Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): we will not say in this file that the Bahraini judiciary is politicized, biased and controlled. Neither will we say that the issued sentences against the activists and protestors are politicized and issued from the (top), i.e. the King, for this is known by all the international and human rights organizations. Moreover, this matter is the same among all authoritarian totalitarian regimes.
In this file, we will unveil the real image of the injustice of the Bahraini judiciary and show its terrorism committed against the protestors, activists and political opponents under the name of law and justice. In addition, we will propose samples of the  tricks used by the judiciary and the other tools it uses to cause the protestors, activists and political opponents to be convicted.
This file will answer the following questions:
1. Are the protests happening in the Bahraini streets riots or terrorism?
2. How did the Bahraini authorities modify the law in a way to list the protestors' charges under the Terrorism Act instead of the Riots and Demonstrations Act?
3. How did  "terrorism" become a title for all kinds of protests in Bahrain; including the opponents, protestors and opposition political associations that emphasize their peaceful choice?
4. What is the Bahraini Terrorism Act? How legal is it? Why was it described by the UN International Commission of Jurists as a wildfire that endangers everything around?
5. Why was the supreme criminal court established? What are its tasks? In what circumstances was the court established?
6. Who is the judge Ali Al Dhahrani? Why was he chosen for the presidency of the fourth supreme criminal court? What was the role he successfully played in the court?
7. Who is the judge Ebrahim Al Zayed? Why was he chosen for the presidency of the fourth supreme criminal court? What was the role he successfully played in the court?
8. Who is the inquiry officer that the public prosecution accredits as a source for evidence against the activists and protestors? What is the secret proof it depends on to pin charges against them? How does the judge use what is known as "confidence in the testimony of witnesses" to convict the activist and pin the charges directed to them?

You will find answers for of these questions, in both Arabic and English, in the file that Bahrain Mirror discusses under the title "Bahrain Judiciary system betrayal...Judicial terrorism"

(1)

Are the protests happening in the Bahraini streets riots or terrorism?
We will not answer this question; however, we will compare examples of international incidents, considered riots, to the protests taking place in Bahrain.

Riot 1

On the night of 20 December 1970, about 5000 Okinawans engaged in a conflict with about 700 of the US military policemen protesting against the military presence in their country. This incident was considered a sign of anger against the US military occupation which lasted 25 years. As a result, around 60 Americans got injured, 80 cars were burnt, and a lot of buildings in Kadena Air Base were demolished or largely damaged. This incident was categorized under the riot zone.

Riot 2

During the 60s of the last century, many riot actions broke out in the US cities due to the suffering of black people, in Ghetto neighborhoods, from economic deprivation and social injustice. The riot actions moved to Watts neighborhood in Los Angeles in 1956, Detroit and Newark in 1967 and Cleveland in 1968. Detroit's happenings were considered the most violent and led to the death of 43 victims in addition to mass destruction of properties. Consequently, President Lyndon Johnson established The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. The commission blamed the racial prejudice and discrimination exercised by the whites against the blacks. In 1968 Johnson established The National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence which recommended improving housing and increasing the economic opportunities for the blacks.

Riot 3

Kenya witnessed the most violent actions ever in December 2007 following electoral fraud in the presidential elections to reelect Mwai Kibaki. Subsequently, Nairobi faced the most violent protests where hundreds were killed and buildings were burnt at the hands of angry people carrying handguns. The protests moved through the cities and set buildings on fire. Moreover, many killing and rape incidents took place as a result of protests. The result was 800 killed and more than 600 displaced. This incident was categorized under the riot zone.

Riot 4

Extreme violent actions rocked Los Angeles in 1992 when the court acquitted 4 white policemen who beat a black citizen till death. Amateur footage filmed the event and the television stations aired it to the entire world. 53 deaths, 24 injuries and about a million dollar loss resulted from the incident. In its turn, the court retried the accused in 1993and 2 of them were convicted. This incident was categorized under the riot zone.

Riot 5 

In 1992, violent actions started in Bombay, the commercial capital of India, as a result of the sectarian tension prevalent in the city after demolishing Babri Mosque on 6 December. Therefore, the Muslims hit the Hindus, who responded in the same way. At the end, 900 were killed and many buildings were burnt and robbed. This incident was categorized under the riot zone. 

Riot 6

Occupy Wall Street movement which called for occupying a main road in New York, America, in 2011 internationally spread to embrace more than 1000 cities in 25 countries, including some of the largest economies in the world. Despite the movements' peaceful character, some movements changed to serious clashes between the protestors and the police. Chaos spread in Rome and Italy, in particular, where protestors threw Molotov bombs on the police, set fire to cars as well as the building of the Italian Ministry of Defense and a Christian church. 70 injuries were recorded. This incident was categorized under the riot zone. 

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Despite the great loss caused to people, money, public and private properties and despite the death of a large number of policemen during the clashes, occupying main streets, setting fire to citizens' cars in the roads, killing, displacing and raping citizens, the aforementioned violent events were considered riots.
The following are few samples of hundreds of similar cases for events witnessed in Bahrain which has been facing widespread protests against the government since 2011. The pro-regime security bodies and the Bahraini judiciary classified the Bahraini protests as "Terrorism" cases. Consequently, the people arrested on the grounds of these protests were convicted pursuant to the Terrorism Act.

