Teachers ordeal in Bahrain: arrested, tortured, sacked, suspended and prosecuted

Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses its grave concern over the violent crackdown on Teachers and The Bahrain Teachers Association (BTA) who have played a significant role in the February 14 uprising as they stood in solidarity with the people’s demands, calling for strikes in protest to the brutal attacks on the peaceful protesters in Feb 2011 and to pressure the government to respect human rights and meet the people’s demands. Their strong role in support of the uprising led to a crackdown where both teachers and teachers’ unionists became subjected to arbitrary arrests, military prosecution, torture,  suspensions, salary cuts, and investigation.

Crackdown on the Bahrain Society of Teachers

The Bahrain Teachers Association (BTA) was formed as a substitute for a teachers union, where the Civil Service Bureau Act 1 in 2003 banned the establishment of unions in the governmental sector. Therefore it restricted teachers, who form the biggest division in the governmental sector, from forming their own union[1] .

After the brutal response of the government of Bahrain to the peaceful protests of Feb14 and the attacks on the unarmed pro-democracy protesters in the Pearl Roundabout on the 17th February and in Bahrain’s streets, which reached the extent of the descent of the army into the streets and killing the protesters, which resulted into 7 deaths and hundreds of injuries, BTA called the teachers for a strike from February 20th to pressure the government to respect human rights and meet the people’s demands. More than 5000 teachers went on strike outside of schools[2]; they demanded political reforms and investigation into the deaths of peaceful protesters[3] . The strike was called off 23rd Feb after the army withdrew from the streets and the crown prince of Bahrain guaranteed the safety of protesters at the pearl roundabout.

On 10 March, clashes between pro-democracy and pro-government girls were reported from Saar Secondary School for girls that led to some students’ parents entering the school and physically assaulting students[4] , similar incident happened in Yathreb Intermediate School for girls which was handled by the administration of the school, however, after broadcasting false news of severe clashes on Bahrain Radio, parents arrived fearing the safety of their children which caused panic and horror among students and ambulance was called for two students who have fainted. In Al Hoora secondary School, students complained to the principle of the school verbal assaulted they were subjected to by some teachers after the crackdown on Lulu roundabout, but no actions was taken so they staged a sit-in in front of the principle office, school administration threatened them to call the police. In other schools, attendance was low because of fear and due to the lack of security in several schools, a school even reported vandalizing school property[5] . On 13 March 2011 the ministry of education announced in a statement the temporarily closure of any school where students clashes occur[6] . That included Saar Secondary School for girls

Therefore, the second strike was declared on March 14th till the 23rd to raise teachers’ concerns for their own physical security as well as that of students after thugs accompanied by security forces attacked numerous schools and universities in Bahrain[7] . However, after the declaration of National Saftey Status on 15 March 2011 the government met the teachers’ demands and participation in protests and strikes with a hostile reaction which was the start of a series of arrests, suspensions, and cuts in salaries[8] .

On March 20th, the house of the President of BTA, Mahdi Abu Deeb, was raided by security forces in the middle of the night. They did not find him home but his wife and children were interrogated for two hours. Arrests escalated on the 29th of March when the Vice President, Ms. Jaleela Al-Salman, was arrested from her home. The next day more arrests followed, among them members of the Board of the Directors in the BTA:

• Ms. Sana Abdul Razzaq, General Secretary

• Mr. Salah AlBari, Financial Secretary

• Ms. Afrah AlAsfour, Administrative Member

• Mr. Ahmed al-Aneisi, Management Member

• Mr. Falah Rabih, Management Member[9]

On April 6th, security forces arrested Mahdi Abu Deeb. They were all held incommunicado for weeks with no access to family or lawyer. Some of them were released after a month of detention (Afrah and Sana) while others like Mahdi Abu Deeb and Jaleela Al-Salman are still detained.

