Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry

The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), also known locally in Bahrain as the Bassiouni Commission, was established by the King of Bahrain on 29 June 2011 tasked with looking into the incidents that occurred during the period of unrest in Bahrain in February and March 2011 and the consequences of these events.

The commission released a 500-page report 23 November 2011, which took 9,000 testimonies, offered an extensive chronology of events, documented 46 deaths, 559 allegations of torture, and more than 4,000 cases of employees dismissed for participating in protests. The report criticized the security forces for many instances when "force and firearms were used in an excessive manner that was, on many occasions, unnecessary, disproportionate, and indiscriminate;" and found that certain abuses, such as destruction of property, "could not have happened without the knowledge of higher echelons of the command structure." The report also stated that the violence in Bahrain "was the result of an escalating process in which both the Government and the opposition have their share of responsibility in allowing events to unfold as they did".

The report confirmed the Bahraini government's use of systematic torture and other forms of physical and psychological abuse on detainees, as well as other human rights violations. It also rejected the government's claims that the protests were instigated by Shi'a Iran. It has been criticised for not disclosing the names of individual perpetrators of abuses and extending accountability only to those who actively carried out human rights violations.

The commission was established by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain by Royal Decree 28 of 2011. The King said that "the Commission had been set up after broad consultation, including with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights". The Commission is notable for its broad Terms of Reference and the expertise of its internationally renowned commissioners.

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