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RIGHTS
Group Urges Bahrain to Stop Torture of Detainees
By Charles Fromm
WASHINGTON, Feb 8, 2010 (IPS) - Bahrain's security forces should immediately cease the use of torture to elicit confessions from prisoners suspected of security offences, says the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).
HRW released a report Monday titled "Torture Redux: The Revival of Physical Coercion during Interrogations in Bahrain," detailing the use of electrocution, suspension in painful positions, and beating of suspects by security services against detainees in the island kingdom.
Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, noted that the allegations contained within the report seemed "especially distressing since Bahrain showed the political will a decade ago to end this scourge."
"Torture is back in the repertoire of Bahrain's security services," added Stork. "The government should promptly investigate all torture allegations and prosecute offenders according to international fair trial standards."
According to the 89-page report, the government regularly tortured young men from the Shia Muslim community who participated in street demonstrations protesting alleged discrimination by Bahrain's largely-Sunni government, as well as others suspected of security offences.
HRW conducted interviews and obtained medical records and court documents that corroborated the claims made by those who had been held in detention.
The right's group concluded that there is credible evidence demonstrating that, since December 2007, Bahraini security forces have used various means of torture in interrogation sessions with detainees.
The report also specifically names several officers who allegedly participated in the mistreatment of suspects.
The Kingdom of Bahrain is a small island off of Saudi Arabia's eastern coastline, in the Persian Gulf. The country is a constitutional monarchy, led by the king, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al Khalifah who presides over a cabinet largely comprised of members of his own royal family.
Though the royal family is Sunni and the security apparatus and governing bodies are mostly Sunni, the majority of Bahrain's inhabitants are Shia, many of whom complain of prejudice at the hands of the state.
Bahrain's government has historically been at odds with elements of its Shia constituency, since the kingdom attained independence from Britain in 1971.
In 2007, The Guardian's Ian Black noted, "Evidence of discrimination is rife. Shias cannot serve in the armed forces and few occupy senior official positions elsewhere. Recently Shias have found they cannot buy land in Sunni areas."
Rising resentment over growing poverty, poor housing and rampant unemployment within the Shia community culminated in mass unrest during the latter half of 2007, when riot police clashed with young protestors across the kingdom.
Many of the cases within the HRW report stem from this time period. Also included are accusations deriving from a spate of arrests in December 2008, when authorities arrested suspects who they said were recruits of an opposition group, Haq Movement for Liberty and Democracy, who allegedly traveled to Syria to receive training in the use of explosives and other forms of sabotage.
While in custody, agents working for the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation (CID) - a security service within the Ministry of the Interior - used various forms of physical coercion which HRW says amount to torture under both Bahraini and international law.
These techniques included using electro-shock devices against detainees; suspending detainees in painful positions; beating detainees' feet; subjecting detainees to physical abuse; beating detainees with implements; forcing detainees to stand for prolonged periods of time and threatening detainees with death and rape.
According to HRW, the use of these techniques, separately and in combination, violates Bahrain's own laws as well as its obligations as a state party to the United Nations Convention against Torture and other international treaties.
The report also states that officials from Bahrain's Ministry of Interior and the Public Prosecution Office, in separate meetings with HRW, denied that security forces employed torture, citing inconsistencies in the accounts of the former detainees as evidence that the allegations were fabricated.
This is not the first time that Bahrain's internal security service has come under fire for brutally halting dissent. According to Amnesty International, torture was commonplace in the kingdom from 1975 until 1999.
But the Bahraini government undertook a wide range of political reforms after the current king succeeded his father for the throne. One of the largest reforms was ending the State Security Law, enacted in 1975, which effectively suspended the country's constitution.
The State Security Law allowed authorities to detain hundreds of people for years at a time without charges. During this time the practice of torturing detainees - particularly political detainees - during interrogations became routine, alleges the rights group.
HRW calls on the government of Bahrain "to investigate promptly and impartially all allegations of torture and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law any official found responsible for ordering, carrying out, or acquiescing in torture,'' and to "immediately suspend any security or law enforcement official when credible evidence exists showing that such official ordered, carried out, or acquiesced in acts of torture or ill-treatment.''
Bahrain should, ''ensure that victims of torture or ill-treatment receive appropriate compensation from the government and those officials responsible in accordance with Bahraini law,'' HRW concluded.
As of January 2010, HRW said it had received no response to letters addressed to the Minister of Justice and the Ministry of Interior inquiring as to whether complaints of torture or ill-treatment had been made against officers identified in their report.
(END)
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