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July 1996: Security forces kill a women, the people of Bahrain practice their right of peaceful civil resistance

1 July: The unconstitutional state security cour sentened three people to death, 4 to life jail and one to 15 years prison (see separate details below)

2 July: An armed unit (some reports indicated that it belonged to the Bahrain Defence Force) besieged Sitra and fired live ammunition killing 17-years old Ali Taher and injuring four others. The dead body was taken away by the foreign forces to an unknown location. Later on, these forces stormed the house of the martyr’s parent for the routine ransacking and confiscation of passports.

2 July: An Omani businessman, Mr. Abdul Jalil Al-Asfoor was sentenced to 3 months jail, fined 700 dinars ($1,890) and expulsion after end of prison term on charges of “communicating false news”.

4 July: The unconstitutional State Security Court passed more arbitrary sentences on 4 July, against three innocent people. Mahmoud Abbas Habib Ahmed was jailed for five years and fined $1,325. Mohammed Ali Ma’touk received a three-year jail term and was fined 300 dinars ($810). A dentist, Dr. Sultan Ali Abdullah Sultan, was jailed for six months on charges of distributing “false news”.

6 July: The State Security Court jailed three citizens for six years each. They were: Abbas Ahmed Yousif Fahd, Ali Ibrahim al-Shoufa and Salman Mirza Salman Mohammad.

6 July: Mass processions took to the streets in Manama and other parts of the country on the occasion of the 40th martyrdom day of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed. The intensity of attendance and the raising of slogans, such as “Parliament is the solution” and “Release Sheikh Al-Jamri”, confirmed the presence and steadfastness of the people of Bahrain. It is also one year since the young 16-years Saeed Al-Eskafi was tortured to death by Khalid Al-Wazan and the people called for the implementation of justice against such killers. The road between Qafool and Budaya Highway was besieged last night.

7 July: 3 July: The ruling family intensified its campaign against the women of Bahrain. In the last few days several women have been arrested, the latest being: Aminah Hassan Ali, Zahra Ali Isa (a nurse from Dair), Fatima Al-Kangoni and Nahad Ahmad Al-Halwachi (mow released), Jalila (from Karbabad).

8 July: The State Security Court against six people. It sentenced two of them to five-year jail sentences: Hasan Abd al-Nabi Sarhan Ahmad Sarhan and Husayn Ali Salman Isa Mazaal. It sentenced three of them to three-year jail terms: Salah Abd al-Muhsin Muhammad Abdullah, Sayyid Shakir Amin Salman Hashim al-Sakin and Sayyid Zuhayr Amin Salman al-Sakin. The court decided not to look into the case of defendant Abdullah Nasir Al Tuq because of its connection to a previous case for which he had been sentenced to life imprisonment. The unconstitutional court also sentence several people for distributing pro-democracy literature. Four defendants were sentenced to three-year jail sentences. The defendants were: Isam Abbas Hubayl, Ja’far Ali Hasan Kazim, Yasin Muhammad Mansur Al Siwar and Ali Hasan Abdullah al-Jadd.

8 July: In Sharakkan, one person by the name Ali Abdul Amir, was shot, wounded and arrested by the foreign-staffed security forces.

9 July: The state security court sentenced more people as follows: Sadiq Ali Hasan Ahmad and Zuhayr Hasan Ibrahim al-Sabba (Both ten years jail sentence. Abbas Ali Hasan al-Butaki and Sadiq Ahmad Abd al-Wahhab Rabi’ (Both one year jail sentence).

10 July at 6.00 am: clashes resumed in Sitra, the home island of the three persons sentenced to death on 1 July. Sanabis witnessed clashes on 9 July at 10.30 pm and Daih was attacked by the security forces following similar clashes. Some 45 people from Daih had been arrested.

10 Jul;y: The towns of Karzakkan, Malkiyya and Demestan, ten miles to the southwest of Manama, remained cordoned off following massive demonstrations in the last three days. Security forces stormed virtually all houses in Karazzakan and Demstan arresting male members, ransacking and steeling valuables. Many people were forced to stay outside their homes as a result of the atrocities of these forces. Last year several towns were ransacked by the foreign-staffed riot police, who stole television sets, video recorders, jewellery and money from hundreds of home. The Amir has refused to put an end to these acts of barbarism. On another level, the Republic of Yemen has appointed Mustafa Na’man as an Ambassador to Bahrain following the departure of his predecessor, Mohammed Shukry. It was reported that the wife of the former Ambassador had expressed support for the people’s constitutional demands, prompting the Al Khalifa to demand the withdrawal of her husband as an Ambassador.

12 July: More than twenty thousand people poured into the village of Kharjeya in the oil-rich isalnd of Sitra to mourn the 27th martyr of the uprising. Ali Taher, 17 years old, was shot dead on 2 July by one of the death squads recently deployed by the Bahrain Defence Force. When the ruling family sentenced three innocent people to death on 1 July, the island of Sitra witnessed heavy clashes.

