Katherine Gallagher the Irish Senior Staff Attorney at the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR), focusing on holding US and foreign government officials, military and corporations accountable for serious human rights violations, has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘Bahrain: Silencing the voice of the voiceless’. Gallagher states “Bahrain is a small country, often forgotten unless the Fifth Fleet of the US Navy, which it hosts, is in the news. A country where people continue to fight for democracy despite the high, sometimes deadly, price of speaking out. A country which, for the past two years, has been living to the beat of police crack-downs, arbitrary detentions and tear gas shootings. …scores of Bahrainis are languishing in prison simply for having marched in the street to call for economic, social and political reforms. Human rights defenders have become a major target of the regime, with one leading human rights defender after another being arrested for documenting the ongoing abuses. It seems that in today's Bahrain, the surest way to prison is human rights work. …Impunity remains the backdrop for these state-sponsored human rights violations. As of now, very few sentences have been rendered by courts for security officers accused of severe human rights violations and those convicted are low-ranking officers. Moreover, torture accusations by those unlawfully detained continue to be dismissed by the judicial system. …The international community and Bahrain's main partners - particularly the United Kingdom and the United States, which, contrary to its own rhetoric on respecting human rights, continue to provide military aid to Bahrain - must ensure that Bahrain allows its citizens to enjoy their full rights without fearing dire consequences. …Only when all Bahrainis are allowed to exercise the full spectrum of rights, and human rights defenders allowed to do their important work, will the situation in Bahrain improve. “ Inspired by Katherine Gallagher, AlJazeera ow.ly/i3fGA Image source Twitter ow.ly/i3g0w Silencing the voice of the voiceless (March 15 2013)

 

Katherine Gallagher the Irish Senior Staff Attorney at the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR), focusing on holding US and foreign government officials, military and corporations accountable for serious human rights violations, has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘Bahrain: Silencing the voice of the voiceless’. Gallagher states “Bahrain is a small country, often forgotten unless the Fifth Fleet of the US Navy, which it hosts, is in the news. A country where people continue to fight for democracy despite the high, sometimes deadly, price of speaking out. A country which, for the past two years, has been living to the beat of police crack-downs, arbitrary detentions and tear gas shootings. …scores of Bahrainis are languishing in prison simply for having marched in the street to call for economic, social and political reforms. Human rights defenders have become a major target of the regime, with one leading human rights defender after another being arrested for documenting the ongoing abuses. It seems that in today’s Bahrain, the surest way to prison is human rights work. …Impunity remains the backdrop for these state-sponsored human rights violations. As of now, very few sentences have been rendered by courts for security officers accused of severe human rights violations and those convicted are low-ranking officers. Moreover, torture accusations by those unlawfully detained continue to be dismissed by the judicial system. …The international community and Bahrain’s main partners – particularly the United Kingdom and the United States, which, contrary to its own rhetoric on respecting human rights, continue to provide military aid to Bahrain – must ensure that Bahrain allows its citizens to enjoy their full rights without fearing dire consequences. …Only when all Bahrainis are allowed to exercise the full spectrum of rights, and human rights defenders allowed to do their important work, will the situation in Bahrain improve. “

 

Inspired by Katherine Gallagher, AlJazeera ow.ly/i3fGA Image source Twitter ow.ly/i3g0w