Last November, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) published its report on civil unrest in Bahrain and the government's response to it. By now, the report's criticisms of the government of Bahrain are well known. But did anyone actually read the report, and has anyone really paid attention to events in Bahrain since?
The report's criticisms of the government have been widely reported and commented on. Bahrain's government embraced those criticisms immediately after the commission's chairman, Dr. Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni, presented them to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in a public ceremony. When was the last time a head of state agreed to receive in public a report that he knew would be critical? His Majesty then pledged to use the report as a basis for correcting the conditions that led to the excesses cited by the commission, and to continue the process of reform he began more than ten years ago.
Anyone who believes in redemption through acceptance of truth would have to agree that Bahrain had made a good start. The commitment our king made that day marked the beginning of an accelerated effort at reform and reconciliation.
There was much more in the report than criticism of the government, but it has largely gone unnoticed or simply been ignored. As a result, there remains a great deal of misunderstanding and plain urban myth about the events that gripped Bahrain nearly a year ago.
The most glaring continuing myth is that 21 medical professionals from Salmaniya Medical Center (SMC) were arrested for treating protesters. The report makes clear that this is untrue. In fact, many doctors and nurses in Bahrain treated protesters, including many more at SMC, and were not arrested. So why these 21? The report presents a different view:
"[T]he involvement of some doctors and medical personnel in various political activities on and around the SMC premises was clearly difficult to reconcile with the full exercise of their medical responsibilities and highly disruptive to the optimum operation of an important medical facility in time of crisis (para. 847)."
The Commission gave specifics:
- Some of the medical personnel had political ties with the opposition and pursued a political agenda.
- Protesters and supportive medical personnel controlled some areas of the hospital.
- "Some Sunni patients seeking to gain access to SMC were turned away."
- Some medics intentionally spread false information about the events at SMC, and at least one person impersonated a doctor when he spoke to media.
- Some medics violated their code of ethics in other ways, such as by allowing media to film patients.
- Ambulances were not arbitrarily blocked from reaching or treating protesters.
- The "manner in which some of the doctors treated some injured expatriate persons rises to a level of human insensitivity and professional disregard for medical ethics."
In fact, the expatriates living in Bahrain - who are engaged in commerce, services and many other sectors in Bahrain - were frequently attacked by protesters and lived in constant fear. The report confirms this (paras. 1525 - 1526) and gives numerous, specific examples.
Anyone following the news knows that Bahrain continues to experience disturbances. Although they are isolated and much smaller now, they often include acts of violence, destruction of property or efforts to obstruct movement through the capital. This demonstrates that the vast majority of Bahrainis are willing to trust the reform process the government has begun and that the hard line opposition is increasingly isolated.
Inevitably, these are described as "pro-democracy demonstrations," although few writers have bothered to report whether the ideology of these groups is truly democratic. These protests often include leaders of groups claiming to be defenders of human rights in Bahrain. They enjoy substantial support from the international human-rights community, as do the medical professionals whose questionable behavior was cited by the Commission. They report as impartial human-rights observers on the very demonstrations in which they participate. This does not seem to trouble the human-rights organizations that have invested so heavily in building their credibility.
Nonetheless, the government of Bahrain is committed to pursuing an aggressive path of reform and reconciliation, and it has already taken a number of important steps to reinstate workers and students, guarantee the proper treatment of persons under arrest, reform and retrain the security forces, prosecute those responsible for abuse and broaden participation in government.
Bahrain has always been an outpost of progressivism and tolerance in the Arab world. The excesses we have set out to correct are an aberration that emerged in a period of unprecedented stress for which we were woefully unprepared.
Bahrain's redemption begins with the acceptance of truth based on the findings of the BICI. Progress will come if everyone makes that commitment - including the opposition, the international human-rights community and the international press.
It's easy. Just read the report.