13 July: Helicopters were used against unarmed civilians demonstrating in Sitra following a week-long clashes between the foreign-staffed security forces and the people of Bahrain. Karranah was also the scene of clashes while several towns and villages remaining under virtual siege. Demonstrations resurfaced across the country following the decision of the ruling family to pass death sentences against three innocent people after a flawed trial that was concluded on 1 July.

15 July: People went out in mass procession all over the country and raised slogans demanding the release of jailed leaders, the halting of arbitrary sentencing and the restoration of parliament. Large placards and banners were raised in the capital Manama. A religious place (Matam Ansar Al-Adala) in Duraz was forcibly closed down by riot police and skirmishes were reported in several places.

18 July: Security forces raided Malkeya village, west Bahrain, damaged 25 private cars and ransacked scores of house. During this savage attack , they stopped people randomly, intimidating them and carrying out haphazard arrests.

19 July: Columns of fire were seen in many parts of the country. Clashes with security forces were reported in Sitra, Karranah, Mugshaa and Bani Jamra. These clashes have intensified every night since the arbitrary sentencing of three innocent people to death on 1 July. In Bani Jamra, security forces stormed houses and arrested many people.

21 July: Security forces conducted dawn raid on houses in a district of Sitra (Iskan-Sitra) which resulted in the arrest of scores ofd people. The Awqaf (religious trust) department summoned several persons responsible for mosques and matams (religious assembly halls) and intimidated them. This follows the arrest by security forces of elderly people such the 65-years old Isa Al-Ajami of Duraz on 9 July following the forced closure of “Matam Ansar Al-Adaleh”. Other elderly persons from Sanabis were arrested and taken hostages to Al-Khamis police stations. While in the custody, some Balauchi policemen were ordered by their chief to urinate on the old men as a form of intimidation.

23 July: At 2.00 am, the foreign-staffed security forces stormed the house of Mr. Mohammed Fardan, in Bani Jamra, to arrest one of his sons. The mother, Zahra Kadhem Ali, 54 years old, attempted to save her child. Reuters reported from Bani Jamra that the “woman has died from heart failure after trying to prevent Bahraini police from arresting her son, witnesses. They said the incident occurred after security forces entered the the Shi’ite village of Bani Jamra, 10 km (six miles) west of the capital Manama, on Tuesday night after reports of anti-government unrest by young Shi’ite men who started fires. Three men were arrested, including Zahra Ibrahim’s 16-year-old son Ahmed, the witnesses said. When she saw the police forces bundling her son into their car, she ran after them shouting and pleading “leave my son, leave my son,” the witnesses told Reuters. The security forces replied with tears gas and rubber bullets and pushed her away with their rifle butts, they added”. Reuters added that Zahra “collapsed and died shortly after the incident, the witnesses said. Police released the son the next morning at the family’s request to allow him to attend his mother’s funeral”. The family has another son, Hussain, 20 years old, who has been in jail since the start of the uprising. The death of Zahra Kadhem Ali brings the number of those killed by security forces to 28 since the start of the uprising in December 1994. Prior to the martyrdom of Zahra Kadhem Ali, Bani Jamra witnessed mass demonstrations demanding the release of Sheikh Abdul Amir Al-Jamri, the civil rights campaigner who is in jail since last January.

US State Dept Human Rights Report stated: “On July 23, 53-year-old Zahra Kadhem Ali reportedly suffered a fatal heart attack when security forces arrived at her home in Bani Jamrah to arrest her adolescent son”.

26 July: People gathered in mosques at mid-day and participated in the peaceful actions called on by the opposition. The peaceful actions included boycotting petrol stations (all the day) and withholding from the use of electricity, water and telephone for five minutes in solidarity with the opposition leaders who are in jail since last January. In Bani Jamra, a mass gathering was organized around the grave of the latest martyr of the uprising. Clashes with security forces resulted in several injuries and arrests.

31 July: Security forces clashed with demonstrators in Bani Jamra on 30 July. Twenty five persons had been arrested, many of whom were teenagers, such as Ahmad Taher, 12 years old. Ahmad was released on the same day following the deterioration of his health as a result of the torture he had been subjected to. His body carried marks of sever beating. Helicopters were deployed against the unarmed civilians who responded by exploding gas cylinders in the open. The foreign-staffed forces also attacked Duraz and arrested 16 people. Another 16 people were arrested from Ras-Romman, a district of the capital Manama. One of those arrested is known to be Sadiq Saeed Hassan, 25. Sanabis and Daih witnessed clashes and helicopters were seen hovering above the houses. The towns and villages of Sitra island continue to witness daily clashes with dawn raids against families being conducted every night.

