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At a time when most 11-year-old boys are looking forward to the school holidays, Ali Hasan is preparing for his trial.
On Wednesday morning the primary school pupil from suburban Manama will stand in a Bahrain court and listen as the case against him is spelt out. The prosecution case: that Ali helped protesters block a street with rubbish containers and wood during demonstrations last month. Ali's defence: that he's a child who was just playing with friends in the street.
"On the day before I was arrested there was some fighting in the streets near my house between the demonstrators and the police," Ali told the Guardian by phone from his home in the Bilad al-Qadeem suburb. "The demonstrators had blocked the street by setting fire to tyres and using containers in which people dispose of their rubbish.
"The day after this I went to the street with two of my friends to play. It was around 3pm. While we were playing there, some police forces came towards us which made us panic. My friends managed to run away … but I was so scared by the guns they were carrying that I couldn't move … and I was arrested."
Bahrain's rulers have proved ruthless in the cases they have pursued against those accused of involvement in 15 months of protests against the Khalifa dynasty, with prosecutions against doctors, nurses and rights activists. Ali Hasan's case marks a new precedent in the legal crackdown against civil society. He is believed to be the youngest Bahraini to stand trial in connection with the uprising.
Ali has already spent weeks in jail before he was bailed last week, and even sat his exams in prison. After his arrest he was taken to various police stations where he said he was forced to confess to taking part in anti-government demonstrations. "I was crying all the time. I told them I'd confess to anything to go back home," he said.
Ali's father, Jasem Hasan, a car parts dealer, said his son was taken back to the detention centre the day after his arrest.
"I was abroad at the time and when I called Ali's mother was only crying. She was crying for all the time Ali was in prison," he said.
In jail Ali spent a month in a room with three other children and was made to clean the centre. "We would wake up early in the morning for breakfast, usually around 6.30, and then I had to do some job," he said. "The first day in jail was horrible. I cried all the time but I became friends with the other boys there and we could play for four hours every day – but had to spend all our other time in a locked room." Describing the centre, he said: "It's like putting a bear in a box, I felt just like that. I never want to go back to that place again."
Bahrain's chief prosecutor for those under 18, Noura Al-Khalifa, has said that Ali was detained while blocking the street and Bahraini information officials have alleged that Ali was participating in an "illegal gathering" along with other protesters. Ali's father said the allegations were lies. "They claimed that my son had accepted money in exchange for setting fire to tyres and blocking the road," he said. "I don't say I'm a rich person but I make enough money and my son doesn't need to go in streets looking for money. I always give enough money to him."
Ali's lawyer, Mohsen al-Alawi, said the boy was nothing to do with the demonstrations. "Ali was not a political activist or a demonstrator. He was only playing games like all other children of his age."
Human Rights Watch has expressed concerns about Ali's case. "He was not accompanied by a lawyer during his questioning," said HRW's Mariwan Hama-Saeed. "It seems the only evidence used against him is his own confession and the testimony of a police officer."
The UK and US governments have been criticised for maintaining close relations with the Bahraini leadership, and failing to address human rights abuses in an uprising that has left scores dead. The Foreign Office minister for the Middle East, Alistair Burt, who visited Bahrain last week, encouraged further reform in the country, saying that it was "clear there is much more to do".
Burt said: "While the Bahraini government has made some good progress on the recommendations of the Bahrain independent commission of inquiry (BICI), we are clear there is much more to do. Bringing about sustained, comprehensive reform will take time, but the government should build on the steps they have taken and ensure that BICI recommendations are implemented quickly and in full, including where they relate to human rights.
"We stand ready to assist Bahrain as it tackles the challenges ahead, including help with reform of the judicial system, promoting human rights training in the police and other government services, and reducing sectarian tension through reconciliation."
The Foreign Office did not respond to the Guardian's request for comments on Ali Hasan's case at the time of publication.
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa programme at Amnesty International, said: "Arresting an 11-year-old boy, interrogating him for hours without a lawyer before trying him on spurious charges shows a jaw-dropping lack of respect for his rights."
She added that such treatment was completely out of step with international standards, or even Bahrain's own penal code. "This case shows the excessive means the Bahraini authorities have resorted to in order to crush protest. I hope they will see sense and drop all the charges against Ali Hassan."
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Comments
19 June 2012 7:38PM
After the Jubilee galas, let's invite the King of Bahrain to one of our very special country dinners, only £250,000 per person, special access garanteed!
19 June 2012 11:02PM
I was at a stopover in Bahrein once because I flew with Gulf Airlines '- never again. The worst long haul flight ever, and the airport is a dumpl. But putting an 11 year old on trial on a dubious charge really stinks.
19 June 2012 11:16PM
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19 June 2012 11:20PM
I wonder what John Yates' advice is on this.