On April 7th, the Ministry of Social Development dissolved the Bahrain Teachers’ Association, falsely accusing the union of “issuing statements and speeches inciting teachers and students” and “calling for a strike at schools, disrupting educational establishments, in addition to manipulation school students”. The statement also blamed BTS President, Mahdi Abu Deeb (49 years), of having “delivered speeches haranguing and instigated protestors and inciting them against the political regime, flouting the real voluntary and lofty goals of the association.”[10] The government’s accusation of teachers politicizing education was made to delegitimize and slander the teachers’ strikes, in order to justify the campaign of arrests and suspensions that followed the declaration of a state of emergency on March 15.

On June 6, both the President of BTS, Mahdi Abu Deeb, and his Vice president, Jaleela Al Salman, were tried before the military court with unwarranted accusations of “inciting others to commit crimes, calling for the hatred and overthrow of the ruling system, holding pamphlet, disseminating fabricated stories and information, leaving work on purpose and encouraging others to do so and taking part at illegal gatherings.”[11]

Crackdown on Teachers

Arrests from Schools/ Home raids/ Summoned to police stations

Not only were members of the Teachers’ Union targeted but teachers themselves as well, being subjected to severe abuse and torture by the brutal Bahraini regime. 66 cases of teachers’ arrestshave been reported to the BCHR, although the number is believed to be higher. Female teachers have been highly targeted as almost 74% of the cases reported were cases of women arrested. At least 15 Girls’ schools[12] have also been repeatedly targeted by riot police, where both teachers and students were subjected to arbitrary arrests from the school campus and taken to police stations where they were physically abused[13] .

On April 11 2011, 3 teachers from Al Busaiteen Elementary School were called to the principal’s office while teaching in class, to then be escorted by 3 policemen in civilian clothes to the police station, where they were interrogated from 11am to 1.30pm. 3 more teachers were taken in the following day, where they were interrogated and insulted while blindfolded. 9 other teachers were called on 20 May 2011, to be present for investigation in Al Muharraq police station from 11am to 4pm before being released.

3 police jeeps went to Al Dair Elementary School On 12 April 2011, to arrest Zahraa Al Hayki who works as a teacher in the school, but after pleading for fair treatment due to her health condition, she was allowed to follow in her own car to the police station where she went through harsh and humiliating investigation for hours before being released. On the same day her colleague, Fatima Sarhan, who was on maternity leave during the teachers’ strike was summoned as well. Ameena A.Nabi Al Mulla, an art teacher in the same school, was arrested from her home at 1.30am after her father’s house was raided and security forces failed to find her there. Both her house and her father’s were searched and vandalized. She was arrested for more than 10 days, where she was brutally tortured before being released. Four other teachers from Al Dair School were summoned on May 11 2011 but only 1 was released on the same day, leaving the others in custody.

On 19 April 2011, and during the intensified nightly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in their villages, it was decided that a band from the National Guard would be playing in Yathreb Intermediate School for girls in a day of loyalty to Bahrain’s leadership. The school consists of a majority of pro-democracy students and such a move to host a day of loyalty seemed to aim at provoking the students. In the morning, many riot police were stationed outside the school’s gates as well as a number of policewomen inside the school, which caused a feeling of fear amongst students and teachers. Mona, one of the teachers, said that policewomen started attacking the pro-democracy students and teachers after false allegations from some pro-regime students that they were chanting “Down with Hamad (King of Bahrain)”. That is when the policewomen started going to every classroom along with some of the students and teachers to identify those who had supposedly chanted the slogan. They would take the girls to the school courtyard, beating and insulting them on the way and forcing them to stand facing a wall under the scorching sun. Mona continues, “We teachers, could not do anything. We would be shouted at and insulted whenever we left our offices. Two of my colleagues,Khadija Habib and Mahdiya were arrested that day and taken with the students to the police station”. Mona says that the next day riot police was completely surrounding the school and filling it with policewomen who arrested 8 teachers that day, taking them to a police station where they were subjected to humiliation and physical torture. On 5 May 2011, the administrative supervisor of Yathreb School was summoned for investigation and then released and on 9 May 2011, more than 10 teachers were summoned to a police station, 3 of which were arrested and tortured and on 19 April then released .