bahrain: the gathering storm - hrf on february 2012

8/3/2019 Bahrain: The Gathering Storm - HRF on February 2012

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February 2012

Bahrain: The Gathering Storm

Bahrains international reputation is deterioratingdramatically as it persecutes peaceful protestorsand other citizens. Despite claiming that it isurgently implementing reforms and that there isreal momentum behind efforts to reform itscriminal justice system, the regime continues topress baseless charges against those arrestedfor the peaceful expression of their views, and itssecurity forces continue to attack civilians andillegally arrest them. There are fresh reports oftorture and deaths in custody. Human Rights Firstdocumented these events in three visits toBahrain in 2011.

In January 2012, Human Rights First was deniedentry into Bahrain for the first time. Otherinternational human rights organizations werealso prohibited from entering, fueling fears thatthe regime does not want international observerspresent in the run-up to the February 14anniversary of the start of the democraticuprising.

February 14 is a highly significant date, with largerallies expected to be mounted by the oppositionin the days leading up to it. Shut out of theairwaves and most print media in Bahrain, thosecalling for reform have few options to make theirdissent to the regime other than to take part inmarches and rallies. The largest protestdemonstrations since March last year are widelyanticipated. The regimes security forcespreferred method of policing marches appears tobe to attack them, and so significant clashes arevery possible.

The U.S. government should state publicly in thecoming days that Bahrainis have a right to protestpeacefully, and that the Bahraini police andsecurity forces have a responsibility to protectthem in exercising that right. It should say publiclythat the relationship between the United Statesand Bahrain depends on a respect for humanrights in action and not just words. The next few

weeks are crucial for Bahrains journey todemocratic reform, and for Bahrainsinternational reputation, and the U.S.government should publicly urge the Bahraingovernment to allow international human rightsobservers and journalists free access to thecountry.

Escalating AttacksOn January 29, the regime targeted at least 22homes in predawn police raids and arrested fivemen. Two are believed to be recently releaseddetainees. Masked civilians and riot policetargeted the homes, the Bahrain Center forHuman Rights told us. They started around 2a.m. They came with police dogs and brokedown doors they didnt show any arrestwarrants and just beat the people as they tookthem away. The whole village was covered intear gas women were screaming, dogs werebarking, it was a real mess.

Tension is steadily increasing as the anniversaryapproaches. An employee at Bahrains mainhospital, the Salmaniya Medical Complex, toldus that it is nearly impossible to be grantedleave in February or March. They want to stopdoctors joining the protests, said the medicalworker. Other medical workers fear that thehospital is anticipating large numbers ofcasualties in February.

Police and military checkpoints still operate atthe gates of the Salmaniya hospital, and the

officers there have arrested suspectedprotestors. Many have told us they were torturedafter being arrested at the hospital last year. Ahospital employee told us that a few weeks agoa man with a head injury was broughtunconscious to the hospital. Fifteen policemensurrounded him waiting for him to regainconsciousness. There are even police in theoperating theatres.


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Bahrain: The Gathering Storm February 2012 Page 2 of 9

People injured in protests rarely seek medicalattention at the hospital because it is regarded asunsafe, a place they are likely to be arrested, orworse, and a network of underground treatmentcenters in private homes has emerged. TheFrench organization Mdecins Sans Frontiresoperated a small makeshift clinic in Bahrain for

some months last year before the police raided itand shut it down.

On January 31, in anticipation of large protestsexpected to start several days before theanniversary, the Bahrain Ministry of Health issueda memo to all private medical centers, warningthem to report all injuries to the police.

Above: January 31 Bahrain Ministry of Health notice to

medical centers; translation below

To all hospitals and private clinics

According to the letter from the ministry of health'sundersecretary, and in reference to the letter from

the vice-president of Public Security, it turns out that

there is a number of hospitals and clinics which

receive cases that have the possibility of being

related to felonies or accidental events; workers in

these hospitals and clinics treat them and in some

cases perform surgeries without informing the

concerned security authorities.

