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News ID: 37073
Publish Date : 21 February 2017 - 21:30

Bahrain Approves Military Trials for Civilians


DUBAI (Dispatches) -- Bahraini lawmakers voted Tuesday to change the constitution to allow civilians to be tried in military courts, further empowering its security forces amid a crackdown on dissent at level unseen since its 2011 Arab Spring protests.
The decision by the 40-seat Council of Representatives, the lower house of the tiny Persian Gulf nation's National Assembly, comes after a royal decree a month ago restored the power of its domestic spy service to make some arrests. Limiting the power of the National Security Agency was a key reform recommended after authorities put down the 2011 demonstrations.
Activists immediately decried the vote.
"The Bahraini king is effectively creating a police state with this de facto martial law," Sayed Alwadaei, the director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said in a statement.
The bill revises a portion of Bahrain's constitution by removing limitations on who military courts can try. During the council's session, Brig. Gen. Yussef Rashid Flaifel, the head of the country's military courts, told lawmakers the change is needed as the nation is "fighting terrorism."
Lawmakers voted 31-1 to pass the constitutional amendment, with three members on hand not voting. The bill now heads to the 40-member Consultative Council, a body appointed by Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
Bahrain, a predominantly Shia island off the coast of Saudi Arabia that's ruled by a monarchy, is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet and an under-construction British naval base. Regime forces, with help from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, crushed the 2011 uprising by Shias and others who sought political reform.
Independent news gathering on the island has grown more difficult since the regime began a crackdown on dissent in April. Activists have been expelled or imprisoned, and the main Shia opposition group has been dismantled. Low-level unrest that's plagued Bahrain since the protests has increased.
In January, Bahrain executed three men found guilty of a deadly bomb attack on police. Activists allege that testimony used against the condemned men was obtained through torture.
Protesters meanwhile demonstrated against the death Monday of 22-year-old Abdullah al-Ajooz. Al-Jooz had escaped from prison in June while serving a life sentence on charges including attempted murder, premeditated murder and bomb making.
Bahrain's Interior Ministry said al-Jooz "tried to escape" during his arrest and fell from a home, suffering injuries that caused his death. However, activists questioned that account as the home al-Jooz fell from was only two stories tall.
The protests gave way to clashes with police that activists said wounded some youths.