Bahrain: Treatment of University Students at its worst:

Students tried in Military Courts, some awaiting trials and many others either detained or expelled

Six university students in Bahrain were convicted and sentenced to long prison terms by the National Safety Court (Military Court), and more than 100 students were brought before the Lower Criminal Court, including at least 10 detainees while more than 65 students remain expelled from university
12 November 2011
Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) expresses its concern about the sentences imposed on six students from the University of Bahrain by the National Safety Court (military court) to 15 years imprisonment and a fine of 349,300 dinars (about 925,000 U.S. dollars). The students were accused with fabricated charges related to the government-sponsored thug attack on the University of Bahrain in March, after an unfair trial lacking in the conditions to a fair trial.

Students tried in Military Courts, some awaiting trials and many others either detained or expelled

Six university students in Bahrain were convicted and sentenced to long prison terms by the National Safety Court (Military Court), and more than 100 students were brought before the Lower Criminal Court, including at least 10 detainees while more than 65 students remain expelled from university
12 November 2011
Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) expresses its concern about the sentences imposed on six students from the University of Bahrain by the National Safety Court (military court) to 15 years imprisonment and a fine of 349,300 dinars (about 925,000 U.S. dollars). The students were accused with fabricated charges related to the government-sponsored thug attack on the University of Bahrain in March, after an unfair trial lacking in the conditions to a fair trial.
On October 3 2011, the military court sentenced six students [1] after accusing them of: trying to kill a number of people at the University of Bahrain, the destruction of university property in order to disrupt the educational environment, theft of computers, possession of explosive flammable weapons intended for use and public incitement of hatred towards the regime. This comes after their arrest following the events of March 13 [2], where government thugs attacked students with the support of security forces on the University of Bahrain campus. The attack resulted in four serious cases of injury and dozens of students were taken to the hospital due to suffocation caused by tear gas [3].
On one hand, BCHR believes that these unfair provisions did not take into account the most basic rights of the accused to a fair trial in a civilian court. On the other hand, the confessions of the student detainees are void as their clearly stated that these confessions were extracted under torture, which was not considered by the Court. What is even more unfair is that there is evidence proving some students were absent on the day of the incident.
The Center has also documented cases of these students, who are academically excelling students whose work has been featured in various events on university campus as well as having noticeable social activities. The students are as follows:

1- Jasim Alhulaiby, 19 years old:
Jasim is a first year student in Bahrain Teachers’ College. He was arrested after a pre-dawn raid on his house by security forces on 3/27/2011. Although his family searched for him in police stations, the officers denied their son’s existence. His family was unfair of where he was being held for month, only to receive a call from the Criminal Investigation Department requesting them to bring him clothes without allowing his family to see him. He was taken before a Military Court for the first time without notifying his family or his lawyer. Even after his family appointed a lawyer for him, he wasn’t allowed to see his lawyer before the second hearing. His family was only allowed to see him for ten minutes after the hearing, which took place two months after his arrest. They did not know the charges against him until the third hearing, where he was accused of taking part in the UOB thug attack on March 13. Jasim was not at the university on 13.03.2011, where he was in the hospital receiving treatment for a foot injury. His family presented a medical certificate to the Court in this regard as proof of his absence that day but the Court ignored it. His family was notified that he was dismissed from the University of Bahrain in May. Jasim complained of back pain during detention due to mistreatment.


2-Jawad Almahhari, 24 years old:
Jawad is a student at the Faculty of Law at the University of Bahrain with excellent academic performance. He was summoned for investigation by the university administration on 29/3/2011 but was arrested at dawn that day in a home raid by security forces. Jawad complained of being beaten from the beginning of his arrest to his arrival at the detention center at Asry as he was kicked and beaten with a plastic hose and cables. He was subjected to physical harm where they would put out cigarettes on his body, spit in his mouth and force him to stand for long periods of time. He remained blindfolded and handcuffed for 12 days where he was interrogated and subjected to beatings, torture and verbal abuse. Jawad was taken to the Military Court without notifying his family or lawyer. He was not allowed to meet with them until his second trial, and he complained of being beaten at the court by security forces.


3- Yousif Ahmed, 20 years old:
Yousif is a student at the College of Business Administration who achieved superior academic performance, with a GPA of 3.6 out of 4. He is known for his volunteer work and student activities both inside and outside the university. He was arrested in a pre-dawn raid on his home on 4/26/2011, and was summoned for investigation by university administration regarding the events of March 13 where nothing was proven during investigation. His family was not allowed to see him following his arrest until the day of the trial for only a few minutes in the courtroom. Yousif complained of being subjected to torture and ill-treatment including beatings, spitting in his mouth, as well as sexual harassment.


