Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): The obvious result which was shown by the activity of the February 14th, is that there is a king named Hamad bin Isa neglected a text of the constitutional oath "I swear by Allah the Almighty to respect the Constitution and the laws of the State, and defend the liberties of the people, interests and properties, and to safeguard the independence and territorial integrity". The microscope of the February 14th uprising has shown the King's negligence of the oath, as well as the date of February 14th, 2002 showed the abolition of the 'Contractual' Constitution by the king, and Bassiouni's report came as an attempt to heal the legitimacy that the King had damaged by such negligence.

The opposition had given the King an opportunity to heal his legitimacy, but he did not do that during the last eight months that followed the release of Bassiouni's report, what are the options before him now? This is what we are trying to answer by investigating the performance of the King biography that contradicts the constitutional oath.

The King's anger
 
The King did not get angry, even for once, for what his people had suffered of grave and unprecedented violations that intensified the people's anger and indignation towards his unjust regime, and made ​​people believe more of the need for an elected government to be accountable in case of corruption, violence or misuse of power.

The King did not get angry with the use of excessive violence to quell protests of 14 February which were clearly demonstrated by Bassiouni's report: "The forceful confrontation of demonstrators involving the use of lethal force and resort to a heavy deployment of Public Security Forces led to the death of civilians. This caused a marked increase in the number of persons participating in protests and led to a palpable escalation in their demands." Paragraph 1691

After receiving Bassiouni's report, no one ever heard of an angry speech by the King against the government abuses and crimes that were corroborated by Bassiouni's report. He did not seek to sit with his people or their representatives, to listen to them directly, to approach them, and to promise them of decisive and radical steps. The King did not care, because his objective of Bassiouni's report was only a facade document that would give him legitimacy to the world, nothing else, a ‘legitimacy medication' document as was called by Bahrain Mirror. And as usual he diluted the section on the recommendations and implementation of the report: the King formed a committee that completed its mission once advertised!

The King did not get angry even a day with the official media, both audio and visual, when the media continued accusing insolently, more than half of the population, of treason and loyalty to foreign powers, neither got angry for the yelling voices that spread hate in mosques and squares, which described more than half of the people as Safavī (Persians) and coup mongers and the sons of fun and (bastards) and other morally and socially indecent terms. The King, throughout the period in which the people went through varieties of violations, had continued his advice when meeting visitors, not to be distracted by following up the news, to stay away from watching television, to stay away from worries, and rather to concentrate on reading and/or keep busy with the concerns of fishermen!

Abuse of the King

The first time that the King got angry and showed his displeasure, is when the Secretary General of Al Wefaq, Sheikh Ali Salman, used a high tone in his speech against the Field Marshal of the Kings on June 11, 2012 at the sit-yard Almuqsha area when he said in his speech: "Your Excellency Field Marshal, you better learn that there is a strength and sources of power in this nation, that have only been used up to 50%, and you and others better learn that no matter how you use the means of oppression will end up to failure, even if all the troops of the region, not only the Peninsula Shield forces, have come here in order to prevent us from getting our rights. I am not saying this as a challenge but to make things clear".

That was enough to stir up the king, who was not moved by all what happened to the people of murder, arrest, torture, humiliation and violation. The king visited the Bahrain Defense Force, on June 13, 2012, one day after Sheikh Ali Salamn's speech and he expressed his frustration at what he called insulting and offending the Defense Force and threatened of sanctions. He stressed that insulting the Field Marshal was an insult to him personally: "We have these days heard about voices and tribunes fueling hatred and abusing freedom of expression. The matter has worsened to include disrespecting the Bahrain Defence Force and there is no doubt that it is our duty to ensure that this is not repeated. Our armed forces are the protectors of the nation’s achievements and everybody must know that whoever disrespects the forces or its leaders is in fact abusing us. We cannot tolerate any irreverence of our beliefs, social values and armed forces in the name of freedom of expression. All competent executive agencies have to take the necessary measures to address these violations in accordance with the law."

The immunity conferred by the king on these forces, put him in a position of accountability for every large and small actions committed by these forces. In the name of freedom of expression, the belief of more than half of the people has been offended, their values ​​and morals, honor, patriotism and humanity. All of this did not get the King to be angry, but a word, stated "your repression will not put us down" and was addressed to the Marshal did. The reason is simply because the King considers the Bahrain Defense Force the protector force for his gains and survival, not for the country and the people, and for that he expressed that disrespect to its leader is an insult to him personally.

