{"id":10353,"date":"2012-05-31T14:54:23","date_gmt":"2012-05-31T21:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=10353"},"modified":"2012-05-31T14:55:36","modified_gmt":"2012-05-31T21:55:36","slug":"regime-uses-reform-talk-as-window-dressing-bahrain-activists-and-human-rights-defenders-under-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=10353","title":{"rendered":"Regime uses “reform talk” as “window dressing” – Bahrain Activists and Human Rights Defenders Under Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bahrain Media Targets Leading Activists<\/strong>
\nBy Brian Dooley – Human Rights First – 31 May, 2012<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been more than six months since the Bahraini government received the report it had commissioned on the crisis of early 2011. The government promised to implement the reforms recommended by the report\u2019s authors\u2014a panel of international human rights experts\u2014and to respect human rights.<\/p>\n

There are vastly different accounts (or \u201cnarratives,\u201d as the latest jargon has it) of what\u2019s happening now. Human rights activists in Bahrain say that reform is superficial; the police continue to use excessive force against civilians, including astonishing amounts of tear gas, and people continue to be prosecuted in politically motivated trials. The government says it is reforming, but that the process takes time. It points to some protestors who are using violence against the police as justification for police actions.<\/p>\n

One good way to assess how a country is doing on human rights is to look at how it treats its leading human right activists\u2014if and how it protects them, defends their rights to free speech and association, and recognizes them as important figures in civil society.<\/p>\n

In Bahrain the record is clear. Prominent activists remain jailed, judicially harassed and threatened. Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (the most prominent, though officially banned, human rights organization in Bahrain), is an internationally renowned activist. He has been in jail since April 2011 on politically motivated charges. He was tortured and convicted with 20 other leading dissidents in an unfair military trial and was given a life sentence. Last week he ended his hunger strike after 110 days but remains in detention while his \u201cappeal\u201d continues.<\/p>\n

Nabeel Rajab, current President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), was released from jail earlier this week after being arrested in early May for criticizing the government. He is due back in court June 24, as is Zainab Al Khawja, another leading activist also being prosecuted for peacefully protesting and criticizing the government. She was also released last weekend after several weeks in jail.<\/p>\n

The following day Mahdi Abu Deeb and Jalila Al Salman will also be in court. Leaders of the Bahrain Teachers Association, they too were arrested, tortured and convicted after an unfair trial in a military court. Al Salman was sentenced to three years and Abu Deeb to ten. She is out of custody while the \u201cappeal\u201d proceeds; he remains in jail.<\/p>\n

Last week Bahrain was among the countries assessed by the UN\u2019s Human Rights Council in Geneva under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). What normally happens is that the government under review presents its take on human rights in its country, and representatives of civil society from that country organize side events to give a more critical account. …more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Bahrain Media Targets Leading Activists By Brian Dooley – Human Rights First – 31 May, 2012 It\u2019s been more than six months since the Bahraini government received the report it had commissioned on the crisis of early 2011. The government promised to implement the reforms recommended by the report\u2019s authors\u2014a panel of international human rights more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[2139],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10353"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10353"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10355,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10353\/revisions\/10355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}