bahrain to urge the government to release all the detainees.
A symposium was held last night in this regard at the National Democratic Action Society in Umm Al Hassam.
Victims of alleged torture gave testimonies in the presence of lawyers and families.