Index relies entirely on the support of donors and readers to do its work.
Help us keep amplifying censored voices today.
Bahrain is preparing for the first anniversary of the Bahrain Independent Commission for Inquiry (BICI) by placing even greater restrictions on free expression.
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
Abdulhadi Alkhawaja was arrested on 9 April 2011. He was dragged from his house and beaten by 20 masked men along with his two sons in law, while his daughters and wife were insulted, assaulted and locked in a room. In may he was given life in prison along with other prominent opposition leaders for “organising and managing a terrorist organisation”, “attempting to overthrow the government by force and in liaison with a terrorist organisation working for a foreign country” and the “collection of money for a terrorist group”. This was not the first time he had been charged with attempting to overthrow the government for talking publicly about human rights abuses in Bahrain. It seems that the government of Bahrain believe their regime to be so weak that even speaking the truth about them risks bringing down the whole system.
Since that time, the BICI report has shown that there is no evidence of any Iranian involvement in the Bahrain uprising. This fact renders the presence of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) troops in Bahrain unlawful, as they are only supposed to be used to defend against foreign invasions, and shows the sentences of the main opposition leaders to be based on purely political charges.
In December 2011, Nigel Rodley, who had been part of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, released a statement saying that the BICI report intended that the sentences of all political prisoners should be annulled. Unfortunately, the Foreign Minister of Bahrain, in a recent highly defensive response to a letter I wrote with Denis MacShane MP, has stated that “There is no political prisoner in Bahrain today. Not a single person is awaiting trial for political protest or activity or for exercising her or his right to free speech and assembly.”
Does this man really believe what he is saying? Is he just lying or is he really so blinded (as those at the top of autocratic regimes often are) to the truth.
Abdulhadi Alhkawaja, his brother, son in law and one of his daughters have all been in jail. He has gone on hungerstrike numerous times, hospitalising himself in the process. Now he is on hungerstrike again for the anniversary of the uprising, telling his family in a phone call that he will be willing to die for his freedom. The cruelty displayed by the Bahraini government is astounding, and one of the reasons why they have been listed as one of the 10 most repressive regimes by Reporters Without Borders.
John Lubbock is a graduate in international politics and human rights MA at City University, London and research and advocacy officer for the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights in London. He tweets@jwsal
Attempts to circumvent a protest ban in Bahrain’s capital were put to an end with rubber bullets and tear gas yesterday, according to opposition group Al-Wefaq. Small groups of protesters on their way to Ras Rumman, the diplomatic quarter were dispersed by security forces. Protesters were quick to circulate pictures and videos online of what seems to be the standard recipe for a protest in Bahrain: peaceful demonstrators, tear gas and rubber bullets. Authorities banned the protest, under the pretence of “security.”
On Sunday, King Hamad renewed his overtures for “progress and reform”— announcing plans for constitutional reform through the expansion of parliamentary power and limiting the executive branch. Promises for constitutional reform have been met with cynicism and criticism from opposition members, as reports of violence against protesters have continued after the release of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report. Members of Al-Wefaq claimed that such changes were merely “cosmetic.”
In true bureaucratic fashion, the government also announced on Tuesday that preparations are now being made to implement the “national reconciliation programme” based on the findings of the committee on the findings of the committee appointed by the King to investigate the crackdown on protesters in February and March of last year. No word yet on whether or not officials plan to create a further committee to investigate the preparations for implementing the report.
Despite talk of reconciliation and moving forward, reports of a conflicted reality continue. The Ministry of Interior claimed that they found the dead body of Yousif Ahmed Muwali on 13 January, after he had been missing for five days. Officials declared that drowning was the cause of death, but family members of Muwali claim that he was tortured and imprisoned based on marks on his corpse. They have yet to see his autopsy. Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was severely beaten by security forces at a 6 January protest. Members of the international community called for an investigation of the incident, and despite eyewitness reports, Bahraini officials denied beating Rajab, insisting that they actually helped the injured activist to an ambulance. Rajab, internationally renowned for speaking out against human rights violations in Bahrain, has experienced torture in the past.
