Issue 42: 19th May -7th June 2016

News from Inside Bahrain

Quote from
Bahrain:

Sheikh Ali Salman sentenced to 9 years prison

Sheikh Ali Salman, the
head of Bahrains
main opposition
society, has been
sentenced to 9 years
in prison, an extension
of 5 years on his original sentence. During his
own appeal new charges were added that
included promoting overthrow of the
political system, inciting hatred against a
sect, inciting non-adherence to the law and
insulting a statutory body. Salman and his
defence team strongly contested all charges,
arguing that no supporting evidence has
been offered, whilst there are countless
testimonies and videos to prove Salmans
innocence. BJDM describes the court as a
show trial and calls for the immediate
release of Sheikh Ali Salman and dropping of
all charges. Read our full statement here.
Bahrainis stage protests refusing Sheikh Ali
Salmans sentence
Hundreds of Bahrainis
took to the streets
in several villages
protesting against the
-9year jail term issued
against the opposition leader Sheikh Ali
Salman. The protestors marched in Manama
and other villages despite the protest ban
imposed by the Bahraini authorities. Protestors
held photos of Sheikh Ali Salman, chanted
slogans affirming their adherence to their
legitimate demands and called on more
action from the UK, whos Foreign Minister
was visiting Bahrain at the time. Security
forces responded heavily to the protests and
fired tear gas canisters at protestors.
Zeinab Alkhawaja released but charges
remain
Zeinab Alkhawaja, who was
detained along side her
-17month old baby since
March, has been released
from prison. During a visit of
the US Secretary of State in
April, the Bahrain Foreign
Minister promised she would
be released, although it has taken over a month
to do so. Despite her release, the charges against
her have not been dropped and she may called
back to prison at any time. Alkhawaja is charged
with insulting the King after tearing up his picture
during a court hearing.

Lawyer Taimour Karimi deported

A Bahraini court has
decided to deport
lawyer Taimour Karimi,
whose citizenship has
been revoked since
2012, along with another
30. The court ordered the expulsion of Karimi
without allowing him and the defence panel to
have a look at the royal decree that revoked
his nationality. Karimis bank accounts were
frozen and he was informed that he is no longer
allowed to practice his legal profession. Karimi
was also summoned by Nationality, Passports
and Residence Affairs department to hand over
his passport and identity card and was then
accused of illegal residency. Karimi rejects the
claims and his insists his family go back at least
three generations in Bahrain.

Security authorities launch wide campaigns

of arrest
Masked militants
affiliated to the Ministry
of Interior launched a
campaign of house
raids and illegal arrests
over several days in
Sitra, which led to the
arrest of dozens of citizens. Civilian militants also
deployed checkpoints in Sitra, claiming that a
policeman was targeted in an ambiguous
incident and that a number of suspects were
apprehended. The Ministry of Interior, however,
did not announce such an incident. Security
forces impose ongoing blockades on Sitras
entrances and hinder citizens movements.

Trial of Ibrahim Sharif Adjourned

Bahrains court of
appeals adjourned
the case of prominent
opposition figure and
Secretary-General
of the National
Democratic Society
(Waad), Ibrahim Sharif, until October 13 for
pleading. Sharif is sentenced to one year in
prison and he is supposed to finish his jail term on
June 11. The authorities arrested Sharif 3 weeks
after releasing him in June 2015 over a speech he
delivered. He is accused of inciting hatred.

Ali Alaswad, former

Bahraini MP from
Al Wefaq National
Islamic Society
For over a month we
were wondering why
Bahrain was continuing
to keep Zeinab
Alkhawaja in detention
despite promising to
release her. It is now
clear that the delay
was to wait until the
hearing of Sheikh Ali
Salman so it could try
to offset the heat it
would receive over
increasing his sentence
against releasing
Zeinab. It is very good
news that Zeinab
has been released
but bargaining one
innocent citizen over
another is no type of
justice.
Moreover this tells us
two things about justice
in Bahrain. Sentences
are political decisions
made well-ahead of
trial dates and also
that justice is a sham
whereby the authorities
play with the lives of
those it arrests and
bargains with them on
the international stage.
It is therefore very
pleasing that so many
states have lined up to
reject this process, but
large question marks
remain over Bahrains
most common ally, the
UK. Their silence over
this sentencing speaks
volumes about their
mission in Bahrain and
how human rights is but
a secondary concern
to all else.