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The ruling family gambles with blood

The State Security Court passed death sentences against three innocents people, sentenced four others to life imprisonment and one person received 15 years jail sentence. The eight defendants pleaded not guilty and lawyers involved in the case gathered evidences from more than fifty witnesses proving that the eight could not have committed the crime of burning a restaurant in Sitra four months ago in which 7 Bangladeshi workers died.

The three victims who received the death sentences on 1 July were: Ali Ahmed Abdullah al-Asfoor, Yousif Hassan Abdul-Baqi and Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Hubail. The four victims sentenced for life are Khalil Ibrahim Abdullah Khamis, Qamber Khamis Ali Qamber, Abdullah Ibrahim Abdullah Khamis and Mohammed Reda Yaqoub Yousif al-Attar. The eighth victim, Abdul-Aziz Hussain Abdul-Baqi, was sentenced for 15 years prison.

It is worth nothing that the Bangladeshi Embassy protested against the burial of their citizens without their knowledge. The security forces concealed the truth by not allowing even a Bangladeshi official to inspect the bodies.

The powers of the State Security Court were extended on 19 and 20 March 1996 when the Amir issued two decrees transferring more than 85 offences that used to be dealt with by civil courts to the security one. Sentences passed by the unconstitutional State Security Court can not be appealed. Moreover, the said court base its sentences on confessions extracted from defendants during custody without the presence of lawyers, thus paving the way for the use of torture to compile confessions. Since last March some 140 people have been sentenced after unfair trials with most of the victims receiving sentences ranging from 10 years to life, and in this latest case three innocent citizens have been sentenced to death as part of the policy of victimising the Shia community for the satisfaction of some political circles. Amnesty International issued a press release on 23 July (Ref: MDE 11/24/96) stating:

((‘Ali Ahmad al-Asfoor, aged 31, employee in the, agriculture ministry. Yousef Hassan ‘Abdul-Baqi, aged 31, teacher. Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Hubail al-Kattab, aged 30, employee in aluminium company (ALBA). Attempts to bring the three men named above to the Court of Cassation have failed and Amnesty International fears that their execution is imminent. The organization has also received further information confirming that their trial by the State Security Court fell far short of international standards for fair trial.

Although the State Security Court does not allow for appeal, under Bahraini law death sentences by ordinary courts are automatically referred to the Court of Cassation for appeal.

However, when the defence lawyers invoked that law in an attempt to go to the Court of Cassation, the government of Bahrain denied them that right and strongly indicated that the death sentences could be implemented soon.

Amnesty International has also learned that the defendants’ confessions, read out in court, apparently strongly contradicted one another. The State Security Court did not take into account these discrepancies, and neither did it require a cross-examination of the defendants, relying solely on written confessions they had made during the interrogation. The organization fears that the defendants may have been convicted on the basis of confessions extracted under torture. The court has also denied the team of defence lawyers their right to read the reasons for the judgement. Amnesty International is also concerned that the trial in camera by the State Security Court proceeds to a decision at a fast pace which does not allow lawyers sufficient time to prepare a defence.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases as a violation of the right to life, and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

On 26 March 1996, the authorities carried out the first execution in Bahrain for nearly 20 years when Issa Ahmad Hassan Qambar was executed by firing squad. He had been convicted of murdering a police sergeant)).

Amnesty International

BAHRAIN: WOMEN AND CHILDREN ARE SUBJECT TO ARBITRARY ARREST AND INCREASING ABUSE

16 JULY 1996

For the first time in the recent history of Bahrain women and children as young as seven have been arrested, beaten and threatened in custody — a disturbing pattern that looks set to continue, Amnesty International said in a report issued today.

Since the outbreak of “pro-democracy” activities in 1994 many Bahraini women have joined in public protests, a shift from their traditional role away from the public arena. They wrote petitions to the Amir, Sheikh Issa bin Salman Al Khalifa, urging the restoration of parliament, and led demonstrations calling for the release of their male relatives and of all political prisoners.

Scores of women were beaten for having joined in demonstrations or for trying to prevent the arrest of a male relative. Some were held as “hostages” in order to coerce male relatives to hand themselves over to the authorities while others were detained, apparently as punishment for the opposition activities of their male relatives.

Some women were also arrested in order to deter other women from joining public protests. Most were held incommunicado, some in solitary confinement, for up to two months before being released, usually without charge or trial.

 “The arrest and beatings of these women were a cynical attempt by the government to stifle criticism and pressure the women to turn over their husbands, fathers and brothers to the authorities,” Amnesty International said.

In April 1995, 20 professional women sponsored a petition addressed to the Amir asking for an end to the cycle of violence, a national dialogue and the restoration of democratic rights. Aziza al-Bassam, Hassa al-Khumairi and Munira Ahmad Fakhro were dismissed from their jobs because they refused to withdraw their names from the petition.

