The Liberties and Human Rights Department (LHRD) in Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society revealed, in numbers, the various human rights violations perpetrated by the security and military forces, during the month of August 2013, to face the escalating peaceful demands movement in Bahrain.The LHRD confirmed 203 arrests among citizens, 187 of whom were men, 5 women and 11 children. While 116 citizens were released from jails, however, only 53 of the 116 were of those arrested and released in the same month.The security forces were reported to have raided 482 homes, mostly in areas of sporadic protest. According to the households, the security forces failed to present legal documents to enter the homes they broke into and raided. In some cases, the security forces climbed walls of private homes, or broke in from a window or broke-open doors.The nature of the home raids conducted by security forces frightens the inhabitants and breaches their privacy. The LHRD has documented cases in which police and security forces entered living rooms and bedrooms while the women were in nightgowns, or without head cover. Bedrooms were searched during the raids and items were deliberately broken, although most raids were carried out in search for suspects.In 39 cases, the security forces damaged private belongings and property of citizens, whether in home raids or else. Taking in consideration, however, that many citizens do not document such cases because they think they will not be compensated or because of fear of arrest.These cases included smashing car windows with random shooting during crackdown on protests, and smashing mobile phones during arrests. Windows and doors of houses were also broken and the houses are deliberately messed up during raids.The LHRD was able to document 62 cases of torture and cruel treatment, most of which included severe beating during crackdowns on protests or in home raids.In 2 cases, the victims were minors:Case number 1According to his family, a 15 year old was arrested by security forces during a house raid. He was arrested along with another citizen. The two were taken to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), where he was slapped, kicked and assaulted. He was also forced to take his clothes off before he was put, blindfolded, in a low temperature room. He was also offered to work for the police as a spy. Case number 2According to his family, a 14 year old was chased inside an alley and arrested by security forces shortly after they had attacked a peaceful march in the area. The teen was blindfolded and his camera was confiscated. Inside the police car, he was sexually abused and threatened with electrocution. Then, he was left in a remote area, handcuffed, before he was severely beaten with batons and his mobile phone was smashed. It is worth mentioning that the number of cases of degrading and cruel treatment has noticeably increased to over 60 in August, after it was swinging around 20-30 between May and July. (Illustration A)
Illustration A- Number of victims of degrading and cruel treatment perpetrated by security forces between April-August 2013.In August alone, at least 992 protests were organized across different areas in Bahrain, including the capital Manama, recording the highest figure since May 2013. (Illustration B)
Illustration BThe high number of protests came to mark Bahrain’s Independence in 1971, on 14th August. On this day, citizens voluntarily responded to calls to close shops and participate in peaceful protests calling for democracy. On the other hand, the security forces responded to the peaceful protests with excessive force (shotgun). Areas and villages which witnessed protests were mostly rained with teargas to carry out collective punishments on the largest possible number of residents. The manner in which teargas is used by the security forces illustrates that they do not simply aim to disperse protesters. Numbers have revealed that security forces had cracked down on at least 354 protests. Around 72 persons were injured as a result of the security forces’ use of shotgun as well as the suffocating C4 gas canisters which are used as live-ammunition by aiming them at persons./129
source : al Wefaq
Sunday
8 September 2013
7:30:00 PM
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