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BAHRAIN’S ATHLETES REWARDED WITH PRISON SENTENCES FATIMA YAZBEK Fatima Yazbek is the Head of the Committee on Reports and Studies at the Gulf Institute for Human Rights and Democracy. Fatima tweets @FatimaYazbek1
People from various backgrounds joined the demonstrations that swept Bahrain’s villages and streets in February 2011, and Bahraini sportspeople were no different to their fellow nationals. Sparked by the Arab Spring revolutions that erupted in 2011, they organised a peaceful demonstration - an “Athletes Demonstration” backing the calls of democracy, reform, and equity, and reforms in the sports sector in the country. Bahrain’s Royal Family, Al-Khalifas, did not tolerate the criticism of their discriminatory policies, power and authority in the country. Excessive force, live bullets, tear gas and arbitrary arrests were used to disperse the demonstrations1. Bahrain’s authorities used whatever tools they could to put down the demonstrations and silence any critical voices in the country. Nasser Bin Hamad, the son of the Bahraini King and the President of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports formed a committee to identify the athletes who were among the demonstrators and punish them later 2. A show livestreamed on Bahrain’s National TV pointed to them, broadcasted images from the protests with red circles around the athletes, defamed and insulted them. Later in the same show, Nasser Bin Hamad threatened whoever participated in the prodemocracy protests with punishment, slamming all the human rights covenants that ensure the right to peaceful assembly.
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER | VOLUME 29: ISSUE 2 – AUGUST 2020
Sheikh Nasser kept his promise. A few days later, masked men who were believed to be affiliated with the security authorities in the country raided the training sessions, arrested the wanted athletes, among whom were prominent footballers who played for the national team3. They were blindfolded, tortured, and told they wouldn’t be able to play football after their release. Others were arbitrarily fired. Some have alleged that Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, the current Chairman of the Asian Football Confederation, who was the President of Bahrain Football Association, did nothing to ensure his players’ rights were guaranteed4 and that none of them would be harmed by exercising their legitimate rights. Interrogation rooms in which the investigations with arrested demonstrators, including the athletes, were held were described as “Death Chambers”. The detained protestors witnessed all kind of torture, inhumane, and ill treatment there.
