A Bahraini judge is expected to hand down a verdict in the case of Ali Jassem. Ali says he was taken to jail, interrogated without a lawyer present and forced to confess to taking part in the protests.
If convicted, he faces as many as three years in prison. But Ali Jassem maintains he isn’t a dissident… he was just playing. Literally. Ali Jassem is eleven years old.
Ali’s is one of thousands of arrests over the course of the 17-month uprising in Bahrain: including protesters, bloggers, and doctors. Bahrain’s ruling family has cracked down on the dissents, regularly clearing away protests. There’ve been 86 deaths, and thousands of injured.
Human Rights groups have been critical of the regime’s response to the protests.
Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February 2011, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty’s over-40-year rule.
Violence against the defenseless people escalated after a Saudi-led conglomerate of police, security and military forces from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar – were dispatched to the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom on March 13, 2011, to help Manama crack down on peaceful protestors.
