No Script

Please Wait...

Al-Ahed Telegram

Bahrain Crackdown: Parliament Approves Military Trials for Civilians

Bahrain Crackdown: Parliament Approves Military Trials for Civilians
folder_openBahrain access_time7 years ago
starAdd to favorites

Local Editor

As the oppressive Bahraini regime's crackdown on peaceful protesters continues, the kingdom's parliament voted Tuesday to change the constitution to allow civilians to be tried in military courts.

Bahrain Crackdown: Parliament Approves Military Trials for Civilians

The decision by the 40-seat Council of Representatives came after a royal decree a month ago restored the power of its domestic spy service to make some arrests.

Limiting the power of the National Security Agency was a key reform recommended after authorities put down the 2011 demonstrations.

For their part, activists immediately decried the vote.

"The Bahraini king is effectively creating a police state with this de facto martial law," Sayed Alwadaei, the director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said in a statement.

Bahrain's government declined to comment as the bill had yet to be approved by the full National Assembly.

The bill revises a portion of Bahrain's constitution by removing limitations on who military courts can try.

During the council's session, Brig. Gen. Yussef Rashid Flaifel, the head of the country's military courts, told lawmakers the change is needed as the nation is "fighting terrorism."

Lawmakers voted 31-1 to pass the constitutional amendment, with three members on hand not voting. The bill now heads to the 40-member Consultative Council, a body appointed by Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Bahrain, a predominantly Shiite island off the coast of Saudi Arabia that's ruled by a Sunni monarchy, is home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet and an under-construction British naval base.

Regime forces, with Saudi and Emirati intervention, crushed the 2011 uprising by Shiites and others who sought political reform.

Independent news gathering on the island has grown more difficult since the government began a crackdown on dissent in April. Activists have been expelled or imprisoned, and the main opposition group has been dismantled.

In January, Bahrain executed three activists of alleged accusations that they were involved in a deadly bomb attack on police. Activists stress that testimony used against the executed martyrs was obtained through torture.

Protesters meanwhile demonstrated against the killing Monday of 22-year-old Abdullah al-Ajooz. Al-Ajooz had escaped from prison in June while serving a life sentence on charges including attempted murder, premediated murder and bomb making.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

Comments