The national committee for organizing medical

professions would like to stress that these

hospitals and private clinics (and without

preventing the patient from his right in receiving

the proper treatment for his case) should inform

the police authorities when they receive cases that

might have resulted from accidental events or that

might have a criminal suspicion, regardless of thecauses of injury. The national committee for

organizing the medical professions and services

hopes that everybody will be committed to what's

in this announcement, as disobeying it could put

them under the penalty of law.

BICI ReportMass protests began on February 14, 2011, and

the regime responded with violence. Severalmonths laterafter national and internationalhuman rights organizations and media outletshad exposed the truth about the crackdownthe regime commissioned its own panel ofexperts to review the events and makerecommendations.

The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry(BICI), known locally as the BassiouniCommission because of its chair CherifBassiouni, published its report in November2011. It corroborated what Human Rights Firstand other organizations had been saying formonths: dozens of people had been killed,including some in custody; thousands had beendetained and many tortured; thousands morehad been dismissed from their jobs; andhundreds had been subjected to unfair trials,including hundreds of civilians tried in militarycourts.

The regime publicly promised to implement allthe reports recommendations, which include:

(1722a) To conduct effectiveinvestigationsof all the deaths that havebeen attributed to the security forces.Likewise, all allegations of torture and similartreatment be investigated by an independentand impartial body.


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(1722d).all detention should be subject toeffective monitoring by an independent body.

Moreover, every person arrested should begiven a copy of the arrest warrant and no

person should be held incommunicado

But there is little evidence that these or other

important reforms are being properlyimplemented and human rights violations havecontinued daily. Charges have not been droppedagainst civilians inappropriately tried in militarycourts, security forces continue to attack peacefulprotestors and other civilians, and internalinvestigations into police crimes have nocredibility. In an interview with De Paul TV in theUnited States on January 25, Cherif Bassiouninoted, I think the public is going to come out inthe end and say, You know what? Youre holdingall these investigations behind closed doors and

this is a whitewash, and I think they would beperfectly justified in saying so.

The regime appears unwilling to make anythingbeyond token political reforms despite the urgingof the United Nations, the Bassiouni Commission,and others.

On December 21, 2011, U.N. High Commissionerfor Human Rights Navi Pillay called on authoritiesin Bahrain to take immediate steps to address thedeepening mistrust between the governmentand civil society, saying, The Bahraini authorities

need to urgently take confidence-buildingmeasures including unconditionally releasingthose who were convicted in military tribunals orare still awaiting trial for merely exercising theirfundamental rights to freedom of expression andassembly.

We continue to receive reports of the repressionof small protests in Bahrain and although somesecurity officers have reportedly been arrested,we have yet to see any prosecution of securityforces for civilian injuries and deaths, she said.

Such impunity at all levels is a seriousimpediment to national reconciliation.

The abuses last year and the failure to implementadequate reforms so far this year have ledinternational bodies to downgrade Bahrainshuman rights and economic ratings and rankings.

On January 19, the U.S.- based humanrights organization Freedom House

published its annual survey of politicalrights and civil liberties, Freedom in theWorld 2012. It noted that Bahrains civilliberties rating declined from 5 to 6 dueto the governments brutal response tothe February 14 popular democracymovement, the imprisonment and torture

of detainees, a clampdown on criticalmedia, and the use of military trials forcivilian activists.

On January 25, Reporters WithoutBorders published its Press FreedomIndex 2011-2012. It gave Bahrain itslowest-ever ranking, falling 29 placesfrom last year to 173 of 179, above onlyChina, Iran, Syria, Turkmenistan, NorthKorea, and Eritrea. It described Bahrainand Vietnam as, quintessential

oppressive regimes. Leading anti-corruption organization

Transparency International published itsCorruption Perceptions Index December1, 2011. It ranks countries and territoriesaccording to their perceived levels ofpublic sector corruption. It draws onassessments and opinion surveyscarried out by independent, reputableinstitutions, and these surveys includequestions related to the bribery of public

officials, kickbacks in publicprocurement, embezzlement of publicfunds, and the effectiveness of publicsector anti-corruption efforts. It rankedBahrain 46th out of 183 countries andterritories, behind regional competitorsQatar and the United Arab Emirates.