4-Shawqi Radhi, 22 years old:
Shawqi is a dedicated student at the College of Business Administration with a GPA of 3.4 out of 4. He was arrested at dawn in a home raid by security forces on 26.4.2011, and like Yousif was summoned for investigation by the university regarding the events of March 13. Shawqi complained of being tortured in detention, as when he appeared in court he was unable to stand due to the intensive beating. He was taken to the hospital several times after going on hunger strike in protest of his continued detention and ill-treatment. Shawqi is known for his distinguished reputation as he engaged in tutoring students at the university as well as having several social activities and volunteer work outside university [4].


5-Jasim Almukhudur, 20 years old:
Jasim is a first year student at the Bahrain Teachers’ College. He was arrested in a home raid at dawn on 26.4.2011, and was summoned like the rest for investigation regarding the UOB thug attack. His family were not notified of where and why he was being held until the trial where they were able to see him for the first time. Jasim was was also known for his distinguished social voluntary work especially in his village.

6- Mohamed Taqi Saleh Makki, 19 years old:
Mohamed is a student at the Bahrain Teachers’ College. He was arrested on April 1 after a home raid by security forces at dawn. His family did not know of where he was being held in detention until the trial date where they were able to see him for the first time since his arrest.
All of these students have been subjected to violations both at the time of arrest and the period of detention. They were denied of access to lawyers during the investigation and before the trial. The Military Court rejected the exculpatory evidence that was given and ignored the investigation of allegations of torture, in addition to the violation of their fundamental right to proper a trial in a Civilian Court, not a military one.

Hundreds of students before the Civil Court

More than 100 students are to go on mass trials before the Lower Criminal Court with charges relating to their exercise of their right to expression and peaceful demonstration during the popular protests starting February 2011. These trials are still taking place despite widespread criticism. All the hearings have been postponed until after November 23, 2011 which is the deadline for the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry to issue its final report. We are hoping the report will be fair in the case of university students who have been unjustly dismissed and are still subjected to unfair trials with illegitimate charges, especially since the most of the students have documented the violations against them with the Commission and have notified the Commission that confessions were extracted from them under torture.
BCHR has documented 4 cases of university students appearing before courts. They belong to different educational institutions which are: University of Arabian Gulf, AMA, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland – Bahrain, Faculty of Health Sciences. Also, there are about 100 students belong to the University of Bahrain, including at least 7 female students. The accused students of the University of Bahrain were all charged with illegal gathering in a public place to commit crimes, incitement of hatred towards the regime, destroying property of the University of Bahrain and the attack on the body of a third party. [5] This raises concerns about the trials where most students, during the session of the trials, denied the charges against them. They also said that they were forced through coercion to sign statements while blindfolded after their arrests throughout March and April [6]. One of the accused students said: “Everyone knows what exactly happened on campus and who is responsible for the events of the university. We are of the finest students and our records as students are attested by the university administration. It is not reasonable to be accused of breaking and sabotaging the University that we are studying in or offending colleagues that we studied with for years without problems or grudges. “[7]

Continuous militarization of the University of Bahrain and arbitrary arrests

The University of Bahrain is still witnessing intensive security which puts the educational environment on hold. On October 24, checkpoints were set up at the entrance of the university in which hundreds of students were subjected to strict inspection of their cars, books, phones and personal belongings. That caused dozens to be late to their classes. In the inspection, two students were arrested; Hassan Qambar and Muhammad Anwar, who remained in custody for a week before their release. The return of arbitrary arrests of university students in checkpoints raises concern about the educational environment at the university.

Continuous dismissals of university students, despite promises of returning them

In addition to being subjected to unfair trials, about 24 students from the Bahrain Polytechnic were dismissed for unknown reasons while the rest of their colleagues were returned to their studies [8]. Also, 38 students from the University of Bahrain were dismissed on the ground of claims by the university administration that these students have been transferred to the Court. However 10 of these students do not have any criminal cases and were not arrested during the events. There are at least 20 students who are still studying in their universities awaiting trial. This confirms that the officials of the two universities which belong to the Ministry of Education did not take legal basis, but they took action based purely on a political aspect which is a flagrant violation of the right to education on the basis of efficiency, freedom of association and freedom of political and intellectual thought of the individual [9].
Based on the above, Bahrain Center for Human Rights calls for the following:
• Abolition of arbitrary sentences issued by the National Safety Court (military court) against students
• Re-investigation and re-trial of the students in a transparent and fair civilian court while ensuring their rights as defendants
• Immediate release arrested students and allow them to continue their studies
• Universities must return all dismissed students without exception to their studies
• The Ministry of Education must compensate the dismissed students for the damage caused to them by their dismissal and arrest through the formation of a Committee to look into claims of compensation
For more details on the case of university students who are subject to trial:
Bahrain’s regime continues to target students and teachers
Delays and misleading to the real numbers of the dismissed students to avoid returning them
Increased violations of the right of university students in education and freedom of expression
—