{"id":10616,"date":"2012-07-05T06:37:43","date_gmt":"2012-07-05T13:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=10616"},"modified":"2012-07-05T06:37:43","modified_gmt":"2012-07-05T13:37:43","slug":"bahrain-regime-continues-to-engage-in-dangerous-and-lethal-misuse-of-less-than-lethal-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=10616","title":{"rendered":"Bahrain Regime continues to engage in dangerous and lethal misuse of less-than-lethal weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bahrain Security Forces Attack Peaceful Protest. This makes three times in recent days that the police have apparently thrown objects at close range that could very well have caused serious injuries. The authorities need to open an independent investigation, and if it\u2019s shown that the police deliberately targeted a journalist and peaceful protester, hold whoever is responsible to account.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bahrain: Hold Police Accountable in Teargas Episode<\/strong>
\n4 July, 2012 – Eric Goldstein – HRW<\/p>\n

(Beirut) \u2013 Bahrain authorities should investigate police actions during recent demonstrations that injured one activist and narrowly missed injuring a journalist.<\/p>\n

On June 27, 2012, after dispersing a demonstration, riot police threw a teargas canister that injured Zainab al-Khawaja, a prominent human rights activist, in the leg, she told Human Rights Watch. In a separate incident, Reem Khalifa, an Associated Press reporter, told Human Rights Watch that a policeman threw a stun grenade at her on June 29 while she and other journalists were standing a few hundred meters from another demonstration site. Khalifa was not injured. On June 22, riot police also fired tear gas and threw stun bombs at close range to disperse a peaceful demonstration in Manama.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis makes three times in recent days that the police have apparently thrown objects at close range that could very well have caused serious injuries,\u201d said Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cThe authorities need to open an independent investigation, and if it\u2019s shown that the police deliberately targeted a journalist and peaceful protester, hold whoever is responsible to account.\u201d<\/p>\n

The June 27 episode took place after riot police dispersed a demonstration in the village of Buri, near Issa Town. Al-Khawaja said that a policeman fired the tear gas canister directly at her from a distance of \u201cseven to ten meters,\u201d hitting her in the right leg. The Associated Press reported that \u201cphotos taken shortly after the shooting showed al-Khawaja limping with blood trickling down her right leg.\u201d She said that doctors have put a cast on her leg and have recommended long bed rest.<\/p>\n

On April 21, authorities had detained al-Khawaja on charges of \u201cholding up traffic, illegal gathering, and assaulting a public employee\u201d after she conducted a one-person sit-in on a main road. She was seeking the release of her father, the prominent protest leader and rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who was sentenced to life in prison in June 2011 for his role in the 2011 pro-democracy protests. She is facing several charges relating to participation in \u201cillegal gatherings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khalifa told Human Rights Watch that three police cars stopped near her on the main al-Budaya\u2019 highway on June 29 while she was talking on the phone with a colleague. \u201cA policeman in the second car who was not wearing any riot police gear threw a stun grenade directly at me,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was just two to three meters away.\u201d<\/p>\n

A colleague, who witnessed the incident but did not want to be identified, told Human Rights Watch: \u201cShe stepped aside before the stun grenade exploded; otherwise it would have hit her legs.\u201d<\/p>\n

On June 22, riot police used teargas and sound bombs to disperse a peaceful demonstration in Bilad al-Qadeem neighborhood in Manama, called by Al-Wefaq, Bahrain\u2019s largest opposition group. Four witnesses told Human Rights Watch that riot police shot \u201cflash-bang\u201d grenades and teargas directly at the protesters without provocation. …more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Bahrain Security Forces Attack Peaceful Protest. This makes three times in recent days that the police have apparently thrown objects at close range that could very well have caused serious injuries. The authorities need to open an independent investigation, and if it\u2019s shown that the police deliberately targeted a journalist and peaceful protester, hold whoever 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":[2281],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10616"}],"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=10616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10617,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10616\/revisions\/10617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}