Bahrain: Activist Released, Police Attacks Protesters

Local Editor

Bahrain released on bail a leading human rights activist who was arrested during a protest rally last month, Amnesty International said, as the Gulf Arab faces international criticism of its rights record.

Sayyed Yousif al-Muhafda, from the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was arrested at a demonstration in December.
Unauthorized rallies and gatherings are banned in Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet and which has been in turmoil since pro-democracy protests erupted last year.

His lawyer said at the time that Muhafda was there to observe the march in Manama, adding that he was already being investigated on charges of spreading false news on Twitter.
Muhafda told al-Akhbar Lebanese daily that he was kept in a temporary holding cell in a police station with migrant workers, rather than a proper jail, as "punishment" to prevent him from communicating with others.
"I couldn't talk to them (the migrant workers) because we didn't speak the same language, so I was practically alone for one month," he said.
Bahrain's authorities have charged him with disseminating false information through Twitter during the December 17 protest after posting a picture of a man suffering from gunshot wounds to the leg.

"I could bring him [the injured man] to court as a witness to say ‘I'm the guy in the photo,' but I will not do that," Muhafda said. "Our responsibility as human rights activists is to protect the victims."
"I could be acquitted, or I could be sentenced to two-three months in jail," he said. "You never know, and we have no information."
Bahrain's ruling al-Khalifa family used martial law and help from Gulf neighbors to put down last year's uprising, but unrest has resumed.
Earlier this month, a decision by an appeals court to uphold prison terms for 13 protest leaders drew international condemnation. Watchdog groups said the ruling showed Bahrain's judicial system was flawed and unable to protect basic rights.
Meanwhile, several people were injured and others arrested Friday in Bahrain's capital Manama when riot police attacked anti-government demonstrators with stun grenades, tear gas and pepper spray, activists said.

Demonstrators are seen in videos posted online running through a thick cover of tear gas smoke down narrow alleys while chanting for the downfall of the government.
One widely-circulated photo showed a young woman who was injured by security forces while being arrested. She had blood around her face, her headscarf torn off and was doused with pepper spray.
Injured activists are often treated in private homes to avoid arrest at police checkpoints outside hospitals. Doctors who treat injured protesters have also been targeted.
There were also protests in villages outside Manama.
Friday's protest was called for by the February 14 Youth Movement. It was the first major protest in Manama since December 17 when security forces arrested Muhafda, the deputy-head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.


Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org