Human Rights Watch Urges Bahrain to Stop Prosecuting Civilians Before Military Courts

Local Editor

The rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Bahrain "to suspend further prosecution of civilians in special military courts, allow them full access to lawyers, family members, and necessary medical care, and set up an impartial commission to look into serious allegations of torture."

In a statement on Tuesday, the organization said it opposes the creation and use of special courts or the use of military courts to try national security crimes.

A prominent rights activist who was active in Bahrain's pro-democracy street protests appeared before a special military court on May 8, 2011, bearing visible signs of ill-treatment and perhaps torture, Human Rights Watch said.

The activist, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, was one of 14 defendants, most active with opposition political movements, charged with attempting to "topple the regime forcibly in collaboration with a terrorist organization working for a foreign country."

"It appears that Abdulhadi al-Khawaja's jailers tortured him during the month they held him in incommunicado detention," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, adding "Torture or ill-treatment is a serious crime, and Bahraini officials who did or authorized this treatment need to be held accountable."

According to information provided to Human Rights Watch, the 14 detainees appeared in court dressed in loose grey prison garb that covered their arms and legs. Most were unshaven and several had lost considerable weight - in the case of National Democratic Action Society leader Ebrahim Sharif, approximately 15 kilograms, according to a tweet posted by his family. Human Rights Watch earlier received unconfirmed reports that authorities had hospitalized Sharif, who has a history of heart problems, prior to the court session.

Human Rights Watch also repeated its call for the United Nations Human Rights Council to address the violent suppression of protests and subsequent arbitrary detentions and torture or ill-treatment in custody of detainees in Bahrain by convening a "thematic" special session on civil protests in the region.