BAHRAIN: Commission to investigate role of security forces in recent unrest and examine charges of torture

Record ID: 575157

  • Title: BAHRAIN: Commission to investigate role of security forces in recent unrest and examine charges of torture
  • Date: 25th July 2011
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF REPORTERS ATTENDING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIRMAN OF COMMISSION, CHERIF BASSIOUNI, SAYING: "They are not beyond the law and they are subject to the King's order and we will enquire of them and look forward to their cooperation just as the other government agencies have expressed their complete cooperation with the commission." BASSIOUNI AND OTHER MEMBERS OF COMMISSION POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS AT END OF NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 9th August 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Bahrain, Bahrain
  • Country: Bahrain
  • Topics: Crime,Conflict,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAZF2MTG1P9BVIHKMXQ74M2IUL
  • Story Text: A commission tasked by Bahrain to investigate weeks of protests that rocked the Gulf island kingdom said on Sunday (July 24) it would look at the role of the security forces in the unrest and examine charges of torture.
    At a news conference marking the launch of the five-member panel's investigation, chairman Cherif Bassiouni said his team would look at 30 police officers being investigated by the Interior Ministry for allegedly not following procedures.
    He said the army would also be investigated.
    "From June 1 until today we have been able to put together a team of six international investigators, non of whom are Bahrainis, plus a team of local Bahrainis to help with finding the facilities where we will be working, setting up our database -- our website, organizing meetings with all the government agencies," he said.
    "Frankly I don't think there's ever been a commission in the history of the United Nations or any other organization that have been able to accomplish to much in so little time. We are very confident that the fact I was able as of July 1 to make the rounds of meeting with all of the government agencies and ask them what we needed from them so that when we came back this time and had a second round of meetings with the commissioners and the senior officials that by next week we are already going to start in the investigation," Bassiouni added.
    Bahrain's Sunni rulers imposed martial law and crushed weeks of pro-democracy protests led mostly by the Shi'ite majority in March, lifting the state of emergency some four months later.
    During the crackdown, hundreds of people were arrested, most of them Shi'ites, and some 2,000 who were sacked.
    Tensions are still simmering in the Gulf Arab state, with small protests erupting daily in Shi'ite villages ringing the capital since emergency law ended on June 1.
    King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa set up the panel of human rights and legal experts in June after facing international criticism for the crackdown, including from long-time ally the United States, whose strategic Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain.
    Panel chief Bassiouni is an Egyptian-American law professor and United Nations (UN) war crimes expert who was involved in the formation of the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) and recently headed a UN inquiry into events in Libya.
    The commission also includes Canadian judge and former ICC president Philippe Kirsch, British human rights lawyer Nigel Rodley, Iranian lawyer Mahnoush Arsanjani and Kuwaiti Islamic law expert Badria al-Awadhi.
    Bahrain has said it will give the commission access to official files and allow it to meet witnesses in secret. But opposition groups have argued bias may mar a mission set up by the government.
    Bassiouni said the panel was investigating the 33 deaths recorded during the protests and crackdown, as well as 400 cases of injuries. He also said the commission would investigate claims of torture in detention, including of several medical workers.
    "(The mandate includes) a number of allegations of torture and they also include events that have occurred to the medical personnel, which have been amply documented by international human rights organisations and they also include the removal from their positions of an estimated 3,000 person, of whom 2,700 in the private sector and 300 in the public sector. From what we have just heard today the continuation of dismissal of persons from their respective positions of employment as well as the termination or suspension of students' scholarships," Bassiouni told reporters.
    Bahrain denies any systematic abuse by police and has said all charges of torture will be investigated.
    Bassiouni said the commission does not consider the army above the law.
    "They are not beyond the law and they are subject to the King's order and we will enquire of them and look forward to their cooperation just as the other government agencies have expressed their complete cooperation with the commission."
    The government has accused protesters of a sectarian agenda backed by Shi'ite power Iran, just across Gulf waters.
    Despite the opposition's denials, such suspicions linger among the Sunni population and highlight sectarian tensions that continue to divide the kingdom.
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