Bahrain : Drop All Charges Against Ali Hassan

UPDATE

No jail time for boy in Bahrain accused of protesting

CNN July 5, 2012

A preteen arrested and accused of protesting in Bahrain will not get jail time, authorities said Thursday.
The verdict ends the case that had elicited criticism from activists angered that authorities would target an 11-year-old boy.

Police arrested Ali Hasan on May 14 and accused him of participating in an "illegal gathering" with about a dozen others, according to the Persian Gulf kingdom's information office.

On Thursday, a judge said the 11-year-old was free to go home with his family and would not face detention, according to Luma Bashmi, spokeswoman for the president's office.

The boy will be under observation for the next year and be visited by a social worker every six months, Bashmi said.

UPDATE 20 June 2012

The Guardian

Bahraini boy, 11, charged with helping protesters
Ali Hasan faces up to three years in jail if convicted as authorities refuse to believe he was merely playing in the street

Prosecutors in Bahrain have charged an 11-year-old boy with taking part in an illegal gathering, which could see him sent to jail.

Ali Hasan, a primary school pupil from the capital's suburban area of Bilad al-Qadeem, was picked up by security officials from his neighbourhood on accusations that he helped protesters block a street with rubbish containers and wood during anti-government demonstrations in the area last month. He subsequently spent nearly a month in a juvenile detention centre before being released last week to await trial.

Ali told the Guardian he was merely playing with friends in the street and had nothing to do with the protests.

"The verdict will be issued on 5 July," said Ali's lawyer, Shahzalan Khamees, who defended him at the juvenile criminal court in Manama on Wednesday. "They charged him with illegal gathering that has a few weeks up to three years imprisonment as punishment under the country's law." Ali was accompanied to court by his father, Jasem Hasan.

Khamees described Ali as a "political prisoner" and said: "Ali was scared in the court. He didn't want to go back to jail again, he hated his time in custody." She added: "It's a shame that the authorities in the country are putting its children in jail instead of protecting them.

"Young people in Bahrain are all watching Ali's case with much distress, they want to know what will happen to him, they don't want to experience the same fate."

Khamees said that Ali was not the only child to be arrested in connection with the 15 months of protest against the Khalifa dynasty, a Sunni minority ruling over Bahrain's Shia majority since its independence.

Bahraini officials said that the country's chief of public security, major general Tariq al-Hassan, had ordered an official investigation into Ali's arrest and had found that he "was arrested for blocking a crowded main road on three separate occasions in the course of one afternoon".

An official statement given to the Guardian by the Bahraini embassy in London said: "When he was arrested he told police that he had been paid 3 Bahrain dinars [£5] to commit the illegal acts."

It denied that Ali had attended a criminal court, saying "there are no trials in the juvenile court" and that "a judge makes a decision after hearing from the child, their lawyer, a social worker, and the prosecuting attorney".

The statement went on: "The judge's decision is based on what is best for the child. The notion of punishment does not enter the equation."

In a letter to the Guardian – provided through the embassy – in response to Ali's interview, Hassan said: "Being taken into police detention in these circumstances equates, in UK terms, to being taken to a place of safety. What Ali was doing was putting himself and others in danger."

In response to the widespread demonstrations in recent months, Bahraini rulers have launched a campaign of prosecution against human rights activists and even doctors and nurses accused of helping protesters.

Activists including Amnesty International have expressed concerns about Ali who they said has been tried on "spurious charges".

"This case shows the excessive means the Bahraini authorities have resorted to in order to crush protest. I hope they will see sense and drop all the charges against Ali Hasan," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa programme.

UPDATE 19 June 2012

Guardian UK

Bahrain puts boy aged 11 on trial for alleged role in roadblock protest

Ali Hasan says he was just playing in the street when he was arrested.
He was 'forced' to confess and was detained in jail

At a time when most 11-year-old boys are looking forward to the school holidays, Ali Hasan is preparing for his trial.

On Wednesday morning the primary school pupil from suburban Manama will stand in a Bahrain court and listen as the case against him is spelt out. The prosecution case: that Ali helped protesters block a street with rubbish containers and wood during demonstrations last month. Ali's defence: that he's a child who was just playing with friends in the street.

"On the day before I was arrested there was some fighting in the streets near my house between the demonstrators and the police," Ali told the Guardian by phone from his home in the Bilad al-Qadeem suburb. "The demonstrators had blocked the street by setting fire to tyres and using containers in which people dispose of their rubbish.

"The day after this I went to the street with two of my friends to play. It was around 3pm. While we were playing there, some police forces came towards us which made us panic. My friends managed to run away … but I was so scared by the guns they were carrying that I couldn't move … and I was arrested."

Bahrain's rulers have proved ruthless in the cases they have pursued against those accused of involvement in 15 months of protests against the Khalifa dynasty, with prosecutions against doctors, nurses and rights activists. Ali Hasan's case marks a new precedent in the legal crackdown against civil society. He is believed to be the youngest Bahraini to stand trial in connection with the uprising.