Bahrain in the
Media

Bahrain opposition slams

provocative doubling of
leaders jail term

Bahrain is perfecting the

art of repression, and
Britain is happy to help

Bahraini human rights

lawyer faces arbitrary
deportation: Amnesty

50 Days of a Broken
Promise in Bahrain

The Bahraini Prince

Trying To Save Cycling
Is A Credibly-Accused
Torturer

Britain should not be

so ready to help train
the troops of repressive
regimes

Torture regimes
2.1million to train prison
guards: UK foreign aid is
revealed after Bahrains
human rights record is
criticised

NGO`s on Bahrain:

Jaw prisoners inmates launch hunger strike

Inmates held in Block 10
in Jaw prison launched
a hunger strike in
protest of the
maltreatment they are
being subjected to.
Inmates demanded the
prisons administration to stop mistreatment
against them and their families. Prisoners at Jaw
Prison suffer from bad conditions as the prison is
overcrowded, given that it holds 2468 inmates
when it can fit only 2145. There are about 1000
prisoners held over politically motivated charges,
meanwhile, human rights organizations said that
there are about 4000 political prisoners
languishing behind bars.

Inflation in Bahrain reaches %3.8 as

economic woes continue
Bahrains inflation rates hiked up to %3.8, which
is considered the highest since December 2013.
Prices in Bahrain increased 3.1 by the end of
August 2014. However, housing and utility costs
rose 3.8 percent compared to the previous year.
Tobacco prices scored a rise of %5, meanwhile,
prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages
climbed 5.9 percent. By the end of 2017,
Bahrains debt is expected to reach %65 of GDP.
Bahrain suffers from economic problems due to
the oil price drop and the political unrest it has
been witnessing since 2011.

Bahrain upholds death penalty against

political detainees
Bahrains appeals courts have upheld the
death penalty against three individuals and life
sentences for a further six, all of whom have been
arrested for political activity. They are accused
of involvement in targeting police officers with
explosives. The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
has alleged that there have been questionable
interrogation practices and ill-treatment of these
detainees, and the detainees have themselves
complained of torture, whilst denying the
charges against them.

BAHRAIN: FURTHER
INFORMATION: THREE DEATH
SENTENCES UPHELD

BAHRAIN: STATELESS
LAWYER AT IMMINENT RISK
OF EXPULSION: TAIMOOR
KARIMI

State Department Urged to

Submit Overdue Report on
Bahrains Progress Toward
Reform to Congress

United States Urged to

Publicly Call for Release of
Sheikh Ali Salman in Bahrain

Bahrain: -9Year Sentence

for Opposition Leader

Bahrain continues to use

arbitrary detention as a
weapon to silence critics

News from Outside Bahrain

International Governments register disproval
over Sheikh Ali Salman sentencing
A large number
of international
governments have
spoken out against
the -9year sentence
handed down to Sheikh
Ali Salman, Secretary
General of Al Wefaq
National Islamic
Society. In a video the
US State Department
said it is deeply concerned by the sentencing
and believes no one should be prosecuted
or imprisoned for engaging in peaceful
expression or assembly. The European Union
said the sentence risks undermining chances
of lasting and inclusive reconciliation in Bahrain
meanwhile the UN Special Rapporteur on
freedom of opinion and expression issued a
strong statement condemning the sentencing
and adding Silencing the opposition is never an
acceptable or effective response to situations of
political instability. France noted with concern
the sentencing and Germany said it was
dismayed by this harsh ruling. US Congressman
James McGovern called for the release of
Sheikh Ali Salman, and US Assistant Secretary
for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour
added his voice, as well as Samantha Power, US
Ambassador to the UN. Notably, no on record
statement from the United Kingdoms Foreign
and Commonwealth Office has been made.

