Protestors campaign for human rights reform in Bahrain

Members of the international community are appealing for human rights infringements in Bahrain to be combatted as the 21st session of the UN Human Rights Council releases its final recommendations, due to be adopted today (19 September). Index on Censorship has joined over 100 NGOs, UNHRC member states and UN council members in releasing an international appeal to urge Bahrain to accept the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) recommendations from Geneva. The statement called for the unconditional release of  human rights defenders, bloggers, and peaceful opposition activists campaigning to exercise their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

Meanwile, the UK parliament’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee is to launch an inquiry into human rights abuses in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, according to an announcement made during a parliamentary briefing organised by Index on Censorship and The All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group. Labour party MP and committee member Ann Clwyd announced the plans during the 12 September briefing, where Maryam Alkhawaja, acting head of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), condemned Britain’s attitude towards Bahrain’s human rights abuses. Alkhawaja called for diplomatic and economic sanctions from the UK, saying ”The Bahraini regime has reached a point where they believe they have acquired international immunity”.

In an article for Index on Censorship, Alkhawaja criticised the UK for allowing Bahraini official Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa to attend the London 2012 Games. Calling for transparency and accountability, she said: “It is shameful that the UK and the US refused to sign onto a joint-statement issued by 27 countries this year, condemning human rights violations. Despite damning evidence that continues to mount both countries have been shamefully silent on this topic — and this must change.”

In November 2011, The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) was mandated by the King of Bahrain to investigate the human rights offences  after February 2011, where thousands of Bahrainis took to the street to protest human rights abuses and campaign for political reform. Among the recommendations, the BICI called for 300 people jailed for peaceful campaigning to have their cases transferred to civil court and for the authorities responsible to be held accountable.

However, since the investigation was launched, allegations of arrest for peaceful protest and torture as a means of extracting information have continued. The British government’s funding of munition implies political passivity towards Bahrain and indirectly opposes insurgency; estimates by the BCHR total the number of political prisoners to 3,000 as of today. Prominent human rights activists such as Nabeel Rajab — who was sentenced on 16 August 2012 to three years’ imprisonment for organising peaceful gatherings  — are still jailed in Bahrain.

Daisy Williams is an Editorial Intern at Index on Censorship

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Bahraini Human rights defender Maryam Alkhawaja denounces Britain’s indifference

Sara Yasin discusses why it’s time to stop doing business with Bahrain

BAHRAIN: BLOOD ON THE TRACK

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This article was originally published in The Telegraph.

In the pages of The Daily Telegraph on Monday, John Yates, the former assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police now working in Bahrain advising the government on police reform, claimed that “Bahrainis are bewildered by the world hostility”, and by headlines that suggested a serious safety risk to Formula One teams.

Last weekend, all eyes were on Bahrain, and not for the reason the government had hoped. Coverage of Sebastian Vettel’s victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix was drowned out by a mess of stun grenades, burning tyres, tear gas and Molotov cocktails. Bahrain’s ongoing unrest pushed human rights organisations to call for the race to be cancelled.

Yates says the F1 teams’ safety was never at risk – but in the lead up to the race he claimed that live rounds could be used to make ensure their cars could speed around the Sakhir track. Does Yates seriously expect the world’s press to ignore incidents that included a Force India team mechanic narrowly avoiding being hit by petrol bombs during a clash between protesters and police?

F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone and Bahraini officials insisted that the show must go on, saying that sport has nothing to do with politics. Sports journalists were left to cover the violent crackdown on protesters and death of one protester – Salah Abbas Habib – on Saturday. His death and the death earlier in the month of another protester are a testament to the failure of reforms in the country.

Those who defend Bahrain’s government claim it is improving – acting to protect human rights, regulate policing and create more transparency. But as we saw this weekend, the situation on the ground is deteriorating. The country has been plagued by protests, peaceful and violent. The protesters do not believe reform is coming.

The Bahrain Independent Commission for Inquiry (BICI) was created by King Hamad to investigate human rights violations in the months following the start of unrest on 14 February last year. The Commission’s report, released on 23 November, was met with scepticism from activists and members of civil society. I went to Bahrain for the report’s launch, hoping it would prove more than an elaborate PR exercise. Although government officials are quick to point to the number of committees established and the long list of international experts enlisted in helping the regime move past the problems of last year, there has been no real progress. Not a single senior figure has been held to account.

Bahrain should be congratulated for recognising the appalling human rights violations committed during last year’s crackdown and for proposing reforms but it now needs to make good on those proposals. Words are yet to be put into actions.

Promises of reform carry little weight when the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) reports that approximately 600 political prisoners have yet to be freed, despite the commission’s call for their release.

Maryam Alkhawaja, head of the Foreign Relations Office at BCHR, has warned that without the international community holding Bahrain accountable for human rights violations, the country will see “the same kind of excessive force, systematic torture, and daily human rights violations” documented by the organisation during the past year. Alkhawaja added that if international bodies do take action, activists “might be lucky enough to see a different approach for Bahrain”.

Bahrain has been given the space and time to take implementation seriously, and the international community must place pressure on the government to reform where it counts. This means that we shouldn’t be doing business with the regime, and we most certainly should not be selling them arms or inviting them to lunch.

Sara Yasin is an Editorial Assistant at Index on Censorship 

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