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Bahrain Rights Report Released Amid Clashes

Correspondents* - IPS/Al Jazeera

DOHA, Qatar, Nov 23 2011 (IPS) - The head of a special commission in Bahrain has said authorities used torture and excessive force against detainees arrested in a crackdown earlier this year.

The comments by Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni were the first details from a highly anticipated report released on Wednesday on the measures used against mainly Shia Muslim-led demonstrators seeking greater rights from Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy.

Bassiouni’s summary suggested the report would be highly critical of officials in Bahrain, which is the home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

The investigation, authorised by Bahrain’s rulers, was based on more than 5,000 interviews.

Hours before the report was published, police in Bahrain clashed with protesters, firing teargas and raiding a makeshift clinic.

Clashes were taking place in A’ali, about 30km south of the capital Manama, after officers allegedly ran a driver off the road.

Al Jazeera’s Gregg Carlstrom, reporting from A’ali, said police had used tear gas and sound bombs against the protesters.

“Protests initially began after police allegedly forced a man off the road, causing him to crash into a house and die,” Carlstrom said.

He said police also raided a makeshift clinic and arrested a number of people.

Bahrain’s government has already admitted using excessive force against protesters before the release of the report on Wednesday, in what some analysts says is an attempt to control its possible fallout.

Opposition leaders have called for protests to coincide with the report’s release.

Many have said the report will not lead to political reconciliation unless it faults senior officials, and the government follows it with a major concession, such as a general amnesty.

‘Systematic policy’

King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa established a five-member commission in June to investigate “whether the events of February and March 2011 (and thereafter) involved violations of international human rights law and norms”.

At least 35 people have been killed in this year’s violence, with hundreds more wounded and detained. The commission’s final report was originally scheduled for release in late October. The government is hoping to capitalise on the report to improve its image.

Journalists have recently been welcomed back into the country after months of restrictions, and the government announced on Monday that all forms of torture would be illegal, with more stringent penalties for those who commit them.

Nabeel Rajab, the president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, praised the government’s move to ban torture, but argued that the report would limit itself to a handful of low-level targets.

Critics say many Bahrainis do not trust the official report because of statements made by Bassiouni, the Egyptian judge who chairs the commission.

Bassiouni said in August that there was no evidence of routine torture in Bahrain. He backtracked on these comments earlier this month, telling the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm that it was, in fact, a “systematic policy”.

“They don’t trust the report. This is a commission appointed by the king,” said Yousif al-Muhafdah, a human rights activist. “The people in Bahrain are disappointed with Bassiouni and his commission.”

King Hamad is expected to address the nation after the report is launched.

*Published under an agreement with Al-Jazeera.