Ali has already spent weeks in jail before he was bailed last week, and even sat his exams in prison. After his arrest he was taken to various police stations where he said he was forced to confess to taking part in anti-government demonstrations. "I was crying all the time. I told them I'd confess to anything to go back home," he said.

Ali's father, Jasem Hasan, a car parts dealer, said his son was taken back to the detention centre the day after his arrest.

"I was abroad at the time and when I called Ali's mother was only crying. She was crying for all the time Ali was in prison," he said.

In jail Ali spent a month in a room with three other children and was made to clean the centre. "We would wake up early in the morning for breakfast, usually around 6.30, and then I had to do some job," he said. "The first day in jail was horrible. I cried all the time but I became friends with the other boys there and we could play for four hours every day – but had to spend all our other time in a locked room." Describing the centre, he said: "It's like putting a bear in a box, I felt just like that. I never want to go back to that place again."

Bahrain's chief prosecutor for those under 18, Noura Al-Khalifa, has said that Ali was detained while blocking the street and Bahraini information officials have alleged that Ali was participating in an "illegal gathering" along with other protesters. Ali's father said the allegations were lies. "They claimed that my son had accepted money in exchange for setting fire to tyres and blocking the road," he said. "I don't say I'm a rich person but I make enough money and my son doesn't need to go in streets looking for money. I always give enough money to him."

Ali's lawyer, Mohsen al-Alawi, said the boy was nothing to do with the demonstrations. "Ali was not a political activist or a demonstrator. He was only playing games like all other children of his age."

Human Rights Watch has expressed concerns about Ali's case. "He was not accompanied by a lawyer during his questioning," said HRW's Mariwan Hama-Saeed. "It seems the only evidence used against him is his own confession and the testimony of a police officer."

The UK and US governments have been criticised for maintaining close relations with the Bahraini leadership, and failing to address human rights abuses in an uprising that has left scores dead. The Foreign Office minister for the Middle East, Alistair Burt, who visited Bahrain last week, encouraged further reform in the country, saying that it was "clear there is much more to do".

Burt said: "While the Bahraini government has made some good progress on the recommendations of the Bahrain independent commission of inquiry (BICI), we are clear there is much more to do. Bringing about sustained, comprehensive reform will take time, but the government should build on the steps they have taken and ensure that BICI recommendations are implemented quickly and in full, including where they relate to human rights.

"We stand ready to assist Bahrain as it tackles the challenges ahead, including help with reform of the judicial system, promoting human rights training in the police and other government services, and reducing sectarian tension through reconciliation."

The Foreign Office did not respond to the Guardian's request for comments on Ali Hasan's case at the time of publication.

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa programme at Amnesty International, said: "Arresting an 11-year-old boy, interrogating him for hours without a lawyer before trying him on spurious charges shows a jaw-dropping lack of respect for his rights."

She added that such treatment was completely out of step with international standards, or even Bahrain's own penal code. "This case shows the excessive means the Bahraini authorities have resorted to in order to crush protest. I hope they will see sense and drop all the charges against Ali Hassan."

Boy, 11, detained in Bahrain crackdown, rights groups say
By the CNN Wire Staff June 10, 2012

An 11-year-old boy has been detained by Bahraini authorities for participating in what the government calls an "illegal gathering," an arrest that human rights groups say comes amid the country's continued crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Rights groups on Saturday demanded the release of the boy, Ali Hasan, following news that Bahrain's Juvenile Court ordered the youth moved from a jail to a juvenile detention facility.

Hasan was arrested on May 14 by Bahraini authorities for allegedly participating in an "illegal gathering" with about a dozen others, the Bahrain International Affairs Authority, the kingdom's information office.

But an attorney for Hasan's family disputes the government account, saying the boy was playing with two other children in the street when he was stopped by police.

The attorney, Shahzalan Khamees, said that police stopped Hasan and two other boys, who managed to run away. Khamees said Hasan claims the police threatened to shoot him with a pellet gun if he ran.
The boy, according to Khamees, was then detained for questioning.

The Bahrain Rehabilitation and Anti-Violence Organization, an Ireland-based rights group, demanded Hasan's immediate release.

There are a "growing number of children detained for investigation in security cases," the group said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights expressed concern about the government's targeting of children under the age of 15 in its crackdown.

The rights group said Hasan, who they claim is 11, was the youngest detainee in Bahrain's prison system. The government did not immediately respond to the allegation.

Bahrain has been heavily criticized by rights groups for its crackdown on anti-government protests that began February 14, 2011, in Bahrain -- spurred by popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

But the protests failed to gain the traction of other Arab Spring uprisings following a crackdown in February and then again in mid-March by Bahraini authorities -- backed by troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Demonstrators and Bahraini authorities have continued to clash, with the opposition accusing the government of being heavy handed in its crackdown on protests.
In November, Bahrain's Independent Commission of Inquiry issued a report highly critical of the crackdown.

The commission, set up by the king, concluded that police had used excessive force and torture during last year's crackdown on protests. The report recommended reforms to the country's law and better training of its security forces.