Two Activists Charged with Inciting People to Boycott Upcoming Elections and Demanding a Change in the System of Government
Possibility of a New Period of Crackdown on Activists as Predicted by the “Bandargate” report
Bahrain Center for Human Rights
November 19, 2006
Ref: 06111900
Two Activists Charged with Inciting People to Boycott Upcoming Elections and Demanding a Change in the System of Government
Possibility of a New Period of Crackdown on Activists as Predicted by the “Bandargate” report
Bahrain Center for Human Rights
November 19, 2006
Ref: 06111900
Chief Public Prosecutor Ahmed Bucheeri revealed last night the charges that are to be brought against Dr. Mohammed Saeed Alsahlawi, 35 years, South Sehla, a political and Human Rights Activist, and Mr. Hussain Abdelrazaq Alhabashi. The charges, according to the Bahraini Public Prosecutor are: “possessing illegal prints calling for changing the government system without any legitimate reason, and possessing illegal prints including false information likely to harm public interest and disrupt law and order”. Mr. Bucheeri states that they were caught red-handed with 1500 leaflets they were planning to distribute.
The pair were arrested between three and four o’clock on last Thursday afternoon after which they were held incommunicado until Saturday when they were permitted time to speak to their lawyers and family members. According to Mr. Alhabashi brother Sadeq, the family did not receive a phone call until a little after 8 that Thursday night, when his brother was permitted very little time in order to inform them that he was being held at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), but was not given a chance to provide additional details. The family had become increasingly worried in the previous 4 hours, calling hospitals and police stations enquiring of his whereabouts. The time which lapsed in-between, according to the brother, neither lawyers nor family members were permitted to see either detainees, family members of Dr. Mohammed Saeed concur. Both families attempted to take clothes and provisions to the detainees but were denied. The brother also informs the BCHR that the condition under which the two are held is unacceptable as they are still, after three days of their arrest, being held in the one of the corridors between the offices of the CID, without any blankets or basic necessities.
Moreover Mr. Mohammed Al-Mutawa, a lawyer acting on behalf of the Bahraini Society for Human Rights, although permitted to sit during the interrogations on Saturday at the CID, was not allowed access either during those first two days either of their detention.
The BCHR finds itself increasingly worried as to the type of charges that are being brought against the activists. The two laws under which they are to be charged and tried, the Law of Printing and Publications and the Penal Code had been described as both in violations of the fundamentals associated with freedom of speech and expression, as well as International Standards of Human Rights which defend those freedoms essential to any country which claims to be harboring the very example of democracy and justice.
The BCHR also finds itself concerned as to the association of this case with the infamous “Bandargate” Scandal, as the arrests were made merely one day prior to < a href="/ref06111300">a demonstration calling for an enquiry into the allegations made by the report, of election manipulation amongst other things, and the governments refusal to look into the issue with a serious intent as well as the gag imposed by the court on the publication of any material relating to the scandal.
Dr. Salah Al-Bandar, the main individual behind the publication of the report, had warned that the government will in time be moving towards a period whereby it will crack down on human rights and political activists. The BCHR worries that these latest arrests might be the beginning of the aforementioned plan and calls for the international community as well as local, civil and political institutions, to intervene and insure that the safety and security of activists in Bahrain does not continue to be compromised under the continuous harassment of the Public Prosecution and the newly approved set of laws.