Against the use of Shotgun in Bahrain

Ms. / Navanethem Pillay

The High Commissioner for Human Rights

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

Palais Wilson

Geneva - Switzerland

Greetings ,,

We would like to thank you for the efforts in protecting human rights around the world, and for your role that contributes in promoting the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Conventions.

Dear Commissioner,

The violations of human rights in Bahrain is continuing to increase, and since your last visit to Bahrain we had hoped that the condition will improve and that the violations would stop, especially in relation to the defendants in security cases facing torture in order to extract forced confessions.

However, since April 2010 and to this day the Bahraini Authorities still practice arbitrary arrests against children and youth, and it has sentenced cruel verdicts against the defendants in security cases without any real evidence and based on forced confessions that have been taken from the defendants and their colleagues.

Dear Commissioner,

The Bahraini Authorities use the Shotgun firearm and which is a weapon known to be used for hunting animals, yet the security authorities in Bahrain use this weapon against the demonstrators, and several citizens  participants and non-participants in the demonstrations were severely injured[1].

Besides the security authorities using this weapon, the Bahraini Ministry of Interior issued a decision that prohibits the treatment of any injured in government hospitals before informing the security authorities, and the authorities have arrested several individuals who were injured with shotgun bullets, and prevented them from receiving treatment and detained them in the security centers which are unqualified to present medical treatment to those injured[2].

Dear Commissioner,

The Bahraini Authorities justifies using the Shotgun firearm to defend the security men from the attacks of the demonstrators, and it noted in its press releases that the riot police uses it only extreme circumstances.

The International Conventions prohibit the use of any weapon that cannot be directed, especially the shotgun firearm, which hits randomly, and where it is difficult to determine its target, and which also causes severe injuries.

Several of the ones injured with shotgun bullets are still suffering due to the doctors either not being able to treat them because of their fear of legal questioning, or due to them not being able to remove the bullets from the injured body[3].

Dear Commissioner,

We are a group of undersigned who call for your intervention to stop the use of the shotgun firearm in Bahrain against the demonstrators, and to provide legal and medical protection to the ones injured.

We believe in your international role in protecting the principles of human rights, and we believe that questioning the Bahraini Authorities about the use of the shotgun firearm will contribute in alleviating the sufferings of the injured and will protect the citizens.

Sincere Regards,

[1] BYSHR and BCHR statement http://byshr.org/?p=142

[2] Amnesty statement http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/bahrain-authorities-must-investigate-shooting-protester-2010-05-20

[3] Amnesty statement http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/bahrain-medics-detained-aiding-man-after-anti-government-protest-2010-03-26