By Robin Wigglesworth
The Bahraini parliamentary elections may be over, but for the relatives of those Shia arrested in a recent government clampdown, the fight is only about to start.
At a house in Newaidrat, a village in Sitra, far away from the skyscrapers of Manama, the families, lawyers and supporters of those arrested in a security sweep this summer gather in a humble majlis (meeting) to discuss the impending trials.
By Robin Wigglesworth
The Bahraini parliamentary elections may be over, but for the relatives of those Shia arrested in a recent government clampdown, the fight is only about to start.
At a house in Newaidrat, a village in Sitra, far away from the skyscrapers of Manama, the families, lawyers and supporters of those arrested in a security sweep this summer gather in a humble majlis (meeting) to discuss the impending trials.
The government says many of those arrested are part of a “sophisticated terrorist network with international support”. Charges range from planning to overthrow the government to spreading “false and malicious propaganda” aimed at destabilising the archipelago.
The relatives – many of them supporters of the Al Wafa Shia Islamist party and the Haq movement, both of which boycotted last weekend’s elections – tell a different story.
One distraught woman says her brother was arrested only weeks after returning from graduate studies in Egypt and played no part in the summer’s confrontations between young Shia men and the Sunni-dominated security forces.
“They came into our house with a lot of people, police and people in civilian clothes, and found nothing, but arrested him anyway,” she says. “They are in jail, and we are now in a jail without bars.”
All those at the Newaidrat majlis complain that they have seen arrested relatives only sparingly, and then under heavy security force supervision, and have been banned from discussing the cases. Many claim their arrested relatives have been physically abused.
“Torture signs were all over my brother’s body,” says Ma’ani Abdullah Shaban, the sister of Ahmed Abdullah Shaban. “He was very tired and couldn’t walk properly. He was terrified, he was shaking. He went on peaceful marches but hasn’t burned tyres.”
The authorities deny all allegations of torture and say the arrests were the result of a long-standing operation by Bahrain’s National Security Agency, not the recent elections. As expected Al Wefaq, the main Shia opposition party, won all 18 of the seats it targeted in the 40-member chamber, up from the 17 it gained in the 2006 elections.
Sheikh Khalid bin Ali al-Khalifa, Bahrain’s minister of justice, says the trials – slated to start this week – will be open, transparent and adhere to international standards of law. “We totally condemn any torture,” he says. “We don’t choose the timing of crime. This had nothing to do with the elections.”
Most of the people attending the “defence council” in Sitra are related to 23 high-profile opposition figures charged in early September.
These include Abduljalil al-Singace and Husain Mshaima, two leaders of Haq, and Saeed Mirza Ahmed Al Nouri, an Al Wafa leader and cleric.
Both movements have refused to join Bahrain’s mainstream opposition parties, such as Wefaq and Wa’ad, a collection of left-leaning Sunnis, in running for seats in Bahrain’s elected lower house. They say the elections were a pointless sideshow, at best.
Abdul Wahab Hussain, one of Wafa’s remaining leaders, who presided over the Newaidrat council, says his party wants reform but estimates they can achieve more outside of parliament.
“We don’t want to legitimise an illegitimate body. It is a tool of the government,” he says, through a translator. “We will act as a grassroots organisation that will continue to press the government for reforms.”
He denies government accusations that Wafa has incited or been involved in violence. “We are committed to peaceful means. In fact, we are embarrassing the government with peace while they are fighting back with violence.”
One of the main complaints is the alleged mass naturalisation of Sunnis from Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Pakistan – who are often given jobs in the police and the army – at a time when Shia are feeling squeezed out of the labour and housing markets.
Not all Shia feel the parliamentary process is pointless. Sheikh Isa Qassim, one of the island’s most influential clerics, encouraged his supporters to vote.
Abdullah Ibrahim, who voted for Wefaq, says: “We do not support tyre burning and riots. Our target is to get involved with the political life. Boycott is not the right decision. If you are on the outside you won’t be accepted. We want to get our rights the right way.”
The Shia about to go on trial in Manama will hope their right to a fair trial will be upheld, though their lawyers complain of severely restricted access.
Meanwhile, their families are defiantly hopeful, although a joke doing the rounds speaks volumes of the despondent mood of many: “How do you know you are in Bahrain? You’re arrested by a Yemeni, tortured by an Iraqi, and sentenced by an Egyptian.”
Robin Wigglesworth
Gulf Correspondent
Financial Times