Petition organized by :Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights-BYSHR and Children’s Rights Information Network- CRIN
Dear friends, members and non members,
Please have moments to read and sign the following petition to the “Bahraini Authorities” about a detained minor:
The Bahrain Youth Human Rights Society (BYHRS) also remained unsuccessful in legally registering as a civil society organization. The society first applied for registration in 2005. According to supporters of the group, authorities told them that the society failed to meet one of the requirements of the 1989 associations act because some of its members were under 18 years of age. Members of the society also speculate that government officials are enforcing the 1989 law to the letter because of ties between BYHRS and the now-dissolved BCHR.
On November 27, the president of the BYHRS, Mohammed Al-Maskati, appeared before a lower criminal court judge to answer charges of “operating an unregistered association” under the terms of the 1989 associations act. Al-Maskati asserted that the act was inconsistent with Bahrain’s international commitments as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The judge adjourned the trial until January 2008, and Al-Maskati was not taken into custody. The BYHRS remained active at year’s end.
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2007
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
March 11, 2008
Bahrain is a monarchy with a population of approximately 725,000, approximately 430,000 of whom are citizens, according to official figures. King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa is the head of state and all branches of government. The king appoints a cabinet of ministers, half of whom are members of the Al‑Khalifa royal family. The 2002 constitution reinstated a legislative body with one elected chamber, the Council of Deputies, and one appointed chamber, the Shura Council. All political societies participated in the November and December 2006 parliamentary and municipal elections. Trained local observers did not report significant problems during the elections, although there were allegations that the government manipulated general poll center vote counts in some cases and gerrymandered political districts. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
Citizens did not have the right to change their government. The government restricted civil liberties, including freedoms of press, speech, assembly, association, and some religious practices. Although citizens were not able to form political parties, the law authorized registered political societies to run candidates and participate in other political activities. The judiciary lacked independence, and corruption was a problem. Domestic violence against women and children was common, as was discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, sect, and ethnicity. Trafficking in persons and restrictions on the rights of expatriate workers remained problems. The Shi’a majority population was routinely discriminated against.
Web law ‘threat to Arab media’
By REBECCA TORR
A NEW law to control websites and radio broadcasting in the region has been attacked by Bahrain human rights organisations under a regional campaign. Thirty-four groups, including three from Bahrain, have rejected the law stating that it is against human rights because it imposes restrictions on freedom of expression.
They add that the law is not even legitimate because it has not received the approval of parliament and legislative authorities.
The new law was signed by Information Ministers of Arab countries, including Bahrain, on February 12.
It contains 12 articles that aim to organise, broadcasting and re-broadcasting, and receive broadcasts in the Arab region.
Its goal is to pay respect to freedom of expression and spread culture through space transmission.
But human rights groups say the law is actually against freedom of expression and its main aim is to silence opponents of Arab governments who criticise their policies.
One of the organisations is the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, which is calling on the government to reject the law.
“This is not good for the Arab region. It will control media and the media must have the freedom to talk and not be controlled by the Arab governments,” society president Mohammed Al Maskati told the GDN.
Tear gas hits girl, expectant mother
Sandeep Singh Grewal
Staff Reporter
A 10-year-old girl and an expectant mother from Sitra were rushed to hospital after they inhaled tear gas the anti-riot police used to disperse an unauthorised rally last week, families claimed yesterday.
Fatima Hassan Mohammed Sitrawi, 10, was admitted unconscious at the accident and emergency department of the Salmaniya Medical Complex by her family, while Jehad, sister of municipal councillor Sadiq Rabea, was admitted to the SMC on the same day after she experienced difficulty in breathing. She is into the fourth month of pregnancy.
According to human rights activists and both families, the rally for the release of the detainees arrested last December, was not permitted by the Ministry of Interior.
The families claimed that the police had used excessive tear gas.
Fatima’s father, Hassan Mohammed Sitrawi, said she had gone to a nearby cold store to buy juice when the demonstrators went unruly. “She and other siblings brought foodstuff from the store and we left them with relatives. I received a call five minutes later that Fatima was unconscious.”
She was first rushed to the Sitra Health Centre where doctors performed a CPR and then shifted her to the SMC.
Sitrawi also claimed that several residents came out of homes as the police dispersed the protesters.
He threatened to sue the ministry for his daugther’s condition and said he was waiting for a medical report and would send it to hospitals abroad.
Fahmi Abdulsaheb Ahmed from Al Amal Islamic Society said they were following up Fatima’s case and would help Sitrawi file a case against the ministry. “It was not the girl’s fault. She woke up on Sunday and had no clues as to what happened. She fell unconscious because of the tear gas.”