On January 25 the economic ratingagency Standard and Poors (S&P)released a damning report on Bahrainslack of political progress. In our view,the dynamics of Bahrain's internal

political conflict remain unchanged, withentrenched polarization indicatingprolonged tensions, it said. We aretherefore affirming our long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings on theKingdom of Bahrain at 'BBB/A-3'.


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S&P further explained:

The ratings are constrained by our view ofsevere domestic political tensions, highgeopolitical risks, stagnating real GDP percapita, and its fiscal dependency on sustainedhigh oil prices.

Nearly a year after major unrest in Bahrain,tensions still remain. Violent street protestswith occasional fatalities occur regularly andthere is entrenched polarization between thetwo sectarian communities, which both alsoappear internally divided. The authoritieshave made efforts to defuse tensions, notablywith the November 2011 report of the BahrainIndependent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) onthe events of March 2011, as well as theKing's announcement of constitutionalreforms on Jan. 15, 2012. In our view,however, these measures have failed torevive a broader political process thatincludes opposition representatives. As such,we believe challenges to governmentlegitimacy will persist and the potential forunrest remains acute. In our view, this couldcontinue to undermine Bahrain's internationalimage as a business-friendly location.

S&Ps analysis that challenges to governmentlegitimacy will persist and the potential for unrestremains acute looks accurate, especially in the

run-up to the February 14 anniversary. Thereforms announced by King Hamad on January15 included his issuing a Royal Decree tooutline the process for appointing cabinetmembers and ministers. The reforms will alsogive the parliament increased input into creationof the state budget and emergency budgetpowers. The reforms notwithstanding, Bahrainremains ruled by an old-fashioned monarchy.

As the U.S. Congressional Research Servicenoted in its November 29, 2011 report Bahrain:

Reform, Security, and U.S. Policy, To preserveits power, the Al Khalifa family has, to date, heldonto all strategic ministry positions and at leasthalf of all ministerial slots. Even before the 2011unrest that has seen most senior Shiites ingovernment resign, there were only four Shiiteministers out of 23 cabinet positions (plus one outof the four deputy prime ministers), and thoseministries run by Shiites have been considered

less critical. Shiites have also been highlyunderrepresented in the security forces, servingmainly in administrative tasksAccording to theconstitution, the King, through the primeminister, makes all cabinet appointments andthus exercises direct rule.

The king also has the authority to amend theconstitution, and the kings uncle has been theunelected prime minister since 1971.

Security Sector ReformOther obstacles to democratic reform include anoverwhelmingly Sunni security sector. In theshort- and long-term this needs urgent attention.Many Shiites feel they are not properlyrepresented in the security forces, and that thepolice often Sunnis recruited from Pakistan,

Yemen, Jordan, and elsewhere are inherentlyantagonistic towards them. Without urgentsecurity sector reform, the disconnect anddistrust between many in Bahrain and the policelooks set to deepen, making the emergence of asecurity sector which enjoys the confidence ofthe whole community increasingly difficult toachieve.

Detailed statistics on the countrys demographiccomposition are unavailable, although mostobservers agree there is a Shiite majority in thecountry.

Justin Gengler at the University of Michiganstudied the Sunni/Shiite ratios as part of his PhDresearch in 2009. He notes, The last time thegovernment of Bahrain reported officialdemographic statistics on its Sunni and Shi'icommunities was in its very first census in 1941,which put the percentage of Shi'a at 53% of theisland's population.

