Calls grow on British public university to end links with Bahraini regime police force

Politicians and human rights groups have renewed calls on a British public research university to cease its relationship with Bahraini regime services, as the ruling Al Khalifah dynasty presses ahead with its repressive measures and heavy-handed crackdown against political opponents and democracy advocates.

Lord Paul Scriven, who is part of the All Parliamentary Group for Democracy and Human Rights in the Persian Gulf, has written to the University of Huddersfield and urged it to halt its teaching in the Arab state.

“They need to stand back, reflect and look at the potential implication of their institution being highlighted in human rights abuses,” the Liberal Democrat peer said.

“It's down to the vice-chancellor Bob Cryan to come out with concrete evidence to prove that since his institution was in Bahrain, that the academy of police hasn't been implicated in human rights abuses. If he can't do that then he has to close down this course,” he pointed out.

The University of Huddersfield reportedly runs a masters degree in security sciences at the Royal Academy of Police, which is situated near Jaww village on the southeastern coast of Bahrain.

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As part of an agreement with the Bahraini regime, for nearly five years the University of Huddersfield has trained at least 25 members of the Bahrain security forces each year.

Recruits are reportedly taught modules such as investigative forensic psychology and terrorism and conflict resolution during the program.

Demonstrations have been held in Bahrain on a regular basis ever since a popular uprising began in mid-February 2011.

The participants demand that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.

Manama, however, has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent.

Earlier this month, a London-based human rights organization said Bahraini courts had convicted and sentenced four anti-regime activists to death following unfair trials and based on confessions coerced through torture and ill-treatment.

The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) said in a 61-page report, entitled "The Court is Satisfied with the Confession’: Bahrain Death Sentences Follow Torture, Sham Trials,” that Bahraini courts routinely violated the defendants’ rights to fair trials, including the right to legal counsel during interrogation, the right to cross-examine prosecution witnesses, and through reliance on secretly sourced reports.

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The report went on to note that much of the torture and ill-treatment occurred in two locations – the Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Ministry of Interior, which is housed in a compound in the Adliya district of the capital Manama, and the Royal Academy of Policing, located adjacent to Bahrain’s notorious Jau Prison. 

BIRD called on Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah to commute the death sentences for all individuals, starting with those convicted on the basis of confessions extracted under torture or ill-treatment.

The human rights organization also urged Bahraini authorities to quash the sentences of all persons whose convictions involved the use of coerced confessions and/or fair trial violations. 

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