Caught on camera: Female human rights activist handcuffed and dragged along ground for sitting on a roundabout (and now SHE’s been charged with assault)

Daily Mail:

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 3:02 PM on 17th December 2011

  • A human rights activist in Bahrain has been filmed being handcuffed and later hit by a policewoman during clashes between police and anti-government protestors.

Zainab al-Khawaja, 27, was arrested after police fired teargas to break up a demonstration by several hundred people on the outskirts of the capital, Manama.

Ms al-Khawaja and several other women staged a sit-in protest trying to block a main road. The other women fled the scene but Ms al-Khawaja refused.

Zainab al-Khawaja was among protesters attempted to stage sit-ins along Budayia HighwayZainab al-Khawaja was among protesters attempted to stage sit-ins along Budayia Highway

The policewoman remonstrates with Ms al-Khawaja, trying to get her to leave the roundabout protestThe policewoman remonstrates with Ms al-Khawaja, trying to get her to leave the roundabout protest

The video posted on YouTube shows a policewoman talking to her, before another policewoman arrives and drags her away from the roundabout but her handcuffs.

Ms al-Khawaja is then dragged to a van where she is hit while on the ground.  The activist has since been charged with assaulting a police officer, taking part in an illegal gathering and inciting hatred against the current regime.

 

 

Ms al-Khawaja’s sister, Maryam, has refuted the charges. ‘How can she assault anyone, in handcuffs? It is nonsense but we expect nothing less from this regime.

‘Human rights abuses are continuing daily. It is business as usual,’ she told The Times, speaking from London.

Al-Khawaja is then placed in handcuffs after refusing to move from the roundaboutAl-Khawaja is then placed in handcuffs after refusing to move from the roundabout

After refusing to move, al-Khawaja is dragged towards a police van by her handcuffsAfter refusing to move, al-Khawaja is dragged towards a police van by her handcuffs

The government confirmed that Ms al-Khawaja has been arrested and said the demonstration was an illegal gathering. ‘Al-Khawaja resisted arrest by laying down and female officers had to physically remove her from the site,’ the government said.

Zainab’s father, Abduljalil al-Khawaja, was sentenced to life imprisonment in June by a military court after being accused of plotting a coup to overthrow the monarchy.

Several other members of the family are in jail and Zainab al-Khawaja has been detained several times since the uprising began in February.

A report by a panel of human rights experts in November found that Bahraini security forces had used excessive forces and carried out the systematic abuse of prisoners, including torture, when the regime sent in troops to crush the uprising in March. 

Bahrain’s King Hamed bin Isa Al-Khalifa has pledged to act upon the report’s findings and punish those responsible.

The King visited David Cameron this week, with the British PM urging him to implement concrete reforms.

There is much more below at this link…

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

6 Replies to “Caught on camera: Female human rights activist handcuffed and dragged along ground for sitting on a roundabout (and now SHE’s been charged with assault)”

  1. gosh, It looked like a scene in Toronto soon, with those backward lemmings that follow the maggot blair and his new religious costumes for the toronto police force that no one in their right minds would ever respect,,,,what a way to denegrate the public confidence in our police system, put them in backward costumes worn by islamic fascist regimes. Wow, that is sure something to respect

  2. The world is rapidly moving into a state of barbarism, things are going to get a lot uglier.

  3. i think that people that commit bad crimes should not be relased until they act they way they should and they should not get out for the really bad crimes that’s all thanks again tom slattery

  4. I personally think that just because the woman did not get up gave the right for the police woman to drag her to the cop car. What if the woman’s head hit a rock on the way down and she bleed out and died? Then it would be the police woman’s fault and she would feel bad. The only way you can prevent that is to stop dragging the lady and just call for back up!!!