Bahrain’s current climate is not promising — with reports of regular beatings and detention of peaceful demonstrators, tear gas, and intimidation of human rights defenders, which does not seem to stray far from the systematic torture and violations documented in the BICI report.
The civil unrest will not keep Bahrain from hosting a three-day International Air Show this week. The show is expected to garner 50,000 attendants from across the globe. While corporate jet setters are allowed into Bahrain, members of the human rights community are kept out of the country. Brian Dooley, director of the Human Rights Defenders Programme for Human Rights First, was refused permission to enter Bahrain, and told that such visits should be delayed until March, once the work of the implementation committee would have been completed. Rick Sollom from Physicians for Human Rights was also denied entry, on the account of government officials being under “tremendous work pressure.” While Index was in Bahrain on an international mission with 5 other rights groups in November, government officials reassured us that they were interested in welcoming rights organisations, as long as they followed the procedure for entry, as a part of their commitment to transparency and creating dialogue with the international community. It is disappointing to see that a commitment emphasised in the time around the release of the BICI, in actuality, was an empty promise.
The fifteenth of December marked the start of #OccupyBudaiya. Bahrainis have taken to Budaiya Street in Manama, the capital city, to express discontent with the government’s actions following the reading of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report. For four days, protesters clashed with riot police and security officials. Bahraini activist Asma Darwish, 21, who has been actively protesting since the start of protests in February, told Index that the demonstrations have all been “peaceful.” According to Darwish, when she was at Budaiya Street on 15 December, police began firing tear gas at herself and a few other individuals, including the now detained activist Zainab Al-Khawaja (@angryarabiya) , and journalists Lauren Bohn and Adam Ellick. She said that they were merely “taking photos” outside of a Costa coffee shop known as a meeting point for opposition members, when police opened fire on the café, filling it with tear gas and making it “very difficult to breathe”. On the same day, protester Ali Al-Ghassab was run over during protests, and the Ministry of Interior has denied responsibility for his death. On the same day, Al-Khawaja was also arrested while peacefully protesting.
In honour of Bahrain’s National Day on 16 December, King Hamad delivered a speech, in which he spoke about the BICI report, and emphasised the government’s “commitment to implementing its recommendations”. He also said that the BICI also “generated popular satisfaction.” On the same day, many gathered for the funeral of Al-Ghassab, and to protest on Budaiya Street again. According to an eyewitness account, the protests were “peaceful,” and did not even involve road blocks, which has been a major criticism of opposition tactics in the past. While protesters peacefully gathered, security forces began breaking up the crowds through the use of force — using batons to beat protesters, and firing “tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and bird shotgun pellets” on the crowd. The brutal crackdown on protesters since the start of the latest round of demonstrations has resulted in countless injuries, and many have posted images and videos of clouds of tear gas, injuries, and protests on Twitter. Bahrain is now approaching 10 months of unrest; protests began in February of this year.
Meanwhile, Al-Khawaja, who was scheduled to stand trial today, could face up to two years in prison, according to her lawyer. The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights is reporting that Al-Khawaja is currently being held in a cell with 40 other women and one shared bathroom, and has also been “verbally harassed” and threatened by officials, who have told her that she would only be able to see her two-year-old daughter once a week. Al-Khawaja is the daughter of prominent activist Abdulhady Al-Khawaja, who was arrested in April and is currently serving a life sentence. In an open letter to the international human rights community, Darwish appealed to organisations to assist in releasing her fellow activist, and condemned the physical assault of Al-Khawaja during her arrest, and said that her ill-treatment in public was “worrisome”. Her arrest, as well as the crackdown on protesters has been met with outrage from the international community, as continued brutality and the arrest of peaceful protesters does not seem to line up with the government’s promises of a renewed future, and many organisations have called for her release, as well as that of other peaceful protesters.
The Bahraini government has called for the fast-tracking of the recommendations of the commission, but hundreds remain in prison for exercising their right to express their political views. One of the commissioners, Sir Nigel Rodley, former UN special rapporteur on torture, told Human Rights Watch that those arrested for peacefully expressed their right to “freedom of expression and assembly,” and called for the government to review convictions, commute the sentences of those merely exercising their “basic political rights,” and that commissioners intended that they be released, and their criminal records be expunged of charges.