14-year-old Ali Jawad died when a tear gas canister
fired at close range smashed his face.
John Timoney is the controversial former Miami
police chief well known for orchestrating brutal crackdowns on protests in
Miami and Philadelphia- instances with rampant police abuse, violence, and blatant
disregard for freedom of expression. It should be of great concern that the
Kingdom of Bahrain has brought Timoney and John Yates, former assistant
commissioner of Britain's Metropolitan Police, to "reform" Bahrain's security
forces.
Since assuming his new position, Timoney has claimed that Bahrain has
been reforming it brutal police tactics in response to recommendations issued
by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry. He says that there is less
tear gas being used and that while tear gas might be "distasteful," it's not
really harmful.
I have no idea what country Chief Timoney is
talking about, because it's certainly not the Bahrain I saw this past week, a
week that marked the one-year anniversary since the February 14, 2011 uprising.
I was in Bahrain for five days before being deported for joining a peaceful women's march. During my
stay, I accompanied local human rights activists to the villages where protests
were raging and police cracking down. Every day, I inhaled a potent dose of
tear gas, and came close to being hit in the head with tear gas canisters.
Every evening I saw the fireworks and smelled the noxious fumes as hundreds of
tear gas canisters were lobbed into the village of Bani Jamrah, next door to
where I was staying. The villagers would get on their roofs yelling "Down, Down
Hamad" (referring to the King). In exchange, as a form of collective
punishment, the whole village would be doused in tear gas. I went to bed
coughing, eyes burning, wondering how in the world the Bahrainis can stand
this.
Tear gas is supposed to be used to disperse violent
gatherings that pose a threat to law and order. It is not supposed to be used
on unarmed protesters who are simply exercising their freedoms of expression
and assembly.
"Shamefully, Bahrain has the highest tear gas use,
per capita, in the world," said human rights activist Nabeel Rajab. "And the
police don't just shoot outside to disperse crowds. They use the tear gas
canisters as weapons, shooting them directly at people. And they shoot the gas
right into people's houses. If Mr. Timoney thinks the use of tear gas here is
"moderate,' he has obviously not spent many evenings in Bahraini villages."
Timoney also told reporters that there is no evidence that tear gas has
killed anyone. He should meet Zahra Ali, the mother of Yassin Jassim Al Asfoor.
On November 19, 2011, riot police--running around
the village of Ma'ameer searching for a few people chanting anti-government
slogans--fired three tear gas canisters directly into her home.
Everyone in the family started choking, especially 13-year-old
Yassin , who suffered from asthma. Yassin could barely breathe.
Panicking, his parents called an ambulance. "I'm dying from the tear gas, I'm
dying," Yassin cried on the way to the hospital. He struggled desperately to
survive for the next 29 days before his lungs simply collapsed.
Zahra lovingly showed me photos of Yassin donning a
party hat, celebrating his 14th birthday in the hospital a few days
before he died. "All the doctors and nurses loved him--Sunni, Shia, everyone.
They even came here for his funeral," she said proudly.
I asked Zafra if she had a message about the tear
gas for Police Chief Timoney. "Just ask him if he has ever lost a child," she
whispered.
Timoney should also meet the parents of 14-year-old
Ali Jawad al-Sheik. He did not die from inhalation. No. He was killed on August
31, 2011, when the police fired tear gas at protesters from roughly 20 feet
away. A canister broke open the young boy's face. To his parent's furor, the
autopsy said the cause of death was "unknown."
The same thing happened exactly four months later
to 15-year-old Sayyed Hashem Saeed. The police then used tear gas to disperse
mourners at Sayyed's funeral.
Faisal Abdali, a businessman who lives at the
entrance of Sitra, would also love to speak to the police chief. He is hopping
mad and wants some justice and accountability.
For months now, as the police enter the village of
Sitra, they have been tossing tear gas directly into his house. Every time he
lodged a complaint, the house would be targeted even worse the next day.
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