7 Nov 2012 | Middle East and North Africa, Opinion
Bahrain is preparing for the first anniversary of the Bahrain Independent Commission for Inquiry (BICI) by placing even greater restrictions on free expression.
A Bahraini woman holds up the victory sign at a rally in May | Demotix
As violence escalates in the Gulf kingdom, the country’s government has taken new measures in the name of national security. According to an announcement made last night on the state-run Bahrain TV, the country’s government has decided to strip 31 activists of their citizenship for “being a threat to national security”. The list is mostly made up of political activists, including UK-based Saeed Shehabi and Ali Mushaima, who have been outspoken in criticising the country’s regime, and Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society member Jawad Fairouz, who was a member of parliament before resigning in protest of the country’s brutal response demonstrations that began on 14 February last year.
This is not a new tactic for Bahrain: The country also revoked the citizenship of outspoken activists in the 1980s and 1990s, forcing them into exile. The latest move, however, violates Article 17 of Bahrain’s 2002 constitution:
a. Bahraini nationality shall be determined by law. A person inherently enjoying his Bahraini nationality cannot be stripped of his nationality except in case of treason, and such other cases as prescribed by law.
b. It is prohibited to banish a citizen from Bahrain or prevent him from returning to it.
The decision comes after the tragic death of two migrant workers and the injury of another on 5 November following a bomb blast in Bahrain’s capital, Manama. While none of the 31 activists have been linked to the explosion, Bahrain continues to make efforts to portray the country’s uprising as violent.
Earlier this year, the attention around the hunger strike of imprisoned human rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja and a brutal crackdown on protesters squashed Bahrain’s chances of whitewashing its public image with the Formula One race in April. After the BICI report was presented in November 2011, Bahrain’s government was determined to make the uprising history, but its unfulfilled pledges to reform came back to haunt it in the lead up to the race.
As Alkhawaja’s health deteriorated, the international community placed immense pressure on the Bahraini government to release him to Denmark, where he is also a citizen. Denmark granted Alkhawaja asylum in 1991, and the country’s government has been active in lobbying for his release. The activist moved back to Bahrain in 2001, and was jailed for his role in the country’s uprising in 2011. An editorial published in the Gulf Daily News in the race lead-up explored the “problem” of dual-citizens, claiming it was a “get out of jail free card” for criminals.
Bahrain’s failure to follow through on promised BICI-related reforms, as well as a disregard for its own constitution, signals a chilling next stage for the country. The country’s most recent violence is testament to Bahrain’s failure to diffuse unrest with reforms, rather than force.
Sara Yasin is an editorial assistant at Index on Censorship. She tweets at @missyasin
29 Jun 2012 | Middle East and North Africa, Opinion
Nabeel Rajab, BCHR - winner of Bindmans Award for Advocacy at the Index Freedom of Expression Awards 2012
OPINION
This week Bahrain continued its game of cat and mouse with human rights defender Nabeel Rajab, releasing him once more on Wednesday after re-arresting him on 6 June. The outspoken activist and president of Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) has been arrested, released, and arrested again — all in the past two months. Although Rajab is now free, he still faces four charges, two of them for posts he made on the social networking site Twitter, and two others related to organising protests. Charges were brought against the activist for allegedly insulting and publicly defaming the Sunni citizens of the village of Muharraq on Twitter, as well as insulting an authority on the popular social networking site. According to his lawyer, Rajab will stand trial on 9 July.
Rajab’s fearlessness in speaking out against the regime’s human rights abuses mean that the Index on Censorship Award winning activist could very well land in prison again. Still, it is promising that Rajab’s release came after the government announced that it would finally begin compensating families of the 35 individuals killed during a brutal crackdown on the country’s anti-government protests that began on 14 February last year. Shortly after the announcement, human rights activist Zainab Alkhawaja was injured after a tear gas canister was allegedly fired directly at her hit her in the thigh. Alkhawaja is the daughter of well-known dissident and founder of BCHR Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, who is currently serving a life sentence for participating in anti-government protests last year.
Last November Bahrain released the findings of its much vaunted Independent Commission for Inquiry (BICI) but the country’s sluggish progress in implementing the report’s recommendations calls into question the country’s commitment to genuine reform. Whenever Bahraini officials are confronted with evidence of human rights violations they respond with statements about reform and dialogue but little action is taken.
On Thursday, 27 United Nations member states released a joint statement calling on the Human Rights Council to push Bahrain to end human rights violations. Noticeably missing from the list of countries — which included Switzerland, Mexico, Denmark, and Norway — were close allies the United States and the United Kingdom, despite having made statements about helping the country commit to reform. Bahrain responded to the statement by saying that the information in the statement is “inaccurate” and that the countries that signed the statement did not understand the “reality” of the human rights situation in the country.
Sara Yasin is an Editorial Assistant at Index. She tweets from @missyasin
10 Apr 2012 | Middle East and North Africa
Increased anger within Bahrain’s opposition over the continued detention of well-known activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja has renewed concerns over whether Formula 1’s organising body should allow the controversial race to go ahead on 20-22 April.
Over the weekend, F1 teams expressed safety concerns, and called on the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) to postpone the race. Last week, former champion driver Damon Hill also called on the body to reconsider the race. Hill said that it would be “bad for Formula 1, to be seen to be enforcing martial law in order to hold the race” and that allowing the race to continue “could be creating more problems than it’s solving.”
However, Bahraini officials have dismissed reports that the race will be canceled. Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) chief executive Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa told the Gulf Daily News that “the race is going ahead — there is no doubt about that”.
FIA has only said that it is “monitoring” the situation, but some believe that a contingency plan already in place could mean that a decision to cancel could be made as late as this weekend.
Despite repeated calls for Alkhawaja’s release from international rights organisations and the Danish government, the activist remains in prison. Bahrain’s Supreme Judiciary Council on Sunday rejected a request from the Danish government to transfer the activist, who has Danish citizenship. According to the state-run Bahrain News Agency, officials denied the handover because Bahraini law does not allow for “accused and convicted persons” to be transferred to another country.
Activists and family members have expressed concerns over Alkhawaja’s deteriorating health, as he is now entering his 62nd day on hunger strike. His daughter Zainab told Al-Jazeera that her father sounded “weak” when she spoke to him on the phone on Saturday. Mary Lawlor, executive director of Front Line Defenders, said that the activist is “at serious risk of imminent organ failure”. She reported that he has “shed 25 per cent of his body weight.”
Family members and officials have been unable to see Alkhawaja since 7 April, leading Alkhawaja’s lawyer to speculate that his client might already be dead. Danish Ambassador Christian König Feldt has also been denied permission to visit the activist. Despite alarming reports, Bahraini officials are denying that Alkhawaja’s health is deteriorating. They have said that he can converse normally and is “in good health.”
The UN has urged Bahrain to reconsider transferring Alkhawaja to Denmark on humanitarian grounds.
Following the government’s decision to reject the transfer of Alkhawaja, tensions have flared within Bahrain’s protests. On Monday, a blast from a homemade bomb during a protest for Alkhawaja in the village of Eker resulted in the wounding seven Bahraini policemen.
