Bahrain Document: Amnesty International on Regime's "Flawed Reforms"

A policeman challenges activist Zainab Alkhawaja, shortly before her arrest, 15 December 2011

Amnesty International, in a 58-page report, documents how the regime, despite the King's proclamation of "sweeping and broad" reforms, has failed to make significant changes since the November 2011 report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry. The organisation outlines a series of political, legal, and social measures which must be implemented for any notions of fairness, justice, and rights to take hold.

The Conclusions and Recommendations:

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Important recommendations contained in the BICI [Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry] report have yet to be fully implemented.

These include recommendations dealing with accountability for the human rights violations carried out in connection with anti-government protests in 2011. The reported investigations of allegations of torture and unlawful killings by the security forces have been shrouded in secrecy. So far only nine low-ranking policemen have been put on trial. The new investigative body, placed under the PPO, lacks independence, impartiality and effectiveness. Scores of prisoners, tried unfairly in military courts and sentenced to long-term prison sentences, have not been released although they were convicted solely for leading and participating in antigovernment protests without using or advocating violence. Police brutality continues unabated with daily excessive use of force to deal with demonstrators. Reports of torture and other ill-treatment continue to reach Amnesty International.

Hardly any efforts have been made to implement recommendations relating to national reconciliation, ending discrimination against the Shi’a community, especially in the security and armed forces and ending incitement to hatred in the government-controlled media. The government has dedicated significant resources to appoint international experts to investigate human rights violations committed during and after the February and March 2011 antigovernment protests and to provide advice on human rights reforms. The BICI report was a breakthrough but if the authorities continue to only partially and superficially implement its recommendations, it will ultimately be judged as nothing more than a public relations exercise, rather than a real move to implement meaningful human rights reform.

The government must now seriously and genuinely implement recommendations contained in the BICI report, including those which deal with tackling the roots of the sectarian divide, otherwise its reform promises will remain hollow.

The Bahraini authorities appear to have taken superficial measures to shield themselves from the real human rights reform they promised the people of Bahrain and the international community in 2011. However, five months after the BICI report, immediate measures that would indicate the political will to implement human rights reform are now urgently needed. Amnesty International calls on the Bahraini authorities to:

Uphold freedom of expression, association and assembly

*Immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience who were tried and sentenced by the National Safety Court or other courts and imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly, including the 14 prominent leaders of the opposition;

*Repeal or amend, with a view to bringing into conformity with international law, vaguely worded provisions of the Penal Code that criminalize the peaceful exercise of freedom of expression, association and assembly, including articles 165–169, 172-174,178-182 of the Penal Code;

*Remove restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly, including in Law 32 of 2006, in line with Bahrain’s obligations under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

*Undertake a thorough and independent review, in line with Bahrain’s commitment under the Universal Periodic Review and with the active participation of civil society, of other Bahraini legislation, especially the 2006 anti-terrorism Law, the 1989 law on nongovernmental organizations, the 2002 Press and Publications Law, and the 2005 Political Societies Law, with a view to bringing them into full conformity with international human rights law and standards;

*Respect and protect the right to freedom of association and ensure that all human rights organizations and human rights defenders are able to carry out their work without political interference or hindrance

Excessive use of force

*Ensure that security forces policing demonstrations or performing other law enforcement duties comply fully with the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials;

*Publish and disseminate in a form that is readily accessible to the public the rules and regulations on the use of force by all security forces, including the armed forces if they are involved in maintaining public order.

Protection of detainees and prisoners from torture and other ill-treatment

*Publicly condemn the practice of torture and other ill-treatment and declare unequivocally that such violations will not be tolerated;

*Ensure that any detainee alleging torture or other ill-treatment is promptly examined by an independent doctor, and that all necessary treatment is provided to them.

*Ensure that any statement which is established to have been made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made.

Fair trial guarantees

Ensure that all detainees are informed at the time of arrest of the reasons for their arrest and detention, and promptly informed of any charges against them;

Ensure that anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge is brought promptly before a judge; at the very least uphold provisions of the Bahraini Criminal Procedure Code stipulating that suspects should be brought before the Public Prosecutor’s Office within 48 hours;

*Ensure that all detainees have access to legal counsel without delay

*Ensure that detainees are questioned and held only in officially recognized places of detention and that accurate information about their arrest and whereabouts is made immediately available to relatives, lawyers and others;

*Ensure that detainees are allowed regular visits by members of their families promptly after arrest;

*Ensure that anyone convicted and sentenced by the National Safety Court, who are not imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of expression, assembly or association, are retried before ordinary criminal courts in fair proceedings in line with international standards for fair trial and without recourse to the death penalty;

Ensure that all those being tried for recognizable criminal offences before lower criminal courts and the High Criminal Court receive a fair trial, consistent with Bahrain’s obligations under international human rights law and standards, including:

a) the right to be tried before an independent and impartial tribunal;

b) the right to be tried in one’s presence, and to defend oneself in person or through legal assistance of one’s own choosing; and to have legal assistance at all stages of the proceedings;

c) the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law;

d) the right to equality of arms between the prosecution and accused, including among other things the right of the accused to examine, or have examined, the witnesses against the person and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on the person’s behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against the person;

e) the right not to be compelled to testify against himself or herself or to confess guilt;

f) the right to appeal any conviction and sentence to a higher court, both on the basis of sufficiency of the evidence and of the law;

g) the highest standards for the gathering and assessment of evidence should be followed. Accountability for human rights violations

*In line with international standards, set up prompt, thorough, impartial and independent investigations (by an independent body outside the Public Prosecutor’s Office) into all allegations of torture, deaths in custody and unlawful killings, including those resulting from unnecessary and excessive use of force, committed since the beginning of the February 2011 protests;

*Ensure that the investigative body has the powers and authority to gather all information it considers relevant, including the power to compel the production of official documents and records and the attendance of officials and other people as and when necessary;

*Guarantee that no evidence of human rights abuses, including evidence of unlawful killings, is tampered with or destroyed;

*Ensure that the methods of such investigations follow the methods set out in the UN Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, and their findings are made public;

*Ensure that, pending investigation, officials and others about whom there is evidence of serious human rights violations do not remain or are not placed in positions where they could repeat such violations;

*Ensure that all those suspected of torture and unlawful killing, including those with command responsibility, or those who condoned or committed torture, unlawful killings and other human rights violations, regardless of their position or status in the government and ranking in the security and military forces, are held accountable, including in a trial consistent with international fair trial guarantees and without recourse to the death penalty. Reparation for victims of human rights abuses;

*Provide all victims of human rights violations with full reparations including restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition. Financial compensation and other forms of reparation must be appropriate and proportional to the gravity of the violation, the harm suffered and the circumstances of their case;

*Ensure that enough information and assistance is provided for potential beneficiaries seeking to claim financial compensation;

*Issue a formal apology at the highest level of the State to victims of human rights violations;

*Reinstate all those who were unlawfully or arbitrarily dismissed from their jobs or expelled from universities, including those dismissed for participating in protests or because of their religion, ethnicity, or other prohibited ground of discrimination

*Ensure that those reinstated are not discriminated against in salary, terms and conditions.

Ratification of international human rights instruments

*Ratify the two Optional Protocols to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; as well as the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment; the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance; and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.