Al-Ahram Weekly | Region

		Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 22 - 28 February 2001 Issue No.522
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Bahrain opts for democracy
WITH a 98.4 per cent emphatic "yes," Bahrainis have overwhelmingly endorsed a pro-democratic charter that will transform the Gulf state into a constitutional monarchy and restore its parliament 26 years after it was dissolved by the country's late ruler. Such wide-reaching democratic reforms are expected to take effect by 2004 at the latest.
Following Friday's vote Bahrain abolished controversial emergency laws as part of more landmark reforms, meeting a key opposition demand.
Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Issa Al-Khalifa issued two decrees on Sunday that ordered the immediate cancellation of the State Security Law and the State Security Court. The court was set up in 1995 after the outbreak of unrest by the Shi'ite Muslim community demanding political and economic reforms from the Sunni-led government.
"It's the only way to go for Bahrain following the anti-government violence that was aggravated by economic difficulties in a country with limited prospects," explained a diplomat, asking not to be named.
Sheikh Hamad embarked on the reconciliation process in March 1999 after the death of his father. He has since emptied Bahraini jails of political prisoners held in connection with unrest between 1994 and 1999 that cost at least 38 lives and he has authorised the return of exiles.
The Shi'ite-led opposition spearheaded agitation for a restoration of parliament which was suspended in 1975 just two years after its launch.
The charter also allows women to vote and run for office -- a novelty among Gulf Arab states -- an independent judiciary and a body to investigate public complaints about the government. Officials have said that the planned elected parliament would enjoy legislative powers while the existing appointed Shura Council would remain an advisory body.
"The emir has undertaken bold reforms and initiatives to get the country out of a dark tunnel," said Shi'ite opposition leader Abdel-Wahab Hussein who was freed from jail as part of a general amnesty of all political prisoners earlier this month.
Murderers and victims
AN ISRAELI government commission has resumed hearings into police killings of 13 Palestinian citizen of Israel in early October as they demonstrated in support of the Palestinian Intifada. The commission's opening session on Monday was halted for some two hours after a scuffle between family members of Rami Hatem Ghafa, 21, and a border guard called to testify over his death. "I didn't think they would bring one of the murderers here, less than one metre away from me," the father of one of the victims told Israeli television.
Following the incident authorities decided to separate witnesses and victims' families for the remaining sessions, the television said.
The commission was set up in November after pressure from Palestinians living in Israel and Israeli human rights groups which were outraged by the killings. As payback, Palestinians who are entitled to vote as citizens of Israel withheld their support for defeated Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, contributing to his crushing defeat by hard-line leader Ariel Sharon.
Many attending Monday's first hearing said they did not believe the investigation could heal the rift, even if some policemen are eventually punished. The inquiry is expected to last several months. The findings will be submitted to the prime minister but they will not be binding.
Crossing Syria's red line
SYRIA's outspoken civil forums, set up under the reform plans of young President Bashar Al-Assad, have been effectively suspended, forum organisers announced.
Parliament member Riad Seif, a harsh government critic, told Reuters that organisers of the forums had been told they had to get prior official permission to hold them -- effectively stopping them from taking place.
Participants in the forums have called for greater democracy in Syria, the suspension of martial law which has been in force for nearly four decades and the end of the ruling Baath Party's domination of power.
Seif said a forum he had planned to hold in his house next week had been cancelled because the lecturer had withdrawn. "I think this is a setback which is not in the interest of the people or the country especially after these forums became more organised and more objective."
The forums had been held as part of political and economic reforms launched by Al-Assad who took office last July after the death of his father President Hafez Al-Assad. They had drawn a wide audience but officials said they had overstepped their bounds by trying to put Syria's recent past in a bad light.
Compiled by Rasha Saad

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