MANAMA, 18 December 2003 — Several thousand Bahrainis marched here yesterday to denounce past human rights abuses in the state in an angry protest that led to scuffles between some demonstrators and security forces.
The National Committee for Martyrs and Torture Victims organized the rally, a day after the country celebrated its National Day. Angry protesters chanted slogans and demanded the prosecution of officials they say are responsible for human rights abuses since the early 1970s.
The protesters carried placards bearing the pictures of some of around 40 people they say were killed either under torture or in clashes with security forces in the mid-1990s.
Yesterday’s rally turned ugly toward the end as some young protesters clashed with men they suspected of being members of the security forces who were photographing the march. They also broke some billboards and chairs outside a cafe and at least one protester scuffled with a uniformed policeman.
Anti-riot police arrived a few minutes later but organizers persuaded them to keep their distance. It was not known if anyone was arrested.
Sayed Jaffer Alawi, head of the National Committee for Martyrs and Torture Victims, told DPA: “We are fighting for the rights of over 50 Bahrainis who were tortured and killed in the 1970s.”
The protesters called for the abolishment of a royal decree that grants immunity from prosecution to torturers.
They say it protects people like former Security Intelligence Service (SIS) official Adel Flaifil and Briton Ian Henderson from being taken to court on torture charges.
Flaifil and Henderson are among former SIS officials being probed by a national committee of judges and human rights activists.
When the Bahrain’s King Hamad ibn Isa Al-Khalifa took over after the death of his father, he introduced reforms, abolished the national security headed by Flaifil, and also freed political detainees.
