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 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.

The BICI was described by human rights group Amnesty International as "an impressive line-up of independent international experts". The BICI was chaired by Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni who had led United Nations investigations into alleged war crimes in Bosnia and Libya. The four other members were Sir Nigel S. Rodley, a former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and currently a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee; Justice Philippe Kirsch, a former judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC); Dr Mahnoush Arsanjani, a former UN legal advisor; and Dr Badria al 'Awadhi, an expert on international and Sharia law at the Freedom House Foundation in Washington, D.C.

On 7 September 2011 the BICI invited Dr Sondra Crosby, an expert on hunger strikes, to join its team in order to monitor those prisoners on hunger strike in the Kingdom. Her appointment was instigated on "humanitarian grounds due to the deep concern of the BICI with the plight of the prisoners and detainees who are on hunger strike".

According to Article 4 of Royal Decree 28, the commission's mandate is to "engage in fact finding". and it will have access to all officials and official documents that it considers relevant as well as access, in secret if necessary, to alleged victims and witnesses of alleged violations of the law perpetrated by both the protesters and the government.

The commission's total independence is outlined in Article 3 and Article 6 of Royal Decree 28. It will determine its work on its own and without any interference by the government, which is prohibited from interfering in the commission's work.