ANHRI calls the Bahraini authorities to stop suppressing the peaceful demonstrations
Cairo 23 October 2012
ANHRI condemns the frequent increasing of the systematic violence by the Bahraini authorities in dealing with the peaceful demonstrators who call for ending the siege on the village of Aker.
The Bahraini authorities have suppressed many peaceful demonstrations that took place in several areas in Bahrain. They wanted to go to the village of Aker which lies under seiege in an attempt to end it, which has lasted since last Thursday, October 18, 2012. The authorities used tear gas bombs, batons and shotgun bullets, internationally banned, to disperse them, which caused many injuries among the demonstrators, as well as the arrest of several protesters.
The Bahraini security forces have arrested on Sunday, October 21, 2012 the human rights activist “Zainab Al-Khawaja,” and the activist “Syed Yousuf El-Mohafza” the responsible for monitoring and following-up in the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. In addition to “Naji Fateel” while they were heading to the village of Aker carrying bread and medicines symbolically to draw the attention to the suffering experienced by the people of Aker. Then they were transferred to the police station of Issa, before being released a few hours later.
In a related context the Criminal Court of Bahrain has adjourned the trial of four bloggers due to charges of insulting the king of Bahrain, Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, via “Twitter”. The bloggers have denied the said charges due to filing records against them by the public administration to combat corruption and economic and electronic security, in which they were accused of insulting the king of the country on their own accounts on “Twitter.”
ANHRI said that “the frequent increasing of the violence used by the Bahraini authorities against the peaceful demonstrators requires more efforts from the international and regional organizations and institutions related to human rights to force the Bahraini authorities to change its suppressive policy against the freedom of opinion and expression and peaceful demonstrations”.
ANHRI called for “the immediate release of all the prisoners of conscience in the Bahraini prisons and respect the freedom of opinion and expression and the peaceful demonstration”.
