eua_2014_full.pdf?utm_content=buffer4a392&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

PART III — COUNTRY PROFILeSand, on 27 June, the Unions Federation in Bahrainreported that the Ministry of Education had sacked 60employees, mostly teachers. 479On 25 September 2011, a military court sentenced thepresident of the Bahrain Teachers Association, MahdiAbu Deeb, to 10 years in prison on charges of using hisposition within the BTA to call for a strike by teachers,halting the educational process, inciting hatred of theregime and attempting to overthrow the ruling systemby force, possessing pamphlets and disseminatingfabricated stories and information. Abu Deeb allegedthat he endured torture in pre-trial detention. 480 Hisdeputy, Jailila al-Salmaan, received a three-yearsentence. In October 2012, a court of appeal reducedtheir sentences to five years and six months respectively.481Clashes between rival groups of students and theirparents led to violence on school grounds. Forexample, according to the Bahrain IndependentCommission of Inquiry (BICI), on 10 March 2011, at theSaar High School for Girls, an argument between antigovernmentand pro-government pupils led to parentsconverging on the school. Some students and parentsthreatened the headmistress and staff and threwrocks at a school building in which they had takenrefuge. Riot control forces were sent to disperse thecrowds. Eight students were injured and receivedmedical care. Other schools reported similar incidentson a much smaller scale. 482The BICI report also documented complaints of abuseagainst members of the Sunni community at schoolsbecause of their religious affiliation or refusal to joinprotests. 483 In total, the BICI report identified ‘approximately83’ incidents of sectarian threats inuniversities and schools, including verbal abuse andharassment of students as well as physical assaults. 484Attacks on higher educationMost incidents affecting higher education occurredduring, or as a result of, the protests of February andMarch 2011 in which university students andprofessors participated. According to the president ofthe University of Bahrain, on 13 March 2011, 55individuals were treated in intensive care after clashesat the campus between government supporters and5,000 anti-government protesters. 485 The University ofBahrain and Bahrain Polytechnic subsequentlysuspended classes until mid-May and late Aprilrespectively. 486According to the BICI report, 73 students were arrestedor detained after February 2011 and some wereimprisoned for more than three months. 487 Securityforces also questioned at least 15 professors fromthree universities for several hours before releasingthem without charge, and detained one for over fourmonths, Human Rights Watch reported. 488 Oneprofessor said he was detained with 10 othercolleagues on suspicion of having participated inprotests – and that Interior Ministry officials went tothe university and ordered them to report to a policestation, where they were blindfolded, interrogatedand beaten before being released. 489During 2011, the government also dismissedprofessors and suspended or expelled hundreds ofuniversity students for participation in demonstrationsand political activities. At the University ofBahrain, students not charged with violent crimeswere reinstated but were required to sign loyaltypledges and received warnings not to engage inpolitical activity on campus. 490 Of those charged withcrimes, at least six were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.491 The University of Bahrain also dismissed 19academics on charges that included participation inprotests; 492 by the end of 2012, they had all beenreinstated. 493Prior to the 2011 events, there was one reportedincident concerning an academic. Dr Abduljalil al-Singace, a professor of engineering at the University ofBahrain, was detained in 2010 after speaking aboutthe country’s human rights practices during a seminarat the UK House of Lords. 494 His lawyer reported thatduring detention, al-Singace was deprived of sleepand the crutches and wheelchair he relied upon,subjected to physical violence that resulted in a partialloss of hearing and denied medical treatment. 495 InJune 2011, a military court sentenced him to life inprison, a decision the Supreme Court upheld inJanuary 2013. 496120