The Bahraini Battle for Rights Refuses To Be Broken

By Latifa Al-Husseini

The revolution in Bahrain isn’t over. The struggle never subsided. Every moment is plagued by repression, imprisonment, torture, and executions. The momentum is the same. If anything, it increased. The level of persecution is at its climax, and every revelation of oppression leads to the same conclusion: the regime never intended to listen to the demands of its people. The divide is obvious. The Al Khalifa clan is in one valley, and the people of Bahrain are on a totally different valley.

Whoever keeps pace with the widespread human rights crisis in the tiny Gulf kingdom, realizes that what is happening there is injustice. Every individual the authority does not like will either be arrested or martyred.

The Democracy Index published by the British newspaper, The Economist, for the year 2021 included Bahrain in the list of authoritarian countries, based on a study of the electoral process, partisan pluralism, the way the government works, political participation, and civil liberties.

Delving deeper shows staggering numbers that indicate the exclusionary and abolitionist approach of the Al Khalifa clan. Since the February 14 revolution, authorities dissolved more than 30 political, religious, cultural, and educational associations, in parallel with imposing comprehensive restrictions on the activities of civil society.

The number of martyred children surpassed 49, including 32 fetuses, while there are more than 1,700 children in detention. As for abuses against women, the regime has killed more than 34 women since 2011, arrested more than 345, and summoned more than 1,600. Executions are ever-present in the Bahraini approach. Since the revolution, Ali al-Singace, Sami Mushaima, martyr Abbas al-Samea, Ahmed al-Malali, and Ali al-Arab have been executed, while 12 others are facing imminent execution.

Things don’t stop there. The authorities also revoked the citizenship of 815 people for malicious political reasons. Among those stripped of their citizenship is Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassem. Authorities even demolished 38 mosques, 11 of which are still in ruins.

Al-Ahed News website interviewed the head of the Monitoring and Documentation Department at SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights and former detainee Ebtisam Al-Saegh, who told us that the humanitarian crisis in Bahrain has only worsened in recent years.

Al-Saegh, the relentless human rights activist, says that after all these years, repression is a constant, in light of the frequent and increasing violations and arbitrary arrests. The variable is the introduction of disinformation used by the authorities to distort and tear apart the peaceful movement.

What rights were the people able to obtain amid the extensive repression?

"The rights that the people are seeking have not been met, and they are far from being met, despite the continuity of the movement and the number of sacrifices that were made – in every home and family, there is a victim," Al-Saegh says.

The unending abuse does not discourage resolve, even if the scene is tragic. Al-Saegh points out to Al-Ahed that “the human rights movement continues to monitor and follow up on the affairs of victims, document violations, and assist the oppressed in order to achieve justice for them.”

“There is an uninterrupted communication through human rights channels including contacts with the United Nations special rapporteurs to register and monitor them, urging the Manama government to bring about change, stop violations, abide by international conventions, and allow special rapporteurs to enter the country to investigate the human rights reality on the ground.”

The Bahraini regime, according to Al-Saegh, used repression by rendering Bahraini citizens stateless. Nearly 900 had their citizenship revoked. It reinstated the citizenship of 551 following widespread criticism from the United Nations, international human rights organizations, and the European Union.

This weapon, which also targeted Ayatollah Isa Qassem, does not negate his position among the general public. According to the member of SALAM, the cleric is the symbol and leader of the peaceful movement and is still playing this part abroad despite attempts to undermine him.

Al-Saegh asserts that the Bahraini regime has not adopted a single reform over the years, but rather it intensified its violations and penalties against the people despite the conclusions from fact-finding missions and international calls to implement the recommendations of the United Nations in the universal periodic report of the Human Rights Council.

Al-Saegh dismissed announced reforms by the authorities as "not serious. These will not result in a political solution that ends the crises."

In Al-Saegh’s opinion, justice cannot be achieved amid violations and a policy of impunity. As such, the first steps of reform should involve the clearing of prisons, but this does not mean that the perpetrators should not be held accountable. The government still deals with cases of torture as individual actions and not systematic practices. Hence, it does not address them, but rather aggravates the situation and gives way to an intensification of violations due to the absence of accountability.

Al-Saegh does not put a lot of stock in the so-called alternative punishment system that the authorities launched. Based on her data, there is no seriousness in dealing with the people’s demands. Although the alternative punishment system appears to be a positive step, it deviated from the intended path and became a new restriction and a kind of political isolation. The person released under this law cannot integrate back into society and cannot practice his rights to freedom of opinion and expression or enjoy the life of a regular citizen.

Al-Saegh explains that prisons in Bahrain house detainees from most age groups and categories. She reveals that Jaw Prison has more than 3000 prisoners over the age of 21, while in Dry Dock Prison and its juvenile and so-called health isolation sections, there are hundreds of detainees, including 80 minors.

Some of these minors were released under the Restorative Justice Law issued by the Bahraini monarch at the beginning of last year. However, some of them were re-arrested after they turned 18 and were charged with more serious offenses.

Al-Saegh states that there are about 500 prisoners under the age of 18. Some of the minors became adults while in prison and have been transferred out of the juvenile section to serve harsh sentences.