Sadiq Rabea said, “We were scared about my sister Jehad and baby. She could not breathe because of the tear gas. I took her to the SMC where she was treated and later discharged.”
Moments after they returned home, Rabea said, Jehad called him and said she wanted to go to hospital again. “This was because of the intense smell in the area which affected my sister’s health. She is admitted at the SMC and her condition has improved a bit.”
Fatima and Jehad are expected to be discharged soon.
Mohammed Al Maskati from the Bahrain Youth Society of Human Rights alleged that the tear gas had affected many women and children. “We have written to the ministry on the use of tear gas to disperse gatherings. The police should adopt other ways to do it.”
Bahrain ,February 28, 2008
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Bahrain.
New information:
The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about new developments concerning the trial of 18 persons in Bahrain, including 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.
According to the information received, on February 24, 2008, a new hearing took place regarding 18 persons involved in the December demonstration, including the above-mentioned defenders. The latter were only given 15 minutes to talk to their lawyers before the hearing. Although the hearing was due to be open, the police only allowed a few people to get into the judicial “complex”[1].
In the course of the session, Messrs. Al-Sheikh, Abdelnabi, Abdulah Saleh, Mohammed Ali, Al-Fateel, Al-Sengais and Al-Arab pleaded not guilty on charges of “illegal gathering” as well as “theft of a weapon and ammunition and possession of weapon and ammunition without permission” that had been brought against them in relation to the demonstration held on December 17, 2007 (See background information). The defendants further complained about the acts of torture and ill-treatment they have been enduring while in detention, such as being prevented from sleeping, tied up for long periods and refusal of medical attention. Some of them reiterated that they have been sexually abused.
Lawyers acting on behalf of the men urged the court to release them on bail or at least to grant them access to a doctor and medical check-up, but Judge Shaikh Mohammed bin Ali Al Khalifa dismissed these requests.
A new hearing was set to March 17, 2008 to allow defence lawyers time to get prepared. After the hearing, the defendants were allowed to meet their relatives briefly, before being transferred to the Dry Dock Detention Centre, in Muharraq.
The Observatory is highly preoccupied with these allegations of torture and ill-treatments, which seem to aim at discouraging the Bahraini society to get involved in human rights activities, and urges the Bahraini authorities to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of these human rights defenders and release them immediately as their detention is arbitrary.
The Observatory further deplores the decision of the Judge to refuse them access to medical examination or to release them on bail, and recalls that despite several denunciations of these arbitrary detentions and allegations of torture and ill-treatments, the situation of the above-mentioned human rights defenders has not improved. The Observatory will continue to follow-up the situation closely, and particularly the recent commitment made by Bahrain to allow a United Nations visit to review the record of the country on torture, as well as to train official to human rights standards.
Background information:
On December 17, 2007, a peaceful demonstration at the occasion of the Martyrs’ Day, in the Sanabis area, aiming at paying tribute to victims of torture in the past, was violently dispersed by members of the riot police and of the special security force, who heavily resorted to tear gas and rubber bullets. Mr. Ali Jassim Meki, a human rights defender close to the HAQ Movement of Liberties and Democracy, who participated in the demonstration, died a few hours later.
The following is a joint appeal to the King of Bahrain from BCHR and 54 other rights groups:
Sheikh Hamad Bin Issa Al Khalifa ,
King of Bahrain,
Riffa, Bahrain
Fax : +973 176 64 587
Your Royal Highness,
We the undersigned national and international human rights organisations and other groups defending freedom of expression urge the Bahraini authorities to immediately release those human rights activists and demonstrators who were unjustly detained following protests in December, and to immediately desist from torturing the detainees. We believe the charges against the activists, for violent actions which they did not commit, are a pretext to silence them as a reprisal for their outspoken and peaceful human rights work.
As in past years, on 17 December 2007, the Bahraini National Committee for Victims of Torture (NCVT) organised its annual march. On that day in 1994 two young Bahrainis were killed by Special Forces snipers from a helicopter shooting with live ammunition on a peaceful demonstration in Sanabis village calling for political reforms and democratisation.
On 17 December 2007, heavily armed members of the Bahraini Special Security Forces (SSF) were deployed to head off the march, which was prevented from kicking off in Manama. Confrontations quickly spread to nearby villages. In Sanabis village, some protestors were attacked by the SSF and armed militia who besieged the area and showered it with tear gas and rubber bullets. Ali Jassem Makki was allegedly attacked and fatally beaten by the SSF. Protests erupted in many other villages, resulting in many wounded.
