Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): About the Bahrain Independent Commission for Inquiry (BICI) chaired by commissioner Bassiouni, again and again, the talk has not ended. It got clear that it turned out to be a commission for squandering and forging the truth. However, time is over, the Bahrainis have decided not to go back shouting in the dark. Not the King’s Commission, his obedient employee Bassiouni, nor Bassiouni’s obedient employee Khalid Mohiuddin. “Nobody” The Bahrainis say it out loud and strongly, not the King’s obedient, the King’s obedient’s obedient, nor those behind the seas who deal out the commands to obey.

More of information, more of observations and more of shocks before the report being issued, a member in the Commission who left the Commission early whispered to “Bahrain Mirror” after his return to his country: “They have bought out most of them! How would corrupts investigate the corruption of a State that bought them out”.

That member hurls a bomb saying: “When we started working, there were five million in the Commission’s bank account. The person who oversaw the daily disbursement of the funds was honest, however, shortly he resigned, which shocked everyone. When we investigated we were strongly shocked, when we knew his resignation was for the disappearance and at once of three million from the Commission’s bank account. When that honest person asked Bassiouni and Khalid he didn’t get an answer to ease his conscience. He preferred to withdraw preserving his reputation. The three million have disappeared at once and forever.  If you noticed that Bassiouni said to the American radio in his recent statement that the Commission had spent less than one million and a half of its budget. It’s clear; your government has bought out many of them”

The opposition sources tracked a number of the members who divulged what the most powerful lobby was doing, Mahmud Bassiouni and Khalid Mohiuddin. A Commission member who is close to Khalid says: “You might get shocked, and I swear to the truth of what I’m going to say, Bassiouni has not investigated the Ministries violations”. How is that? He replies: “Bassiouni has not met in person with the victims of violations in the Ministries of: Education, Health, Municipalities, and the major companies. He dedicated himself and Khalid to meet with the Ministers and the heads who violated the victims’ rights. In fact, he or Khalid would go in full splendor and would sit for three to four hours with the Minister or the head, listening to their all justifications, and took all what they would defend themselves with and would return will all respect. However, he hasn’t sat for an hour or half an hour with the civil society groups. He would send some of the investigators; sometimes he would go to them but late, would listen for a while and wouldn’t pay attention to anyone of them. It was evident that he was collecting material to strengthen his stance that he had drawn for himself; to exonerate the State of the barbaric methods that walk on two legs in Bahrain”

He continues: “On the other hand, the violations that the sacked employees suffered were documented, so that the files would pile without being handled seriously. Neither Bassiouni, nor Khalid went to a Ministry to verify. He let the investigators do his tasks in those Ministries. Both of them would listen to the official justifications accurately and understandingly”.

The Commission member says: “We read that some writers were expecting that Bassiouni would shock the government, and he was flattering them to gain information from the official authorities to surprise them later. From my point of view, that’s not expected at all”.

The member of the Commission adds: “Khalid Mohiuddin simply is not trustworthy and has no integrity at all. And his selection by Bassiouni was a disaster, which should have not been allowed by the other Commission members. He treated the victims sharply, rudely and with cruelty. He did not give them the right to talk, he always would ask them to be brief when talking or to stop them talking and would depend only on the form that should be filled by the victim”.
 
“Bahrain Mirror” interviewed one of the victims who said: “After three days of the unemployed sit-in in front of Bassiouni’s Commission headquarters, I had an appointment with the Commission of Inquiry; we were more than thirty torture victims. We booked our appointments on one day. We went to be surprised by the presence of an Intelligence man at the villa gate which was the Commission headquarters, in his hand some sheets that had our names, the victims, listed! He was the one who allowed us to enter and he read our names.

That was a blatant violation to our privacy as victims. It increases the danger of being avenged by the security institution. We protested against that strongly, and after our protest and insistence, Khalid Mohiuddin agreed to ask the Intelligence man to move away from the gate. And after we waited for more than half an hour in the hot weather in the street, Khalid allowed us to enter to the waiting hall. He defended vehemently the presence of the Intelligence man. I’m sure that all our names have been transferred by that spy to the National Security and that apparatus knows everyone who went to document with the Commission”.
 
To verify that testimony, “Bahrain Mirror” interviewed a Human Rights activist who accompanied that delegation. She said: “We coordinated a meeting for about thirty people who were injured during the events. The injuries were different, fractures, deep wounds, live bullets, birds gunshots, some of them came walking using crutches, in addition to those who lost eyes. All the injured came with advance coordination between us and the Commission. It was after the unemployed sit-in that caused a crisis. We were surprised that the gate was closed, it was unusual. The place was crowded with the Intelligence men. The Asian guard was replaced by two Jordanian men with a civilian heading them. For more half an hour we waited outside to be allowed to enter as the Intelligence men did not allow us to enter. Afterwards the investigator Khalid came, and talked in a clear haughty way. He handed in a sheet of paper that had the names of the complainants to one of the informants. He put the condition that not more than ten can enter, while the others had to wait outside despite the hot weather and humidity. He refused to let them enter even after we had explained to him their cases and they were injured and the humidity might have affected their injuries, he replied: who told you to bring them all at one time, you bear the responsibility. He left us in that harsh weather condition till we contacted the investigator Ata who deplored our presence outside and he came in person and ordered the guards to open the gate for us to enter, and that was after 45 minutes of remaining outside”.

The opposition recorded its observations that supported that activist’s testimony: the permanent presence of four patrols belonging to the Intelligence close to Bassiouni’s Commission headquarter, they recorded the cars plate numbers of the victims. Khalid Mohiuddin was told about that. He denied the issue and asked for the patrols vehicles plates numbers. After he was given the cars registration numbers and their models: Tiida and Mitsubishi, Khalid said: “Yes, I know about that patrol and they are here to protect us against any possible attack”. One of those who monitor the Commission said: “Just imagine now the credibility of such a person and what we expect out of him”.

Not only outside the Commission or at its doors, but some of the Intelligence men were present in the Commission headquarters to talk with its members. That terrorised the victims and stirred their fear of revenge.

The chief of the investigating team Khalid Mohiuddin who accused the sacked employees that they had broken through the Commission headquarters, was behind the problems on that day. He talked rudely and impolitely to the sacked that resulted in altercations.

It is known that part of the good treatment with the victims, even part of their psychological treatment, is to allow them to talk freely and in comfort about the abuse that they suffered. While most of the victims were not allowed that in the Commission, let alone their fears of the presence of the Intelligence vehicles outside the Commission headquarter. The Commission did not listen to many of the victims, who did not trust the safety in the correspondence with the Commission via its website, especially that the website was hosted on a server in Bahrain and owned by the government, however, the Commission insisted that the victims contacted them directly and not through the civil society organisations.