Bahrain Forum:A skit to avoid entitlements and transitional justice, the authority’s newelectoral district distribution reinforces sectarian oppression in Bahrain
BahrainForum for Human Rights held a press conference in Beirut to comment on theviolations of political rights following recent legal decrees. The conference was attended by the former Lebanesedeputy in the Parliament and public law expert, Dr. Nazih Mansour, the Forum’smedia director, Baqer Darwish, and media outlets.
Theforum concluded that the latest official decrees, measures and plans are but askit that aims at misleading the international public opinion, avoiding humanrights and political entitlements, wasting opportunities to achieve transitionaljustice, redressing the victims and repairing damages. This manifests theabsence of the will of reform to reach a national conciliation which will leadto a radical solution to the crisis.
The FormerLebanese Deputy in the Parliament, Nazih Mansour: Recent decrees contradictwith international law
Theformer Lebanese MP, Dr. Nazih Mansour, said that the recent decrees contradictwith international law; they reinforce tyranny, seize the citizens’ rights toinclusive and equal citizenship with active participation in political process andto fair and equal opportunities to assume official posts without discriminationbased on color, race or religion. They, moreover, seize the citizens’ rights toparticipation in fair elections on the grounds of a vote for each citizen; forexcluding the principle of equal citizenship means excluding the most essentialelement of democracy.
Thereare two forms of governance; a constitutional monarchy and democratic republic,stated Mansour. He also spoke of Bahrain’s history and how the ruling system shiftedfrom constitutional to monarchical.
Mansouralso greeted the striving Bahraini people, the freedom fighters, who showed potentialand features hardly found in the Arab world.
Mansourstressed as well that the international community did not take action inregards to the Bahraini situation over the past 4 years, when the authorities wereconstantly violating human rights.
TheMP pointed out that the regime has recently disabled the formal democraticregime and announced a new one decided by the king; which rarely happens in theworld, pointing out that the legislative authority is delegated according tothe principles of the Constitution to determine a mechanism of action.
Mansourstressed that what the Bahraini people are calling for is considered the least oftheir rights. When the people took the streets to call for their rights, theywere met with terrorism by the government.
A regionaland international sponsorship took place especially after the Peninsula Shield Force troops enteredBahrain to repress the citizens. That’s why we can see that the Bahrainis arenot only nationally oppressed but also internationally, highlighted Mansour whosaid that he applauses the peaceful movement in Bahrain.
He also referred that this system is one of akind political system for no designation can go the line with it; this systemappoints titles without taking into account the people’s rights and concerns.
Headded that there should be a political media movement in addition to committeesthat contact the international community. Moreover, rallies should be staged atthe doors of The embassies, especially those who embrace this politicalregime.
Darwish: Thedecrees explicitly violate the political right
Forhis part, Bahrain’s Forum for Human rights media director, Baqer Darwish, statedthat the purpose is to legally respond to the recent legal measures, taken infavor of “sectarian persecution”, and is to discover the truth and incriminate actsof discrimination, which Bahrain has been known for, according to someinternational indicators, especially after avoiding a number of fundamentalprinciples in the constitution and international law. This has led to electoralredistricting on a sectarian basis, violation of political rights and disclaimingBICI and Geneva recommendations. It is noteworthy to point out the importanceof the recommendation 1725/b form the BICI report which tackles the importanceof national conciliation and resulting political reform.
Forma legal point of view, Darwish underlined that the three electoral decrees areconsidered unconstitutional; the king does not have the right to issue suchdecrees for they, according to the law, have to meet the four conditions.
Headded that, as for the content, the three decrees contain several legalirregularities… they contain constitutional violations. They violate article 38of the revised Constitution issued in 2002 (necessary or exceptional legislations)which has 4 conditions: 1.Urgency, 2.Temporal (condition) … dissolving thelegislative authority 3.Not violating the Constitution 4.The decree to beissued should meet the condition of (necessity and urgency). However, accordingto constitutional jurisprudence: if one condition was not met, the rest arevoid.
Heconfirmed that the three decrees are not of the urgent ones identified in theconstitutional jurisprudence because force majeure cases; earthquakes, floods,wars, national security threats from foreign countries and pandemics are the eventsthat require urgent decrees.
