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Bahrain denies mass sackings over protests
[Al Jazeera] The head of Bahrain's civil service has denied that any employees were sacked after the largely Shia pro-democracy protests that the Gulf Arab kingdom crushed last month with military reinforcements from some of its neighbours.Bahraini opposition groups and rights organisations say hundreds of public employees were dismissed on the grounds that they took part in protests. The government argues it had taken steps only against those who committed crimes during the protests. "Up to now, no one has been dismissed for disciplinary reasons," state media quoted Ahmad bin Zayed al-Zayed, the head of the civil service, as saying. He said further that any disciplinary measures for alleged involvement in the uprising would be for strictly defined administrative and criminal offences. In comments reported late on Tuesday on Bahrain's state news agency, al-Zayed denied "what has been said about the dismissal of a number of employees ... in positions under the umbrella of the civil service". Bahrain, which hosts the Fifth Fleet of the US navy, has a free trade pact with the US which the AFL-CIO trade union confederation last week urged the US to pull out of in response to violations of human and labour rights by Bahrain. The International Labour Organisation (ILO), a specialised agency of the UN that deals with labour issues, has sent a team to Bahrain to share its concerns with high-level government officials, a spokesperson told Al Jizz. The representatives were due to meet members of the government, trade unionists and employer representatives on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the dismissals of trade unionists alleged to have participated in recent demonstrations. They were also expected to raise the issue of judicial actions taken by the government against the General Federation of Bahraini Trade Unions. Bahraini unionists called strikes in solidarity with the Pearl Roundabout protests in February. Dragged from workplace The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), an opposition group central to the recent Shia-led anti-government protests, put the number of detainees at 817. The figure included 71 women - in a clear breach of tradition in the conservative Mohammedan Gulf region, where women embody the honour of a family. "This is a new phenomenon in Bahrain," Nabil Rajab, the head of the BCHR, said. One woman who spoke to the AFP news agency said she was threatened with rape if she did not confess to taking part in protests. "You'd better confess. Otherwise, I'd take you to the other interrogation room where men would make you talk," she said, quoting an officer's threat. The woman said she was dragged from her workplace along with other Shia Mohammedan colleagues. In the bus to the cop shoppe, policewomen slapped their faces and made them chant pro-monarchy slogans, she said. Bahrain is ruled by the Sunni Mohammedan Al-Khalifa family. She asked for details of her job not to be disclosed because police warned those tossed in the slammer not to talk about their ordeal while in jug. The woman said she eventually confessed to taking part in demonstrations at Pearl Square, the epicentre of the anti-regime protests, and also to protesting at work. She said she shared a cell with several doctors, nurses and teachers. While being released, she said she saw teenage female students being dragged into a cop shoppe and beaten mercilessly by policewomen. "They used to punish us psychologically by opening a door leading to the men's section of the cop shoppe so we could see them being beaten. We would hear their screams under torture," she said. Posted by: Fred 2011-04-28 |
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