MANAMA, 6 February 2005 — Three civil rights groups protested in front of the Public Prosecution building yesterday demanding the removal of the public prosecutor and calling for reforms in the office because “it is politically motivated in prosecuting cases and prejudiced against women.”
The protest that was organized by the now dissolved Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), Women Petition Committee (WPC), and the National Committee for Martyrs and Victims of Torture (NCMVT), called for the removal of the public prosecutor Sheikh Abdulrahman ibn Jaber Al-Khalifa and for reforms in the prosecution office.
The three groups also raised separate demands, with the WPC calling for the removal of one of the lower court judges — who they accused of favoring men in all of his rulings — and the dismissal of those who joined the office after the National Security Court and Department was disbanded.
WPC president Ghada Jamsheer accused the office, in addition to the Ministry of Interior and the Sharia Court, of discriminating against women.
Jamsheer, who sited a number of cases that had been documented by the WPC, accused the Hamad Town police station of concealing pictures it took of a Bahraini woman beaten up by her husband following the incident, with the public prosecutor’s office failing to force the authorities to turn the evidence over.
“This case is one of several that the WPC had documented of discriminating against women by the authorities,” she said.
WPC’s other demands include the establishment of the Personal Law (family law) and preventing Shariah court judges from issuing official marriage certificates at home and instead have them issued by a special office at the Ministry of Justice.
BCHR director Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja accused the prosecutor’s office of being politically motivated and seeking to silence political activists and the media by long detention and taking them to court, using clauses from the National Security law.
Probe Demanded
A small group of University of Bahrain students gathered in front of the Kuwaiti Embassy in Manama Friday afternoon to demand that the Kuwaiti government probe the death of their friend who was shot during a gunfight between police and wanted militants in Kuwait last week.
Protesters also called on the Bahraini government to press for a clarification over allegations that Mahmood Abdul Aziz Abdullah was shot by a Kuwaiti sniper by mistake. Abdullah was reportedly shot at while he peeped out the window, after hearing gunshots. “We condemn the terrorist attacks being carried out in Kuwait, but we want the Kuwaiti authorities to identify who shot him and to have that person punished,” said Sadiq Al-Shabani, one of the protest organizers.
Al-Shabani denied that their move was politically motivated, and confirmed that they had suspended an effort to present a formal letter to the embassy stating their demands.
The denial and suspension of steps to present a letter follows a statement issued prior to the protest by Kuwaiti Ambassador Jassim Al-Mubarki that accused the protesters of having a political agenda and upfront refused to receive any demands to be presented to the embassy through them.
In his statement Al-Mubarki said that Kuwait was saddened over the death of the Bahraini student, adding that his country had lost many of its sons in the fight against terrorism. He affirmed that the Bahraini government was following the progress of the case.
Zahra Habib, a Saudi student at UOB and a classmate of Abdullah, delivered a speech on behalf of the students.
“We are still in shock and disbelief over what happened,” she said. “Our main reason from gathering here is trying to find out what really happened and to have those responsible brought to justice”.
The body of Abdullah, 20, was flown home and buried on Tuesday in Hoora cemetery.
He was attending the Kuwait winter shopping festival Welcome February when he was killed on Sunday during a shoot-out between police and a terrorist cell taking shelter in a residential building in Salmiya, east of Kuwait City.