Terrorism 1

On 20 May 2013, the Central Governorate's attorney announced: the high criminal court first chamber sentenced 9 convicted persons to 10-15 years in prison. These 9 were accused of palnning terrorism activities (!). The attorney said that the first and the second accused were convicted for establishing a group opposing to the provision with an aim to obstruct the law (!) and preventing the state institutions from excising their jobs (!) and assaulting the citizens' personal freedoms (!). However, the other accused, from the third till the ninth, were convicted for joining the group (!) and participating in its work despite the fact that they know about its terrorist aims (!). Moreover, the 9 were charged for the acquisition and disposal of explosives without a license from the competent authority (!!). 

Terrorism 2

The director of the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation stated on 18 April 2013 that: 4 of the terrorists charged with committing the act of terrorism which took place in Kuwait Road in Manama on 14 February 2013 were arrested (!). The act targeted police patrols and a citizen's car (!!).

Terrorism 3

The general police director of the Capital Governorate declared on 14 April 2013, that a terrorist group (!) burnt, on the night of that day, a car (!) in the capital, Manama, by a gas cylinder; which caused a bomb but no damages (!) stating that the security bodies are investigating and undertaking researches to determine the offenders and bring them to justice. 

Terrorism 4

On 17 July 2013, the Ministry of Interior declared bombing of a car by a gas cylinder in a clear yard facing one of the mosques in Riffa where no damages were caused. The Ministry classified the incident as terrorism (!) as soon as it took place and classified the car as bombed (!) before mentioning that the bomb was a gas cylinder. The Ministry declared on the same day that a group of terrorists had committed a terrorist act (!) in A'ali region, resembled in burning about 25 tires in the street (!) which caused damage to one of the towers of a telecommunication company located nearby the street.

Terrorism 5

On 22 April 2013, the head of Public Security Force confirmed that "the police foiled terrorist plans aiming at citizens' intimidation." What are these terrorist plans? The head of Public Security Force answers: among the actions were those done by the students of Jabriya Technical Secondary School for boys on 18, 21 and 22 April 2013 from chaos, breaking objects in the school, going to the streets surrounding the school, closing those streets with barriers and ambushing cars, pedestrians and policemen (!).

Terrorism 6

On 12 June, the Ministry of Interior declared in a press conference that it determined the identity of what it called "14 February Terrorist organization"! What did this terrorist organization do? The list of charges attributed to a number of the most prominent activists in the organization mentions the following:
1- Establishing a group with an aim to topple the regime.
2- Organizing marches in all Bahraini regions.
3- Communicating among each other in order to escalate the protests.

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Now, what is the difference between riot and terrorism?

Riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group which gathers and takes decisions. This group usually has an aim to implement legitimate or non-legitimate projects in a violent and aggressive way. Riots often happen as a response for oppression and because some groups believe that they do not benefit from fair and equal opportunities in any economic, political or social progress.

As for Terrorism, it is known as the unlawful use or the threatening use of force or violence against people with an intention to achieve political, religious or ideological purposes. Those purposes are achieved through intimidating, coercing or spreading fear.

JurisPedia Website (a law-university encyclopedia) affirms the consensus of all jurists on the difficulty of the trial to define terrorism. The encyclopedia states that "there are many and various problems that put obstacles in the way of reaching such a definition, most importantly that this term has no specific legal content".

The term "terrorism" is often used by the superpower states to name actions that are anti their rules in order to justify launching wars against countries for undeclared goals. However, the Arab governments use the term "terrorism" to lable their opponents in order to facilitate the process of committing inhuman massacres against them and avoid being internationally condemned. 

The Bahraini government classified the protests in the Bahraini streets as "terrorism" and started trying thousands of protestors arrested under the title of Terrorism Act. The government does not differentiate whether the action was burning tires, blocking a street, confronting the policemen who suppress the protests, throwing hand-made Molotov bombs- as being named by the authority- bombing a gas cylinder, burning a car or any other angry protest action; all of those actions are "terrorism".

"We are not facing protests in Bahrain, we are facing terrorism", the authority uses this expression as an answer for all the organizations and bodies which denounce the Bahraini regime (and its bodies), the violent suppression of the Bahraini street protests, the great number of political detainees compared to the population (more than 4000 detainees) and the imaginary jurisdictions issued against the arrested. The authority uses the above expression to justify its brutal suppression and torture inside the prisons and to prevent the intervention of the international human rights actors from following the integrity of the investigation measures used against the convicted in those cases.

"We are facing terrorism": is an expression used from the most powerful authority in the government till the least one; starting from the King, the prime minister, the ministers, the MP's, government officials, official media, the ministry of interior and the public prosecution. You will notice in the following parts that this motto was excessively and exaggeratedly overused in a way that it has, undoubtedly, become one of the ready-to-use and fast answers that are being publicized from the top of the pyramid till its base as an official obligation to be used, published, circulated and fixed.

In the next part, how did the Bahraini authorities modify the law in a way to list the protestors' charges under the Terrorism Act instead of the Riots and Demonstrations Act?

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