Bahraini protesters threw fire bombs and stones on Tuesday at riot police who were trying to disperse them with water cannons after the funeral of a Shiite man jailed for his role in last year’s pro-democracy uprising, witnesses said.
Bahrain’s Information Authority said Mohammed Ali Ahmed Moshaima had been in hospital since August and died of complications from sickle cell disease.
However, opposition activists accused the authorities of causing the 23-year-old’s death by denying him proper treatment.
Photo: Reuters
“Due to his medical condition, his lawyer had tried more than once ... to ensure adequate medical attention for him, but the prison authorities failed to provide such attention,” said Mohammed al-Maskati, head of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights.
Mushaima was jailed for seven years in March last year for “vandalism, rioting, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest,” one of hundreds of people who were arrested in weeks of mass protests inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
Despite that crackdown and two months of martial law that followed, clashes between police and protesters still occur almost daily in Bahrain, where the US Fifth Fleet is based. On Friday, a 17-year-old died in a confrontation with riot police.
The protesters, mainly from the Shiite majority, had demanded a bigger role for elected representatives and less power for the ruling al-Khalifa family, who are Sunni Muslims. Some Shiite groups sought an end to the monarchy.
Shiites complain of discrimination in the electoral system, jobs, housing, education and government departments including the police and army. They say government assertions that it is addressing those concerns have produced no action.
A commission of international legal experts reported in November last year that torture had been systematically used on protesters to punish and extract hundreds of confessions. Among its many recommendations were reviewing activists’ jail sentences.
Witnesses said thousands of people, mostly Shiites, had gathered for Moshaima’s funeral on Tuesday, which passed peacefully.
They said clashes erupted afterwards when police stopped hundreds of people trying to march to the Pearl Roundabout, the center of last year’s uprising.
Separately, activists said six Bahraini medics had been re-arrested on Tuesday, a day after losing appeals against jail terms ranging from one month to five years for their role in the pro-democracy protests. The medics were freed from detention last year after an outcry over allegations of torture.
Ali al-Ekry, former senior surgeon at the Salmaniya hospital in Manama, was sentenced in June to five years in jail. Eight other medics received prison sentences ranging from one month to three years and nine people were acquitted.
The charges included inciting hatred and calling for the overthrow of Bahrain’s rulers.
The World Medical Association — a confederation of 100 national medical associations — said the verdicts were “unacceptable” and urged Bahrain to drop the sentences.
Amnesty International said it considered the jailed medics prisoners of conscience.
“Despite the government’s claims that the medics committed a criminal offence, Amnesty International believes they have been jailed solely for peacefully exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly,” said Ann Harrison, program director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
Bahraini officials could not be reached immediately for comment on the cases.
The government has denounced the protest movement as sectarian and part of a quest by Shiite Iran to dominate the region. Iran denies involvement and Bahraini Shiites deny being steered by Tehran.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was