Bahrain: Country-wide protests as tear gas is used as a weapon
As the Bahraini revolution reaches its climax, countrywide demonstrations have taken place yesterday in most parts of the countries. Parallel with these protests, the Alkhalifa regime has intensified its repression, especially the use of chemical gases that have causes the death of at least forty people over the past year.
In July alone at least 240 people were arrested, tortured and incarcerated in dungeons controlled by John Timoney and John Yates. More than 100 Bahrainis were injured and over 200 houses raided and ransacked. People’s property were stolen in these raids. A British team from Scotland Yard is now fully engaged in directing the Alkhalifa police force to make it more effective in quelling the Bahraini people and contain the revolution. They are being trained to remove any traces of their criminal activities so that no legal retribution may take place if the situation changes. Al Wefaq Society has called on the British team to investigate the crimes committed by the regime’s forces, but the team is unlikely to scrutinise the Alkhalifa actions.
It is now expected that the team will support the hereditary dictatorship’s claims that their victims are terrorists and criminals supported by outside powers, meaning Iran, of course. Britain has been urged to take at least a neutral stand if she does not want to support the opposition.
Under the title : “Weaponising tear gas”, a US-based human rights group has accused the authorities in Bahrain of indiscriminately using tear gas as a weapon against protesters. Physicians for Human Rights said it was resulting in the maiming, blinding and even killing of civilians. It said: “The evidence already assembled regarding the pattern of use of tear gas, as well as its toxicology, raises the question of whether its further use can be condoned under any circumstances”.
It added that the “indiscriminate use of tear gas as a weapon has resulted in the maiming, blinding, and even killing of civilian protesters,” and urged the Bahraini government to stop using it at once. The report concluded that the authorities had “routinely violated every UN principle governing police use of force”. It also said the methodical use of tear gas as a weapon to attack civilians inside their homes and cars flouted international human rights law, and constituted torture, cruel and inhumane treatment.
The human rights situation in Bahrain is in question again, now most recently by the United States Congress. A high level hearing on the “implementation of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report” was held on Wednesday 1st August, inside room 2237 of the Rayburn House Office Building at the US Congress, according to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC). The TLHRC is a committee in US Congress that advocates human rights. The BICI report that was at the centre of Wednesday’s hearing had been issued last November. The hearing was held as tensions in Bahrain mounted over demonstrations demanding reforms are violently dispersed on daily basis.
The family of Hussain Al Aali has called for the authorities to clarify the whereabouts of their son, Hussain, 28, who had been arrested from his garage more than two months ago. His mother said: “We heard nothing about him for a long time and we knew that he had been in hiding. But two months ago the mercenaries started to raid our house daily without permission and at odd hours of the night. So we left the house and we left it open with the lights on. The raids have continued since”.
Zahra Al Sheikh, the young activist who was detained for several days last week has described how she had been tortured during her detention. She said that the torturers beat her all over her body, stood over her stomach and abused her.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
3rd August 2012