AI Slams Bahrain Brutality, Al-Wefaq Faces Criminal Investigation
Local Editor
Amnesty International has voiced concern over the arrest of a prominent human rights activist in Bahrain, saying he is under risk of torture and other ill-treatment.
The London-based rights group said in a statement that the al-Khalifa regime should explain the charges against Hussain Jawad, the chairman of the European-Bahraini Organization for Human Rights, who was arrested at around 1:30 am local time on Monday.
The report said masked men dressed in plain clothes transported Jawad to the Criminal Investigations Directorate, without explaining why they were detaining him.
"Around 10 hours after his arrest, he phoned his wife and said that he was fine. She asked him whether the police had hurt him: he said 'yes' and the line was cut off," the statement added.
Bahraini authorities have been asked to give Jawad access to his lawyer, family and any medical attention he may require.
In 2013, Jawad was arrested at a police station south of the capital, Manama, while lodging a complaint. Authorities accused him of "inciting hatred against the regime" in a speech he gave earlier.
Many prisoners taken under custody in Bahrain have reported being tortured or otherwise ill-treated.
This is while Amnesty International has called on Bahraini officials to observe citizens' rights to freedom of expression and assembly.
In parallel, Bahrain has opened a criminal investigation of the country's main opposition group, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday, accusing the al-Wefaq group of trying to undermine national security.
The Interior Ministry said on its website that its General Directorate of Anti-corruption and Economic and Electronic Security had referred al-Wefaq to the public prosecutor after it documented violations that represent "criminal offences" under Bahraini laws.
It said these violations, published on al-Wefaq's Twitter account and on its website, included "incitement to hatred against the ruling system and circulating false news to undermine civil peace and national security."
An al-Wefaq spokesman said the group had no details about the case.
"No one has been contacted or notified about a case against the society," Sayyed Taher al-Musawi, head of al-Wefaq's media department, said.
A rights activist said the move was motivated by political considerations.
"We do not believe at all that such actions have any basis rather than political grounds," said Nader al-Salatna, acting president of Bahrain Youth Society, a local rights group.
The news come two days after a Bahrain appeals court upheld a six-month prison sentence against Jamil Kazem, a former parliament member and president of al-Wefaq's consultative council, handed down last month over tweets about election financing.
Kazem was also fined 500 dinars on charges of making false allegations that undermined national elections, more specifically that some candidates were paid money to run in last November's parliamentary elections which were boycotted by the opposition.
He is one of several opposition figures to have been jailed for tweets or public remarks in recent months, in a campaign by authorities to crack down on the opposition which is demanding political and economic reforms.
Last month, al-Wefaq's head, Sheikh Ali Salman, regarded as the country's most senior opposition leader, went on trial on charges of promoting the violent overthrow of the political system, a case that has riled his followers and inflamed unrest in the Gulf Arab state.
Salman had denied all the charges and said he had been calling for reforms in Bahrain through legal and peaceful means.
Al-Wefaq said in January the charges against Salman lack credibility, "as he is known to be a prominent advocate of peace and reform."
Over the weekend that marked the fourth anniversary of the uprising, protesters took to the streets as police fired tear gas and sound bombs and beefed up security around several villages and along major roads across the country.
According to the weekly statistics of Bahrain Center for Human Rights, a total of 113 citizens were arrested from February 9 to 15, including 19 children. Twenty five detained were released later.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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