It's hard to believe that a year ago, I was in Bahrain. I haven't had time
or strength to write anything about that, but wanted to share this update from
the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. It's so sad that one year later, people
are still being killed by the regime in their freedom struggle. Yet inspiring
that they continue to rise unabated. When people say, "Well, no wonder the
Occupy/Decolonize movement died down, look at how violently it was repressed," I
can't help thinking of the Bahrainis. According to the NYT blog,
at least 88 people have been killed since the beginning of the uprising two
years ago today. Bahrain's population is roughly equivalent to that of the city
of San Francisco. What if 88 Occupy protesters had been killed? And our
government continues to arm to Bahraini monarchy.
All I can say to my Bahraini friends is, I continue to be amazed and inspired
by you all.
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The Bahrain
Center for Human Rights Releases below a summary report of the first major day
of protests to mark the second anniversary of the pro-democracy movement. At the
time of writing, major protests are still ongoing through the night in Bahrain.
European arms are assisting in the brutal repression that already claimed the
life of one young, unarmed and peaceful protester today.
Date: 14 February
2013
(Bahrain) – The
human rights situation is rapidly deteriorating in Bahrain on the second
anniversary of the pro-democracy movement. Security forces in full riot gear
have swarmed the streets with armored vehicles and helicopters; many streets are
filled with tear gas. The government’s response has been, throughout the day,
wildly out of proportion to the largely peaceful demonstrations.
Since the earliest hours
of the day around dawn, protesters took to the streets in large numbers, groups
of hundreds gathered in all parts of the country, the vast majority of which
were peaceful. Protesters have established roadblocks of their own to prevent
riot police from driving at high speed into the villages. The security forces
used consistently excessive and disproportionate force against protesters across
Bahrain throughout the day.
Photo: Hussain
Al-Jazeeri photos
Due
to the culture of impunity being practiced by Bahrain authorities and the
continued use of excessive force, a 16 year-old protester, Hussain Ali
Al-Jazeeri, died this morning as a result of a close-range direct hit from a
police officer’s shotgun to his abdominal area which led to sever lung injury
& pneumothorax. He was shot while he was peacefully protesting in the area
of Daih. There is no evidence that AlJaziri was representing any kind of threat
to the policeman who fired on him and killed him. Al-Jazeeri died in the
ambulance before reaching the hospital. This video shows the medic who was
trying to rescue Al-Jaziri in the ambulance ( http://youtu.be/76dYQPj5Sbw ). The
Bahraini riot police continue to use the birdshots against the peaceful protests
in Bahrain even after 2 years, during which dozens were killed with shotgun,
including the first man who was killed on Feb 14, 2011, Ali Mushiama.
 
Photo : Above : Shotgun Injuries, Below: Extensive use
of Teargas
Dozens of
injuries were documented today, including tear gas suffocation, shotgun pellet
injuries, fractures and bruises. The number of shotgun pellets injuries have
rapidly increased today. Many of those injuries were in vital areas of the body
including the face and chest.
Photo : A protestor getting arrested.
The Bahrain authorities
arbitrarily arrested a number of peaceful protesters during the day. In an
attempt to prevent information on human rights abuses from spreading; agency
photojournalists Mazen Mahdi (DPA), Hassan Jamali (FP) and Mohammed Al-Shaikh
(AP) were arrested this morning while they were covering the protests despite
the fact that they have valid ID; they were released several hours later without
any explanation of why they were arrested.
Due to the fact that there are many protests organized
during the night and in the coming days, the BCHR fears that the escalation of
the violations will continue. The security forces continued the widespread use
of pellet shotguns, despite the fatality that occurred this morning.
The birdshot canisters,
which were found on site where AlJaziri was killed today, are from Cyprus
Victory Starlight cartridges. In other areas, Italian manufactured weapon
(Benelli M4 Super 90 shotgun) and German-owned South African Tear Gas canisters
were spotted as being used against protesters.
The BCHR also calls on the United States, the United
Kingdom, the UN and all other allies and international institutions to put
pressure on the Government of Bahrain to stop its use of excessive force in
response to the continued peaceful protests, and to consider a meaningful
solution to resolve the persistent political issues of instability in the
country.
The BCHR
calls on the European Governments and other ally Governments to Bahrain to stop
supplying the government of Bahrain with arms that are used against peaceful
protesters, which cause severe injury and death among them.
Read more in BCHR
two-year anniversary report:
Deaths and Detentions:
Documenting Human Rights Abuses During the
Pro-Democracy Movement in Bahrain
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