On March 8, 2016, at the 31st session of the Human Rights Council, Mrs. Seddiqa al-Jazeeri delivered an oral intervention on behalf of ADHRB, BIRD, and BCHR during the Item 3 Clustered Debate on Violence Against Children, and the Rights of the Child. She spoke about the Government of Bahrain’s continuing use of excessive force against demonstrators and children.
Please continue reading for her full remarks, or click here to download a PDF of her statement.
Respected members of the committee,
On behalf of the IDO Foundation, Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, and the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, I would like to draw to your attention the continuing use of excessive force by the Government of Bahrain against demonstrators.
As the mother of the martyr Hussein Ali Jaziri, who I gave birth to five years after marriage. On 14 February 2013, Hussein went out with his peers to participate in the peaceful protests calling for to uphold the principles of justice and dignity and human rights. Police officers shot him three times from close range. The last bullet hit him in the stomach and my son was left to bleed on the ground. Police officers barred the ambulance from arriving at the scene for 15 minutes. The police finally allowed the ambulance to take him to the hospital but it was too late. Hussein had already passed away.
Rather than holding perpetrators accountable for their crime, my son’s case was dismissed by the office of Prosecutions without being referred to the court.
Children in Bahrain are subjected to arbitrary detention and forced disappearances. They are tortured and sentenced using the country’s Anti-Terrorism laws. They are imprisoned for long years and stripped of their nationality. Their right to redress as victims of extrajudicial killings is ignored as was my right to hold the murderers of my child who was only 16 years old accountable. It is my hope that the esteemed Committee will submit recommendations to the Government of Bahrain that will guarantee redress for the victims and protection for the children.
Thank you