Genglers estimates, which included researchfrom over 400 household interviews, suggests

Shia comprised 58 percent of his surveysample, Sunnis 42 percent This, he concedes, isa lower number of Shia than commonly cited,and gives examples from 2011 estimates madeby media outlets. The New York Post in April2011 said Shia constituted 76 percent of thepopulation, while Bloomberg said, Shiites makeup about 70 percent of Bahrains population,


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and the New York Times referred to the 70percent of the country that is Shiite.

Gengler suggests that his estimate callsattention to the pace and scope of Bahrain'sprogram of politically-motivated naturalization ofSunnis.

These numbers are of particular importance inaddressing the imbalance of representation in thesecurity services, and how that influenced thepolice and army reaction to the protests last year.

The U.S. State Department, in its July-December2010 International Religious Freedom Report,published on September 13, 2011, noted,Although there were exceptions, the SunniMuslim citizen population enjoyed favored status.Sunni citizens often received preference foremployment in sensitive government positions, in

the managerial ranks of the civil service, and inthe military. Only a few Shia citizens heldsignificant posts in the defense and internalsecurity forces, although more were in theenlisted ranks. Although the police force reportedit did not record or consider religious belief whenhiring employees, Shia continued to assert thatthey were unable to obtain government positions,especially in the security services, because oftheir religious affiliation. Shia were employed insome branches of the police, such as the trafficpolice and the fledgling community police.

The BICI report also addressed the issue ofunderlying sectarian bias:(70.) Sectarianrelations in Bahrain are not solely affected byquestions of theology. Socio-economic factorsexert an influence as well. For example, manyShia claim to be victims of systematicdiscrimination on religious grounds. This, theyargue, is evident in the limited numbers of Shiawho serve in important government agencies,such as the [Bahrain Defence Force], the[National Security Agency] and the police.

Discontent among Shia is further heightened bythe large number of expatriates who areemployed by these agencies, which generatesthe impression among many that this policyreflects governmental mistrust of Shia whobelieve that, as Bahraini citizens, they ought tostaff these positions.

The actual numbers of Shia represented in themilitary and police are also unavailable, though

most estimates put the percentage of Shia in thepolice as very small, with even fewer in themilitary. In both cases, Shia appear to beconfined to the most junior ranks.

A significant number of soldiers and members ofthe police force refused to join in the

government crackdown, and many, perhapshundreds, were arrested and detained. Weestimate that around 160 members of the policeforce and 20 soldiers were convicted for refusingto join in the crackdown. Most have beenreleased and are waiting for an appeal date, butwe estimate that several dozen remain indetention. Virtually all are Shia, although onelawyer told he has two Sunni clients who areformer policemen being prosecuted for refusingto join the crackdown.

The members of the police force we spoke tosaid they were arrested in March or April afterrefusing to join the crackdown. In detention,according to consistent and credible accounts,they faced mistreatment that fits the pattern ofwidespread detainee abuse documented byHuman Rights First and other human rightsgroups. They said they were blindfolded,handcuffed, tortured, and not given adequateaccess to lawyers. Some say they were alsoleg-cuffed. Several said they had been made tostand for long periods, and told that their female

relatives would be sexually assaulted unlessthey signed a confession.

Hassan Hameed Hassan, 26, says he hadserved in the Bahrain police force for five years,but decided to leave when he witnessed attackson protestors in March. He was phoned by hisboss when he didnt turn up for work and toldthat if he didnt turn himself in, they would comeand take his female relativeshis wife, hissister, and mother. He says on April 26 theyattacked his house, took him in for interrogation,and then beat him. I was forced to stand for two

days and to confess Id been at the PearlRoundabout. They said if I didnt confess theywould bring my wife and rape her.

Hussain Ali Ahmad, 40, has been in the Bahrainpolice force for 20 years, and played the buglein the police band. He says he was arrestedafter conversations at work with colleagueswhen he said he was sympathetic to the


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protestors. He has been sentenced to four yearsimprisonment and is awaiting an appeal date.

