{"id":15765,"date":"2013-01-18T13:56:24","date_gmt":"2013-01-18T20:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=15765"},"modified":"2013-01-18T13:56:24","modified_gmt":"2013-01-18T20:56:24","slug":"bahraini-mps-make-legal-moves-against-al-khalifa-regime-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=15765","title":{"rendered":"Bahraini MPs Make Legal Moves against Al Khalifa Regime Officials"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bahraini MPs Lodge Complaint against Al Khalifa Regime Officials <\/strong>
\n16 January, 2013 – Islamic Invitation Turkey<\/p>\n

Two Bahraini legislators Wednesday lodged a complaint against several senior Bahraini officials for human rights violations in the country.<\/p>\n

The Bahraini MPs, Osama al-Tamimi and Khaled Abd al-Aal, submitted their letters of complaint to al-Wosta region\u2019s security prosecutor, the Bahraini newspaper Alwasat News reported on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

They pointed to the tortures committed by the Al Khalifa regime against the political prisoners and also a recent report by Head of Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) \u2013 a body set up by the Bahraini king himself to investigate the events surrounding the uprising \u2013 Mohammed Sharif al-Bassiouni.<\/p>\n

In its report in late 2011, the BICI confirmed what Human Rights First and other international nongovernmental organizations had been saying for months: that the government had swept up thousands in illegal arrests, used excessive force against protesters and engaged in a pattern of abuse that resulted in at least four prisoners being tortured to death.<\/p>\n

The two Bahraini parliamentarians also warned that the situations of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Bahraini jails are deteriorating everyday.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, a prominent human rights activist deplored the Bahraini judiciary system\u2019s blind obedience to the ruling regime, saying that the country\u2019s judicial body has become a tool in the hands of the al-Khalifa regime for suppressing the people.
\n\u201cThe verdicts made by Bahraini courts against revolutionary elements are completely political and have been issued only because these people have expressed their opinions,\u201d Member of Bahrain Forum for Human Rights Falah Rabi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe developments in Bahrain demonstrated the regime\u2019s instrumental use of the judiciary system for suppressing people and shows the system\u2019s lack of independence because most of the members of the high court are from the ruling family,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

But, the Bahraini nation wants a democratic system in which all the branches of power take their legitimacy from people\u2019s votes, he stressed.<\/p>\n

His remarks came after Bahrain\u2019s highest court rejected earlier this month the jailed activists\u2019 appeal and upheld their sentences for their roles in anti-regime protests in 2011.<\/p>\n

The UN, the EU, Britain, France, and human rights groups have criticized a Bahraini court decision upholding prison terms for 13 pro-democracy activists, including eight life sentences.<\/p>\n

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon \u201cdeeply regrets the decision of Bahrain\u2019s Court of Cassation on January 7 to uphold the harsh sentences, including life imprisonment\u201d for the activists, the UN chief\u2019s spokesman said, Al Manar reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe reiterates his firm belief that the only way to promote peace, stability, justice and prosperity in Bahrain is through a national dialogue which addresses the legitimate aspirations of all Bahrainis,\u201d Martin Nesirky stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe secretary general also calls on the government of Bahrain to follow through on its recently reiterated commitment to judicial reform,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The European Union also criticized the court ruling, saying the pro-democracy activists should be given amnesty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe EU has repeatedly asked the Bahraini authorities to consider an amnesty for all those arrested last year and tried on charges relating to the expression of their political opinion,\u201d the spokesman of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Michael Mann, said. Mann stated that the EU \u201cremains concerned about the lack of advancement of national reconciliation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Joe Stork, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch\u2019s Middle East and North Africa division, said the Bahraini court \u201chas proven its inability to protect the most basic rights guaranteed in Bahrain\u2019s constitution and the international treaties it has signed\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mind-boggling verdicts in these cases did not mention a single recognizable criminal offence, instead pointing to speeches the defendants made, meetings they attended, and their calls for peaceful street protests in February and March 2011,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Stork said HRW\u2019s own investigation into these cases found that the evidence consisted of public statements \u201cadvocating reforms to curtail the power of the ruling Al Khalifa family and confessions that appeared to have been coerced while the defendants were (held) in incommunicado detention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amnesty International said the ruling underlined \u201cflaws\u201d in the Bahraini justice system and the activists should be freed. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis unjust decision will confirm the view of many that the judiciary is more concerned about toeing the government\u2019s line than upholding the rule of law and the rights of all Bahrainis,\u201d said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, the deputy director of Amnesty International\u2019s Middle East and North Africa division.<\/p>\n

France and Britain also criticized the Bahraini court ruling and expressed their \u201cregret\u201d and \u201cdismay\u201d over the decision
\n…source<\/a><\/p>\n

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Bahraini MPs Lodge Complaint against Al Khalifa Regime Officials 16 January, 2013 – Islamic Invitation Turkey Two Bahraini legislators Wednesday lodged a complaint against several senior Bahraini officials for human rights violations in the country. The Bahraini MPs, Osama al-Tamimi and Khaled Abd al-Aal, submitted their letters of complaint to al-Wosta region\u2019s security prosecutor, the 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":[708],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15765"}],"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=15765"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15767,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15765\/revisions\/15767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}