Bahraini MPs Lodge Complaint against Al Khalifa Regime Officials

Two Bahraini legislators Wednesday lodged a complaint against several senior

 Bahraini officials for human rights violations in the country.

The Bahraini MPs, Osama al-Tamimi and Khaled Abd al-Aal, submitted their letters of complaint to al-Wosta region’s security prosecutor, the Bahraini newspaper Alwasat News reported on Wednesday,according to FNA.

They pointed to the tortures committed by the Al Khalifa regime against the political prisoners and also a recent report by Head of Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) – a body set up by the Bahraini king himself to investigate the events surrounding the uprising – Mohammed Sharif al-Bassiouni.

In its report in late 2011, the BICI confirmed what Human Rights First and other international nongovernmental organizations had been saying for months: that the government had swept up thousands in illegal arrests, used excessive force against protesters and engaged in a pattern of abuse that resulted in at least four prisoners being tortured to death.

The two Bahraini parliamentarians also warned that the situations of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Bahraini jails are deteriorating every day.

Earlier this week, a prominent human rights activist deplored the Bahraini judiciary system’s blind obedience to the ruling regime, saying that the country’s judicial body has become a tool in the hands of the al-Khalifa regime for suppressing the people.

“The verdicts made by Bahraini courts against revolutionary elements are completely political and have been issued only because these people have expressed their opinions,” Member of Bahrain Forum for Human Rights Falah Rabi said.

“The developments in Bahrain demonstrated the regime’s instrumental use of the judiciary system for suppressing people and shows the system’s lack of independence because most of the members of the high court are from the ruling family,” he added.

But, the Bahraini nation wants a democratic system in which all the branches of power take their legitimacy from people’s votes, he stressed.

His remarks came after Bahrain’s highest court rejected earlier this month the jailed activists’ appeal and upheld their sentences for their roles in anti-regime protests in 2011.

The UN, the EU, Britain, France, and human rights groups have criticized a Bahraini court decision upholding prison terms for 13 pro-democracy activists, including eight life sentences.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon “deeply regrets the decision of Bahrain’s Court of Cassation on January 7 to uphold the harsh sentences, including life imprisonment” for the activists, the UN chief’s spokesman said, Al Manar reported.

“He reiterates his firm belief that the only way to promote peace, stability, justice and prosperity in Bahrain is through a national dialogue which addresses the legitimate aspirations of all Bahrainis,” Martin Nesirky stated.

“The secretary general also calls on the government of Bahrain to follow through on its recently reiterated commitment to judicial reform,” he added.

M.D