Drop All Charges Against 11 Year old Ali Hassan

On May 29th 2012, an 11-year-old boy, Ali Hassan, was formally charged by Bahrain's Juvenile Prosecution with “participating with others in an illegal gathering of more than five people, in order to disturb public security by way of violence”. His final verdict will be issued on July 5, 2012.

Ali Hassan Ali Mohammad Jasem, aged 11, was arrested on 13 May in a street close to his home and near to where a protest was taking place. According to his lawyer, Ali Hassan was playing with two other young boys in Bilad al Qadeem a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Manama, when police officers stopped the children, threatening to shoot them if they did not do as they were told. The two other boys managed to escape but Ali Hassan was immediately arrested, accused of purposefully blocking the street with large communal dustbins. Ali Hassan was not allowed to see a lawyer until just before his third appearance at a Juvenile Court on 6 June. He was released on bail on 11 June and his next court hearing is scheduled for 20 June.

Following his arrest Ali Hassan was reportedly moved between several police stations for a period of about four hours and interrogated. He later told his lawyer that during that time he was alone, he became hungry and tired and eventually “confessed” to accusations against him. He appeared before the Juvenile Prosecution the next day when his detention order was extended. He denied all accusations and said that he only “confessed” because police promised to release him if he did. Throughout his detention Ali Hassan was held in a juvenile detention centre.

According to article 15 of the Convention for the Rights of the Child (CRC) to which Bahrain is a state party states 1.States Parties recognize the rights of the child to freedom of association and to freedom of peaceful assembly.2. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of these rights other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Article 37 of CRC states that: States Parties shall ensure that: (b) No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time; (d) Every child deprived of his or her liberty shall have the right to prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance, as well as the right to challenge the legality of the deprivation of his or her liberty before a court or other competent, independent and impartial authority, and to a prompt decision on any such action.

Furthermore, Article 40 also states: 2(a) No child shall be alleged as, be accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law by reason of acts or omissions that were not prohibited by national or international law at the time they were committed; 2(b)(ii) To be informed promptly and directly of the charges against him or her, and, if appropriate, through his or her parents or legal guardians, and to have legal or other appropriate assistance in the preparation and presentation of his or her defence and 2 (b)( iv) Not to be compelled to give testimony or to confess guilt; to examine or have examined adverse witnesses and to obtain the participation and examination of witnesses on his or her behalf under conditions of equality.