Report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry

Report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry
a. Disband the National Assembly.
b. Abrogate the current Constitution and form a Constituent
Assembly to draft a new constitution, which should stipulate
the following:
i. Legislative authority is vested in a parliament all the
members of which must be elected;
ii. Executive authority is exercised by an elected Prime
Minister; and
iii. Bahrain is a constitutional monarchy ruled by the Al
Khalifa family. However, members of the Royal Family
are barred from holding top positions in the three
branches of government.
c. Release all political prisoners and human rights activists, and
establish a national commission to investigate allegations of
torture and harassment of those people and to hold the
perpetrators accountable.
d. Guarantee freedom of expression, refrain from harassing
journalists and bloggers, ensure freedom of the internet and
State television, and end the intervention of government
security agencies in the work of the media.
e. Ensure the independence and depoliticisation of the judiciary.
f. Establish a national commission to investigate claims of
politically motivated naturalisation, and revoke the Bahraini
citizenship of anyone who acquired it either for political
purposes or in violation of the applicable laws.
190. Other statements outlining similar demands appeared on the internet
and were circulated among Bahrainis. Unrecognised political movements,
including Haq and the Bahrain Islamic Freedom Movement, issued statements
in support of the planned protests. Later, on 13 February, the officially
recognised political association Wa’ad issued a statement supporting the
principle of the right of the youth to demonstrate peacefully. None of the
other officially recognised political societies issued a statement explicitly
calling for the protests.
Friday, 4 February 2011
191. During his Friday prayer sermon, which by some estimates was
attended by 5,000 people, the Secretary General of the Al Wefaq National
Islamic Society (Al Wefaq), Sheikh Ali Salman, is reported to have
commented on the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. Sheikh Ali Salman
affirmed that the people of the Arabian Gulf were as determined as the
Tunisians and Egyptians to achieve change, and called for political reform that
would ensure the stability of the constitutional monarchy in Bahrain while
allowing for peaceful competition over executive power. These reforms, he
said, would contribute to affirming the human dignity of every Bahraini.
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