Bahrainis injured, detained and tortured as ICC is urged to take action
The vicious attack on a peaceful demonstration in Sitra left several people injured. The demonstration was organised by the citizens of Sitra to protest against the ruling family’s plan to occupy more of the island’s seashores through a process of reclamation funded by people’s money.
The protesters include families of the detainees who were calling for their release after months of illegal incarceration. The vcitims of the attack waged by the Al Khlaifa-directed foreign-staffed riot police include a citizen, Ahmad Abdul Hadi Al Basri, who almost lost his eye. His images in hospital stand as a testimony to the barbarity of the ruling family. He happened to pass near the area when he was hit with a rubber bullet. Another citizen from Sitra Al Kharijiya, also received severe injuries when he was hit at the head by a rubber bullet. Among theinjured were women and children whose injuries varies in severity. The aggressors used batons, rifles, tear and chemical gases to disperese the civilised protest.
Another peaceful protest was held yesterday at Hamad Town, organised by the families of the political prisoners in the group known as the “Al Hujjaira” group. Three Bahrainis from the village of Sar were arrested by the Al Khalifa Death Squads; the son of Sayyed Aqeel Al Mosawi, Sayyed Majeed Al Asel (who is an elderly person) and a third person whose name is not yet available. Several women were also arrested, maltreated and released when it became clear that their detention would spark major unrest in the country.
In a sign of desperation, the Death Squads resorted to a new method of attempting to stem the rising anti-regime movement. In the past few days meetings were held with school children to urge them to “cooperate” with them by revealing names of the pro-democracy activists who write slogans on walls or take part in protests. Last Thursday, children at the Sumayya Primary Girls School were called to a seminar organized by the police and, exposed to severe culture shock and threatened with sever reprisals if they did not report those who write political slogans on the walls, take part in protest or burn tyres. They were given a telephone number and ordered to work as spies to the police of the occupiers. Pictures of the senior members of the Al Khalifa were later distributed to them. Several young girls reported this institutionalized criminal act to their parents.
Bahraini lawyers described this act as “shameful” and “criminal”.
The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights has issued a lengthy statement warning of extreme dangers to the Bahrainis as a result of the policies, aims and composition of the Al Khalifa-controlled security apparatus, originally formed by the notorious British colonial officer, Ian Henderson. Out of more than 1000 members of this corrupt system, 64 percent are foreigners, mostly of Asian origins. Less than 4 percent of the employees are from the Shia Muslim population which are more than 75 percent of the natives. The recent attacks by this notorious system on villages have exposed the cruelty of its members. Extreme forms of torture are now practices against protesters after their arrest.
The system has also resorted to dirty tactics to assassinate the characters of the activists. In the 2009/2010 budget the budget of this notorious apparatus has been increased by 34 percent! Its hierarchy is linked the ruler and the prime minister and is thus not a neutral body or a system that puts the security of the country and the people at the top of its priorities.
The extent of desperation of the Al Khalifa has led them to send a delegation to the religious supreme authorities in Najaf, Iraq with the aim of limiting the anger felt by these scholars at their policies of genocide against the Shia Muslim population. The scholars had already been briefed about these policies and are unlikely to be influenced by these empty gestures. This move by the regime has come at the backdrop of a serious international move to indict the ruler of Bahrain and three of his closest lieutenants on crimes of cultural genocide of the Bahrainis. The move is gathering momentum with several projects to compile evidence needed by the International Criminal Court (ICC) which is taking the charges seriously.
The office of the ICC’s Prosecutor, Mr Moreno Ocampo, has already been notified and is following the case closely.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
7th March 2009