The following month, ‘Afaf ‘Abd al-Amir al-Jamri was arrested, apparently simply because she was a daughter of Sheikh Abd al-Amir al-Jamri, a leading Muslim Shi’a cleric who was detained in 1995. She was reportedly beaten by women police and held incommunicado for almost one month before being released without charge or trial.

At least 10 women were arrested in February 1996 and held for about two months without access to relatives or lawyers. Some of them had husbands or fathers in jail and others had already been briefly held in detention in 1995. All were released without charge or trial.

“None of the women were ever charged with committing any violent acts; most were not charged at all,” Amnesty International said. “The majority were prisoners of conscience — arrested simply because they dared to join a protest.”

In March 1996, around 20 female high school students from 16 to 18-years’ old were arrested in connection with school and street demonstrations. They were held in prison for more than a month without seeing their families or lawyers and were harassed during interrogation. One of them stated that a male prison officer threatened her and the other young women with rape and insulted and sexually taunted them.

All women and female high school students arrested in 1996 were released. Nevertheless, since some of them had been detained previously in the 1994-95 unrest, Amnesty International fears that these women could face arrest and further abuse.

The organisation was especially concerned to learn that Bahrain’s Information Minister Mohammed Ibrahim al-Motaweh recently told an Arabic-language daily that women have helped to “transport arms” used in the unrest because they can avoid being searched. He provided no further details, and in the absence of any charges against a single woman in that connection, Amnesty International fears these statements may be a pretext for further arbitrary arrests.

Some of the detainees following mass arrests in both last year’s unrest and the recent disturbances were children as young as seven years’ old. It is believed that, at any one time, about 60 children may have been held without access to legal assistance or family. In some cases, security forces targeted children to hold them “hostage” until relatives sought by police turned themselves in. A number of children were tried and handed the maximum sentence of 10 years, to be served in a corrective institution (islahiyya).

“Children are the most vulnerable of all victims — and the appalling absence of even the most basic legal safeguards left them open to ill-treatment and to unfair trials,” Amnesty International said. 

The Bahraini government has also continued its policy of forcible exile of suspected political activists and/or their families, and banning from return after several years of voluntary exile the suspected opponents and their wives and children.

“All these practices contravene international human rights standards and international convention,” Amnesty International said.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

BAHRAIN

Women and Children Subject to Increasing Abuse

INTRODUCTION

The Government of Bahrain has engaged in a consistent pattern of human rights violations since the early 1980s. A disproportionate number of targets of such violations have been Shia Muslims, particularly in the aftermath of the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979.

Following an alleged coup attempt in Bahrain in 1981, many people suspected of having links with Iran were arrested, convicted and sentenced to long-term imprisonment after unfair trials. Others were held in incommunicado detention in accordance with the State Security Measures of 1974 which permit administrative detention by order of the Minister of the Interior for up to three years, renewable. The government also resorted to forcible exile as a punitive measure against its suspected opponents and/or their families.

Bahrain does not have an elected legislative assembly, political parties are prohibited and the Constitution has been suspended since 1975, when the National Assembly was dissolved by order of the Amir, Sheikh Issa bin Salman Al Khalifa only two years after it was elected. Bahrains 30-member Consultative Council, set up in 1992, is appointed by the Amir and has no legislative powers, all laws being either Amiri decrees, or introduced by the Amir and approved by the cabinet. The Amir stated early in June 1996 that he would expand the powers of the Council, but no details have yet been made public.

In 1991 and early 1992 the human rights situation in Bahrain improved significantly. A number of political prisoners were released and Amnesty International received few reports of individuals detained on political grounds. Since mid-1992, however, the situation has steadily deteriorated once more, and by December 1994, there was an alarming, unprecedented increase in human rights violations in Bahrain following widespread pro-democracy demonstrations. For the first time, women and children as young as nine or ten years old were targeted for arrest and many were reportedly ill-treated in custody. For many women, this was the first time they had engaged in an active and vocal participation in public protests, a shift from their traditional role away from the public arena. Groups of women also wrote petitions to the Amir urging the restoration of democracy, and led demonstrations calling for the release of their menfolk and of all political prisoners. Children also joined the protest movement, staging sit-in strikes in schools and participating in street demonstrations which sometimes developed into clashes with security forces. The government dealt with both these groups by arresting them arbitrarily, holding them for extended periods in incommunicado detention and often ill-treating or torturing them during investigation. International standards addressing the particular vulnerabilities of women and children and rules regarding their detention and trial were consistently violated.

Amnesty International recorded the Bahraini Governments violations of human rights in a report entitled Bahrain: A Human Rights Crisis (AI Index MDE 11/16/95), issued in September 1995. The report detailed a number of cases in which women were held in incommunicado detention for months at a time before their release without charge or trial. As with most other detainees, the women were deprived of their right to contact their relatives or a lawyer during their detention period. A number of them were subjected to beatings and threats for allegedly having participated in demonstrations or for attempting to prevent the arrest of their male relatives. Some women were arrested and held as hostages in order to coerce male relatives to hand themselves  over to the authorities, while others were detained apparently as a punishment for the opposition activities of their male relatives, who were either detained or had evaded arrest. It would appear that some women were also detained in order to deter other women from joining public protests.