Ali Jasim Al Ghanmi is a 25-year-old member ofthe police force, married with a daughter. Ali likesreading history and eating Indian food, but hispassion is soccer. He joined the police in 2004

after finishing high school, where he concentratedin science. He joined because he said he used tobe a scout for more than 10 years and really likedto help people, and because he wanted to servehis country. When he first joined he worked onrescue patrols and then was transferred to thesecurity guard division. He says he had greatrelationships with Sunni policemen, the juniorstaff. Other Shiite policemen, like him, held low-ranking positions.

On February 17, after hearing that protestorswere being shot by the security forces, he went tothe hospital and helped the medics treating thewounded.

Dressed in uniform, he went into the crowd ofprotestors and announced he would no longerwork for the repressive dictatorship. He went intohiding after the security forces attacked andremoved the protestors from the central protestarea of the Pearl Roundabout in mid-March. Hisfamily said that they then received threats that heshould turn himself in. He was eventuallydiscovered on May 4 and arrested. His family

says their house was raided twice after that dateanyway, and his brothers and mother assaulted.

Ali said after he was arrested he was subjected tovarious forms of mistreatment and torture. Hewas doused with water while naked in a roomwith the air conditioning on high. He wasblindfolded and beaten with hands and sticks,denied food, water, and access to the toilet formore than two days, and abused verbally. Hewas sentenced to 12 years and 3 monthsimprisonment on January 9, 2012.

Ali has been in solitary confinement since heshouted the anti-king slogan Down, DownHamad! in the prison yard on September 24, forwhich he is facing separate charges. He isexpecting the verdict in that case on February 8and yet another court hearing on March 12 forallegedly taking part in an illegal gathering.

Another former member of the police,32-year-old Mahmood Sayed Jamil Sayed MuhammadAlawi, served in the police for 11 years, and wasworking at the Central Province early last year.According to court documents obtained byHuman Rights First, charges brought againsthim in May included being absent from work,

and having messages on his Blackberrysupporting the opposition.

Mahmood also voiced his opposition to thecrackdown against protestors last year. Hisfather told us that he was told not to come backto work at the police station where he workedand was arrested on April 29, 2011, beaten(resulting in partial loss of hearing), and burntwith cigarettes. His father said he wassentenced in July by the military court to 12years in prison.

The Bassiouni Commission recommended thatthe Bahrain regime urgently address this issueof imbalance in policing:

(1772e) The Commission recommends that theGovernment of Bahrain establish urgently, andimplement vigorously, a programme for theintegration into the security forces of personnelfrom all the communities in Bahrain.

It is hard to see much progress on this, althoughthe Bahrain regime did announce on January 1,2012 that it would recruit 500 new policemen.Bahrains new head of public security hascalled for a fresh start in the country as heannounced a new push for improving communitypolicing, reported the Gulf News. Tarek AlHassan said that 500 more officers would berecruited from all segments of the Bahrainisociety to boost community relations. Theofficers will wear distinctive uniforms and willonly police the local area from which they havebeen recruited, Al Hassan said.

The regime has also hired American John

Timoney, senior consultant for police andsecurity matters for the consulting firm AndrewsInternational, to advise it on police reform.Timoney is a former Miami and Philadelphiapolice chief with a controversial record. Hishandling of Miami street demonstrations duringthe Free Trade Area of the Americas summit in2003 brought lawsuits from the American Civil


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Liberties Union alleging excessive force andunlawful arrests.

During a January 18 interview, Timoney told U.S.National Public Radio that he sensed goodvibes from the government of Bahrain onwanting police reform. There are people with

good intentions and so we'll have to see where ittakes us all, but at least there's definitely awillingness as best as I can tell.

