Bahrain’s Court of Cassation yesterday ordered a retrial in a civilian court for activist and hunger striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja and twenty other activists. Alkhawaja was originally sentenced to life in prison by a military tribunal in June 2011 for his involvement in last year’s anti-government protests.
Despite ordering a re-trial, the court decided to keep Alkhawaja and the other activists in custody while their cases are reviewed.
The Bahraini government claim the trial will be revisited as an entirely different case, which falls in line with the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission for Inquiry (BICI) report released last November. According to recommendation 1720, all cases tried by the military court should be re-reviewed by a civilian court.
In a press conference yesterday, Alkhawaja’s wife Khadija al-Moussawi expressed her disappointment that her husband has not been freed. She told reporters that her spouse is being tied to a bed and force fed, even though the activist has been on hunger strike for more than 80 days. al-Moussawi does not believe her husband can get a fair trial saying: “It’s the same system, same court in different clothes, same people running the show”.
Twenty medics jailed for treating injured protesters were also granted retrials despite international pressure on the Kingdom to void their convictions. Said Yousif, of Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) expressed doubt that the 20 can ever find justice.
“The Minister of Justice was involved in charging the doctors before their trials were complete, yet he is a senior official in implementing the BICI report’s recommendations, which is not fair” said Yousif, echoing the words of al-Moussawi.
Wafi al-Majed, Alkhawaja’s son-in-law said the opposition would have positively greeted the development if prisoners were released to await trial. He expressed concern that retrial could “go on for a long time”.
Reports of the activist’s deteriorating health have led many to believe that he is already nearing death, and his continued detention only increases the likelihood that he might die in prison.
Yousif said the continued detention means its hard for the protesters to build faith in the Bahraini government’s claims of reform. “Officials guilty of torture should be held accountable, and political detainees should also be freed. This would shed a positive light on any reform process” he told Index.
Meanwhile, Alkhawaja’s daughter Zainab Alkhawaja who blogs as Angry Arabia, remains in prison after she was arrested on 21 April, while protesting the Bahrain Grand Prix. Information is limited but according to her husband, she faces four charges.
In the past Alkhawaja has been arrested and released but her mother fears that this time her daughter, who she describes as a “headache for the government”, may be kept in prison long-term.
The capital of Russian opposition moved from Moscow to the southern city of Astrakhan last week. More than 5,000 people came out in support of ex-mayoral candidate Oleg Shein, who has been on hunger strike for over a month in protest against mayoral election results. The protest rally was the largest since those held in Moscow in time leading up to and following the presidential election.
While no protests were held in Ashtrakhan against Vladimir Putin’s controversial win, Oleg Shein’s loss has triggered a political crisis. The mayoral elections took place at the same time as the presidential election, 4 March. Shein’s supporters claim that he was the victim of a fraudulent election, and some have even joined him on hunger strike. Shein has garnered support from opposition leaders in Moscow and other Russian cities, who spent last week rallying support for the former candidate, and joined him at the 14 April rally.
Even though Astrakhan police blocked the city centre and pro-Kremlin youth gathered to provoke the crowd, Shein’s supporters still rallied together peacefully. The group of 5,000 marched while chanting “Shein is our mayor”, “one for all and all for one”, “freedom to political prisoners”, and “we are the power”. Three activists were arrested for attempting to pitch tents in front of municipal buildings, but were released after a couple of hours.
“Astrakhan hasn’t seen such mass protests since mid 1990s,” Oleg Shein told journalists, adding that “mass protests against elections have broken the boundaries of Moscow and Saint-Petersburg.” According to Shein, people in Astrakhan have quickly lost their fear, and now believe that they can influence the government. Tens of people gathered to protest publicly in support of Shein a week before the rally. Russian opposition leaders Dmitry Gudkov, Ilya Ponamarev, Alexey Navalny and celebrities such as TV host Ksenia Sobchak and actor Maxim Vitorgan helped encourage citizens to be brave enough to support Shein.
The protesters have vowed to remain in Astrakhan’s streets every Saturday until new mayoral elections are held. Russian Central Election Committee head Vladimir Churov has already agreed to watch video footage from polling stations, where fraud allegedly took place. Today Oleg Shein will reveal whether or not Churov has confirmed his allegations. Yesterday, Shein filed a suit against the election results, but remains on hunger strike because he does not believe that the Russian judicial system is impartial.
Ex-mayoral opposition candidate Oleg Shein is continuing his 29-day hunger strike protesting against local mayoral election results. Held the same day as presidential elections, they were allegedly no less fraudulent. United Russia’s candidate Mikhail Stolyarov won 60 per cent of the vote and Shein less than 30.
Shein, member of political party “A Just Russia” and Astrakhan region duma deputy, told Index on Censorship he refused to stop the strike despite concerns over his health from doctors’ and human rights activists’, until new mayoral elections are held. “Astrakhan has become the capital of fraud”, said Shein, claiming he and his supporters will prove their allegations in court through providing it with video recordings of election law violations.
Shein told Index that he and three of his supporters have been on hunger strike for a month, nine other people have joined them in solidarity and have been on hunger strike for more than ten days, and another ten people joined the strike a couple of days ago.
In his annual address to the State Duma, Vladimir Putin said he didn’t understand why Shein was choosing hunger strike, rather than appealing to the courts. Just Russia deputies walked out, considering the remark cynical and insulting.
As Shein explained to Index, “only a silly man comes to court without proof”, which, in this case is a number of video recordings from Astrakhan’s election committees. According to Russian law, all recordings made in local election committees on election day must be provided to those who request them by the Central Election Committee. Shein only obtained some of the recordings this week — almost a month after his request and the start of the hunger strike, hence why he didn’t appeal to the court before. Sergei Mironov, leader of A Just Russia has said that the corruption and bias in Russian courts was another reason for Shein to take alternative action.
The Central Election Committee authorities, as well as Astrakhan prosecutor, said Oleg Shein’s hunger strike and his allegations are insufficient reason to hold re-elections in Astrakhan. Yesterday, the Committee’s head Vladimir Churov agreed to look into the issue and watch the video recordings together with Shein. United Russia deputies both in the State Duma and Astrakhan have condemned Shein’s hunger strike, describing it as illegitimate and accusing him of extremism. Astrakhan is flooded with hundreds of policemen, who are preventing people from forming protest camps near Shein’s headquarters.
United Russia seems to be particularly angered by the fact that every day tens of Russian citizens flock to Astrakhan in support of Shein. His supporters in Astrakhan already include Russian opposition leaders such as Alexei Navalny, Ilya Ponomarev, Dmitry Gudkov and Ilya Yashin, who are expected to be joined by popular writer Dmitry Bykov and TV host Ksenia Sobchak.
This Saturday, the opposition will hold a rally for fair elections in Astrakhan. It is expected to be the biggest opposition event since the mass protest rallies in Moscow in February.
Bahraini activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja collapsed last night while on hunger strike. Alkhawaja, who went on hunger strike ahead of the February 14 anniversary of mass protests in Bahrain, was taken to the hospital where he was given IV treatment without his consent. The activist’s lawyer reported Alkhawaja showed serious signs of fatigue and had difficulty moving and walking. His daughter, Zainab, continues to be detained and his younger brother, Salah Alkhawaja, who is also imprisoned has joined the hunger strike.
