Gulf Daily News – 20 August 2006
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=153029&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=29153
By kanwal tariq hameed
HUMAN rights activists are calling for the release of 19 people who are on trial and have been held in custody for five months on charges related to large-scale clashes between riot police and protestors.
The accused staged a protest in prison against their continued detention after their most recent court appearance last Tuesday, but were allegedly forcibly taken to separate detention centres, according to the now-dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR).
Gulf Daily News – 20 August 2006
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=153029&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=29153By kanwal tariq hameed
HUMAN rights activists are calling for the release of 19 people who are on trial and have been held in custody for five months on charges related to large-scale clashes between riot police and protestors.
The accused staged a protest in prison against their continued detention after their most recent court appearance last Tuesday, but were allegedly forcibly taken to separate detention centres, according to the now-dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR).
Four of the defendants are school students aged under 18.
In a new report the BCHR claims Bahrain is violating the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, which it has signed, by holding them in
prolonged detention. Clashes erupted at Al Dana Mall on March 10 when scores of protestors rushed in pursued by police following a demonstration. They were demanding the release of people jailed for
an unauthorised demonstration at Bahrain International Airport and others detained since for protesting in support of them.
In spite of a “positive improvement” in court proceedings, which allowed detainees’ families to attend their hearings and meet them briefly after the session closed, reports of the detainees being forcibly separated because of their protest emerged from family members, said BCHR president Abdulhadi Al Khawaja.
“The defendants’ families expressed to the BCHR their concern about the safety of the detained,” he said.
“The court rejected for the third time a plea by their lawyer to release the accused on bail (in the latest hearing).
“The continuation of holding the defendants in custoday since March 10 raises great concern. “These citizens have been held for more than five months until now, which is looked at as a punishment that has been imposed on them before proving them guilty.”
The High Criminal Court on Tuesday rejected the detainees’ bail application and adjourned the case until September 14 to summon witnesses.
In an earlier court hearing, all defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. “At least 17 of the 19 detained should be released because there are no accusations or evidence whatsoever that they have any connection with any violence,” said Mr Al Khawaja.
“There are only two accused of violence and even these two should be released on bail because now they have been held for more than four months.”
The two men, Mohammed Ali Ebrahim and Essa Abd’ali Rabe’, are accused of assaulting a security official during the clashes and are reportedly being held in isolation, said the centre’s report. “The Public Prosecution failed to present the witnesses, so why should they pay the price if most of them are not even accused of any violence?” Mr Al Khawaja asked. “The police, Press and prosecution used photographs that show the assault against a police officer (by protestors). “However, many other photos from the same source are kept hidden because they show the non-violence of the sit-in and the brutal assault, which the special security forces carried out against the citizens inside the shopping mall,” the BCHR statement claims.
The confiscation by police and subsequent loss of footage from the mall’s security cameras is also questionable, it said. “The BCHR demands the instant release of the detained, and especially those against whom there is no proof of using violence,” says the report.
“If there is anything that requires convicting those on the offence of participating in an unauthorised assembling, that does not prevent releasing them while proceeding with the trial.”