19 June 2012 11:31PM
The UK Home Office should be ashamed of themselves for not speaking out against this.
19 June 2012 11:36PM
Let us see how well the next F1 Grand Prix goes down In Bahrain with this sort of great publicity for that Moanarchy.
20 June 2012 12:04AM
And this is the government the British arms manufacturers are supporting -
Well done chaps - keep up the good work!
20 June 2012 12:09AM
@shemarch.
Please forgive me if this seems a tad over -critical but I'm not sure your comment adds much. Whilst it may be good to share the pain of others, I find your tale of a poor airline and disappointing airport doesnt quite marry with the story of an imprisoned 11 year old.
20 June 2012 12:14AM
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20 June 2012 12:25AM
Even if this boy had been demonstrating as alleged, does that justify putting an 11-year old boy on trial? I am all the more appalled to know that Bahrain is one of those countries that Western democracies call 'good friends'.
20 June 2012 12:30AM
I was detained by a mental health professional once for expressing my feelings and got similar treatment ...
actually I was subjected to Stockholme Syndrome as well but I can't really go into details on here I expect ...
20 June 2012 12:38AM
You mean the Foreign and Commonwealth Office?
20 June 2012 12:38AM
Everything is OK.
Bahrain is a 'good' repressive, authoritarian state, not a 'bad' one
20 June 2012 12:39AM
Yea but if we don't do it the Russians and Chinese will, and they don't give a crap about human rights. Lip service is better than no service whatsoever...
20 June 2012 12:50AM
what we should put an 11 year old boy on trial because the Russians and Chinese do ? Ill have some of what you're having mate ...
20 June 2012 12:56AM
This case says all that needs to be said about the puppet rulers of Bahrain, the Al Khalifas, and their puppet masters, the Al Sauds, and the US and the UK.
20 June 2012 2:10AM
SHAMEFUL.
20 June 2012 2:13AM
This not a "young man"- this is a child.
20 June 2012 2:22AM
I was responding to someone who said that we shouldn't have dealings with the tin pots on principles.
20 June 2012 2:26AM
No, lip service is worse because it puts up a further barrier of dishonesty between objective, shareable reality and the reproducible truth. It is an intentional distortion for private gain which is inexcusable for most. Conscious hypocrisy will always be preferable to suppressed reason or justified evil.
20 June 2012 2:29AM
above is response to DarthArturis but 'response' button malfunctions for me!
20 June 2012 3:27AM
Not to worry, folks! I'm sure Mrs. Windsor will bring this up with the Bahraini dictator the next time he's round for tea.
20 June 2012 3:35AM
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20 June 2012 6:04AM
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20 June 2012 6:06AM
My English Grammer hasn't evolved yet also. Bahrain has people who have not evolved since the Middle Ages.
20 June 2012 6:14AM
That seems rather a crass thing to say. These bastards treat kids like that and your first reaction is that you were once there, had a lousy flight and the airport's a dump???
20 June 2012 6:26AM
What's everyone so worked up about? Kids of that age were imprisoned for nabbing bottles of water during the London Rioting ... ten year olds can be sentenced to life in Britain, are violently restrained, placed in secured centres before they've been convicted, are subjected to highly intrusive interventions through the back-door of civil law. When it comes to youth justice and human rights, Britain can stfu, so stop finger-pointing.
20 June 2012 6:36AM
My daughter is 10 years old. I cannot imagine how the authorities in Bahrain can even imagine that detaining a child is by any measure correct. We all know that children really and truly are children. Even if this boy had been helping to build the blockade - so what? It does not mean he can be treated as an adult. And if children get treated like this (weeks in prison) for 'protesting', pity the real adults in Bahrain.
Yes I agree that our own countries abuse human rights too - that is why our governments get upset by human rights infringements in 'unfriendly' countries but don't mind when 'friends' abuse human rights. But we should always point fingers at every abuser, whoever they are and wherever they live.
20 June 2012 6:55AM
For them this is no more than the equivalent to our courts giving a teenage rioter a jail sentence for stealing one of a pair of trainers. Or this, for example:
20 June 2012 6:55AM
When a dictator is afraid of small children, that is a strong indication that his time is up.
20 June 2012 7:34AM
He is 11 years of age. What are they thinking of
20 June 2012 7:52AM
Terrible to try an eleven year old child what sort of country would do that?
Oh yes. Us.
20 June 2012 8:58AM
Bahrain is a pub and a whorehouse for the mainland. Booze and whores are the mainstays of the economy. So, if you are looking for morality, best look elsewhere. The UK government is basically an increasingly desperate salesman: no matter who the buyer, they want the cash.