After a few months of relative calm in spring and summer 1995, disturbances broke out again in early November 1995 with protests by high school and university students over the continued detention of opposition activists. Dozens of students were arrested, many younger than 18 and some as young as seven years old. Most were freed after a few days in incommunicado detention. The large numbers arrested and short periods of detention have made it impossible to obtain exact figures. Some 60-80 of those arrested in the 1994-95 unrest have been tried by the Juveniles Court and convicted for arson attacks, rioting, and participation in illegal gatherings, among other charges. They were sentenced in trials that generally failed to meet international standards for fair trial.

On 29 February 1996, 10 women were arrested, apparently in connection with the activities of detained or sentenced male relatives, or to prevent them from campaigning for their relatives release. Some of these women had been detained previously for a few months in the 1994-95 unrest. While all were released by 9 May 1996, these arrests point to a growing trend in violations of human rights since 1994. Female high school students aged between 16 and 18 were also arrested on school premises in late March 1996 during protest demonstrations, as were dozens of children.

 ARBITRARY ARREST AND INCOMMUNICADO DETENTION OF WOMEN

Since late 1994, women have been increasingly active and organized in their campaign for democratic reforms, signing petitions urging the restoration of parliament and joining in demonstrations calling for the release of political detainees. Amnesty International knows of no cases in which women have been charged with involvement in violent acts. Many women were arrested apparently as a means of deterring other women from joining them in public protests. Most were held incommunicado, some in solitary confinement, for up to two months before being released, usually without charge or trial. Several reportedly stated that they had been beaten or pressured in other ways to confess to participation in demonstrations. Others testified that they had been beaten for participating in demonstrations, or for trying to prevent the arrest of their male relatives. 

Among the women detained apparently as punishment for the activities of their male relatives, was Afaf Abd al-Amir al-Jamri, a daughter of Sheikh Abd al-Amir al-Jamri, a leading Muslim Shia cleric who was detained for about five months in 1995. She was arrested when she had gone to visit her father in detention on 9 May 1995. She was reportedly beaten by women police officers and then held incommunicado for almost one month before being released without charge or trial.

Other women, apparently held as hostages in an attempt to coerce male relatives to hand themselves over to the authorities, included 27-year-old Malika Abdullah Singais, a teacher of Arabic at a secondary school for girls. She was arrested on 6 April 1995 in a dawn raid on her home in al-Sanabes and kept in incommunicado detention at al-Khamis police station, reportedly in lieu of her brother, Adel Singais, who was being sought by the authorities. She remained held without charge or trial for more than two months. It is not known whether Adel Singais was arrested or not.

In April 1995, 20 professional women sponsored a six-point petition addressed to the Amir and signed by other women. The petition sought an end to the cycle of violence, and requested a national dialogue, the restoration of democratic rights and assurances that the rights of those held in custody were being respected. Subsequently, the women were threatened with dismissal from their jobs if they did not withdraw their names from the petition. At least three of them, Aziza al-Bassam, Hassa al-Khumairi and Munira Ahmad Fakhro, refused to comply and were subsequently dismissed from their jobs at the Radio and Television Corporation, the Ministry of Education and the University of Bahrain, respectively.

On 29 February 1996, 10 women were detained after presenting themselves to the police as requested. Security forces had allegedly raided their homes the night before to arrest the women but instead left a summons for them to appear at the Criminal Investigation Department in Manama when their families refused to let them be taken away. All have since been released, following detention periods ranging from a few days to about two months. During their detention, their families did not hear from them and were not informed by the authorities of the womens whereabouts, despite their repeated requests. Like other detainees, the women were denied their right to legal assistance, some were held in solitary confinement and all were reportedly made to sign a statement pledging to desist from political activities as a condition for their release. Apparently arrested solely for their non-violent political activities, Amnesty International considered them to have been prisoners of conscience. The following among the arrested group are believed to have been detained mainly because of their relationship to imprisoned or detained political activists:

l Mona Habib al-Sharrakhi, aged 31, a daughter-in-law of Sheikh Abd al-Amir al-Jamri, the leading Muslim Shia cleric. Her husband, Mohammed Jamil al-Jamri, is currently serving a ten-year jail sentence after an unfair trial in 1990, in which he was convicted of espionage and membership of an unauthorized organization. Mona was released in early May, apparently without charge or trial, after payment of 200 dinars (500 US dollars).

2 Zahra Salman Hilal, aged 32. Her husband, Ahmad Mahdi Salman, has been detained without charge since January 1995. She was earlier arrested in April 1995 and remained held then for almost two months without charge or trial. After her second arrest, she was released on 8 May 1996, again without charge or trial.

