Bahrain: The release of Karzakkan prisoners is an indictment of the torture regime
The outrageous debacle suffered by the Al Khalifa ruling family in relation to the case of the Karzakkan’s nineteen political prisoners has shaken the regime to the core and reduced its integrity to tatters.
The sustained torture of these young men over a period of several weeks has failed to produce any credible evidence that could incriminate them. The courage of the defence team in exposing the lies and fabrication of the torture apparatus run by Khalifa bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, the former ambassador to UK, has ranked the regime among the worst offenders of human rights in the region. These Bahrainis have suffered since their arrest in December 1997 the most atrocious treatment ever meted against the people of Bahrain by the blood-thirsty Al Khalifa junta. Torture has not only been authenticated by the victims, their lawyers and local human rights bodies, but the Al Khalifa court itself found itself in the midst of unchallengeable evidence. It had to reject the “testimonies” drawn under duress by joint orders from the royal court, headed by the notorious criminal Khalid bin Ahmad Al Khalifa and the former ambassador to UK.
The alleged victim who had been supposedly killed by the 19 Bahrainis had died seven months prior to the “incident” in December 2007 in which he was allegedly killed. It was one of the most outrageous perjury in the recent history of Bahrain. The ruler now stands accused of the most serious crimes by overseeing these atrocious acts against Bahrainis who are subjected to the Al Khalifa occupation.
The regime was humiliated into total submission to the will of the people and the public opinion when, on Wednesday 14th October, to release unconditionally all the victims. The decision was taken to avoid international prosecution against the regime’s torturers. However, the senior Al Khalifa figures, including the ruler, the minister of his court and that of the security apparatus, remain guilty of serious crimes against humanity. To distance himself from the torturers, the ruler, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, needs to repeal his notorious Law 56 that he had issued in 2002 to shelter the torturers. Failing to do so is tantamount to participation in the heinous crimes against the people of Bahrain.
The people have felt joy and relief as their sons were spared the gallows that had been awaiting them for the past two years. There are at least 11 more people from the town of Ma’amir who are awaiting the verdict by the Al Khalifa junta accused, yet again, of participation in a demonstration that allegedly led to the death of another mercenary. Once again, the torture of these Bahraini victims has shaken the human conscience as details of their maltreatment started to spread. Over the past week anti-regime protests continued in many areas to demand the release of the Bahraini hostages from the torture chambers of the Al Khalifa occupiers. On Friday, protesters gathered in Malikiya calling for the release of the Ma’amir political prisoners. Men and women also participated in that protest in which photos of the hostages were raised. The people of Sitra took part in protests and demonstrations, burning tyres and writing slogans of the walls, before the foreign-staffed riot police attacked them with tear gas and rubber bullets. Similar situations were reported in Abu Saibe’, Jidhafs and Daih and Bani Jamra. In all these areas the scenes were the same. Bahrainis take to the streets, foreign mercenaries acting on orders from the occupation junta attack mercilessly and the whole scene is transformed into chaos, stone-throwing, rubber-bullet shooting and arrests. As the regime becomes more throttled it attempts not to take prisoners. Instead protesters are subjected to horrific treatment on the side of the road, leaving many of them for dead.
In a serious escalation of aggression against Bahrainis, Abbas Nooh, a young child of 12 years was arrested at the village of Kharijiyah of Sitra, severely beaten before being taken away to unknown destination. He had suffered a hit with a rubber bullet fired at close range by one of the mercenaries working for the Al Khalifa junta.
Meanwhile the National Committee of Martyrs and Torture Victims has called for the immediate arrest and trial of those who had tortured the Bahraini prisoners. The names of the torturers and the testimonies of their victims are readily available and can be presented to any inquiry. There is now an interest in taking the case to international bodies in order to teach the Al Khalifa junta a lesson in good governance and human behaviour, and to protect the native Bahrainis from the onslaught of the Al Khalifa occupiers and their supporters.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
18th October 2009