Fathers of victims detained while killers are acquitted

The regime in Bahrain has returned the father of the martyr Ali Jawad Al-Saikh to prison after keeping him in jail for 45 day with a case related to freedom of expression.

Ironically, the regime in Bahrain puts the father on the victim on trial while it acquits their killers.

Ali Jawad Al-Shaikh was shot dead by a tear gas canister fired at close range by the regime forces. His father continues to take part in demonstrations calling to for an end to impunity and to bring killers to justice. But he was arrested and kept in detention for 45 days. His release was ordered by the prosecution along with other fathers of the victims killed by the regime, but later he was ordered to return to prison for unknown reasons.

On the other hand, the Bahraini regime also set a photojournalist free after torturing him on charges of “intending to participate in gatherings.”

Ahmad Fardan, who was arrested in the village of Abu Saibah in the west of the capital Manama on December 26 last year, was released on Friday.

According to a report by rights group Amnesty International on January 7, “Fardan was held incommunicado at the Criminal InvestigationsDirectorate (CID) in Manama, and during his interrogation was beaten until he passed out.”
The Bahraini photojournalist also sustained two broken ribs during the interrogations and appeared before the public prosecutor without his lawyer on January 1, according to Amnesty.

Amnesty also said that he had been arrested “solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.”

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have staged numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.

On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on the peaceful protesters.

According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested.

Physicians for Human Rights says doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, or disappeared because they have “evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces, and riot police” in the crackdown on anti-government protesters.