It's difficult to describe the hatred between Sunni and Shia (the boy, Ali, is Shia), especially within a religion that spends most of its time attempting to convince everyone how 'just' it is.
20 June 2012 9:29AM
Nice lunch guests Mrs Windsor has.
20 June 2012 9:29AM
Boycott F1.
20 June 2012 9:35AM
The Holiday section is elsewhere.
20 June 2012 9:35AM
Bahrain has oil, does a lot of business with UK and US arms manufacturers, is a key Gulf ally facing Iran and home to the US Fifth FLeet. That is why there has been no protest from the FO.
The Queen invited King Hamad al-Khalifa of Bahrain (along with several other royal dictators) to lunch at Windsor Castle to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee, so he must be ok, mustn't he?
The Grand Prix went ahead didn't it?
Don't forget that this 11-year -old boy, who goes to primary school, was also imprisoned for almost a month. Still he can always rely on a fair trial, can't he?
According to Mohammed Al A'Ali , writing in The Gulf Daily News (Voice of Bahrain) this very day, plans are underway to educate more Bahraini and Arab judges on women's social and humanitarian rights. (!!)
I have long maintained that to judge how developed a society is, one only has to look at how it treats its women and children.
I am also asking myself a question that comes up almost daily when I watch the news - what on earth are children doing in the streets when this kind of thing is going on?
20 June 2012 10:02AM
The US and UK are selling arms to Bahrain, and it is pretty obvious who they will used against. Yet another example of how some autocracies are apparently perfectly acceptable whilst we feign anger and revulsion at others. And, of course, the media plays its part by mirroring the hypocrisy.
20 June 2012 10:05AM
I am also asking myself a question that comes up almost daily when I watch the news - what on earth are children doing in the streets when this kind of thing is going on?
The unrest has been going on for months, the crackdowns just as long. I guess parents have to allow their children outside sometimes and the best they do is judge that some days are safer than others.
Still, always more fun to blame the victims.
20 June 2012 10:11AM
DarthArturus
20 June 2012 12:39AM
Response to slyfas, 20 June 2012 12:25AM
Yea but if we don't do it the Russians and Chinese will, and they don't give a crap about human rights. Lip service is better than no service whatsoever...
===
Sure. By which logic we should have done a deal with the Nazis in 1939, rather than fighting back. Churchill's big error. Surely dialogue is always better than conflict?
20 June 2012 10:21AM
I find this sort of news utterly depressing, that anyone can treat another human in such a way is depressing enough but to treat a small boy like this is deplorable. Those kings and princes of the glorious Bahrain should hang their heads.
Even if the lad was helping to blockade the road so what he still should not be where he is now. I'm sure I did worse when I was a boy..... yet I never ended up in prison; I was talked to by a very large policeman once but that was in front of my parents and not in an interrogation room.
Another thing I find depressing are the amount of comments this news article has received...
This article has been up for almost a day and only 40 odd comments. Yet there are
articles that receive hundreds of comments within a few hours. I know it may seem ridiculous to get annoyed about something like that but surely everyone who is decent must have some f*****g comment to make ffs. Surely the Guardian doesn't have so few decent people who cannot say something for the poor lad, how ever futile it may seem.
20 June 2012 11:07AM
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20 June 2012 11:21AM
Anyway, clearly no way our Bahraini chums could be right about his behaviour because they wear towels on their heads. And don't appreciate children setting fire to tyres in the street. And he said it wasn't me. Not to put too fine a point on it the little bleeder is up to his ears in it and knew what to expect from Bahrani "justice" - not so different from our own when the chips are down my friends. In our street we encourage the full expression of a childs angst and affect through violent street theatre if necessary, most therapeutic!
20 June 2012 12:02PM
I want to hire a Huey and bust this kid out.
20 June 2012 12:39PM
I boycotted F1 years ago.
20 June 2012 12:39PM
Why have you stolen Toongulls avatar?
20 June 2012 1:10PM
Precisely. We have put a ten year old boy on trial, so it's a bit rich to see papers focussing on this boy's age.
20 June 2012 1:17PM
Most people would agree with that, until you bring up Jon Venables and Robert Thomson. My view is that 10 - 11 year olds should not be on trial, whatever the circumstances.
20 June 2012 2:23PM
It's a shame on bahrain government.
20 June 2012 2:27PM
Local authorities in Manama are very, very reluctant to allow any female company for their foreign private "secruity contractors" they have got to keep them entertained somehow. Of course they will naturally grab a child to "clean" the cells etc... they are hardcore bastards but the government just need to crack down on this before they look like even bigger prats. There is no point in getting all Roman Catholic about it they should just have let the child go rather than try and start prosecuting him because a few dodgy paedo mercs were planning on having a bit of fun back the police station. They are not the Taliban with dancing boys for fxxksake.