{"id":6333,"date":"2011-12-22T00:39:15","date_gmt":"2011-12-21T22:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/12\/bahrain-should-release-protesters-un-rights-chief\/"},"modified":"2011-12-22T00:39:15","modified_gmt":"2011-12-21T22:39:15","slug":"bahrain-should-release-protesters-un-rights-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/bahrain-should-release-protesters-un-rights-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"Bahrain should release protesters-UN rights chief"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

* Deep mistrust for government among civil society<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

* Impunity for violence, torture an issue<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

GENEVA<\/span> Dec 21 (Reuters) – The United Nations’ top
\nhuman rights official, Navi Pillay, on Wednesday called on
\nBahrain to release prisoners detained for joining peaceful
\ndemonstrations that swept the Gulf island kingdom earlier this
\nyear.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

She also urged the Bahraini government to restore thousands
\nof people to jobs — in some cases senior posts in medical and
\neducation services — from which they were dismissed for taking
\npart in the protests.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“The Bahraini authorities need to urgently take confidence-
\nbuilding measures, including unconditionally releasing those who
\nwere convicted in military tribunals or are still awaiting trial
\nfor merely exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of
\nexpression and assembly,” she said in a statement.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Pillay, the U.N.’s Geneva-based High Commissioner for Human
\nRights, said a delegation she sent to the kingdom earlier this
\nmonth had found a “profound lack of trust” for the government
\namong civil society groups there.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

This mistrust had deepened “as a result of the violent
\ncrackdown on protesters, destruction of mosques, the lack of
\nfair trials and the lack of progress in providing redress for
\nviolations,” the former South African judge declared.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The protests, driven by the kingdom’s Shi’ite majority
\nseeking an end to the domination of minority Sunnis, broke out
\nearlier this year during the “Arab Spring” which led to the
\noverthrow of longtime rulers in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

But outside human rights campaigners say they believe
\nWestern reaction was more muted because Bahrain is home to a key
\nbase of the U.S. Fifth Fleet and is seen by many governments as
\na bulwark against Shi’ite-ruled Iran.
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

* Deep mistrust for government among civil society * Impunity for violence, torture an issue GENEVA Dec 21 (Reuters) – The United Nations’ top human rights official, Navi Pillay, on Wednesday called on Bahrain to release prisoners detained for joining peaceful demonstrations that swept the Gulf island kingdom earlier this year. She also urged the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-6333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}