That same day the government of BahrainsCommittee to Implement the BICIrecommendations announced the Minister ofInterior approved a new Code of Conduct forBahraini Police. The Code of Conduct wasdrafted in consultation with Mr. John Timoney, aswell as legal and policing experts, and is basedon various international policing codes, includingthe U.N. Code of Conduct for Law EnforcementOfficials and the European Code of PoliceConduct. It adopts the principles-basedapproach, setting out the broad duties of policeofficers in relation to various aspects of theirwork, including the use of force, respect forhuman dignity and maintaining the rule of law...the Code constitutes a new social contractbetween the police and the Bahraini community.

However, in response to our request to see thenew police code of conduct, the government ofBahrain wrote on February 1, The Police Code

of Conduct is expected to be released in the nearfuture, and appears to still be publiclyunavailable.

In recent months, a minority of protestors haveattacked policemen with a variety of missilesincluding petrol bombs. On January 28 Minister ofInterior Lt-GeneralShaikh Rashid bin Abdullah AlKhalifa called for 15 year prison sentences to beimposed on those who target policemen. Thework to protect the general order has to continue;hence the targetingof policemen should, I think,

be penalized with imprisonment ofup to 15years, he said. Such a penalty should coverboth the instigators and the implementers.

Bahrain policing methods have not noticeablychanged since the publication of the BassiouniCommission report. Hassan Oun, an 18-year-oldstudent accused of participating in an illegalpublic gathering, was arrested on January 3 andtaken to the police station. He told a lawyer that

the police did not produce an arrest warrant. Hemanaged to call his family but when members ofthe family went to the station, they were told noone by that name was held there. The policetortured him. His lawyer, Zahra Masoud, sawhim on January 4 and reported: "Hassan couldbarely walk. One of his legs was very swollen

and the handcuff marks are visible on hiswrists. He told Masoud that he had been forcedto stand for about 11 hours and had beenthreatened with rape. He was sentenced to sixmonths in prison on January 30.

The police use of tear gas is also problematic.Human rights groups estimate that over a dozenpeople have been killed by the firing of tear gascanisters in the last year, both before and sincethe publication of the Bassiouni report. Thereare reports of tear gas being fired into homes

and other confined spaces. At the end ofJanuary, there were reports of tear gas beingfired at prisoners in a cell in Jaw Prison. OnJanuary 29, about 250 political prisoners in JawPrison started a hunger strike, following theexample of 14 imprisoned human rights leaderswho were striking to protest their treatment andthe countrys deteriorating human rightssituation.

The U.S. Governments

ResponseThe United States has a strong militaryrelationship with Bahrain, which hosts the U.S.Fifth Fleet. The king of Bahrain studied atmilitary colleges in the United States, and lastyear 26 Bahraini students attended U.S. militaryschools.

Press reports at the end of Januaryshowed thatthe United States is to sell a package of militaryequipment to the Bahrain regime. The U.S.State Department says It does not include any

new capabilities, nor would it include internalsecurity items, such as small arms or tear gas.A larger, $53 million U.S. arms sale to Bahrainwas put on hold last October when severalmembers of Congress publicly opposed thesale. However, this smaller package, and othersin the pipeline, designed to maintain the currentrelationship, seem to be going ahead. Providingmilitary equipment to the regime at this


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particularly tense time sends a worrying signal toopposition activists in Bahrain: The continuoussupply to the regimes security forces stands instark contrast to the support the United States isbeing seen to give those calling for democraticreform.

On February 2 Senator Ron Wyden,Representative James McGovern, and 19 othersenators and members of the U.S. Congress,signed a letter to U.S. Secretary of State HillaryClinton opposing the administrations decision toproceed with the sale of a limited number ofmilitary items and services to Bahrain, noting,We believe that any such sale at this time sendsthe wrong signal to Bahrain and to the worldabout Americas commitment to the promotionand protection of human rights.