3 Iman Salman Hilal, aged 24, Zahras sister and the mother of two children aged three and five years. She was released in early May 1996 after payment of 200 dinars (500 US dollars). She had been held in solitary confinement and was reportedly made to sign a statement pledging not to participate in demonstrations or communicate with the opposition in exile as a condition for her release.

Since February 1996, women have taken to the streets in larger numbers toprotest the detention of their male relatives, and organized or joined in demonstrations to protest other human rights abuses, such as the execution of Issa Qambar after an unfair trial. (Issa Qambars  execution, by firing squad on 26 March 1996, was the first in nearly 20 years in Bahrain. He was convicted of murdering a policeman in March 1995. See Bahrain: A Human Rights Crisis pages 31-33, Urgent Action 162/95 (MDE 11/13/95,6 July l995) and updates (MDE 11/20/95, 8 December 1995, MDE 11/06/96, 18 March 1996, MDE 11/07/96, 26 March 1996) and News Service 63/96, 26 March 1996 (AI Index MDE 11/08/96).

At the end of March 1996 at least two villages, al-Sanabes and Sitra, reportedly witnessed all-women demonstrations, protesting the execution of Issa Qambar.

Bahrain has signed the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in which governments reaffirm their commitment to international human rights instruments safeguarding the rights of women, in particular the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, and the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. Bahrain has yet to ratify the latter, an act which the Beijing Platform for Action clearly calls for. The Bahraini Governments practices of arrest and incommunicado detention of prisoners of conscience, of targeting women because of their relationship to male political detainees or prisoners and of ill-treating women detainees clearly violate these standards.Paragraph 113 in the Platform for Action includes in its definition of violence against women physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the State, wherever it occurs. In addition it calls for the protection by governments of women political activists.

CRUEL, INHUMAN AND DEGRADING TREATMENT OF FEMALE STUDENTS

The Bahraini authorities began arresting female high school students during their roundup of activists and demonstrators in the 1994-95 unrest, establishing what has been shown to be a continuing pattern. At the time, students detained during non-violent school demonstrations in support of pro-democracy detainees, were mostly held incommunicado for several days at the womens or juvenile section of a police station before being released without charge.

During this years disturbances, around 20 female high school students were arrested in March 1996 in connection with school and street demonstrations protesting the execution of Issa Qambar. They were detained for more than one month with no access to family or lawyers and many were reportedly subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment during interrogation. All were released on payment of up to 850 US dollars, apparently without charge or trial. The following cases of arrests at the school illustrate the violation of international standards safeguarding the human rights of vulnerable groups such as women and children:

l Safeya Yunis Ali Darwish, Nawal Ali Ebadi and Ahlam Abd al-Aziz Salman Ali, all aged 18. They were reportedly stripped to their underclothes by the women officers interrogating them, and kept standing for up to four hours at a time during questioning. 

As a condition for their release, the three were then made to sign a statement admitting participation in a protest demonstration against the execution of Issa Qambar at Medinat Hamad High School before being freed on payment of 300 dinars (750 US dollars) each, pending possible trial. The three were also suspended from school until further notice.

2 In addition, Ahlam Salman Ali was reportedly denied food for more than 24 hours on the first day of her detention, and Nawal Ali Ebadi denied the use of sanitary facilities for more than 24 hours.

There have been several reports of threats of rape made to high school female students in detention. In one case, the detainee stated that she had been taken with other female detainees to an Interior Ministry office prior to their release where a male officer threatened them with rape and subjected them to insults and verbal abuse of a sexual nature.

Cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment is prohibited by Bahrains Constitution, Article 19 (d) of which clearly states that no person shall be subjected to physical or mental torture, enticement or degrading treatment, and the law shall provide the penalty for these acts. The Penal Code also prohibits abuse of office or authority by public officials, as in Article 75

(1) which states: No policeman or any other person with authority shall use violence or threats or promise of benefits towards any person during an investigation into the commission of an offence in order to influence the statement he may give. The cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of the students in detention also clearly violates UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and disregards international recommendations addressing the particular vulnerabilities of women in detention.

DEATH IN CUSTODY, ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND UNFAIR TRIALS OF CHILDREN

Those detained following mass arrests in both last years unrest and the recent disturbances have included children as young as seven years old.

In July 1995, a 16-year-old student, Said Abd al-Rasul al-Iskafi, died in custody ten days after his arrest in circumstances strongly suggesting that torture was a contributory factor in his death. He had reportedly been detained on suspicion of having sprayed anti-government graffiti on walls near his home. Amnesty International obtained photographs of his dead body and submitted them to an expert forensic pathologist at Guys Hospital in the United Kingdom who noted that some marks on the body were consistent with injuries caused by striking or pressing the end of a tubular object against the skin. The pathologist concluded: The appearances indicate that the deceased has been subjected to ill-treatment of a sustained and very painful nature. Amnesty International also received reports that Said al-Iskafi, and at least one other child had been sexually assaulted while in custody.