Furthermore,Darwish explained that none of the latest three decrees meet these conditions.These decrees are regulatory ones which are usually studied and proposed to thelegislative authority. In some democratic countries a popular referendum takesplace regarding these regulatory decrees. Thus, the three decrees are supposedto be thoroughly studied by the legislative authority and proposed to a Constitutionalcourt in order to make their revocation justified. The issued revoked decreerelated to the Central governorate was unjustified for its poor legal wording,which indicates that it hasn’t been proposed to the legislation and legalopinion commission.
He alsostated that the preliminary result of the redistricting does not take intoconsideration international democratic standards of electoral regulations; i.e.equal representation. Some districts comprise of tens of thousands of voters,whereas others only have thousands. There is a district that has 3 thousandsvoters and another has 12 thousands. It is obvious that the when redistricting,a vote for each citizen principle was not taken into account, for according tointernational standards, the difference should not exceed 5%.
Darwishcontinued to say that the four supervisory centers of Gudaibiya, Muharraq, Budaiya and West Riffa were distributed in asectarian manner in a clear attemptto isolate them form the towns which are expected to boycott the elections. Forexample, residents of Maameer and Hamala need to cross 15Km. to reach Gudaibiyacenter. All of these are measures weretaken only to tamper with election results. In 2006 and 2010, there were 10polling stations; however, they increased them to 12 this time in order to tamperwith the results as well.
He also shed the light on appointing two ofcriminal court judges, Ebrahim Al Zayed and Ali Al Kaabi, who are well-knownfor issuing harsh sentences against opposers, instead of assigningadministrative and civil judges.
Darwish stressed that the authority still adheresto the elected national council and the “appointed” Shura council which 40 ofits members are appointed according to unknown and unannounced conditions setby the king. These 40 members are appointed in a unilateral manner and withoutconsultations. In this step the king contradicts a constitutional principle; theprinciples of equality and equal opportunities which are rooted principles inthe constitution. He also abolishes the principle of authority competition;thus the authorities merge and the king becomes the executive, judicial andlegislative authorities. The king, moreover, overrules the bills according tohis desires rather than laws. His semi appointment of the 40 members cancelsparticipation based on sectarian division. In the electoral systems,distributing the districts into shares is considered a “semi appointment”.
When evaluating the decrees on the basis ofinternational democratic standards, it is noticed that these standardsacknowledge issuing urgent decrees in a temporary manner rather than permanent,insisted Darwish.
He addedthat, according to international standards, the subject of elections is notissued except by constitutional committee (setting the constitution and theelectoral system) or by the legislative authority after a careful deliberation.Besides, the international standards adopt the approach of equal representation(a vote for each citizen).
Hestressed that the right to vote in several electoral systems is undisputed.When I admit that you enjoy a political right, I can’t dispute with you overit. In Bahrain; voting is a right rather than a duty. The authority does nothave the right to violate national and international law through pressuring andexercising a kind of moral coercion. In addition, it does not have the right topass certain laws, spread suspicious news (upper house meetings+ mediapressure) or issue administrative commands forcing those working in thesecurity and military services to vote: the right to vote is optional.
He alsosaid that these anti-constitutional decrees are a clear violation of thepolitical right which again annuls the principle of equal and inclusive citizenshipwhich is considered one of the main pillars of democratic rule. In the absence ofequal opportunities to assume official posts without discrimination, fairelections on the basis of a vote for each citizen, principle of “people are thesource of authorities”, then what equality among the people in their rights andresponsibilities are we talking about? Although artcile18 of the Constitution considerspeople equal in dignity and although Bahrain signed the International Convention on the Elimination of AllForms of Racial Discrimination,it still monopolizes power and assumes complete control over the politicaldecision.
BahrainForum for Human rights sees that the recent measures are not but a skit thataims at misleading the international public opinion, avoiding human rights andpolitical entitlements, wasting the opportunities to achieve transitionaljustice, redressing victims and repairing damages, underlined Darwish. He also addedthat these decrees and measures manifest the absence of the will of reform toreach a national conciliation which will lead to a radical solution to thecrisis. This indicates a fourth year of the prolonged crisis whichonly harvests further numerous reports about violations.
