Torture during the 2011 Bahraini uprising

Government sanctioned torture was frequently used during the "State Security Law Era" between 1975 and 1999; 17 deaths was the result. After the Emir Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa succeeded his father Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa in 1999, reports of torture declined dramatically and conditions of detention improved. However Royal Decree 56 of 2002 gave effective immunity to all those accused of torture during 1990s uprising and before (including notorious figures such as Ian Henderson and Adel Flaifel.). Towards the end of 2007 torture began to be employed again and by 2010 had become common again. ==Techniques of abuse==

Detainees have described a number of specific techniques used by the Bahraini authorities to obtain information, induce confessions, inflict punishment or simply for revenge. These techniques involved both psychological and physical abuse. Psychological abuse Almost all detainees underwent psychological torture of various forms. According to the BICI report a "climate of fear" was created in detainees who heard fellow-detainees being tortured. All detainees were subjected to verbal abuse, particularly involving derogatory remarks about the detainees' religion or relatives. A number of detainees were threatened with rape, either personally or involving family members. Some were held in solitary confinement for prolonged periods. Forms of intimidating and degrading treatment used included mock executions, detainees being stripped before beatings and detainees being forced to clean lavatories with their bare hands or, in one reported case, being forced to eat their own feces. ==Deaths==

The BICI report attributed five deaths of detainees to torture. One of the five deaths documented by BICI occurred in the course of torture by the NSA, the other four took place at the MoI's Dry Dock detention center. Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab was reported to the Military Prosecutor by the Interior Ministry for posting allegedly doctored photos of Ali Saqer's corpse to his Twitter account. The photographs were confirmed as genuine by a Human Rights Watch researcher who had seen the body prior to burial. Abdulkarim Ali Ahmed Fakhrawi Abdulkarim "Karim" Fakhrawi, was a 49-year-old Bahraini journalist, businessman, co-founder of the newspaper Alwasat, and owner of the largest group of bookstores in Bahrain. He was also a member of Al-Wefaq, Bahrain's principal opposition party. He died on 11 April 2011 from injuries sustained during torture while in NSA custody. Despite government claims that Fakhrawi's death had occurred during a brawl with two NSA officers and was due to kidney failure, witnesses reported having heard him screaming while receiving beatings and then suddenly the screaming stopped, after which one individual said to another, "you killed him". MOI proceeded to carry out an autopsy without obtaining the consent of the family, who were not allowed to see the body until the following morning. Muwali's uncle told the family's lawyer Hanan AlAradi that there were obvious signs of torture on his nephew's head and neck, cigarette burns on his arms and bruises on various parts of the body. Despite the family's claim that Muwali had been tortured to death the Ministry of the Interior insisted that the cause of death had been drowning. Al Wefaq called for an international independent investigation in the case, alleging a loss of all confidence in the integrity of the Bahraini judiciary and security forces. The body was only handed back to the family on 21 January 2012 – 10 days after Muwali's death. The funeral took place in Muharraq the same day. In May, the Bahraini government was forced to deny independent autopsy evidence that Muwali had been electrocuted and otherwise tortured by the police until he lost consciousness; Muwali was then dumped in water while still unconscious, and he drowned. ==Government denials==

The Ministry for Social Development denied to Human Rights First that tortured was used in Bahrain, that "Everyone who’s been arrested has been shown an arrest warrant and proper documentation", that masked men never removed detainees from their homes, and that the government investigation of the alleged incidents found they were only "isolated cases". Abdulaziz bin Mubarak, the Bahrain Information Authority's Director of Media Relations, told ABC News that reported incidents were taken very seriously and investigated, and that torture was not sanctioned by the government and that the five prison guards involved in one death had been arrested; the guards were eventually released without further action. ==Lack of accountability==

The BICI report described a "culture of complete impunity" by the lack of accountability within the security forces that was supported by judges and public officials of "implicitly condoning" misbehavior. One judge had accepted confessions allegedly obtained under torture as evidence against the detainees. Also, a detainee reported beatings and threats of greater severity after testifying in court about his mistreatment. ==References==