The King sees that challenging the power (which supports him) is an insult, however, he does not see the abuse done by his forces and authorities to the people, to the religion, and to the Constitution as a challenge to his majesty. He thinks he is outside of the game. He thinks that his breaching of his constitutional duties must pass without any accountability. Therein lies the challenge of the political discourse, to invalidate this conjecture, and to ensure that breaching does pass through.

The Defense Force of the King
 
According to the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bahrain in the king's clause: "The King is the Supreme Commander of the Defence Force. He commands it and charges it with national tasks within the homeland and outside it. The Defence Force is directly linked to the King, and maintains the necessary secrecy in its affairs." Thus, the king is responsible for everything that is done by these forces, because the tasks and assignments are issued by him personally.

The Bahrain Defense Force army got involved in the killing of more than a martyr, including the martyr Abdul Redha Buhmaid and martyr Bahia Al-Aradi; which worsened the wrath of protesters and escalated the slogans from calling for reform to falling down of the regime. This was verified by Bassiouni in his report: "The deaths resulting from police forces and the military involvement in the shooting of civilians resulted in the worsening of public anger towards the government." The Defense Force Army took part in the night raids and arrests, occupied Salmaniya Medical Complex, and hindered the entry of patients, and kidnapped injured patients from their beds. The number of military personnel in the hospital exceeded the number of patients and the hospital staff. Bassiouni's report emphasized that "military engaged in a military campaign against the demonstrators." Bassiouni also documented that "military officers physically assaulted the patients, and held them on the sixth floor, and forcibly transferred some patients to police stations." Bahraini army participated together with the other Peninsula Shield armies, in taking over the streets by armoured vehicles and set up checkpoints along the streets of Bahrain since March 15. It has been proven that citizens were beaten, humiliated, and detained at checkpoints on sectarian backgrounds.

The Defense Force Army got involved in all these crimes and violations. The King is the supreme leader and personally assigns the tasks, and if violations while carrying out those assignment had occurred, he should have been aware of them, and this was corroborated through Bassiouni's report which was approved by him personally, but he did not get angry on the size of the proven crimes and abuses, neither did he not consider the abuse by the army to the people an abuse to him personally, he did not ask the executive authorities to take necessary actions to deter these abuses, and did not take any action against any one of them, rather the opposite, the King increased his supporting visits to the Defense Force, and every time he offered his support, thanks, and appreciation to "The efforts of the employees of the Defense Force, the Ministry of Interior, and the national Guard who are faithful and care for the security of this nation and protect its borders and territory and are still stationed" as he said.

The King's Sanctions
 
The King, as the Constitution states, “is the loyal protector of the religion and the homeland, and the symbol of national unity.”. However, he still continues to be indifferent to what is happening to his people. The people who suffered from the military and security authorities. The King indulges more in provoking indignation and anger of the people continuously by blessing and supporting the military. Nor even a single royal decree was issued by the King on punishing the murderers of the people and the violators. But recently (on 12 July 2012) he issued a special decree amending the Penal Code related to assaulting members of the Public Security: “Imprisonment shall be the penalty for any person who assaults a member of the Public Security, BDF, the National Guard or the National Security Body. The penalty shall be imprisonment for a period of no less than seven years if the assault results in a permanent and unintentional disability, no less than ten years if the assault deliberately causes a permanent disability and lifetime imprisonment if the assault leads to death."

Dozens of people died because of excessive use of force by (members of the Public Security forces), hundreds were injured and have become permanently disabled – these were all documented in human rights reports, some still are deprived of treatment. There is not even one defendant security man behind bars, while more than 1200 prisoners are accused of charges related to alleged attacks on the Public Security men.

So this is how the King sees the defiance to the forces (that protect him) as an abuse, and eventually a crime, but he did not see abusing the people, religion, and the Constitution by his forces a challenge to his Majestic Person. He thinks that he is out of the game and that his breach of his constitutional tasks must pass without any accountability. Therein lies the challenge of the political discourse, to invalidate this conjecture, and not to let such breaches pass unnoticed.

How the King neglected the sovereignty of the state? And what were the choices he ended up with?

To be continued in the fourth and final part...

• Link to the Arabic copy

• Part 1
• Part 2