Bahrain: Human Rights Developments (Overview of 1997)

The human rights situation in Bahrain showed no improvement in 1997 and in some respects worsened. Street protests and clashes betweensecurity forces and demonstrators calling for political reform, which had first erupted in December 1994, continued throughout the year,intensifying in June 1997. Shaikh Abd al-Amir al-Jamri and seven other Shi`a community leaders, arrested inJanuary 1996, remained in detentionwithout charge. The government continued to prosecute persons on security-related charges in the State Security Court, where procedures didnot meet basic fair trial standards and whose verdicts were not subject to appeal. The exercise of the freedoms of assembly and politicalassociation remained effectively outlawed under the terms of the penal code and the law of societies and clubs.