The administrations public condemnation of theBahrain regime has been intermittent, with longperiods of silence during the crackdown, much tothe frustration of human rights activists inBahrain. Voices in Congress have been moreencouraging and steadfast, particularly urging theadministration to reconsider arms sales, and thegovernment of Bahrain to allow independenthuman rights organizations and observers accessto the country. Human rights activists in Bahrainneed a stronger message from the U.S.government that the course they are trying to

pursue is justified and encouraged.Rula al Saffar is president of the Bahrain NursesAssociation. She studied, trained, and worked inthe United States at Baylor medical facilities inDallas, Texas and at Widener University inPennsylvania. She was detained for over fivemonths for treating wounded protestors andsentenced by the Bahrain military court to 15years in prison. She told us, The United Statesmust realize the terrible signal providing militarysupport sends to the Bahrain government and tothe peaceful opposition. It looks like the United

States is giving the green light to the Bahraingovernment to carry on the repression."

Abdul Jalil Khalil, who was the leader the Al-Wefaq parliamentary bloc before the blocresigned in February 2011, told Human RightsFirst, "We urge the U.S. Congress to look into allthe issues relating to Bahrain with a view ofreversing the brutal nature of the regime, and theUnited States can only be more effective in the

region if it stands up for a principled approachwhereby friendly governments do not useAmerican friendship as a cover for theiratrocities."

A young pro-democracy activist and student atBahrain Polytechnic told us, Its about time for

the U.S. government to end its double standardsand stop supporting oppressive regimes just toprotect their own political and economicinterests. It should ask the Bahraini regime tohave free elections whereby people can electtheir own government. If the U.S. governmentrespects and supports human rights, it wouldn'teven consider sending military equipment to thebrutal Bahraini regime. U.S. government, stopyour double standards, take a stronger stand,yes you can!


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Recommendations

For the U.S. Government Senior U.S. government officials,

including President Obama, Secretary of

Defense Leon Panetta, and Secretary ofState Hillary Clinton should publiclycondemn abuses by the Bahraingovernment and call for accountability.

The U.S. government should publiclyannounce that it is closely monitoringdevelopments up to and during theFebruary anniversary to see if thoseexpressing their freedoms of assemblyand speech are properly protected, andthat it expects the Bahrain government toensure that its security forces adhere tointernational standards and law inprotecting peaceful protestors.

The U.S. government should publiclystate that its current and futurerelationship with the Bahrain governmentis dependent on it respecting internationalhuman rights standards and holdingviolators accountable, and that arelationship of mutual benefit cannot bepursued unless Bahrain respectsinternational human rights standards.

As the U.S. government moves forwardwith various packages of support tomaintain its relationship with the Bahrainimilitary, the Departments of State andDefense should consider the timing ofsuch transfers as signals of support forcurrent actions of the Bahrainigovernment. They should also be able tocertify that U.S. goods meant for strategicpurposes will not be used by the Bahrainigovernment for violations of human

rights. The administration should continueto notify Congress and the public whensuch transfers are imminent to properlyvet these standards.

The U.S. government should urge theBahrain government to urgently reformand diversify its security sector, to makeits polcie force representative of the whole

community and to end discriminatorypractices in hiring or promotion.

For the Government ofBahrain

Unconditionally release those convictedby military courts and end torture,arbitrary detention, and incommunicadodetention.

Publicly declare that everyones right topeaceful expression and assembly willbe respected and protected duringFebruary and afterwards.

Allow and fully cooperate withindependent human rights organizationsand observers, permitting them

immediate and unfettered access toBahrain to monitor conditions anddocument human rights abuses;

Investigate and hold accountable allindividuals who authorized, condoned, orcommitted human rights abuses,including the use of violence or tortureagainst peaceful protesters anddetainees;

Drop charges against all those who arebeing prosecuted under politically-

motivated charges;

Allow access by local and internationaljournalists and human rights researchersto protest sites, hospitals and otherpublic institutions; and

Implement all of the rest of the BICIrecommendations, including those suchas 1722g which can be doneimmediately (There should beaudiovisual recording of all officialinterviews with detained persons).

bahrain: the gathering storm - hrf on february 2012

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