Although most of the children detained last year and recently have been freed, many more are still being arrested at the time of writing this report, taken away in house raids, peaceful demonstrations or after clashes with security forces. In some cases, security forces targeted children to hold them hostage until relatives sought by police turned themselves in. The numbers of detainees changes daily but it is believed that at any one time, about 60 children may be held without access to legal assistance or family.

The ongoing arrests seem to further entrench a pattern begun in the 1994-95 unrest when Amnesty International documented the cases of at least 43 children (See Bahrain: A Human Rights Crisis, pages 19 and 33.) who were detained following arbitrary arrests by security forces in particular villages or districts, or following protest demonstrations. At the time, many of the detained children were kept for long periods in incommunicado detention before being brought before the Juveniles Court. Others were released without charge. In both cases, the children were detained without access to legal assistance or to their family.

At least 60 defendants were tried and convicted by the Juveniles Court in 1995 on charges which included arson attacks on public property, rioting, participation in illegal gatherings and incitement of hatred towards the government. A number of children were handed the maximum sentence of 10 years, to be served in a corrective institution (islahiyya). On appeal, several of these sentences were reduced to two or three years. For example, Muhammad Ali Muhammad al-Ikri, aged 14, was charged in July 1995 with throwing a petrol bomb at a policeman and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. His sentence was overturned on appeal and he was released in September 1995, but he remains under police supervision and is forbidden from travelling abroad. A number of defendants were also acquitted.

 Since the resumption of unrest in November 1995, the pattern of arbitrarily arresting children and keeping them in incommunicado detention has increased. Although many of those detained were released after several days without charge, the number of children arrested appears to be higher than in the unrest of 1994-95. Many have been arrested arbitrarily following demonstrations, school sit-in strikes and other non-violent political activities. Some were reportedly dragged off school buses and school attendance dwindled as parents kept their children at home out of fear of arrest. In March and April 1996, dozens were arrested following demonstrations against the execution of Issa Qambar and some were taken from their homes in dawn house raids.

In other cases, children were arrested after clashes between security forces and demonstrators, for example when youngsters and children reportedly threw stones at shops and traffic lights.

The names below are among at least 150 juvenile detainees arrested since November 1995, some of whom may still be detained. Amnesty International is concerned that many of them were arrested solely on account of their non-violent participation in demonstrations or were held as hostages, and that the apparent absence of basic legal safeguards leaves them vulnerable to ill-treatment and to unfair proceedings against them.

l Taha Aman, aged 9, arrested after security forces dispersed a   demonstration in the village of Karraneh using tear gas and rubber bullets on 4 May 1996. At least 12 others were arrested with him, their ages ranging from 10 to 14.

2 Hussein Ali Madan, aged 14, from the village of Deir, was detained with   his father on 8 March 1996 until his brother, Abbas, surrendered to the police the following day. 

3 In January 1996, Al-Sayyed Majed al-Sayyed Hassan, aged 8, was arrested from the village of Barbar and held for several days for alleged insolence to police during demonstrations. Also arrested with him were Ali Mahdi Mahmoud, aged 8, and Yasser Ammar, aged 7. They were released on bail pending trial before a Juveniles Court.

4 Salman Abdullah Salman, aged 12, from the village of Sitra, arrested during a school demonstration expressing solidarity with the detainees in November 1995.

Although Bahrain is a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it has consistently disregarded provisions such as Article 37(b),  which emphasises that no child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily, and that the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort for the shortest appropriate period of time. Article  37 (d) states that every child deprived of his or her liberty shall have theright to prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance, as well as the right to challenge the legality of the deprivation of his or her liberty. Article 9(4) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child obliges the authorities, upon request, to inform the family of the whereabouts of a child detainee.

FORCIBLE EXILE OF FAMILIES

Amnesty International has received reports since the early 1980s of the Bahraini Governments forcible exile of suspected political activists and/or their families. For example,following the outbreak of demonstrations in December 1994, seven Bahraini nationals were forcibly exiled, including prominent religious scholars. In some cases, women and children members of the family suffered as a consequence of the forcible exile. A typical example is the case of Sayyid Haidar al-Sitri, aged 41, who was forcibly exiled to the United Arab Emirates on 15 January 1995. The Bahraini authorities then refused to allow his wife and children to join him for seven months.

In other cases, where the breadwinner has been in prison, his female relatives and children who had spent several years abroad to avoid harassment were banned from entering Bahrain and immediately forcibly exiled.

