History
The State of Bahrain gained full independence from the British in 1971 and was governed by the Amir, Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa. The Al Khalifa’s were of a Sunni minority ruling over a predominantly Shia majority population. In 1972, the Amir issued a decree calling for the establishment of a Constitutional Assembly in charge of promulgating the country’s first constitution. The 22-member body completed a constitution in June 1973, which called for the establishment of a 30-member elected National Assembly and national elections in November of that same year.
The political détente between the Al Khalifa family and the disparate forces of civil society unraveled just two years later. The role of the National Assembly was short-lived, and convened for only two sessions before it was forcibly dissolved by the Amir in 1975 for refusing to ratify the Decree Law on State Security Measures (State Security Law), which allowed the arrest and detention of up to three years without trial of anyone suspected of posing a threat through undefined “acts” or “statements” to Bahrain’s internal or external security. When asked why the National Assembly had been disbanded, Minister of Information Muhammad Ibrahim al-Mutawa’a replied that “it hindered the government” and that it would be restored “once we feel that we need it, when it is suitable for our society and development.”
The State Security Law was implemented by force along with a decree that postponed elections of the National Assembly, suspended 40 constitutional articles pertaining to the National Assembly, and transferred legislative powers to the Amir and his Council of Ministers. Subsequently, no new elections were held for the National Assembly which remained dissolved for 27 years until 2001 when a new constitution was drafted under the auspices of the Amir’s successor, and current King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
The Amir’s unchecked authority by the National Assembly gave him liberty to appoint members of the Al Khalifa family to key political positions in the Bahraini government, including Prime Minister, and the ministers of Interior, Defense, Foreign Affairs and Justice. Political parties were illegal, and although the constitution guaranteed basic human rights, new decrees that undermined the authority of the constitution severely limited freedoms of speech, religion, press, rights to public and private assembly, and rights of persons deprived of liberty. The State Security Law along with Amiri Decree No. 7 of 1976 established a State Security Court where most due process protections were absent and violated human rights standards of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as domestic codes in Bahrain’s own legislation, like its 1966 Code of Criminal Procedure.
Read more about this topic: State Security Law In Bahrain
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