Protest in Musalla in
solidarity with detained
political figures

Useful links:

Al Wefaq National Islamic

Society

Bahrain Centre for Human

Rights

International NGOs condemn -9year jail term

against Sheikh Ali Salman
A number of
international NGOs
have condemned
the extending of the
jail sentence against
Sheikh Ali Salman,
following the decision
on 31st May. Human
Rights Watch described
Salman as the latest
casualty of Bahrains war on dissent, and
Amnesty International described the sentence
as a shocking attack on the right to freedom
of expression. Index on Censorship decried the
ongoing use of arbitrary detention in Bahrain,
whilst Brussels based No Peace Without Justice
registered their strong condemnation of what
they described as a sham trial. Prior to the
sentencing Human Rights First called for the
dropping of all charges against Salman, whilst
5 local NGOs also said the trial lacked due
process.

Bahrain Mirror

Bahrain Watch

Manama Document

National Democratic Action

Society (Waad)

Britain should pressure Bahrain to allow UN

special Rapporteur on Torture Visit
The UNs special
rapporteur on torture
called on Britain to
pressure Bahrain to
allow his visit. Juan
Mndez said that
Bahrain considers itself
shielded because of the strong relations it enjoys
with Britain. Mndez has submitted several
demands to visit Bahrain since 2013; however, his
demand has yet to be met. According to him, his
visit was postponed due to the public nature of
his reporting that would potentially damage
Bahrain. For his part, the British Foreign Secretary
Philip Hammond visited Bahrain last week and
said he welcomes King Hamads commitment to
continuing reform. It is to note the Hammond
was in Bahrain when the court issued its -9year jail
term against Sheikh Salman.

Non-Violence Declaration

UN Special Procedures single out Bahrain for

rights violations
The Special Procedures
of the UN Human
Rights Council have
discussed allegations of
human rights violation
in Bahrain in their
latest communications
report. They mentioned
that in December The
Special Rapporteurs on
Expression, Human Rights Defenders, and Torture
issued a complaint regarding alleged arbitrary
arrest, detention, charges and prosecution, and
in some cases of torture and ill-treatment of ten
individuals in Bahrain.

Bassiouni seeks to clarify claims attributed to

him by Bahrain News Agency
Cherif Bassiouni,
Chair of the Bahrain
Independent
Commission of Inquiry
(BICI), has sought to
clarify claims made
by the English section
of the Bahrain News Agency (BNA) that he
had said Bahrain has fully implemented all 26
recommendations of the inquiry. In a statement
posted on his personalwebsite Bassiouni said
that BNA had mistranslated his quotes from
Arabic into English and of the Commissions
26 recommendations, only 10 have been
substantially implemented, while the other 16
have only been partially implemented. He
added that Two of them should remain a priority
of the government, namely: the release of
persons convicted on the basis of their political
beliefs and actions, based on freedom of opinion
and expression.

Amnesty urges Bahrain not to expel Taimour

Karimi
Amnesty International
called on the
government of Bahrain
not to proceed with the
expulsion of Taimoor
Karimi. The organization
continued that Karimi
risks expulsion at any
time as Appeal Court
in Manama upheld
his expulsion sentence on 23 May. Karimi was
stripped of his citizenship in 2012 along with other
30 Bahrainis over the charges of harming the
states security. Karimi holds no other passport
and now has become stateless. Amnesty also
urged the authorities to rescind the decision to
strip Karimi of his nationality because the right
to a nationality is enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the
International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR) to which Bahrain is a state party.
International human rights laws prohibit arbitrary
deportation and the exiling of persons from their
own country.

About Bahrain Justice and Development Movement:

Bahrain Justice and Development Movement (BJDM) is based in London, UK and
promotes democratic reform in Bahrain. We work with opposition figures both inside
and outside Bahrain, supporting their efforts to raise awareness of the situation in
Bahrain, as well as advocating political reform of a democratic nature.
Contact:
info@bahrainjdm.org www.bahrainjdm.org / http://bahrainjdm.hopto.org
unsubscribe from this list

update subscription preferences

Copyright All rights reserved

Copyright 2016 Bahrain Justice & Development Movement, All rights reserved.