The government has continued this practice until the writing of this report, mainly by banning the return of suspected opponents, including their wives and children, after several years spent abroad in voluntary exile. Those targeted include people who fled to avoid imprisonment, as well as relatives of political prisoners who escaped in order to avoid harassment. Others were abroad for varying periods of time for educational or business purposes. Security officials often detain such people for several days at Bahrains international airport where they question them about their alleged political activities before sending them back to their former country of residence. In most cases, the suspected opponents and their families are given one-year Bahraini passports which they then have to renew while abroad. No reasons for the expulsion or details of the legal basis for such measures are given. Those affected are denied any opportunity to appeal against the decision to expel them or to challenge its legality through the courts.

Amnesty International has received the names of more than 30 Bahraini nationals who have been denied entry to Bahrain since 1995. Among them are:

 l Sheikh Hamid Hassan al-Madeh, aged 38, forcibly exiled to the United Arab Emirates with his wife and seven children after trying to return in early January 1995, and Sheikh Munir al-Matuq who was expelled at around the same time with his wife and three children to Lebanon.

More recent cases include:

l Abd al-Sadeq Habib Hassan Abdullah, aged 29, who arrived at Bahrain airport with his wife and two children on 4 November 1995 and were kept for one day before being sent back to the United Arab Emirates.

2 Yasser Mirza Ahmed Abdullah and his wife were kept for four days at Bahrain airport on their attempt to return from Shiraz, Iran, in early February 1996 before being sent to the United Arab Emirates. Yasser Abdullah reportedly testified that he was interrogated during the four days, and said we spent the entire time on chairs with no place to sleep. We were also forbidden from  talking to other people or from contacting our relatives in Bahrain.

When Yasser Abdullahs wife later attempted to enter Bahrain from Saudi Arabia across the King Fahd causeway, immigration officers at the border sent her back.

The practice of forcible exile contravenes international human rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13 (2) of which states: Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. Forcible exile is also expressly prohibited under Article 17 (c) of Bahrains Constitution, which states that No citizen shall be deported from Bahrain, nor shall he be denied re-entry.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONALS RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE BAHRAINI GOVERNMENT

Amnesty International has raised its concerns repeatedly with the Bahraini Government over the years but has been met with few substantive responses.  Amnesty International has sought to send delegations to the country for fact-finding and for talks with the government, but has received no positive response. The organization has also made a series of recommendations to the Government of Bahrain, some of which are repeated here. If implemented, these measures could contribute to substantive improvements in the human rights situation in the country.

1. Ratify international treaties protecting human rights in general and the rights of women and children, in particular, without making limiting reservations. These should include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights together with its first Optional Protocol, the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The safeguards enshrined in these important treaties should be implemented in law and practice without delay.

2. Introduce immediate and effective measures to ensure that children and female detainees are protected from any form of torture and ill-treatment, including sexual abuse and harassment.

3.Ensure that female personnel are present at all times during interrogation of female detainees and prisoners and should be solely responsible for any body searches which should not be carried out in any manner that constitutes cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

4.Ensure that all women are granted access to appropriate medical attention as necessary. They should also have the right to be examined by a doctor of their choice. Denial of medical treatment or care, necessary personal health and hygiene may constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. 

5.Take steps to ensure that no woman or child is detained or held hostage because of their relationship to a male suspect nor as a means of intimidating relatives or others. The practice of ill-treating or intimidating women in order to bring pressure on their relatives should not be tolerated. Anyone found to be responsible for such acts should be brought to justice.

6.Ensure that nobody is detained or imprisoned solely on the grounds of their gender or for their non-violent political beliefs or activities.

7.Ensure that law-enforcement officials are trained to respect and comply with international safeguards, with regard to women and children in detention.

8.Conduct thorough, prompt and impartial investigations into all reported incidents of torture and ill-treatment. The investigations should be carried out by a body independent of those forces allegedly responsible and the methods and findings of these investigations should be made public promptly. Those found responsible for human rights violations should be brought to justice.

9.Ensure that all detainees are held only in officially recognized places of detention and that accurate information about the arrest, detention and whereabouts of any person is made available promptly to relatives, lawyers, doctors and the courts.

10. Establish and maintain local and central public registers of all detainees in accordance with international instruments such as Rule 7 of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and Principle 12 of the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of all Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, to be updated on a frequent and regular basis and made available on request to relatives, judges, lawyers and representatives of human rights organizations.

11.Amend the 1974 Decree Law on State Security Measures, to ensure that Bahraini law conforms with international human rights standards, in particular by ensuring that detainees in all cases are brought promptly before a judge. In addition, it should ensure that all people under any form of detention have the right to take proceedings before a court in order that the court may decide without delay on the lawfulness of the detention, and order release if the detention is unlawful, and that lawyers have the right to represent their clients effectively at every stage of the proceedings.

12. End the practice of forcible exile, which contravenes Article 13(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and which is expressly proscribed under Article 17(c) of Bahrains Constitution. The Government of Bahrain should issue a public declaration that all Bahraini nationals are entitled to return to Bahrain. 

Amnesty International, International Secretariat,

1 Easton Street, WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom