SALAM launches an urgent appeal to the international community to assume responsibility for the crimes committed by the Authority in Bahrain in Duraz area

SALAM expresses its deep condemnation and dooms in the strongest terms the authorities in Bahrain suppressing the peaceful demonstrators in Duraz area, which resulted in the death of one of the demonstrators and dozens of serious injuries.

On this morning of May 23rd, the Ministry of Interior announced that it would carry out a security operation in the village of Duraz to remove the legal defilements -in reference to a sit-in condemning the citizenship revocation of the religious leader Sheikh Isa Qasim and his trial and confiscation of the religious rights of the Shiite citizens in Bahrain.
This security operation comes just two days after US President Donald Trump met with Bahrain’s King Hamad Al-Khalifa in Saudi Arabia and his absolute support for the regime, which is committing grave violations of human rights.
This morning, the monitoring & documentation team in SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights was located in the village of Duraz and had monitored the raid of the security forces and special forces and its suppression and pursuit of peaceful demonstrators with tear and bullets at close range. This has, yet, resulted in the killing of the environmental activist and vice president of the “Friends of the Environment Society” under shots carried out by the security forces.

The team also documented the arrest of more than 150 people and several injuries by shotguns some of which are seriously wounded. Many peaceful demonstrators were also beaten before their arrest and were transferred to an unknown destination.
For his part, President of SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights Jawad Fairooz said that “the suppression of the sit-in of this horrific and brutal manner is an flagrant violation of international conventions and article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to peaceful assembly”.
According to SALAM, the failure to hold responsible those involved in extrajudicial killings and torture clearly resulted in widespread and systematic impunity. Not to forget the absence of a serious international pressure, which encourages the Government of Bahrain to continue its extrajudicial killings.
Based on the above, SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights calls upon the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Nations, and all the close allies of the Bahrain Authority as well as the relevant international organisations to:

• End excessive use of force in dealing with peaceful demonstrators;
• Accountability of the perpetrators of the killing of environmental activist Mohammed Kadhem, who was killed today, as well as all officials responsible for extrajudicial killings since 2011;
• Adopting a serious solution to deal with the outstanding political and human rights issues that are causing instability in the country.