MANAMA: The Bahrain Defense Force should immediately make public the reason military commanders have detained a former officer for three weeks, Human Rights Watch said today. Military authorities detained Mohammed al-Buflasa on February 15, 2011, after he spoke at the Pearl Roundabout, criticizing the government and supporting the protesters. On March 4 the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) announced that al-Buflasa, a 34-year-old former military officer, who is Sunni, would stand trial for “breaching the B[ahrain] D[efense] F[orce] law.” This was the first official acknowledgement that al-Buflasa was in custody, but authorities have not provided any information regarding the charges against him. Prior to the BNA announcement, al-Buflasa was the only person associated with the protests whose whereabouts had not been accounted for. “Bahrain's long silence about Mohammed al-Buflasa's whereabouts and continuing failure to explain why he's being detained suggests that authorities have locked him up solely because they did not like what he said at the Pearl Roundabout,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. Al-Buflasa, who was wearing civilian clothing when he delivered one of the first speeches at the Pearl Roundabout on February 15, expressed support for public demonstrations that had begun the day before. He introduced himself as a Sunni and called for national unity between Sunnis and Shias, but did not identify himself as a military officer. His comments touched on numerous controversial issues, including discrimination against the majority Shia population and the “political naturalization” of Sunnis from other countries, which the Shia opposition claims is permitted to change Bahrain's demographic balance. Al-Buflasa disappeared shortly after leaving the Pearl Roundabout that day. Rashid Yusif al-Buflasa, Mohammed's brother, who lives in Qatar, told Human Rights Watch that he arrived in Bahrain on February 23 to look into his brother's detention. He learned, through his sources, that authorities were holding Mohammed at Ras al-Qurayn, a military prison in southern Bahrain and that they planned to prosecute him in a military court. Rashid visited the military court in Rifah on February 23, where a military official told him his brother would be prosecuted because of statements he made and because he was a military employee. **The above is a press release from Human Rights Watch. Read the full story here. BM
