Bahrain: Horrific torture tales at Alkhalifa kangaroo court

The past few days have witnessed one of harshest campaigns, collective punishment and en-mass trials in the country. Scores were kidnapped from their homes, offices or the street, taken to torture chambers and subjected to most horrific treatment. The towns of Samaheej, Duraz, Sitra, Karzakkan and others were raided by armed security men and hooded militias to induce fear in the hearts of Bahrainis. Those detained suffered great deals of torture to the extent that the regime’s torture personnel have denied that they had arrested some of them, leading to fears that some prisoners may have perished in the torture chambers. This campaign of state-terrorism started at the beginning of the holy month of Ramadhan to disorientate the people and divert them from the path of worship and struggle.

At the same time the Alkhalifa kangaroo courts resumed their sessions to send more Bahrainis to prison on trumpeted charges. On Thursday 25th July scores of Bahrainis were brought into these courts only to be humiliated by the Alkhalifa judges. Among them was Raihana Al Mousawi, one of two women arrested during the Formula 1 race in April. At her last appearance two weeks ago she told the court that she had been subjected to torture, abused and stripped off her clothes. The judge refused to document her torture complaints and failed to take any action to investigate these heinous crimes.

The group which is being tried is accused of being members of the 14th February Coalition. Among those present were Jihad Mohammad Ali and Ali Habib who were limping as they entered the court room due to the severe torture they had endured. A third person was Abd Ali Al Singace whose hand and neck had wrappings indicating the extent of torture. The fourth was Naji Fateel who had removed his shirt in the last session to expose the horrific wounds due to severe beating and hanging from the hands and legs. Another person was Hamid Al Safi who became furious when he saw Raihana Al Mousawi at the court again after her first ordeal two weeks ago. The judge ordered his removal from the court. Three others were also brought; Jaffar Al Jamri, Mohammad Ali Ashoor and Abd Ali Mohammad Khair. The Bahraini patriots started detailing their torture ordeals , but the judge kept interrupting them and asking them to stop talking. The ruling family had prevented a representative of Front Line D efenders and a Bahraini human rights activist, Mohammad Al Masqati from attending in order to keep the lid on those tales of horror. The session was abruptly brought to an end when the defence team refused the presence of one of the Alkhalifa members and the son of a prominent regime’s crony as judges. The families of the Bahraini victims were not allowed into the court room.

A Bahraini young man, Salman Ahmad Al Nakal, was arrested on Wednesday 24th July on the causeway linking Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. He was taken to an unknown location and nothing has been heard of him since.

The hopes of those who had been relentlessly promoting the Alkhalifa crown prince that he may lead a reconciliation process were dashed in the past two days after he uttered statements that exposed his real nature and that he is no more reformist than the rest of his family members. While visiting the house of one prominent people he called on the Bahrainis to apologise to the his family for calling for their natural and legitimate rights. He insisted that the victims of his family’s state terrorism stop their political campaigns and ask for forgiveness from those who have been abusing and torturing them. The people reacted in fury to those comments that were ill-placed and ill-advised. If anything, those words have exposed the reality of his personality and that he is not different from the rest of the Alkhalifa thugs. Those remarks came only a few days after he had met with the military and security personnel and thanked them for the crimes they are committing on dail y basis against Bahrainis. If this is the kind of man the Western allies have in mind to lead what they perceive as “reconciliation” process, then the whole exercise has exposed its futility and failure.

Bahrain Freedom Movement
26th July 2013