Keeping power in check: This week in Human Rights

Keeping history under wraps

The UK courts this week denied Human Rights campaigners access to a 38-year-old diplomatic cable that could shed light on Britain’s relationship with Bahrain's royal family and ruling elite.

The document in question detailed conversations between the government in London and Ian Henderson, a British military officer who ran the police in the Gulf state for 30 years and was dubbed the “Butcher of Bahrain”.

He received his ignoble moniker due to allegations that he was complicit in the ransacking of villages and the sexual abuse and maiming of Shia prisoners.

He honed his trade suppressing the Mau Mau insurgency in Kenya.

The court ruled there should only be a ‘partial disclosure’ of the cable as full disclosure would have “an adverse effect on relations” with Bahrain.

Bahrain is a “priority market” for the UK arms industry, which has increased sales of military and policing equipment to the small kingdom since it was rocked by protests in 2011.

Oh yeah, and the UK’s Royal Navy just so happens to be building a new base there.

Bahrain’s king was in Britain when the court passed its judgement but that would have been of little interest as he was busy attending the prestigious Royal Windsor Horse Show.

Jailing journalists in Qatar

Qatar invited journalists to report on the preparations for the 2022 football World Cup and then locking them up for doing what journalists do… journalism.

In our last blog post we reported the arrest, interrogation and intimidation of a group of German journalists for filming the work and living conditions for migrant labourers.

This past week the same treatment was dished out to a team of BBC journalists who had been invited by the Prime Minister’s office to report on new ‘flagship’ accommodation for low paid foreign workers.

When the journalists set about speaking to a group of workers from Nepal they promptly found themselves locked up in jail.

Qatar has employed the prestigious London based PR firm Portland Communications to improve its image in the run up to the World Cup but once again repressive instincts have backfired and invited only greater scrutiny on the reality behind the ‘flagship’ publicity schemes.

Death in a Tunisian police cell

On May 13 Abdelmajid Ejday died in the National Guard headquarters in Sidi Bouzid.

	Watch al-Araby's report on the death of Abdelmajid Ejday

He had filed a torture complaint four weeks earlier against police officers from the same area who detained him in February.

His brother told Human Rights Watch that police officers informed him that his brother had hanged himself in his cell but in light of the previous allegations of torture and troubling circumstances around his death the Tunisian authorities are being pressured to launch a clear and transparent investigation.

The National Guard failed to inform the family of the death for eight hours and sent the body for forensic examination before allowing the family to see it.

The autopsy report states that the death was caused by asphyxia from hanging but also describes injuries on the scalp, and bruises on both shoulders and the right thigh. 
 
Court cover for Palestinian displacement

The Israeli supreme court has once again given the green light for the forced evictions of Palestinian villagers from their homes.

Last week we reported on the damning ruling for the Susya villagers in the occupied West Bank and now Israel’s highest court has paved the way for the displacement of some 1,000 Palestinian citizens of Israel who live in Umm al-Hiran in the Negev Desert.

Israel relocated the villagers there under a 1956 agreement permitting them to live there in exchange for them dropping claims to land from which they say Israeli forces expelled them in 1948.

Having been displaced once the residents of Umm al-Hiran now face being uprooted once again.

Israeli authorities have refused to recognize the village, to supply basic services like water or electricity, or to develop a zoning plan to allow residents to obtain building permits.

In 2009, Israeli authorities approved plans to use the land to build a Jewish community and that now looks set to become a reality.

The court ruled that replacing the village with a neighborhood “with institutions intended to serve the religious Jewish community” would not be discriminatory since, in principle, the Bedouin Umm al-Hiran residents could purchase homes there.

Well that must be reassuring.

Standing up to torture in Morocco

Torture in Morocco’s justice system is under the spotlight. The legislation outlaws it and the authorities repeatedly promise to eradicate it, yet existing safeguards in police custody and courts are routinely flouted and accountability remains elusive.

Amnesty International has compiled reams of testimonies from hundreds of men, women and children who are speaking out about torture across the country and in the contested Western Sahara.

Morocco is however in the process of reforming its justice system and the pressure is being put on the authorities to finally stop torture.

One outspoken unemployment activist Yousef told the human rights organisation what happened when he told a judge that he had been bound, hooded and beaten while in custody.

He was told he had inflicted the wounds himself and was swiftly sentenced to eight months in prison. No doctor examined him and no investigation was opened.

King Mohammed VI himself has declared that torture will not be tolerated.

It’s time to deliver on his word.

We'll be keeping our eye on human rights transgressions across the region and bringing you another weekly digest next Friday. If you want to share any information or bring our attention to any campaigns please tweet us at @alaraby_en.